Tien Son Cave Động Tiên Sơn
Dry cave above the boat
Dry cave above the river: climb nearly 600 steps on the same 2.5-hour boat trip as Phong Nha Cave. The open walk is about 400 metres inside a cave 980 metres long. Entrance is 80,000 VND on one tariff, and children under 1.3 metres are free. The boat for both caves is 750,000 VND for up to 12 people. Another tariff charges 150,000 VND for the Phong Nha entrance. Ask at the counter which of those you pay.
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A visitor with a headlamp on the flowstone inside Tien Son Cave
Photo: Lourenço Wilson and Dinh-Sac Pham · CC BY 3.0
Buy the ticket at the Tourism Center and take a boat number at the pier on the left. The boat runs down the Son River for about 30 minutes to the mouth of Phong Nha Cave. You leave the boat there and climb nearly 600 steps. The cave sits about 100 metres above Phong Nha Cave, measured vertically, and runs 980 metres. You walk about 400 metres from the entrance. Past that, a drop of about 10 metres leads into nearly 500 metres that stays closed.
Photo: Lourenço Wilson and Dinh-Sac Pham · CC BY 3.0
Tien Cave and Royal Palace Cave are the dry branches you walk inside Phong Nha Cave on the way back. Tien Son is this upper cave. A stream cut the Ke Bang limestone, then the rock shifted and left the dry passage up here while the river kept the cave below. The whole route, boat and stair, takes about two and a half hours, the same clock as the boat cave. Use the morning you already gave the pier.
Entrance is 80,000 VND a person, and children under 1.3 metres are free. The boat is 700,000 VND a round trip, or 750,000 VND when it covers both caves, each for up to 12 people. 80,000 VND on one tariff and 150,000 VND on another. Ask at the counter whether you pay both entrances. A Vietnamese guide is 300,000 VND for one cave or 400,000 for two. An English guide is 400,000 VND for one cave or 500,000 for two.
Getting there and around
The route starts at the Tourism Center, the same counter as Phong Nha Cave. After you pay, the pier is on the left. About two and a half hours covers the ride down the Son River and the stair at the mouth. How long it takes to reach that counter from a bed in the village is check on arrival.
From the Tourism Center
Walk to the pier on the left. The boat runs downstream for about 30 minutes to the Phong Nha mouth, then you climb nearly 600 steps.
From Dong Hoi
Phong Nha Cave, the pier you share, is about 50 km from Dong Hoi city. The minutes are check on arrival.
Hours and fees
- Hours
Summer 07:15–16:30. Winter 07:30–15:45. Which months use which clock: Check on arrival.
- Closed
Open daily. No weekly closing day.
- Admission
One tariff: Tien Son entrance 80,000 VND a person, children under 1.3 m free. Another tariff: Phong Nha entrance 150,000 VND a person, children under 1.3 m free. Ask at the counter whether you pay both. Boat service 700,000 VND a round trip for up to 12 people. Boat for both caves 750,000 VND a round trip for up to 12 people. A Vietnamese guide is 300,000 VND for one cave or 400,000 for two. An English guide is 400,000 VND for one cave or 500,000 for two.
Also in Phong Nha
Paradise Cave Động Thiên Đường
Dry boardwalk cave: walk about a kilometre inside at Km 16, the other half-day beside the boat.
Son Doong Hang Sơn Đoòng
Booked cave expedition: six days and five nights with Oxalis, January to August, for the doline at that scale.
Phong Nha Cave Động Phong Nha
River cave by boat: row about 1,200 metres in a 2.5-hour visit for the mouth the village is built around.
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