Paradise Cave and Phong Nha Botanical Gardens

February 20th: This was our second full day at the Phong Nha Farmstay. From what I had read, Paradise Cave (Thiên Đường) was a “must see” as it was even more impressive than Phong Nha cave (the cave we visited yesterday)….so a visit to Paradise Cave was our priority for the day. Paradise cave is located in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park and is a 45 minute drive from the farm stay. We decided to go by motorbike with Phong Nha Easyriders. This way we could enjoy the scenery along the way.

Once at Paradise Cave, we took a cart the 1.5 Km to the bottom of the mountain, then we took the winding path rather than climb up the 500 rocky steps (the path was the longer route but more scenic).

As we walked down the staircase into the cave, we were amazed at the cave’s vastness – there are stalactites and stalagmites as far as the eye can see. The following statistics will give an idea of its size: 31 km in length, although only 1 km is open to the public, the width ranges from 100m, up to 150m at its widest point; the height from the bottom up to the ceiling is about 60-80m which makes it very dramatic. We were told that Paradise Cave was first discovered in 2005 by a local man named Ho Khanh and then explorers from British Cave Research Association continued to discover the cave. It is considered the largest complex of caves in the world. 

We took our time wandering through the cave as it was so magnificent. It was impossible to capture the cave’s grandeur in pictures. It really is a “must see to believe”.

After the cave, the Easyriders took us to the Botanical Gardens – which are really paths through the jungle to a waterfall.

We arrived back at the farmstay around 3:00. The farm stay chef made me a beautiful cake and they announced and sang Happy Birthday over the loud speaker – yes embarrassing – but a special way to celebrate my birthday.