Sapa In Summer

Sapa is a famous tourist destination in the Northern Province of Lao Cai during the winter months when tourists flock to see the snow but summer months to offer interesting sites in this stunningly beautiful region.

The weather in Sapa during summer is very pleasant. The town is bathed in sunlight all throughout the summer months with occasional but very brief showers. Summer is the season for peaches, pears and plums. Tourists can visit lush fruit gardens on the hills.

Breathtaking waterfalls dot the landscape, like the spectacular Bac waterfall located about 12 km from Sapa town. Water gushes down from a high mountain creek resembling a spray of white shimmering flowers.

Warm, pleasant weather in the summer months makes it conducive to trek often inaccessible villages of the ethnic minority groups like the H’Mong, Dao and Tay and get a glimpse of their vibrantly rich, unique, indigenous and very traditional customs and culture.

The exquisite Ta Van valley offers tourists a glimpse of the lives of Giay people, untouched by modern civilization. Homes of the Giay people permeate a faint aroma of “pomu” wood.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Vietnam Tourism To Be Advertised in Three Neighbouring Countries

The most beautiful landscapes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will be shot in a film for introduction in the four countries.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Movie Centre will combine with partners in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to conduct a tourism film project as part of the International Tourism Exhibition 2011, with the theme “Four Countries – One Destination”.

The film will be introduced at the exhibition, which will be held in HCM City in mid-September 2011. After that, the film will come to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

The exhibition, which will open on September 13 at the Saigon Convention and Exhibition Centre, aims to promote tourism cooperation among ASEAN countries.

The event will attract the participation of ten countries: India, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and 20 Provinces and Cities in Vietnam.

Source: English.vietnamnet.vn

Ho Dynasty Citadel Becomes World Heritage Site

UNESCO recognised the Ho Dynasty in the Central Province of Thanh Hoa as World Cultural Heritage site on June 27.

Located in the two communes of Vinh Tien and Vinh Long in Vinh Loc district, the citadel measuring 870m by 833m was built in 1397.

The citadel’s construction was supervised by the Tran dynasty’s top mandarin, Ho Quy Ly, who later occupied the citadel when he forcibly took the throne in 1400, changing the country’s name from Dai Viet to Dai Ngu.

Ho Quy Ly’s rise to power began the short-lived Ho dynasty, and that is why the citadel is still known as the Ho Dynasty Citadel.

Also known as the Tay Do Citadel, the ancient building is famous for being strategically located in the position that can ensure it is easily defended. The citadel is shielded by a mountain range to the North, while the Ma River runs to the West and the Buoi River to the South, creating a huge natural moat.

Unlike many other citadels that were built from bricks, the Ho Dynasty Citadel was built with huge stone slabs from nearby mountains. It features four arched entrances facing East, West, North and South.

With UNESCO’s recognition of the Ho Dynasty Citadel, Vietnam now has seven World Heritage sites, including Hoi An ancient town in Quang Nam Province, the former royal Capital of Hue, My Son sanctuary, Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, and Thang Long-Hanoi Citadel remains.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Flower Festival To Re-Beautiful Da Lat

The Da Lat Flower Festival 2012 will take place in the Central Highland Province of Lam Dong’s Da Lat town from Dec 30, 2011 to Jan 3, 2012.

Themed “Da Lat, the Flower Festival City”, the event will feature nine distinguished programs including "space of flower", an international flower exhibition, a flower procession, flower market, food made from flowers, a street festival and a champagne night.

The street festival of flowers and light, covering an area of 3,500 square meter of Hoa Binh area, and a space of beautiful flowers near Xuan Huong Lake, will be this year’s highlights.

The street festival will also include samba, dance sport, hip hop, and a photo exhibition about Da Lat, as well as performances of traditional handicrafts.

"Space of flower" will feature unique buildings made of flowers representing five continents in the world, and a biggest-ever exhibition of tulips.

At the same time in Lac Duong District, Langbiang Festival will include a mountain climbing contest and paragliding performance, as well as gongs and a food festival.

Source: thanhniennews.com

Hua Ma Cave - Mysterious Place Beckoning Tourists

Bac Kan is a well-known place as it used to be part of the Viet Bac Revolutionary Zone of the Vietnam Revolutionary Forces and embraces a number of tourist attractions.

Any visitors to Bac Kan could have remarkable feelings about the place and people there. During the resistance war against the French colonists, local people were very bold by having an uprising against the colonisation but now in peacetimes they have become so simple and hospitable. Bac Kan is famous for Ba Be Lake, which consists of three large fantastic lakes surrounded by mountains and forests. Still, there is another mysterious tourist destination, Hua Ma Cave.

Hua Ma Cave is located in Quang Khe Commune, Ba Be District. The cave has only recently been discovered so it is still almost untouched and enigmatic. The cave has been naturally shaped during the many-thousand-year process of geological changes. It is 700 meters in length and in some places the cave opens up and is 50 meters in height. Inside the cave, there are thousands of stalagmites and stalactites of different shapes; some look like small towers, others are like a statue of Goddess of Mercy or a formal court of mandarins in the feudal time.

Source: oratrip.com

Luxury Villas Opened in Hoa Binh

The Kim Boi Tourism Investment Joint Stock Company has officially introduced high-standard tourist facilities, including Sun Villas & Resort, The Field Villas and Sky Villas & Mini Golf, in the Northern Province of Hoa Binh.

The compound, comprising 181 villas, is designed in open space and in convenient locations with easy access by roads.

In the compound, there are many luxury tourist facilities such as swimming pools, ponds, climbing areas, a 9-hole golf course, service areas, outdoor sports areas, restaurants and beauty salons, to name a few.

With the opening of the luxury villas, the Province is expected to attract more tourists and investors.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Tourism – Linking Cultures: UNWTO launches World Tourism Day 2011

World Tourism Day 2011 will be celebrated under the theme Tourism – Linking Cultures, an opportunity to highlight tourism’s role in bringing the cultures of the world together and promoting global understanding through travel (27 September 2011).

Source: oratrip.com

Vietnam tourism plan includes tours to East Sea Archipelagoes

Vietnam will include tours to the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelagoes in a sea tourism development project to be conducted from now until 2020, officials said at a conference Thursday.

Source: oratrip.com

Papier- Mâché Chickens on show in Hanoi

An exhibition featuring around 150 chickens made of papier-mâché by Dinh Cong Dat opens in Hanoi Saturday.

At “Chicken: Chip, Chic, Chicky,” visitors can also speak to the artist and ask about his papier-mâché techniques.

Dat was born in Hanoi and studied sculpture at the local University of Fine Arts.

An exhibition featuring oversized insects in 2004 spread his fame beyond the country’s borders. His sculptures have been displayed in Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Beijing, and Tokyo.

He is now a member of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.

The exhibition, to be held at the Goethe- Institute Hanoi, 54-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, will run until next Tuesday.

Source: tuoitrenews.vn

American music band to perform in Hanoi

“Arms and Sleepers”, an American music band consisting of two members Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic, will perform in Hanoi on June 25 as part of their Southeast Asia tour.

The concert which is the final performance by Arms and Sleepers will start at 8.30pm in Hanoi Rock City.

Set up in summer 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts, the band has toured countries around the world. Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic have produced 11 albums in the past four years and held a special place in the hearts of music-lovers.

They plan to perform in North America, Europe and Asia and release 6 new albums this year.

Source: English.vovnews.vn

Vietnam to Organise Ancient Costume Movie Festival

An Ancient Costume Movie Festival will be held during the 2012 Hue Festival by Viet Charm Company, which is engaged in a project to train actors and actresses for ancient costume movies.

Many famous artists, such as Hoang Dung, Minh Hoa and Dieu Huong will take part in a three-month training course, the first of its kind in Vietnam so far, which is being held in Hanoi and Hue.
A part from improving their professional skills, they have the chance to learn how to ride horses and elephants and use ancient weapons.

Source: English.vovnews.vn

Air France to add more HCMC - Paris flights

Air France announced that it will increase Ho Chi Minh City - Paris services to five times per week this October.

The Airline now offers three flights per week on the route, every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Air France has allowed clients to fly directly from Paris to Ho Chi Minh City since November 2010, when it ended routes stopping over in Bangkok.

The Airline has also cooperated with national carrier Vietnam Airlines to offer six flights a week from Hanoi to Paris under a code share agreement signed last year. The flights from Hanoi are operated by Vietnam Airlines using Air France’s flight code.

Source: thanhniennews.com

More than 1.6 million Tourists visit HCMC in six months

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) greeted more than 1.65 million tourist arrivals in the first six months of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, reported the city Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism.

Tourists visiting the city by air reached an estimated 1.3 million arrivals, up 15 percent year on year while those by sea and road posted 350,000 arrivals, down 5 percent year on year.

The city’s tourism sector earned total revenue of VND 23 trillion in the first six months, a year-on-year rise of 24 percent.

Markets which saw large numbers of tourists coming to HCMC over the past six months were the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Singapore and Malaysia.

Quang Ninh News Online has reported nearly 4 million tourist arrivals visited The Northern Province in the first six months of 2011, including more than 1.1 million foreign tourists.

Total tourism revenue of the province reached nearly VND 2 trillion, reaching 61.7 percent of the year’s plan and an increase of 7 percent compared to the same period last year.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Tram Chim National Park applies for Ramsar list

The Government has given a nod to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s plan to register Tram Chim National Park in the Ramsar list of Wetlands of International Importance.

The National Park, located in Tam Nong District, the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap, is among the eight bird reserves in Vietnam.

With a system of swamps, grass-plots and criss-crossing canals, the 7,500 ha park is an ideal habitat for 231 species of birds, of which 12 species are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book of rare and threatened species, 130 species of plants, 100 vertebrates and 55 species of fresh water fish.

According to scientists, Tram Chim National Park meets eight out of nine standards of the Ramsar convention on Wetlands.

Source: tuoitrenews.vn

Vietnam sees increased International Arrivals

More foreign tourists have chosen Vietnam as their destination in recent months.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), international arrivals to the country reached over 2.5 million in the first five months of this year.


The figure indicated a rise of 18% compared to the same period last year.

Between January and May, nearly 1.5 million foreigners visited Vietnam for their holidays, up 10.2% from a year earlier.

The figures revealed 418,900 people traveled to the country for work and 442,400 others to visit relatives.

During the period, the nation welcomed 546,900 people from China, 222,400 from South Korea and 204,200 from Japan.

Arrivals from other countries such as the U.S., Cambodia, Taiwan, Malaysia, France and Australia also registered an increase.

This year, Vietnam hopes to welcome around 5.3 million international tourists.

Source: oratrip.com

First Private Theatre in Hanoi to Open

Hanoi Times – The first in Hanoi Private Theatre called Bao Son Youth Theatre is scheduled to open to mark the Independence Day o¬n September 2.

The 10,000-people capacity theatre has a stage covering of 1 ha. Various kinds of performance arts plan to be staged there to attract domestic as well as international guests in Hanoi.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Lang Co Festival in July 2011

The People’s Committee of Phu Loc District in the central province of Thua Thien- Hue has announced that the Lang Co Festival will take place on July 9-10 this year.

The Festival will hold a series of cultural activities as part of the various programs to open “National Tourism Year 2010” in Thua Thien- Hue.

Lang Co Festival will be a good opportunity for the region to promote its tourist potential.

Lang Co Beach, 30 kilometers North of Hue City, was declared as the ‘World's Most Beautiful Bay Clubs’ in 2009.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Electric Tourist Buses to Operate Around West Lake

30 Electric Tourist Buses are expected to be put into operation around beautiful West Lake (Ho Tay) in Tay Ho District, Hanoi.

The Hanoi People’s Committee has allowed the Ho Tay Co. Ltd. to use Electric Tourist Buses around West Lake. Ealier, many domestic and foreign visitors are interested in traveling by Electric Bus around Hoan Kiem Lake.

In the coming time, the company will import 20 Electric Tourist Buses and build 10 stations along a 18 kilometers route around the Lake in order to launch its first Buses on September 2nd.

Passengers will have an opportunity to enjoy beautiful scenery and 21 tourist sites by the Lake, such as Ho Tay Theme Park, Tao Sach Pagoda, Van Nien Pagoda, Co Le Temple, Ly Tu Trong Flower Garden and Quan Thanh Temple, to name a few.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Another Vietnamese Bay Becomes Tourist Attraction

Sanest Tourist, a travel agency based in Nha Trang, began offering sea tours to the country’s latest “national level landscape”. Xuan Dai Bay in Tuy Hoa last Sunday.

The Bay is around 50 kilometers long, Oversees Various Capes and Islands.
It received the recognition from the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism in January, which will help promote and exploit its tourism potential.

Mon Beach and Cape Dien in Phu Yen Province – in which Tuy Hoa City is situated – were recognized in 2009.

Sanest’s two-day tour starts in Nha Trang and has sightseeing in Tuy Hoa City.
It has a stop at Bai Om Beach for swimming, coral diving, and lunch of fresh seafood obtained from fishing vessels.

The Agency will use three vessels, each with a capacity of 50 passengers.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Vietnam Airlines to Begin Direct Flights to UK

Vietnam Airlines on June 20 announced that it would officially open a direct flight route from Vietnam to the United Kingdom (UK) on December 8.

Vietnam Airlines planned to use Boeing B777-200ER aircraft to fly between Vietnam and Gatwick airport in the UK .

According to Vietnam Airlines General Director, Pham Ngoc Minh, the new route aimed to actively promote tourism and business travel between Vietnam and the UK .

The Airline hopes that the route will also help Vietnam become a major entry-exit gateway from Indochina .

Strategic partnership was established in September last year and economic and trade relations between Vietnam and the UK were boosted, with two-way trade between the two countries reaching over 2 billion USD.

The UK was also the third-largest European Union Investor in Vietnam , with its total investment of 3 billion USD./.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Vasco to Launch HCMC - Mui Ne Helicopter Services

The Vietnam Air Service Company (Vasco) finished its trial flight by Helicopter from Ho Chi Minh City to the Coastal Resort town of Mui Ne in Binh Thuan Province last weekend.

Vasco said it will soon operate flights from HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat Airport to the landing pad of Sea Links City Resort in Mui Ne, using a brand-new AS350-B2 Helicopter.

Each six-seat Helicopter can carry 1,100 kilograms. Travel time will be shortened to roughly 40 minutes compared to up to six hours by Bus or four hours by Train.

Source: en.baomoi.com

Vietnam Luxury Hotel Nikko Saigon Will Open in 2011

JAL Hotels Co., Ltd. has announced it will open Hotel Nikko Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in October, 2011.

The company jointly signed a hotel management agreement with Fei Yueh Vietnam Co., Ltd., The owner of the hotel.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Nghe An's World Biosphere Reserve Recognized

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently granted the Nghe An Province People's Committee a certificate recognizing Vietnam's sixth world-class biosphere reserve in the West of Nghe An Province, increasing the total UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserves in Vietnam to eight.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Hanoi to have one more Luxury Shopping Mall

Grand Plaza – an international standard shopping centre – will open in the third quarter of this year on Tran Duy Hung street in Hanoi's Cau Giay district, according to Pham Cuong, the property director of IDJ Asset Management Joint Stock Co.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Lai Chau Airport to be put into Operation in 2012

An airport will be built in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau to serve both civil and military purposes.

The Airport will include a terminal, which will be capable of handling 40,000 passengers and 100 tons of freight a year. That figures are expected to reach 110,000 passengers and 300 tons of cargo after the airport is upgraded in 2030.

Source: kientrucvietnam.org.vn

Dolphin show comes to Vinpearl Land

Vinpearl Land Nha Trang will launch a dolphin show at its amusement Park in December.

The Dolphins will be set up near the sea, next to the Vinpearl Underwater World. Sea Lions and Seals will also join the show.

Earlier this month four Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) were brought to the park to be trained by experts from Russia and the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center. They will have a six-month training course to get ready for the show.

These Dolphins are very smart and friendly to people and they love to play with children. Normally, Orcaella brevirostris in Vietnam are trained for the circus, for curing humans of congenital defects, sea research and rescue and to use for investigating other ocean species.

Source: oratrip.com

BBC to film world's largest cave in Vietnam

Following documentaries by Japan’s Kyodo News and National Geographic, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is planning to make a documentary about Son Doong Cave.

Son Doong has been recognized as the world's largest cave since its discovery in 1991

According to Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park’s management board in the central province of Quang Binh, as soon as the filming plan gets approval from the provincial people’s committee and the Departments of External Relations; and Information – Communications, a film crew and experts from the British Cave Research Association (BCRA) will be authorized to film.

They expect the crew will arrive some time next month.
The series will not merely focus on the massive cave itself, (which is nearly twice the size of the previous record holder) but also highlight some of the extremely rare animals and plants found there.
A six man BBC film crew will also accompany five cavers from the BCRA to the film Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park from July 19-25 to film a portion of the network' series The Science Of Plants.

Source: thanhniennews.com