Phong Nha: Caves and countryside

Why would I go there?

CAVES!
Phong Nha has a series of caves that you can visit in day trips (including day trips from Hue - but this is a long drive) and is the setting off point for longer multi day caving trips.

How do I get there?

Trains stop at Dong Hoi, but then you need to find a transfer out to Phong Nha. around the station are lots of taxis (~400K) motorbikes (~200ishK) and private vehicles from places such as Phong Nha Homestay, who should cost about 400K for the car, divided by however many of you are in it.

Local bus to and from Hue is 150K, it leaves Phong Nha at 5am. Not sure what time it leaves Hue. I also believe there are local buses from Dong Hoi, but only once or twice a day.... not sure of times however.

Where did I stay?

Pepperhouse homestay. Dorm bunks or limited double beds (still more dorm like as beds are seperated but curtains) 200K per person per night, in the dorm or in the double beds, this includes breakfast. This is an actual homestay, the Aussie husband and Vietnamese wife team sleep in one of the curtained off beds and the rest of the family live just next door. You often get kids wandering over and happy to have someone pay them some attention and play catch with the ball for a little while.

Very relaxing place to stay, you can hire bikes or motorbikes (though the hire on these takes advantage of the fact that you don't have other options and is a lot more than other places - 100k for the bike and I think 300K for the motorbike). 7km bike ride into Phong Nha town, or a nice relaxing walk around the little farming community. Or just stay in a have a cold beer and relax in a hammock. Make sure to join in the afternoon game of volleyball, they are always welcoming.

Food was reasonably priced and quite tasty.

Eating out

I only ate at the homestay, or at one restaurant in town: Vung Hue. It is on a side street (on the opposite side of the main road to the river), the street just before the ATM. The woman here will look after you bikes for free while you go to the caves, or walk through town. Multi (from the homestay) has also convinced her to cook the same food for westerners as she cooks for locals (most places see westerners and give you heaps of fairly boring food... partly because they think you want lots and don't know how good Viet food can taste, partly because they figure you will only go there once anyway, so it doesn't matter). But multi has got her with an English, printed menu and good food - promising that if she only rips people off a little, and the food is good... tourists will tell each other to eat there!
The food was amazing! a group of us from the pepperhouse shared a few dishes, and all were great. But the pork spare ribs were mindblowing! (we got a second plate of that!)

Trips

Phong Nha cave is only accessible by boat. Tickets into the cave cost 80K each. Plus the boat is 320K (but seats up to 14). The best way is to wait around the ticket booth until more people come, and share the boat with them. You can also pay a little extra and also see a second cave


It is also possible to do a day trip with the Phong Nha homestay that takes in a series of the further away caves, or hire a motorbike and ask for a map to paradise cave and dark cave. I didn't do this.... but was told by people that the motorbike ride up to these caves was the highlight for them. And everyone says that Paradise is the most amazing!

Multi-day caving
I did a 3 day trip with oxalis into Tu Lan caves system.
They have a number of trips of various lengths.
I would absolutely recommend this trip! It was awesome! The jungle we trekked through felt much more adventurous than other locations (this was more a path made by people using it, not cleared and with steps. Just slippery mud and rocks to stand on (probably less slippery if it hasn't been raining!). You get given dry bags, helmets, headlamps and lifejackets. You will trek through jungles, hike up hills, walk through caves, swim through caves, swim through caves in the pitch blackness without your lights on! camp, or hammock in the jungle next to beautiful waterfalls and rivers, eat amazing food (cooked for you by the porters who also carry all the food and set up camp for you!), see birds, butterflies, possibly snakes (we had to detour off path due to a snake sunning himself!).