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Got a proper route to go hiking in Haiphong countryside will save you a lot of time and energy. If you go around, the time to fully explore Elephant Mountain can be up to more than 3 hours. Therefore, Hai Phong Tours would like to share with you How and where to go hiking in Haiphong countryside.
Overview of Elephant Mountain
Voi Mountain (Elephant Mountain) is located in 2 communes: An Tien and Truong Thanh, An Lao district, Hai Phong city. It’s a 143 meters high mountain. It is called Elephant Mountain because standing from afar, the mountain looks like a lying elephant. To have a panoramic view of Elephant Mountain, you should stand from the side of But Moc Pagoda (Road DT203).
From here, the protruding part of the mountain on the right is the head of the Elephant. The protrusion on the left is Elephant’s body that has the famous “Fairy Chess board”. From the back of the elephant, you will see the panoramic view of An Lao district, the rice fields, the poetic Lach Tray river. To learn more about Elephant Mountain, please refer to Elephant Mountain An Lao.
Elephant mountain hiking Routes
There are 2 main routes for hiking Elephant mountain. The first direction is from the side of Tien Hoi village. The second one is from the Chi Lai village.
The first direction: Gia Vi cave – Hong Voi cave – Fairy chessboard
If you choose this direction, you will go to the football field at the foot of Elephant Mountain. Then park the car or motorbike at Mrs. Ha’s house. Motorbike parking ticket price is 10k. Remember to get your ticket…
There are 2 ways to go to Elephant Mountain from here. But you should go up the right-hand path and down the left-hand path. When you reach the intersection, go straight to the 2nd intersection. Then turn left to go towards Long Hoa Pagoda. Continue down to the large courtyard then turn left. You will see a sign for Gia Vi cave. This is the deepest, widest and most beautiful cave on Elephant Mountain. All the stalactites in the cave are very well protected.
In particular, there are hundreds of bats in the cave, without much human intervention, so it’s still very wild. Nature lovers will surely find it interesting.
After visiting Gia Vi cave, it took you more than 1 hour since departure. Now, please return to the first intersection and then turn right to go towards Hong Voi cave. If you have time, you can go to Hong Voi cave to visit. The mouth of the cave is shaped like an elephant’s throat and the location of the cave coincides with the position of the elephant’s mouth. Therefore, it is called Hong Voi cave.
Previously, this cave was very unspoiled, cool with Fairy well in the cave. The water there is drinkable directly. However, nowadays, the guardian who regularly lives in cave burns incense, so the natural look is almost gone. On holidays, the incense smoke in the cave will make you feel suffocated … The advice of haiphongtours.com is to skip this cave to continue to the top of the Fairy chessboard.
If you ignore Hong Voi cave, you just go straight to the intersection and then turn right to reach the top of the elephant’s back. Just keep going on the trail and you will arrive. On the back of the elephant, there are large rocks. It is said that this is where the fairies went down to play chess. So they call this the Fairy chess board.
On the back of the elephant, you can walk along the trail to admire the small valley, the panoramic view of An Lao district, the rice fields, the meandering Lach Tray river. If you stay here around 17:00, you will be able to see a beautiful sunset on the river. An extremely romantic scene with dreamer …
When you return, you will not go the same way, but when you reach the intersection, go towards the gazebo and down the mountain. Following this route, it will take you about 2 hours both up and down. The trekking distance is about 3km.
The second direction: Fairy chessboard – Gia Vi cave
You should only choose this direction if you do not have the need to watch the sunset on top of the Fairy chessboard. Because if you come down from the top of the mountain around 17:30, it will get dark very quickly. The distance from Fairy’s chessboard back to the way up is quite far.
To do this, go to Chi Lai village. When you arrive, you will easily see the signpost to Long Hoa pagoda. Go straight through the temple to the intersection, then go straight to go down to the second intersection. Next, turn right to go toward Hong Voi cave. But of course, Hai Phong Tours does not encourage you to enter this cave …
Continue straight to the intersection then turn right, follow the path to reach the top of the Fairy chessboard (Bàn cờ Tiên). After visiting the Fairy chessboard, you will return to Long Hoa pagoda to visit Gia Vi cave. By doing this, your route will be more logical and will not have to go around in circles.
Resume of hiking in Haiphong
Hai Phong Tours has just shared with you the most reasonable routes to go hiking. Hope it will help you in this trip. For more convenience, you should follow the first route. That is the main route in the tour program: Haiphong city tour.
If you come from the city center, you should rent a car transfer to travel more smoothly. While hiking, your luggage can be safely stored in the car. Please contact Zalo or WhatsApp +84975200357 for more specific advice.
This Elephant mountain hiking route is very suitable for those who love sports and nature. If you just landed at Cat Bi Hai Phong airport but do not know what to do in the afternoon, go to Elephant Mountain to “do exercise” … Especially, when hiking Elephant Mountain, you will lose a lot of water and salt. So, prepare 1 bottle of mineral water and 1 bottle of Quang Hanh carbonated mineral water for 4 thousand / bottle.
