Lung Vai Waterfall trek: 16.7 km, a swim at 590 m, and the climb back out

The Lung Vai Waterfall trek is 16.7 km on foot in one day. It goes from TVPalm Ecolodge through the Dao Ao Dai villages of Khuoi My and Lung Vai, through an old Shan Tuyet tea grove, and down to a waterfall at 590 m, the lowest point of the day.

The pool under Lung Vai Waterfall is about 5.5 m deep in the middle, over sand. The last 300 m down to it are at about 35°, a 70% gradient, and you climb those 300 m back up after you swim. Groups are 2 to 8 guests. Nobody under 12 joins. We grade the day Moderate, and the climb out is the reason.

Here is the route as we run it, what the water is like, and what we ask of you before you book.

The Lung Vai Waterfall trek in numbers

Morning: the villages and the tea

At the Khuoi My gate you get hot ginger and honey, a safety briefing and a footwear check. The walk through Khuoi My into Lung Vai passes Dao houses, gardens, terraces and moss on the palm-thatch roofs. You visit a family that keeps black pigs, poultry and deer (you watch from outside the pens), then black cardamom growing under the forest canopy and rice wine coming off a wood-fired still.

If the guide judges the day allows it, there is a swim at the cold pool above the Lung Vai footbridge and weir. The stream that fills it is one of the two sources of the waterfall you reach in the afternoon.

At about 11:00 you reach the tea grove. These Shan Tuyet trees have stood for centuries. The families who tend them say the eldest are close to a thousand years old, and nobody has ever cut one down to count. You pick one bud and two leaves and fire them yourself in a wok over a wood fire. You go home with a pack of tea from the same grove.

Lunch is at a family shelter above Lung Vai, looking down at Ha Giang city. You pick vegetables in the garden beside it and cook with the family. Afterwards you take your shoes off for a hot Dao herbal foot soak and hear the story of the Cap Sac initiation from someone who went through it. It is told, never re-enacted.

Afternoon: down to Lung Vai Waterfall, and back up

The guide hands out forest gaiters at the shelters, and you stop for five minutes at Mr Don’s rice terraces. Then come the three sections down to the water:

At the bottom of Lung Vai Waterfall there are two pools. The one under the fall is deep and cold over sand. The second is smaller and shallower. You get about an hour at the water.

Then you climb out. Going down is straightforward. Coming back up is the hardest thing you will do all day, and it comes after you have swum, at the end of about five hours of walking. Allow a full hour back to the shelters, take it in short stages and use poles. After rain the same path is slower and heavier. Our founder walked it on a wet October day and came back calling it tough going.

Back at the shelters, you choose. You can walk the rest of the way to the Ecolodge, or a local rider takes you back by motorbike. Nobody has to walk the last kilometres to prove a point. If you started in Ha Giang city, your car meets you where the path rejoins the main road.

If you decide at lunch that you do not want the descent, say so. Heading back from the shelters is a normal choice, not a cancelled day, and nothing is deducted.

Swimming at Lung Vai Waterfall: what we allow and what we do not

• The guide decides. The guide checks the water before anyone gets in. After heavy rain, when the flow is strong or you cannot see the bottom, nobody swims. The decision is final, and the rest of the day runs regardless.
• Life jackets are on the bank at no charge. If you swim weakly, the guide will ask you to wear one. Nobody swims alone and nobody swims out of sight.
• No jumping and no sliding. People from the village do both, and you may see it. We have not yet measured the water under the jump point or the run-out at the bottom of the slide. A sand bed shifts after every flood, so neither is part of this trek until we have measured it, and measured it again after the rains.
• Insurance. This is a natural pool, not a supervised facility. Check that your own travel insurance covers swimming in open fresh water.

How this trek is run, and why

• Maximum 8 guests. One local guide for 2 to 8 guests, one porter for groups of 2 to 4 and two for groups of 5 to 8, plus a TVPalm logistics person behind every group.
• Local people do the work. Seven in ten people working on this route are Dao and Tay from the villages you walk through. With 50 Dao members, we founded the Tay Con Linh Sustainable Tourism Cooperative so the work and the income stay in the valley.
• The path is theirs. Households from Lung Vai built the path down to the falls and its wooden steps. They maintain them and are paid for both. Women from the village cut and dry the plants for the foot soak, and they are paid for that too.
• No single-use plastic. You carry a TVPalm bottle and refill it. Food waste from lunch goes back into the garden it came from. We work to the Leave No Trace principles.

What is included

Who should not book

• Anyone who cannot walk 16.7 km in a day on uneven ground.
• Anyone with knee or joint problems. The 35° section has to be climbed again to get out.
• Pregnant guests.
• Children under 12. With younger children, take the half-day Dao Ao Dai village walk instead.

Every guest completes our health declaration no later than 7 days before departure. Tell us at booking about anything that affects walking, balance, breathing, knees or swimming. The single most important thing you bring is a pair of trekking shoes with good grip. Smooth soles do not work on the 35° section.

When to go

April, October and November are the best months for Lung Vai Waterfall, for both the walk and the water. The guide checks the weather at 07:00 and may decide the descent to the falls is not possible that day.

If this is not the right day for you

• Less walking, more tea: the 1-day Na Thac ancient Snow Shan tea trek is about 3.25 km, with the afternoon in a Dao family kitchen.
• A night in the villages: the 2 Days 1 Night Khuoi My – Xa Phin trek passes the same Lung Vai cold pool and ends in a Dao homestay.
• A summit: the 3 Days 2 Nights Tay Con Linh trek climbs to 2,428 m.
• Staying nearby: from TVPalm Ecolodge you walk out of the door with no transfer. See rooms and rates.

How to enquire

E-mail info@tvpalm.com or WhatsApp +84 366 885 955 with your dates, group size and starting point. We reply within 24 hours on working days. Read the booking, cancellation and weather terms on the tour page before you pay.