Guide for visiting Cuc Phuong National Park, Nature's treasure in Vietnam

Potoot

Dec 1, 2024 • 18 min read

Giant black flying squirrel

^ entrance

Contacting the National Park in English

I wrote this guide because I couldn't find up-to-date information about the Cuc Phuong National Park in English and also the National Park's newer website is not in English. There were a few other abandoned english websites the national park has setup that showed some outdated and misleading contact information. For interested english speaking visitors seeking to contact the national park for information and tours, I would suggest sending an email to the email contact found in https://dulichcucphuong.com.vn/ in english. They replied my e-mail with a word document listing various tour packages in English. They seem to be using some google translate in their replies on Whatsapp and email but it had worked well for us. We went for a 2 day 1 night tour, extended our stay for some nights at the national park and added some small short tours with them. It was an excellent trip.

Cuc Phuong National Park huge biodiversity

Cuc Phuong National Park is the oldest National Park (and one of the largest) in Vietnam and houses many important protected biodiversity hotspots. (read abt biodeversity here: http://cucphuongtourism.com.vn/index.php/en/bio-diversity/introduction.html). I was intrigued by the huge biodiversity and pristine untouched nature. Unlike the other popular nature tourist attractions in Vietnam like Trang An, Ha Long Bay and Mekong Delta, there are hardly queues or crowds most of the time and little artificial developments. The air quality in Cuc Phuong was excellent, and it was a nice escape from the smog in Ninh Binh and Hanoi.

Conservation centers are the main attractions for visitors to the park and visitors can see these elusive native species upclose. As poaching and illegal pet trade are still common in Vietnam, the rescue centers serves an important purpose to spread awareness amongst locals and foreign visitors and also clamp down on poaching activites. They run wildlife rehabilitation and breeding programs and visitors can see these elusive native species upclose. Also there are some well-maintained trails for visitors to visit the Cave of the Prehistoric Man and also the 1000 year old tree (which is now dead).

The other impressive and unique attraction of Cuc Phuong is the huge volume of butterflies during the Butterfly season thar runs from around mid-April to mid-May. Visitors can see upclose swarms of butterflies in the park.

How to get to Cuc Phuong National Park

You can get here by bus, self-drive or taxi from Hanoi and Ninh Binh.
There is some useful information about bus routes to Cuc Phuong in this link:
https://wanee.asia/cuc-phuong-national-park-in-2023/

Many visitors come to Cuc Phuong National Park from Ninh Binh as it is about 90min drive and Ninh Binh is the tourist hotspot. Some travellers also come from Hanoi, which takes abount 2.5h on the road. We did a tour with the National Park headquarters and they did send a very comfortable SUV to pick us up from Hanoi and also return us to Ninh Binh to continue the rest of our Vietnam trip. The car ride from Hanoi to Cuc Phuong was about 2h 30min.

You can buy your entry tickets (60k VND for adults and 20k VND for children) and book tours / rentals at the reception in the Headquarters office (located at the Park entrance)

The Map and getting around

The Park center is 20km from the Park headquarters and there is a nice narrow road. There is a decent 20km road where visitors can drive or cycle to get to the park center where several trails start

^ The 20km road to park center

^ visitor map

Things you can do

Rent mountain bikes (~150k VND / day): cycle along the 20km road to the park center. The bicycles looked new and the road is nice to cycle on because there are not many cars, especially on a weekday, and the road is nicely paved.
Camp at various campsites. You do need to pay a small camping fee if camping overnight. I recommend camping at field in the Park center for a better nature experience as there are some resident owls and peacocks who also camp there.

Cuc Phuong is well-known for their butterfly season and there will be literally swarms of butterflies (and also interesting insects) from march-June: (show pictures from elsewhere)
Forest trails of various lengths starting from the headquarters, park centre, and some starting some kilometers into the 20km road. There are some day hikes to the prehistoric man cave and the 1000 year old tree. For these shorter trails, I would recommend a guide if you would like transportation to the trail start from the reception and also some information on the forest and information about the attration. For the longer walks to the silver peak and Muong Village, a guide is mandatory. It could be dangerous to do some of these longer trails as you might get lost.

^ 7km trail starts from the parking at the restaurant at the Park center. It is well-maintained and goes to the 1000 year old tree. Expect some short but steep elevations climbs.

^ Cave of the prehistoric men is a short trail from the main road. expect some steep and short elevation climbs to get to the cave.

Wildlife spotting. If you are lucky, you might see some interesting widllife like the Giant flying squirrels, wild boars, hawks, various primates and even the leopard (near impossible for the casual tourist, unless you live in the park for years.) For a decent chance as sighting such wildlife, you must visit these trails in the early mornings or late afternoons when you will be the only people on these trails. Scroll down to here to see wildlife spotting tips.
Rent kayaks to kayak in Mac Lake and the natural Yen Quang Lake
Stay overnight in rooms managed by the National Park at 3 areas: Mac Lake, Headquarters and Park Centre (also known as Bong station)

^ If you spend a night in the rooms at Ho Mac, you get to wake up to the sight of the lake in the morning. There are also some domestic Muscovy ducks.

Highly recommend visiting the conservation centers, one of the largest in asia. There is one for primates, one for turtles, one for carnivores and one for deers. You get to see some rare endangered local species upclose, The tour guides can speak english or vietnamese (do let them know when you book tickets). You can sign up for a day tour at the headquarters. Do note that the deer rehab center and the carnivore conservation center can only be visited by tour and also after 7pm (Both of them is included in a 1.5h tour by electric car+guide for 150.000 VND, very affordable) They do rehabilitation and public education.

Some visitors are saddened by seeing wildlife in cages but unfortunately some of these animals have been injured or ill from the illegal wildlife trade and have been taken to be kept in these centers for their lives as they are deemed unsuitable to live in the wild. Some of the pangolins have lost their paws from the hunter traps. Some civets have been found to be kept as pets for a long time and have lost their natural instincts needed to live in the wild. Some monkeys were found as illegal pets and have incurable chronic diseases. Some of these wildlife can be rehabilitated and go through a rehabilitation program so they can be re-introduced to the wild. There is also a breeding program to raise the population of some species. I think it is more suitable for those wildlife that do not require parental care such as the native turtles.

There is a group "night wildife tour" which is 150k per person but that only happens if there is enough people for the tour (4 people). You can ask the reception about it via whatsapp or when you arrive. We signed up for this thinking it would be one of those night wildlife spotting tours but was kinda disappointed to find out it was just visiting the carnivore wildlife center and also the deer rehab center. On this tour, you will see nocturnal animals like the various civet cat species and pangolins. The tour was still good though. I did not appreciate that one of the other tourist was smoking in the rehabilitation center though.

^ Visits to the various conservation centers were interesting, i would recommend spending an afternoon visiting if you are here

^ Unfortunately for this guy, he had lost his front paws when caught by the poacher's lethal traps. Residents like him cannot be rehabilitated and released into the wild as they cannot survive the wild with their disabilities

Do a tour to trek to the Muong Village and stay overnight for a cultural experience.
Sign up for tours organised by Cuc Phuong National Park headquarters. Contact them for the list of possible tours.
I would highly recommend a private tour for night wildlife spotting. this is different from the above. Trek along a short jungle trail after dusk to spot nocturnal wildlife would be more interesting for nature enthusiasts. This is par of some of their offered tours and it could be a standalone offer but I don't know the price but likely will be pricier (but still affordable)

For the above tours and rentals, you can enquire and book directly with the Cuc Phuong National Park headquarters receptionist.

Staying overnight at Cuc Phuong National Park rooms

There are rooms for visitors to stay overnight at the headquarters, Mac Lake and park center.
I would definitely recommend staying a night at Cuc Phuong National Park for various reasons

Pristine-ness and peacefulness. The air quality here is fantastic, compared to Ninh Binh and Hanoi cities. There is some litter in the place unfortunately, but a lot less litter when compared to other places in Vietnam. There are tons of birds in the morning. In the cool morning weather, walking alone around the misty paved trails surrounded by bird/squirrels sounds is quite a treat. There are a lot of birds here and you can hear the bird sounds from within the room. The peacock calls at the park center campsite are not as melodic though.
Affordable price for good quality. The facilities have been rejuvenated recently and the rooms at the headquarters and Mac Lake are new, sparklingly clean and very comfortable. Note that only the rooms at the headquarters have free wifi.

^ Rooms at the headquaters and mac lake look like this.

3. If you are here for wildlife spotting, you should known that the best times are usually early morning and late afternoon-evenings. Staying overnight here allows you to go on hikes for these ideal times for wildlife spotting and also avoid crowds that scare away wildlife. It is also more pleasant to hike around when the air is cool and the place is devoid of human noises.

Prices for the rooms are very affordable (~15 USD, depending on which class of room). http://cucphuongtourism.com.vn/index.php/en/tourism/food-and-lodging-.html.

There are rooms at the headquarters, Mac Lake and also the park centre. Only the rooms at Headquarters and Mac Lake are renovated and they are very comfortable and clean. The rooms at Mac Lake are scenic, there was no wifi (as of 2024). Only the rooms at the headquarters had wifi. the first and second class rooms at the headquarters are just nearer to the parking area, so it is slightly more convenient to get to the main road. First class seemed to have more pillows than second class and a hot water bottle, but they are similar

It is expected to encounter a few bugs, but it is not much, in the rooms at Cuc Phuong National Park, obviously. It is not many and likely will not bother you.

Stay at the rooms at Mac Lake or Headquarters if you want clean, modern rooms with electricity.

Staying at park center (Bong station)

I would only recommend staying at the rooms in the park centre to those brave tourists who are comfortable with forgoing modern day comforts and are okay with old and not-so-clean rooms. The benefits of staying at the park center is to be closer to certain wildlife and birds.

The huts are old, dirty (by modern day standards) and damp.

As of 2024, there is no electricity at the rooms at Park center most of the time. There is a generator but electricity only runs for a few hours in the evenings and only when there are more guests. I think they are currently trying to build some electrical lines to improve the rooms in this place. Also, it might not be wise to agree to having hot water in the shower. During our stay in the park centre room, the water was so hot it was unusable and there was no way to cool it down, so I would recommend not agreeing to hot water if the hosts ask you. Also, there was a friendly leech crawling about the wall in the room lol. The bungalows here would be a nightmare for someone who is used the modern comforts and the cleanliness standards of hotels in the city. We did get by with battery powered lamps.

Staying at the park center allowed us to wake up to the terrifying peacock calls and the creepy owl sounds at night. There are several resident peacock and mountain spotted owl at the park center campsite. In the morning, the park center campsite is very scenic.

^ Staying overnight at the park center is more conducive for wildlife spotting and enjoying the peacefulness in nature.

There are also several trails starting from the park center campsite, so staying overnight allowed us to easily access the trails in the early morning and also for night wildlife spotting. Staying deeper in the forest gives you opportunities to be closer to wildlife and see them. The restaurant at the headquarters sometimes blasts very loud music for events and would drive away more creatures unfortunately.

^ The short walk from the park center campsite to the park center restaurant in the early morning is very pleasant. Golden rays pour through the canopy like translucent golden curtains.

^ Beetles make these satisfyingly circular holes in the leaves of elephant ear plants.

Restaurants

There is a restaurant at the headquarters which opens at 7.30am and operates till around 7.30pm (not fixed). There are also restaurants at Mac Lake and the park center. Personally I found restaurant in the park center food to be slightly better than the one at the headquarters. The trees near the restaurant at park center have many birds and squirrels feeding in the morning, and sometimes screaming peacocks screeching from the tree tops.

The restaurant at the headquarters do hold events for big groups, and for some corporate events, they play insanely loud music (the kind of loudness that makes your head spin) in the evenings. Obviously, this would scare away wildlife in the area and it might not be a good idea to camp near the headquarters on weekends if your goal is to have a peaceful evening.

^ Restaurant at the headquarters.

Doing a tour at Cuc Phuong National Park

There are many tours offered for Cuc Phuong National Park, some by external agencies and some by the Cuc Phuong National Park themselves. I would highly recommend doing a private tour directly with the National Park headquarters instead of going with external tour agencies.

To do a tour, email the National park (contact email found in official and phone from https://dulichcucphuong.com.vn/lich-su-kien-thien-nhien/ (as of 2024, website language is only in vietnamese) We sent an email enquiring about tours and got back a list of possible tours in english in a word document. The tours are highly customizable and flexible, you can requests for changes such as adding more nights at the rooms for exploring the place on your own or renting kayaks/mountain bikes.

The national park's newer official website is currently not in english and phone calls were problematic because the receptionist's english is not very good. But after an email, a whatsapp number was given and communication over e-mail and whatsapp went very smoothly afterwards. They use google translate a lot lol.

The meals included in our 2 day 1 night private tour was a huge serving, so do not worry about being hungry in the park.

^ meals for 2 people were super huge

Reasons to do a tour with Cuc Phuong National Park:

The prices are really good. We did do a 2 day 1 night private wildlife/conservation center tour for around 170 USD/per pax in total. The price included the return trip to and from Hanoi in a very new and comfortable SUV car(made our 2.5h ride from Hanoi more enjoyable), accomodation, tour guides, tickets and many meals. It was probably the most comfortable taxi ride we had in Vietnam. Our driver (Ledung is his name) was very likeable and even gave us effective local wildlife tips which worked very well. The total price was a steal. In other places and tour agencies, the typical price for a return private taxi ride to and from Hanoi and Ninh Binh would be around 70USD/one way at least. The 4 meals included in the price were very large spreads.
All logistics were taken care of the tour was very well-organised. Driver and guides speak basic english and are very nice.
The national park controls all the resources of the park, so customising parts of the tour packages is very easy. We did many customisations on top of the 2 day 1 night tour we booked. We added more nights for rooms in the National park and small tours to our visit to Cuc Phuong after our private tour at very affordable "local" prices and changed our return taxi ride time and destination easily. You can easily add bike/kayak rentals to tailor your trip.
Conservation and public education: Part of the national parks resources goes to the rescue centers which does a lot of public education on conservation and wildlife rehabilitation work in Vietnam. Hopefully the money from ecotourism goes to good use. The rescue centers are very informative and pretty well-maintained. We had different guides from different centers and they did sound like they were reciting from a script as many specific phrases were repeated. These centers are very important for fighting against the illegal pet trade and also for public education.
A popular tour with foreigners is the 2 day 1 night Cuc Phuong wildlife experience tour which includes tent-camping in the forest and also doing a private night wildlife spotting tour to see nocturnal wildlife. If you don't want to camp in a tent, you can also request to stay in the hut in the park centre.

Some nocturnal life

Conservation centers notes:

the carnivore and deer rescue centers only start after 7pm
Also, please don't vape or smoke in the rehab centers. The other tourists in our group tour were vaping in the rehab center.

Guided tour notes

If you are a serious birdwatcher, you should speciallty request from the national park a guide that specialises in birds. The guide they send you might not be an expert.
Our guide was friendly and had worked at the National Park for 11 years. He knew some of the non-human residents well. But he got the identification of some animals wrong a few times and he was not the best at spotting. Personally, if you have some wildlife spotting experience in south-east asian rainforests, you might not need a guide which might instead be counter productive to wildlife spotting due to increased group size. Fewer people in a group makes less disturbance that scares away widllife it easier to spot animals because the widllife here seems to be pretty skittish. Also, we were rushed at some points due to the packness of itinerary.

However, a guide is able to provide some information on the resident wildlife hotspots which increases your chances at spotting interesting wildlife. The old staircase inside the cave of the prehistoric man sometimes has a large friendly red headed snake hanging around the nooks and crannies. In this cave, there are a few bats, some large (and frighteningly fast) long-legged centipedes and also cockroaches. Some fruit trees have frequent squirrel and bird visitors.

Doing a tour yourself.

you would definitely need a scooter, car or bicycle to get around as the road from the park entrance to the park center is 20km.
the main day trails are well-paved, so it is easy to follow them on your own. The trails to Muong Village or the peaks are very long and require a guide/overnight stay.
This is the most budget option and you don't really need a guide to do the day trails (those <10km each).
To spot wildlife in Cuc Phuong national on your own really require some wildlife spotting experience in south-eat asian rainforests as the creatures here seem skittish (except the flying squirrels). A guide and a private tour would be useful for this. Private tour would make your chances signficantly higher because a large group would be noisier and scare creatures away.
You will need to buy an entry tickets for the National park / conservation centers at the reception. The ticket for each of the conservation centers is 50k VND and requires a guide.
At the reception (Cuc Phuong National Park headquarters), You can choose to buy individual tours to the rescue center to see the rebilitated/captive wildlife upclose. or also rent kayaks, overnight stays at the rooms available, rent camping equipment, mountain bikes.

General tips for wildlife spotting

We did meet tourists who lament that they can't spot wildlife when they visit Cuc Phuong. In general, the wildlife here hide well and are really skittish. Especially since most of the wildlife that don't hide well would be taken away by poachers. We saw many things flying/fleeing away from us. There were some glimpses of larger birds, some cat (not sure if leopard or civet) and hawks. In general, wildlife spotting in south east asian rainforest really requires some prior practice and experience

Go on weekday mornings (start before 7am) or later afternnoon(start after 3.30pm) when there are fewer visitors and disturbance to scare creatures away.
if you are here for butterflies and insects, come in the wet season (mid april to mid may). But expect rain, warmer temperatures and more leechers then. We visited in November when it is drier and cooler. We did see tons of butterflies but the volume is nowhere close to the volume you will see in peak butterfly season. Butterfly season in Cuc Phuong is quite amazing.
Walk very quietly and wear neutral colors like dark green or brown.

^ We saw the giant black flying squirrel feasting along the trail to the 1000-year old tree. Unfortunately many animals were too fast for our cameras or maybe it's a skill issue lol

^ Bird life is very abundant along the trails. I saw some falcons/hawks/eagles but they were too fast to be captured on camera

^ Interesting insects were easy to spot. Tons of dragonflies and butterflies near the "pool" at the park center campsite and also the Botanical gardens. Naturally, this attracted many praying mantis.

^ seasons for wildlife

Night spotting wildlife in cuc phuong:

One possible place is along the road from the park center restaurant to the park center campsite. We saw a giant black flying squirrel and some cat that is possibly a leopard/civet cat.
There is a relatively short loop trail starting from the restaurant about 3km long that ends near the road at the "pool" next to the park center campsite. We saw gazillion spiders, other insects and frogs.
use yellow/warm or red light not white light, bad for nocturnal creatures eyes.
Night walks can be done without a guide if you know the trail and won't get lost. What you can do is familiarise with the trail in the day and do the same trail at night.

^ One possible night wildlife spotting trail starts from behind the park center restaurant. trailhead circled in blue.