Lạng Sơn Province

For centuries, Lạng Sơn has been the gateway between Vietnam and China, used by traders, armies and, today, columns of trucks. A trip to Lạng Sơn takes you to a border town with cave temples and into valleys where the Tày and Nùng grow rice among limestone cliffs.

A Border Town Among Limestone Hills

The province lies about 150 kilometers northeast of Hanoi, along the road and rail line that lead to the Hữu Nghị border crossing into China. The city of Lạng Sơn, with its neighborhoods of Đông Kinh, Kỳ Lừa, Tam Thanh and Lương Văn Tri, sits on the Kỳ Cùng River, one of the few rivers in Vietnam that flow north into China. Limestone hills rise all around. More than three quarters of residents belong to the Tày and Nùng peoples. Border trade shapes daily life, especially at the Kỳ Lừa Market, where Chinese goods sit alongside mountain herbs.

Sights in Lạng Sơn

Right in the city is Tam Thanh Cave, a grotto with Buddha statues and a small lake; next to it rises the rock of Nàng Tô Thị, a woman who, according to legend, waited in vain for her husband and turned to stone. Nhị Thanh Cave and the remains of the Mạc dynasty citadel are also nearby. About 80 kilometers to the west lies the Bắc Sơn Valley, a plain of rice fields beneath limestone cones that is best viewed from the Nà Lay viewpoint; at the autumn rice harvest, the valley glows golden. To the northeast, Mẫu Sơn rises to more than 1,500 meters, where it occasionally snows in winter.

Food, Getting There and Best Time to Visit

Lạng Sơn is known for vịt quay, a whole duck stuffed with mắc mật leaves and roasted, and for crispy roast pork, lợn quay. Khâu nhục, braised pork belly with taro, comes from Nùng cooking. Also look for persimmons, star anise and rice liquor from Mẫu Sơn. Buses from Hanoi take the expressway and need about three hours; trains take considerably longer. The best time to visit is autumn, from September to November, when it is dry and the rice fields are ripe. Winter is cold and foggy, and summer is humid and hot.