Things to do on the Dong Van karst plateau

Dong Van is not a single site but a limestone plateau at the far end of the Ha Giang loop, recognised by UNESCO as a Global Geopark rather than a World Heritage Site.

The relief is what sets it apart from the rest of the loop: grey karst peaks and sinkholes, terraced maize plots wedged into rock crevices rather than paddy fields, and villages built from stacked stone walls, including Lung Cu near the Chinese border and the old trading town of Dong Van itself with its Sunday market.

The plateau is crossed by a sequence of mountain passes, among them the Ma Pi Leng, cut into the cliff above the Nho Que river. Weather turns colder here than in Hanoi, with a real risk of mist and drizzle in spring and a cold, sometimes near-freezing winter.