Paradise Cave (Thiên Đường)

Paradise Cave — Động Thiên Đường in Vietnamese — is a limestone cave in the hills of Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Vietnam. It was found by a local man in 2005, and British cavers of the British Cave Research Association began exploring it the same year. They went on to survey a total of about 31 km of passages, more than Phong Nha Cave, until then considered the longest in the park, and gave it the name Paradise.

The name refers to the decoration. The passages are huge — up to 72 m high and 150 m wide — and filled with stalactites and stalagmites, columns, curtains and terraces of calcite. The formations are bigger and more elaborate than those of Phong Nha, and in the shaded light the chambers look like underground cathedrals.

The cave opened to visitors on 3 September 2010. A wooden staircase descends from the entrance into the first chamber, and a boardwalk runs for about a kilometre through the lit part of the cave, passing the largest formations. Longer guided trips go about 7 km further into the passages, in the dark and on foot. The cave also has its own tiny inhabitants: in 2012 a new species of cave-dwelling scorpion, Vietbocap thienduongensis, was described from here.

The entrance sits at about 350 m above sea level in forested karst, and the path up from the car park — done on foot or by electric cart — is part of the experience.

Getting there

The cave is near the western branch of the Ho Chi Minh Highway in Quảng Bình province, about 60–70 km by road from the city of Đồng Hới and about 34 km from Ba Đồn. Dong Hoi Airport (VDH) is about 39 km away in a straight line. Most visitors come from Phong Nha village or Đồng Hới by car, motorbike or tour.