• Cave with a high and wide door
• Cave with the most beautiful sand and reefs
• Cave with the most beautiful underground river
• Cave with the most magnificent system of stalactites
• Cave with dry, high and wide chambers
• Cave with a beautiful, deep and wide lake
• The longest wet cave.

With a length of 7,729m, Phong Nha is one of the world’s longest water caves. In particular, this is the sole cave with an underground river in Vietnam that is opened for tourists.

Thien Duong is 30km long and 60m high and its width ranges from 30m to over 150m, and is at a height of 360m above sea level. According to scientists at the British Royal Cave Society, it is the longest dry cave in Asia. Its highlights are unique stalactites in shapes of Bodhisattva Buddha, kylin (unicorn) and phoenix. The cave also has the longest wooden stairway in Vietnam which is over one kilometer long with local authorities expected to extend some more kilometers onto the stairway.

Being attracted by the limestone karst mountains were, so they decided to go to Asia in 1990. The couple patiently sought the cooperation of regional agencies and organizations. Finally, they got some help from Hanoi General University, now named Hanoi National University, to make their trip to Vietnam possible. After that, they focused on exploring destinations in Vietnam. Being a member of the British Cave Research Association, Howard has led an expedition team on trips to Vietnam since 1990. The team has cooperated with Hanoi National University to conduct 14 journeys to different localities in Vietnam, including Quang Binh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Lang Son, Cao Bang and Ha Giang. It has discovered nearly 300km of caves in Vietnam.

The team of this couple found Khe Ry in Quang Binh Province in 1997, the world’s longest underground cave. In 2009, it discovered Son Doong, the world’s biggest cave, also in Quang Binh. Their reports have contributed to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park being recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.

According to Dr Howard,Vietnamhas one of the world’s most impressive limestone areas. Clearly, many caves situated in Ke Bang Mountain have yet to be found, Howard and his team hope to continue their search with the cooperation of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Besides, the couple has helped call on the international community to pay attention to the protection ofVietnam’s nature and environment. They have also shown a number of well-known film crews aroundVietnam. Through the films, the world has become more aware of Vietnam’s beauty and the world’s biggest cave, Son Doong, in Quang Binh

Their most recent visit to Vietnam is from March 3 to April 26, 2012, along with their team and some film crews to make documentaries about caves in Quang Binh. In 2010, the British expedition team took the film crews and reporters from Kyodo, NHK, BBC, and National Geographic among others, to Vietnam to shoot films about Son Doong Cave. In 2011, they invited representatives from the BBC to Quang Binh to make another film about Son Doong Cave.

Before we’d even set foot in the country, my boyfriend and I had very clear expectations about what we would see. Naive as we were, our preconceptions could not have been more wrong …..until we went to Phong Nha-Ke Bang, the national park which borders Laos.

It was there that much of the hand to hand jungle combat made famous in films such as Platoon actually took place. For the first time, the scenery we passed corresponded with all the movies we knew – rivers and jungles and dense vegetation, as well as rice paddies, villages and traditional rural life. There is much in the area for those that are interested in finding out about the American War and local tour operators run trips to many sites in which key battles took place. Significant sections of the famous Ho Chi Minh trail are located in the park, and it is possible to visit the nearby Vinh Moc tunnels, the Ben Hai River Museum, and the Hien Luong Riverbank where the former demilitarized zone was officially set.

But Phong Nha is more than the sum of its war connections. Due to its biodiversity, unique beauty and geodiversity, the national park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Hidden in the depths of the mountains is the spectacular Son Doong (the world’s largest cave, discovered in 2005). If that doesn’t satisfy your caveman instincts, pop into Phong Nha cave which contains hundreds of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites as well as the world’s longest underground river.

The trickiest thing about the area is getting there. Be warned:  it is remote, but worth the journey, and the cheapest option is a six hour haul by local bus from Danang. Our bus ride entailed an ongoing game of musical chairs while passengers and their luggage (including a motorbike) were shuffled around the available space. We slept at the Phong Nha farmstay, a little utopia with a swimming pool at the end of a rice paddy, and spent happy evenings there meeting other travelers and trying local dishes.

My favorite day was actually the least activity packed – I simply went for a walk with some new friends along the local roads. I’ll forever chuckle over the excitement we caused when we walked past a school – all the children burst through the gate and surrounded us, laughing and demanding to have their photos taken. Their enthusiasm and warm welcome, in the midst of the beautiful national park, is one of my happiest memories from our travels in Vietnam.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang area is noted for its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos with a total length of about 70 km, of which only 20 have been surveyed by Vietnamese and British scientists; 17 of these are in located in the Phong Nha area and three in the Ke Bang area. After April 2009, total length of caves and grottoes are 126 km.Before discovery of Son Doong Cave, Phong Nha held several world cave records, as it has the longest underground river, as well as the largest caverns and passageways.

The park derives it name from Phong Nha cave, the most beautiful of all, containing many fascinating rock formations, and Ke Bang forest.

The plateau on which the park is situated is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia.

Tien Son Grotto is more than 980m long. Going into the cave for about 400m, visitors will see an abyss, about 10m deep. Then comes another part of the cave, about 500m long is rather dangerous for walking. At present, nearly 400m of the cave have been installed with lighting system to make it safe for visitors.

Some look like a man or an animal, and there is one that looks like the Learning Tower of Pisa in Italy. On the cave ceiling, there are glittering gold and silver-like veins. Some stalagmites produce an echoing sound when slightly knocked.

Limber Howard, Chief of the British Royal Team of Cave Researchers, who visited and made studies of the site, said that Tien Son Grotto may have been formed tens of millions of years ago. A river ran through the limestone mountain and eroded it. Then huge rocks fell, separated the mountain and form the cave. An under ground river ran through the lower part of the mountain, creating Phong Nha Grotto. Thus, Tien Son Grotto is older than Phong Nha Grotto and they do not link with each other. Geographical tectonics in Tien Son Grotto is rather stable.

A pleasant, sleepy town, Phong Nha is nestled at the foot of a series of limestone cliffs in an otherwise flat region, 45 km to the northwest of Dong Hoi.

The limestone massifs are similar to those seen on the Andaman coast of Thailand and mark are stark change in the geology of Vietnam as you pass from south to north.

The only reason to visit Phong Nha is to visit the Phong Nha cave system, but an overnight here makes sense if you have time in your schedule.

If you’re one who considers caves to be nothing more than a hole in the ground, you have to see this cave to realize just how mistaken you are.

There are caves, there are big caves and there are gigantic, world record-breaking caves like what you’ll see in Phong Nha. If you’ve only got time for one cave in your holidays, this is it.

The town is located along the main road from highway 14, stretching 2 km to the boat landing for the caves. Accommodation is generally good and not too expensive. It’s a good place for a restful night if you’ve been harrying about Vietnam from hot-spot to hot-spot.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang covers over 200,000 hectares of beautiful limestone formations, grottoes and caves with lush forestland covering 95 percent of the park’s area. Phong Nha Cave is 13,000 meters long, including 14 grottos which are 10-40 meters in height each and sparkle with many mysterious stalactites and rocks in diverse colors and sizes.

Phong Nha Cave is where you will find the country’s longest underground water cave, the widest and highest cavern entrance, the widest and prettiest sand bank and rock formation, the prettiest underground lake, the most miraculous and magnificent stalactites, the longest underground river and the widest and prettiest cavern and passageway.

In addition to the diversity of the ecosystem, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is home to archeological and historical relics such as ancient hieroglyphic script of the Cham ethnic minority, King Ham Nghi’s base built for the resistance war against French colonialists in the late 19th century, the Xuan Son Ferry Station, the Ho Chi Minh Trail and Road 20 that was used during the U.S. resistance war.