Tourists in the Chi Day Grotto in Son La Province

Chi Day Grotto, a scenic spot in Yen Chau District’s Yen Son Commune, is a gift nature has bestowed on northwestern Son La Province.

Chi Day Grotto is a complex of five caves but only the first three caves are open to tourists. Cave Number One is the warmest of all.

Cave Number Two has numerous stalagmites and stalactites.

Cave Number Three, also called Elephant Cave, is about 500 meters deep. Near the bottom of the cave is a big rock which looks like a white elephant. Many stone pillars almost reach the ceiling of the cave. Narrow gaps, which separate its four sections, make it difficult for a medium-sized person to get through.

Le Hong Phong, head of Yen Chau District Chamber of Culture and Information, said the other two caves, about 600 meters beyond the first three, are too dangerous to allow visitors.

Locals, Phong said, have known about Chi Day Grotto for a long time but they and people from outside Son La only began visiting it late last year.

According to Kieu Duc Nam, head of the cave management board, many tourists come from Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and Binh Dinh provinces. “The cave receives about 50-70 visitors a day,” he says. “On festive occasions, hundreds of visitors arrive.”

Services at the grotto are still poor, with only some small tents by the entrance where visitors can take a rest and have a drink, tourists say.

The cave management board, according to Nam, has petitioned district authorities for a parking lot and wider roads to turn Chi Day Grotto into a well-known tourist site in Son La.

How to get there

From Hanoi, take National Highway No. 6 and travel 260 kilometers to get to Son La Province’s Yen Chau District. Follow the signs about 14.5 kilometers to the grotto.

Travelers should set out early in the morning to include a stop at Dan Village by the foot of the mountain and have a Thai lunch in a stilt house. At night, visitors can stay at a hotel in Yen Chau Town.

Reported by Hoang Trung Hieu