Cua Dat Lake

A wide lake lies ringed by forested mountains, and a small boat slides across it on a quiet morning. That is the experience Cửa Đạt Lake can offer. The lake is in the Thường Xuân area of Thanh Hóa.

Cửa Đạt is not a natural lake. It is a reservoir, formed when a river was held back where the Chu and Đặt rivers meet. The Thanh Hóa tourism portal gives its capacity as about 1.5 billion cubic meters of water. The lake lies about 60 kilometers northwest of Thanh Hóa city. Its main task is to supply irrigation water to farms, and it also generates electricity. That is the key background for understanding the lake. It is not only scenery. It is also an irrigation project, tied to the lives of the people downstream.

Still, a large lake among forested mountains makes a striking landscape. Around it lies the natural world of Xuân Liên. In 2025, Xuân Liên Nature Reserve was announced as upgraded to Xuân Liên National Park, with a managed area of more than 25,600 hectares. Notably, 873 hectares of that area are half-flooded land belonging to Cửa Đạt Lake. So the water on view today also lies inside the management area of the national park.

The tourism portal describes a boat route on the lake about 10 kilometers long, made for taking in the mountain and forest scenery of Xuân Liên. At the end of the route, a walk of about 300 meters leads to Yên Falls. A Thanh Hóa newspaper also mentions Hón Yên Falls, which has three tiers. The park holds the Cánh Mạ and Mưa Phùn falls as well. Another fall there is called Tiên.

From the boat, you can watch tall ridges woven in with forest, and a lake surface that changes color with the light of the day. Early morning is often the best time, when a thin mist still lingers and the water lies flat and calm.

The Cửa Đạt area also keeps a layer of history of its own. In Vạn Xuân commune stands the Cửa Đạt historical and cultural relic site. It holds temples to Cầm Bá Thước, to the Council of Officials and to Bà Chúa Thượng Ngàn, and a bell tower. The temple of Cầm Bá Thước honors a notable figure of the resistance against French colonial rule in the late 19th century. Among the mountain forest and the vast lake, these temples are a reminder that this land is not only beautiful. It also carries the memory of many generations of the people of Thường Xuân.

Beautiful nature does not always need to be conquered. Sometimes it is enough to sit in a boat and let the lake and the mountain forest pass before your eyes, and carry home something hard to forget.