Luc Ngan Lychee Country

In what used to be Bắc Giang province, there is one season when the sloping hills turn pinkish red. The color comes from millions of bunches of ripe lychees. This is the Lục Ngạn lychee season.

The Lục Ngạn lychee country is not a tourist site with a gate and a fixed price board. It is a farming area, wide and spread out, made up of many family orchards and cooperatives across Lục Ngạn and the communes around it. Before the administrative reorganization of 2025, all of it lay in Bắc Giang province. Today it belongs to Bắc Ninh province. Older documents still say Bắc Giang, and that is simply the earlier name.

The way there runs through the midland hills of the northeast, climbing gradually. In lychee season, the sight of hills covered in lychee trees, rolling on and on, is hard to forget.

The Lục Ngạn lychee has a brand story worth telling. It was the first agricultural product from Vietnam to be granted protection by Japan as a geographical indication. That means Japan recognized lychees named for Lục Ngạn as a product tied to that place, so fruit from elsewhere cannot borrow the name. Many plots in the area meet VietGAP, GlobalGAP or organic standards.

In 2025, the Lục Ngạn area had more than 10,300 hectares of lychees. Early lychees are picked first. The main harvest usually runs from mid-June to the end of July.

In the lychee-season tourism programs, visitors usually tour the orchards and hear how the fruit is grown and harvested. They eat lychees right there, take photos among the trees and buy lychees as gifts. The local authorities chose family orchards and cooperatives with attractive scenery, production that meets standards, enough land and easy access.

The communes most often named are Thanh Hải and Quý Sơn. Tân Sơn and Giáp Sơn are named too. So are Hộ Đáp and Nam Dương. Trù Hựu and Phượng Sơn also appear.

Some lychee routes add Cấm Sơn Lake and Khuôn Thần Lake. Others add Am Vãi Pagoda and the old village of Bắc Hoa. Another stop is the village that makes mỳ Chũ noodles. These places lie scattered across the area, each with its own northeastern character.

In the main season, a visitor stands in an orchard looking at pinkish red bunches hanging heavy on every branch, while farmers tell how Lục Ngạn lychees came to be recognized by Japan. It is a rare thing to eat, right there in the orchard, a fruit that has earned such recognition.