Tay Yen Tu Nature Reserve

On the western slope of the Yên Tử range lies Tây Yên Tử, a forest where nature and culture cannot be pulled apart.

The reserve lies on the western side of the Yên Tử range, part of the Đông Triều arc. The forest crosses the communes of An Lạc and Thanh Sơn. It also takes in Thanh Luận, all three in the Sơn Động area. The fourth commune is Lục Sơn, in the Lục Nam area. Since Resolution 202 of 2025, the whole area has belonged to Bắc Ninh province.

According to the Department of Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, the Yên Tử forest ranges from about 200 meters to more than 1,000 meters above sea level. The terrain is steep and complex. A preliminary survey recorded 728 plant species and 226 animal species. It is a varied ecosystem, and a fairly intact one compared with many other forests in northeastern Vietnam.

But the figures are only half of what sets Tây Yên Tử apart. The region still keeps many ancient monuments from the Lý and Trần dynasties. The Lý dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. The Trần dynasty ruled from 1225 to 1400. Among the monuments are Am Vãi and Suối Mỡ. Others are Hồ Bấc and Huyền Sơn. There are also Khám Lạng and Hòn Tháp. Last comes Yên Mã. Most are linked to Trúc Lâm Buddhism, which Emperor Trần Nhân Tông founded. A visitor walking through this forest crosses an ecological zone and also a cultural corridor. Hundreds of years ago, that corridor connected the plains with Yên Tử, the sacred mountain.

People come to the forest by way of the Tây Yên Tử spiritual ecotourism area, a tourist site next to the reserve. It has a central square, a five-elements garden, Infinity Hill, the Lower Pagoda, a cable car and the Upper Pagoda. The cable car is 2.1 kilometers long and has 45 cabins. It lifts visitors high above a sea of forest spreading out at their feet.

Inside the reserve, ecological trails lead deeper. One goes from Đồng Thông up to Chùa Đồng. Another reaches the Ba Tia waterfall, along a path beside a murmuring stream under the trees. Then there is the trail into Biểng village and Vũng Tròn. It continues to Khe Rỗ, where the sound of flowing water drowns out every other sound. Farther still, the trail to Nước Vàng and the Giót waterfall gives the feeling of a real journey into the deep forest.

On the cable car, looking down on the sea of forest, or listening to the clear stream at Khe Rỗ or the Ba Tia waterfall, a visitor stands in a rare kind of place for the northeast. The forest is still thick, the monuments are still there, and the thread between nature and history has not been cut.

The mountain of Yên Tử does not belong only to the Quảng Ninh side. The western slope has its own forest road, and a memory of Trúc Lâm Buddhism that is still whole.