Ham Rong Mountain: Land with the beauty of a fairy tale

Ham Rong is a mountain in the Hoang Lien Son range in the middle of Sapa town. This mountain is also a popular ecotourism site.

This mountain range is linked to exciting and interesting stories about the dragon, the most important animal in the Four Spirits of East Asian mythology.

It has natural beauty with stacked cliffs forming the shape of a dragon’s head and surrounded by the Northwest mountains and forests.

Craftsmen in Sapa have also added beautiful touches to Ham Rong Mountain, turning it into an ecotourism area that draws many tourists.

What are the directions to Ham Rong Mountain?

About 3 km from Sapa’s town center, Ham Rong Mountain is behind the Sapa Stone Church. It is one of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range’s beautiful peaks. 

The Ham Rong mountain tourist area covers up to 148 hectares.

From the center of Sapa town, visitors can rent a motorbike or walk along the road after the Stone Church to get to Ham Rong mountain, which is not too far away.

Visitors must buy a ticket at the mountain’s base and walk up the stairs to get to the top of Ham Rong mountain.

Price of a ticket to visit Ham Rong mountain

Here’s how much it costs to get into Ham Rong Mountain Tourist Area:

Adults: 70,000 VND/person

Children over 1.2m: 20,000 VND/person

Children under 1.2m: Free

The Ham Rong mountain tourist area is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors will need about two hours to see all the sights on Ham Rong mountain.

Sapa gets dark pretty early, so tourists should plan their trips to finish the journey before it gets dark and return to a safe place.

The legend of Ham Rong mountain

The mountain range is called Ham Rong, which means “Jaws of the Dragon.” From a distance, the cliffs look like a bronze dragon, with its eyes looking up to the blue sky.

An old story says that two dragons were playing with each other on the mountain above when a big flood came.

A stronger dragon could fly to Heaven, but one was so focused on the game that he didn’t watch, so he fell into the waterfall and turned into a rock.

Today, the dragon’s head facing the sky has taken the shape of Ham Rong mountain, and the tail slowly spreads from Heaven Gate through the top of O Quy Ho, passing down to Muong Hoa valley.

Since 1996, Ham Rong Mountain has been planned, grown, and shaped into what it is today: a tourist area with flower gardens, rock gardens, the Cloud Garden, and the Heaven Gate.

Explore the breathtaking natural wonders of the Ham Rong mountain.

The ecotourism area on Ham Rong Mountain has three main areas: the Ham Rong Flower Garden, the Thach Lam Stone Garden, and the Ham Rong Peak.

When visitors come here, they can see a broad view of Sapa town from above. This place is also a favorite spot for photographers because they can get a picture of Sapa town hidden in the white clouds, like in a fairy tale.

The central flower garden

A central flower garden is a place with many valuable flowers arranged in the shape of the word “Sapa” by skilled craftspeople.

Most flowers grown here come from cold places like France, Russia, and Japan. They are tested in Sapa.

When tourists come here, they will find themselves in a beautiful garden full of flowers.

In the future, the garden will build a place to grow flowers on the property so that flower-loving tourists can buy some to take home and farm.

Thach Lam Rock Garden

The cliffs in the Thach Lam rock garden make visitors think of tiger claws, and the remaining dragon scales make for a very unique and exciting experience.

The rock garden has many cliffs with strange shapes made by nature. The paths here go back and forth, creating a unique stone maze.

Thach Lam’s cliffs make tourists gasp at their beauty. The winding cliffs will give tourists goosebumps as they go deeper into the garden.

Green trees of the mountains and forests are between the cliffs, making the maze even more mysterious. Coming here, travelers will be surprised by how beautiful the labyrinth is.

Orchids Garden

There are up to 200 rare kinds of orchids in the garden. With a temperature range of 15 to 18 degrees celsius all year, orchids grow lusher, bigger, and more beautiful than in many other places.

Orchids are rare, one-of-a-kind plants that are often found in the mountains. In the spring, the orchid garden at Ham Rong mountain blooms quickly, making it an excellent place for people who love this flower.

Statue of 12 Zodiacs

Going through the orchid garden, tourists will come to the site with the statue of the 12 zodiac animals. Zodiac signs are displayed in different places, like around the two paths.

In the garden, there are stone statues mixed in with flowers that grow in rural Vietnam, such as gerbera and rain lilies.

The stone statues of 12 animals of the Zodiac are a part of Vietnamese culture and are thought of as the Vietnamese Zodiac.

In Vietnam, the calendar is based on how the moon constantly moves. The number of days in a new year also changes yearly because of the lunar calendar. One of the twelve animals will represent each year.

Peach garden

On New Year’s Day, the peach garden at Ham Rong Mountain will be in full bloom.

The garden has plants like peach blossoms, an ancient Vietnamese peach tree with a large canopy, beautiful flowers, and many petals.

In the spring, family and friends always visit and enjoy the peach garden at Ham Rong Mountain. The place is always busy and full of laughter.

Cloud yard and Sapa telecommunication station

Cloud yard, also called Thien Dinh Stadium, is the most popular place on Ham Rong Mountain to look for clouds. When tourists come here, they will feel like clouds are moving around under their feet.

Visitors can see Sapa town, Muong Hoa valley, Cat Cat village, and even the beautiful and poetic terraced fields from San May.

The Sapa telecommunications station is the second most important place to see at Ham Rong Mountain.

It is 2,000 meters above sea level. From the Sapa telecommunications station, visitors can see the top of Fansipan- Roof of Indochina, the highest point in Southeast Asia.