Vietnam is a beautiful place with numerous heritage sites, colonial-era buildings, ancient temples, rice fields, and more. But if you look beyond that, the country is also home to unique, weird, and wonderful places. And if you ever want to go off the unbeaten path and explore less popular places, this is the place for you.
Let’s take a look at some unique places to visit in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, they do theme parks a little differently. The Suoi Tien Theme Park is a Buddhist theme park located just outside Ho Chi Minh City. Yes, you heard that right, a Buddhist theme park. The park is filled with colorful giant statues of animals mentioned in Buddhist folklore like dragons, tigers, phoenixes, frogs, and so on. Among the park's many fantastical features are a rotating giant frog statue at the entrance, a golden dragon with a shrine inside it, and paths lined with statues shaped like giant elephant tusks. One of the most popular attractions in the park is the wave pool that resembles the face of Lac Long Quan, Vietnam’s founding father. You can also find a crocodile pond where you can feed the 1500 live crocodiles that live there.
Designed by architect Dang Viet Nga, the Crazy House of Dalat looks like it's straight out of a fairytale. The house is beautiful yet weird and resembles various organic life forms like mushrooms, shells, caves, etc. The exterior of Hang Nga Crazy House was made to resemble a banyan tree with 'roots' that look like they are halfway to engulfing the entire property. The house is also covered in unevenly shaped windows, endless spiral staircases, bridges, and winding paths. There are 10 rooms inside with each of these rooms having its own theme inspired by an animal or a country. For example, there’s an ant room that represents the hardworking Vietnamese. A tiger room that represents the Chinese, and so on.
Want to know more about the Crazy House? Check out this blog on the Crazy House of Dalat.
We have another amusement park on our list. But this park could not be more different from Suoi Tien Theme Park. Tuy Tien Water Park is an abandoned water park located near the city of Hue. It was created to be a premier entertainment place for families with rides, water slides, pools, etc. But it did not capture people’s imagination like the park officials hoped it would and only a few years after opening, the park closed down permanently. Nowadays, nature has completely overtaken the park. The rides have rusted away including the famous dragon at the entrance, graffiti adorning the walls of the park, and overgrown weeds everywhere. But the park still manages to attract a few curious locals and tourists who visit the park to get a glimpse of the post-apocalyptic park.
High up on the Marble Mountains near Da Nang is the Am Phu Cave or as it is known among locals, the Hell Cave. The cave symbolizes the passage into hell or the afterlife. Once you enter the dark tunnels of this cave, you’ll notice unique and dramatic rock formations along with the grotesque statues depicting hell and suffering created by local artists. After you go through the “tribulations of hell” and reach the shrine at the end of the cave you can light incense and be blessed with salvation. Just around the corner are steep steps that ascend to the next caves.
Le Mat Village or more popularly known as Snake Village is a small village near Hanoi. Not for the squeamish, this village put itself on the map with its snake dishes. The people of this village were once prolific snake hunters and now they have turned their profession into a thriving restaurant business. Every restaurant and eatery here has snakes on their menu including stir-fried snakes, crispy snakeskin, and even snake liquor. If you are feeling adventurous, you can also try out the fresh still-beating snake heart.
So, there you have it, a list of some of the most unique places you can visit in Vietnam. Reach out to BDATrip to prepare your own custom Vietnam tour itinerary. We also provide online Vietnam visa services, hotel bookings, flight bookings, and more.
