Hon Ba, “second Da Lat” in Khanh Hoa

Hon Ba is about 35 kilometers away from this province as the crow flies but 60 kilometers by road. The road from the 1A National Highway to Hon Ba Mountain is an exciting trip to exploration lovers. The higher we reach, the cooler the climate gets. The scenery on the way to Hon Ba is particularly interesting with immense primeval forests, birdsong and the murmur of brooks.

The route to Hon Ba makes us image the road Doctor A.Yersin discovered Hon Ba previously. According to document of Yersin Museum, the doctor rode a horse to Hon Ba top and built a wooden house to stay and grow new plants, including cinchona to make up medicine for malaria. Additionally, he set up a research station here. The second-floor house with a horse cage and an ancient tree beside was restored in 2004.

Hon Ba attracts tourists by its beautiful landscape. The natural reserve in Hon Ba has 592 species of vascular plants, 255 species of animals, including 41 species of plants and 59 species of animals in the Red List. Therefore, visitors to Hon Ba like to go deep into the forests to discover the nature. Taking photographs of forest of high trees, feeling wind and hearing birdsongs is many people’s delight. Some visitors stay here overnight to feel mysteriousness of the mountain and forests and the coldness of frost at night. Some of them think that Hon Ba is finest in early morning when clouds go down and cover on the forests and first sunlight pierces spaces between leaves while some like sunset here most when afternoon sun spreads on straw grass and the sun is handed on tree top. But all of them recognize Hon Ba as an attractive tourist spot.

Khanh Hoa’s tourism starts an intention to forward tourism in Hon Ba, making the mountain a famous destination beside Nha Trang beach.