About Khe Van Waterfall (Thác Khe Vằn)
The Khe Van Waterfall (Thác Khe Vằn) was a cascading type waterfall featuring at least 3 tiers having a cumulative height of an estimated 30m tall or so (though I saw one site claim it’s 100m tall, which might be a stretch).
It’s said to be the largest such waterfall in Quang Ninh, a province which also happens to share an international boundary with China to the north.
The name khe van in the Tay language (one of the ethnic minorities living in this area) is said to mean “a small stream with many waterfalls”, but I’ve also seen in the literature that the waterfall’s name means “smoky stream”.
Speaking of smoky stream, as you can see from our Dry Season visit in mid-April 2025 (photos on this page), we didn’t come at the optimal time in terms of waterflow (that would be the Wet Season between May to October).
Khe Van Waterfall is remote, and it hasn’t really been developed for tourism (except for some directional road signs pointing the way to the falls as of our visit).
So coming here really felt somewhat off the beaten path, especially considering that it was roughly a 2.5- to 3-hour drive from the much busier Halong City to get to this waterfall (see directions below).
There were lots of farms in the surrounding Binh Lieu mountains, which further attested to this place’s rural nature where ethnic minorities (Tay, Dao, and San Chi) call this area home.
Experiencing Thac Khe Van Waterfall
Once we started on the walk from the trailhead (which seemed like an open space with some rural farm houses and some heavy duty farm or construction vehicles on one side), we then followed a tractor road.
The tractor road went alongside a rocky stream bed (which I’m sure might be submerged in the Wet Season as our visit was late in the Dry Season), and it turned out that this stream was actually the outflow of the Khe Van Waterfall.
As we got to about 300m from the trailhead, we saw the Thac Khe Van Waterfall dropping in at least three main tiers over a section of bare rock to our right.
Just before the path started to ascend up a hill, we descended on a spur path going onto the stream bed, where we could get right to the edge of the waterfall’s plunge pool.
Even though the views of the waterfall were already pretty nice from both the trail and the edge of the plunge pool, I did take the time to go across the stream and continue scrambling up the right side of the falls to see how much further up I could go.
My Mom (who was with me when I made my visit here) wasn’t comfortable with the degree of difficulty and roughness of the scramble so she stayed at the bottom.
Indeed, the scrambling started off with a rather huge step just to reach the existing steps that were already cut into the slippery bedrock (undoubtedly worn smooth from water erosion over time).
And as I got further, I had to do a little more ledge clinging before doing a somewhat uncomfortable crossing of the stream above the lowermost tier of Thac Khe Van Waterfall.
Eventually, I got up to a flatter but sloping slab fronting a smaller plunge pool below the main middle tier of the waterfall.
I didn’t bother taking any chances by continuing to go further up the waterfall so this was pretty much my turnaround point, but I also noticed that there was some kind of sign at the very top.
I couldn’t get a read on what that sign said, but I’d imagine it was some kind of warning or danger sign.
So that suggested that it might be possible to go up there (maybe that’s where the uphill path that we deviated from ultimately went to in another 1.5km or so).
I doubt that there would be a direct way up to the top from where I was at as it was simply too sketchy to proceed beyond the middle tier of the Khe Van Waterfall.
Thus, after coming back down and returning to the trailhead, when all was said and done, we had spent about 45 minutes away from the car (including all the picture taking and scrambling).
Authorities
The Khe Van Waterfall resides in the Huc Dong Commune within the Binh Lieu District of the Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. It is administered by the Binh Lieu District Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism website.
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