Thái Nguyên

Thái Nguyên is Vietnam's 9th largest city, famous for Tan Cuong tea. It was also the site of Vietnam's first steel mill and is nowadays the home of a large university and distinctive "Coffee Street" (Hoàng Hoa Thám) where you can pretty much find a coffee shop everywhere you turn.

Thái Nguyên is about 80 km north of Hanoi.

• 🌍 Thái Nguyên railway station (Ga Thái Nguyên). (updated May 2023)

There should be plenty of motorbike taxis.

• 🌍 Cultural museum of Vietnam ethnic minority groups (Bảo tàng Văn hóa các Dân tộc Việt Nam), 1 Đội Cấn, Trưng Vương. 07:30-11:30, 13:30-17:00 daily, closed M. Kind of a smaller version of the ethnographic museum of Hanoi. (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Đài phun nước TP. Thái Nguyên. Multi-colored fountain right in front of the cultural museum that is a gathering point in the evening. (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Quảng trường Võ Nguyên Giáp (just northeast of cultural museum and fountain). a nationalist type monument with hourglass-like obelisk and town square. (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Cua Tu Waterfall (Suối Cửa Tử), Hoàng Nông (west of Nui Coc Lake). somewhat dirty forest waterfall (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Phuong Hoang Cave (Hang Phượng Hoàng), QL 1B, Phú Thượng, Võ Nhai (about 45 km northeast of Thai Nguyen via DT265/QL1B), ☏ +84 916040388. Riverine cave system and karst formations. (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Thai Hai Reserve Area of Ecological Houses-on-stilts Ethnic Village (Khu bảo tồn Làng nhà sàn Dân tộc Sinh thái Thái Hải), Khu du lịch Thái Hải, Thịnh Đức (southwest of Thai Nguyen), ☏ +84 832192184. Stilt village ethnic tour. (updated Aug 2020)
• 🌍 Tan Cuong Tea Cultural Center (Không gian văn hóa trà Thái Nguyên), Tân Cương, Thành phố Thái Nguyên, ☏ +84 2083700077. Tea farm tours. (updated Aug 2020)

• 🌍 Nui Coc Lake, Tan Thai Commune Dai Tu District (about 18 km west of Thai Nguyen). a lake featuring an amusement park on a hill, water park, boat rides, extreme sport activities, sunsets behind tea plantations, and musical water performances. Kind of like a Vietnamese ecotourism area on steroids with concrete Buddhas and dragons everywhere. (updated Aug 2020)

• 🌍 Habana Hotel Thai Nguyen, 318 Quang Trung, Tân Thịnh, Thành phố Thái Nguyên, ☏ +84 901522663. Clean multi-story hotel with pool, spa, restaurant, free breakfast, wifi, spa. 531385 dong. (updated Aug 2020)