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| The special village is located in Bac Son valley. (Source: UN Tourism) |
Maintaining a slow pace of life for generations, Quynh Son Community Tourism Village (Bac Son Commune, Lang Son Province) has just written a new story with the position of "Best Tourist Village" honored by the United Nations Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) in 2025.
Honoring indigenous culture
Nestled among the limestone mountains of Bac Son valley, Quynh Son has a rare special feature that most of the houses face south - the direction called "thong long" by the Tay people to welcome vitality, light and luck.
Especially, in the rice harvest season around September and October, the whole village turns into a golden carpet blending with the clouds and mountains. Visitors come here not only to admire the scenery, but also to slow down, listen to the stories of the people, try a Tay meal with Khau Nhuc, roasted duck, grilled stream fish or Banh Chung Cam.
Quynh Son develops community-based tourism, where each resident is a tour guide, a storyteller, and a keeper of cultural identity. It is known that more than 90% of the villagers have the surname Duong - a Tay ethnic group with a long tradition of solidarity and cultural preservation.
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| Tourists enjoy experiencing rice planting activities in the village. (Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) |
Thanks to that, tourism does not disturb traditional life but becomes a natural part of the community. In the village, there are only a few households doing tourism, mainly simple homestay services, without commercial noise. Visitors coming here are welcomed like relatives visiting home, invited to eat, harvest rice, weave baskets, brew corn wine or sing Then by the fire.
It is this sincerity and simplicity that makes hundreds of foreign tourists choose Quynh Son as a stop every year, learn how to live slowly, immerse themselves in nature and the local people such as discovering the yin-yang tile roof making profession, climbing Na Lay mountain...
The village still preserves many historical and cultural relics such as Quynh Son communal house worshiping Quy Minh Dai Vuong, which is hundreds of years old, or Ra Rieng bridge - the place marking the Bac Son uprising in 1940.
Every year, in January, people enthusiastically celebrate the Long Tong festival - a festival to pray for a bountiful harvest. The sounds of Vi and Then singing, Tan Dan dancing resound amidst the bustling atmosphere of folk games such as throwing con, swinging... creating a Quynh Son with brilliant cultural colors of the Northeast region.
Journey to become “The best tourist village”
Many years ago, with the orientation of developing green and sustainable tourism, Lang Son province invested in improving tourism infrastructure associated with environmental protection: Waste collection and treatment system, clean water source, limiting single-use plastic, increasing green area.
In Quynh Son, each house is encouraged to use natural materials, traditional yin-yang tiled roofs, which are both beautiful and environmentally friendly. The local community is at the center of change: trained in hospitality skills, service management, food safety, fire prevention, civilized behavior and environmental protection.
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| Quynh Son develops community-based tourism, where each resident is a tour guide, a storyteller, and a keeper of cultural identity. (Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) |
Mr. Duong Cong Chich’s family is one of the first five households in the village to switch to tourism to welcome visitors. Local livelihood models such as homestay, traditional cuisine, handicrafts and agricultural-cultural experiences have helped his family and other villagers increase their income, and encourage women and young people to participate in the tourism value chain.
Ms. Tran Thi Bich Hanh - Deputy Director of the Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Lang Son province said that the Center has launched a campaign to widely promote Quynh Son since 2023. The image of the community tourism village is introduced on the Smart Tourism portal, social networking platforms and especially through carefully invested experiential videos.
The center also invited many famous KOLs and KOCs to directly experience and create short content, helping Quynh Son's image spread strongly, attracting millions of views on the internet.
Those efforts were materialized in early 2025, when the 53-page nomination dossier for the “World’s Best Tourist Village” award was completed in English, along with dozens of photos, videos and supporting documents, which were reviewed by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and sent to UN Tourism.
After many rounds of rigorous evaluation on governance, innovation, sustainability, environment and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Quynh Son surpassed more than 270 applications from 65 countries to be named in the list of honors held on October 17 in Huzhou city, Zhejiang province (China).
This success is a source of pride for the local community and the Vietnamese tourism industry. The title is even more meaningful as Lang Son was recognized by UNESCO as a Global Geopark in April 2025, joining a network of 229 geoparks in 50 countries.
The key to sustainable tourism
For Quynh Son, the title of “Best Tourist Village” is not the final destination but the beginning of a new journey of sustainable development in the era of globalization.
It is easy to see that the small village’s success today comes from its steadfast adherence to local values. While many other rural destinations follow the mass tourism model, Quynh Son chooses to go slowly but surely, helping people understand that only by preserving the village’s soul will tourism have a future.
Chairman of Bac Son commune Trinh Minh Tuan said that immediately after being honored, the Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Lang Son province and the commune continued to implement a new communication plan, aiming to promote the title and build the Quynh Son community tourism brand on the world map.
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| It is easy to see that the small village's success today comes from its steadfast adherence to indigenous values. (Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism) |
Images of green, clean, and beautiful villages, the smiles of Tay people on the porches of stilt houses, or the sound of Tinh zithers in the valley now appear not only in domestic reports but also on international channels.
Every visitor to Quynh Son can bring back a unique memory. Some people will forever remember the sunset that dyed the valley golden, some are drawn to the neatly arranged yin-yang tiled roofs, and some simply find here a sense of peace from a rural area... This is also a vivid demonstration of the effectiveness of the harmonious development model between conservation and tourism, between indigenous culture and globalization trends.
The “Best Tourist Village” Award, initiated by UN Tourism, is a global initiative to honor rural destinations with outstanding achievements in preserving culture and nature, developing sustainable tourism and improving livelihoods for the community. The title is selected based on a strict system of criteria on governance, creativity, sustainability, environment and contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), becoming an international standard for high-quality community tourism models. Up to now, Vietnam has had five tourist villages honored by UN Tourism as “Best Tourist Villages” including: Tan Hoa Village (Quang Tri), Thai Hai Village (Thai Nguyen), Tra Que Vegetable Village (Da Nang), Lo Lo Chai Village (Tuyen Quang), Quynh Son Community Tourism Village (Lang Son). These names are clear evidence of the integration capacity and enduring vitality of Vietnam’s rural tourism in the process of green and humane development. |
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/ngoi-lang-dac-biet-duoi-thung-lung-bac-son-333143.html
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