The famous Tam Dao mountain in Vietnam is 80km long, passing through 3 provinces. The forest in Vinh Phuc is full of wild animals.

Tam Dao is a famous rocky mountain range in Vietnam located in the Northern Delta region, covering 4 provinces and cities: Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang. Tam Dao tourist area is located entirely in Tam Dao district of Vinh Phuc province, known as "Da Lat 2". Tam Dao primeval forest still has wild animals...

The high mountain range has three famous peaks.

Tam Dao mountain range is mostly located in the territory of 4 provinces and cities: Hanoi , Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang provinces.

According to the book An Nam chi luoc recorded in the 14th century: Tam Dao mountain belongs to Tuyen Quang prefecture, in Tam Duong district, there are three towering mountains rising up to the sky along with Tan Vien mountain, two peaks standing opposite each other, are famous mountains of Vietnam.

According to the current administrative boundary map, Tam Dao mountain range borders Tam Duong district to the southwest, Lap Thach district to the west, and Son Duong district (Tuyen Quang province) to the northwest.

The highest peak of the Tam Dao mountain range is Thach Ban mountain located on the border of Tam Dao district (Vinh Phuc province) and Dai Tu district (Thai Nguyen province).

Tam Dao is a large rocky mountain range 80km long, 10-15km wide, running northwest-southeast, where Tam Dao National Park was established in 1996.

Tam Dao is a rocky mountain range about 80km long, bordering 4 provinces, Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang. Tam Dao town, Vinh Phuc province, is located 75km from Hanoi. At an altitude of more than 900m above sea level. Photo: VQGTĐ.

Tam Dao mountain range is located in Tam Dao district of Vinh Phuc province with 3 famous high peaks: Phu Nghia mountain (Rung Rinh), 1350m high; Thien Thi mountain, 1375m high and Thach Ban mountain, 1388m high.

Properties of Tam Dao mountain rocks

The main rocks in the Tam Dao mountain range are porphyry rhyolite, penzite and their tuffs. The Tam Dao mountain range runs in the Northwest - Southeast direction, about 80 km long, 10 to 15 km wide, from Son Duong town, Son Duong district (Tuyen Quang) to Phu Linh commune, Soc Son district (Hanoi). Due to its relatively steep slope, Tam Dao has many streams and waterfalls.

According to the Vinh Phuc Province Portal, Tam Dao mountain rocks have created a majestic appearance. From Vinh Yen town, on clear days, looking up at Tam Dao, we see not only "Three peaks rising high up to the blue sky" as Le Quy Don described in the book "Kien Van Tieu Luc".

About 230 million years ago in the mid-Triassic period, Tam Dao mountain rock was formed from volcanic activities due to acid eruptions from the seabed during the Ladini period.

The eruptive rocks are differentiated into groups, some flows in waves on the ground, some flows in streams, in overlapping layers or in a chaotic manner, with later layers overlapping earlier ones, creating a cone shape.

In the 18th century, there were seven undulating mountains blocking the horizon in the Northeast. From low to high, from near to far, they were all boldly blue.

First is the lowest Bau mountain range, gradually rising to Dinh mountain, Con Trau mountain, Con Coc mountain, Mo Qua mountain and finally Tam Dao range with the peaks of Thach Ban, Thien Thi, Mang Chi all created by the stone of heaven. The undulating high and low of the terrain elements, people can only explain by the structure of the rock.

The composition of the rock is quite complex, the main minerals are quartz, feldspar, mica. The rock also contains metallic substances such as copper, lead, tin, tungsten and even gold, in some places they are carved into a system of ore veins sandwiched in the mountain rock. The architecture of the rock has different features depending on the pressure and temperature at the time of crystallization. The main rocks we find in Tam Dao are Riolit porcfia, penzite and their tuffs.

Porphyry is an extrusive granite with a raised texture of round or oval feldspar crystals emerging from a background of cryptocrystalline minerals like peanut or sesame candy.

When the stone surface is polished, we see a very perfect natural decoration, even and much more beautiful than artificial granite tiles produced with cement and limestone, its durability is up to ten times greater.

Stone Church, an ancient church built of stone from Tam Dao mountain. Photo: Thanh Truc.

Rhyolite porphyry has high mass production and is used in the fields of sawn stone, carved stone, paving and patching of crushed stone.

Rocks with high hardness, uniform durability between minerals, porphyry rhyolite often plays a major role in maintaining the pyramidal shape that dominates the peaks of Tam Dao range. On the route on the streams in Tay Thien, in Dao Tru, Minh Quang and along the way to the resort, we all encounter porphyry rhyolite.

The boulders are as big as houses and elephants lying across the stream. Tourists often sit and rest, finding them smooth and lovely.

The coin-shaped patterns printed on the rock surface remind people of a carpet of flowers laid out on the cool rock carpet, with the stream flowing, many tourists have found a dreamy nap in the middle of the day after hours of climbing.

- Penzite rocks form narrow bands, sandwiched within porphyry rhyolite rocks, these are layered grains with elongated shapes and cryptocrystalline architecture.

Pezite is usually a dark black or light gray stone that can be polished to a mirror-like shine. A fine-grained base if used as a decorative stone, penzite plays the role of a very luxurious jade today.

Walking on Dai Dinh and Tam Quan streams and even on the Cau and Co temples, you can pick up pieces of blue-black penzite stone, forming stripes and winding veins. Those who value stones and want to collect them can pick them up, polish them to a smooth shine and observe, you will see the land, clouds and sky of Tam Dao in them.

Nature has endowed Tam Dao with giant porphyry-penzite rhyolite blocks, creating a range hundreds of kilometers long and tens of kilometers wide.

In particular, the rocks have built hundreds of beautiful waterfalls in dozens of streams for Tam Dao. Silver Waterfall in Tam Dao is up to 50m high, the white water foams on the rocky slopes, captivating many tourists.

The French who built the resort used stone to build the church villa. The Tay Thien people used stone to build steps leading to the temple, which are dozens of kilometers long.

Today, Minh Quang quarry and Trung Mau quarry have provided Vinh Phuc with millions of cubic meters of boulders and crushed stone for embankments, roads and infrastructure construction, bringing the province to prosperity.

Characteristics of Tam Dao forest

Tam Dao forests and forest ecosystems are located almost entirely within the scope of Tam Dao National Park. Tam Dao National Park is a valuable resource store, a place that preserves high biodiversity with many rare and endemic species of animals and plants, and is a place to reserve, conserve and restore genetic resources.

Tam Dao National Park is located entirely on the Tam Dao mountain range, over 80km long, 10-15km wide running in the Northwest-Southeast direction.

A hundred-year-old tree in Tam Dao primeval forest. Photo: Vi Tran.

The park spans three provinces: Vinh Phuc (Tam Dao district), Thai Nguyen (Dai Tu district) and Tuyen Quang (Son Duong district), about 75km north of Hanoi. It is an area with high biodiversity and a reserve of rare animal and plant genetic resources in Vietnam.

Tam Dao National Park is 34,995 hectares wide, including 26,163 hectares of forest, mainly natural evergreen rainforest with a coverage of 70% of the area.

In addition, Tam Dao National Park also has a number of other forest types such as lowland subtropical evergreen closed forests, mountaintop dwarf forests, bamboo forests, post-exploitation forests, planted forests, shrublands, and grasslands.

Tam Dao forest is divided into sub-zones for convenience in management, monitoring, restoration, development and conservation.

Strictly protected area

Covering an area of ​​17,295 hectares, it is located at an altitude of 400m or more (excluding Tam Dao resort). This is an area with natural forests and is home to birds and animals in the area.

This subdivision aims to strictly protect the forest ecosystems and flora and fauna in the subdivision such as prohibiting the exploitation of timber, firewood and other forest products; prohibiting the hunting of wild animals and any actions that affect the forest and forest flora and fauna; and not constructing massive structures and making large roads in the subdivision.

Ecological restoration zone

Covering an area of ​​15,398 hectares, it is located in a strictly protected area. Previously, this area was located outside the Tam Dao forbidden forest, so the natural forest in this area was exploited many times and many areas were deforested.

Up to now, this subdivision has been protected, restored and reforested. The forest has developed well, contributing to environmental protection and watershed protection for the Tam Dao area.

This area aims to regenerate natural forests on damaged areas to restore the forest ecosystem and reduce human impact on strictly protected areas, enhancing environmental protection and water resources.

Here, we will protect and take advantage of natural regeneration where there are still mother trees and good forest land. Replant forests where natural regeneration is no longer possible.

Initially, fast-growing imported trees such as Pinus massoniana and Acaciamangium can be planted. Then, large local timber trees and high-value specialty trees can be planted.

Administrative and tourist service zones

This subdivision has an area of ​​2,302 hectares located on the northwest slope of Tam Dao in Vinh Phuc province, surrounding Tam Dao town and the water system of the two streams Thac Bac and Dong Bua.

In the subdivision there are both natural and planted forests to create beautiful landscapes and ecological environment for the tourist area.

Wildlife, wild plants in Tam Dao mountain

Tam Dao National Park has 1,282 plant species belonging to 660 genera of 179 families of vascular plants, including species typical for the subtropical region.

Tam Dao toad - a reptile, an endemic animal in Tam Dao mountains and forests. Photo: Website: Vietnam Forest Biology.

There are 42 species of endemic plants and 64 rare species that need to be preserved and protected such as Tam Dao orchid, long-flowered camellia, Tam Dao yellow camellia, fairy flower, climbing flower panicle, and money tree.

Wildlife in Tam Dao mountain range is also very rich, with 163 species belonging to 158 families of 39 orders, in 5 classes with 239 species of wild birds.

Many wild birds in Tam Dao have beautiful feather colors such as yellow oriole, white oriole, pink oriole, and red oriole.

Wild animals, rare forest animals, many species listed in the Vietnam Red Book and the World Red Book are being preserved in Tam Dao National Park (located in Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province).

Tam Dao National Park also has precious wild animals, rare forest animals listed in the Red Book such as the money chicken, white pheasant. Tam Dao forest also has 64 species of animals with valuable species such as flying squirrels, clouded leopards, tigers, bears, civets, gibbons, and black langurs.

There are 39 endemic animal species, including 11 narrow endemic species found only in Tam Dao National Park such as the angen snake, the sun snake, the Tam Dao toad fish and 8 insect species.

Among the wild animals in Tam Dao, only 17 species (41.5% of the total number of large animals or 18.7% of the total recorded animal species) were identified as having abundant or relatively abundant numbers, including Wild boar, Deer, Northern silver cheeked weasel, Pig badger, Dog badger, Yellow weasel, Palm civet, Spotted palm civet, Big cat, Civet, Small civet, Civet, Wild cat, Don

According to VNA, in Tam Dao National Park there is also the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center built on an area of ​​nearly 12 hectares, designed to have enough conditions to provide lifelong care for about 200-250 bears.

Up to now, there are more than 100 rescued bears living at the Center.

Another important goal of the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center is to raise public awareness about wildlife and natural environment conservation in general and bear conservation in Vietnam in particular.

Climate characteristics of Tam Dao

Tam Dao town in particular and Tam Dao mountain range in general have a cool climate, average temperature of 18 - 19°C, high humidity, year-round fog creating beautiful landscape.

The climate of the mountainous sub-region has temperate climate nuances, creating advantages in agricultural development with temperate products and forming resorts, developing eco-tourism and summer resort tourism.

Located only about 80km from Hanoi, Tam Dao is known as "the second Da Lat" or "Da Lat in the North" thanks to its cool climate all year round.

In one day in Tam Dao, you can fully feel the weather in all 4 seasons. In the morning in Tam Dao, there is a cool spring breeze, in the noon, there is a warm summer, in the afternoon, there is a romantic autumn and in the evening, there is a cold winter. The average temperature here, regardless of the season, is only about 18 degrees Celsius.

Due to the complex terrain, especially the difference in terrain between the high mountains and the low river plains, the climate and weather of Tam Dao district are divided into 2 distinct sub-regions (climate sub-regions, not coinciding with the commune-level administrative boundaries). Specifically:

The mountainous sub-region, including the entire Tam Dao mountain area belonging to Tam Dao town and the communes of Minh Quang, Ho Son, Tam Quan, Dai Dinh, Dao Tru... has a cool climate, an average temperature of 18 - 19°C, high humidity, and fog all year round creating beautiful scenery.

Silver Waterfall in Tam Dao town, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province. Silver Waterfall in Tam Dao town only pours water strongly and has a large flow during the rainy months.

The climate of the mountainous sub-region has temperate climate nuances, creating advantages in agricultural development with temperate products and forming resorts, developing eco-tourism and summer resort tourism.

Lowland climate sub-region, including the plains of Minh Quang, Ho Son, Tam Quan, Dai Dinh, Dao Tru communes and the entire area of ​​the remaining communes.
The sub-climate of the region has the characteristics of the intra-tropical monsoon climate of the Northeast region of the North. The average temperature of the sub-region is 22 - 23°C, the average relative humidity is about 85-86%, the average rainfall is 2,570 mm/year and is usually concentrated from June to September of the year.

Thanks to the mountainous terrain, the climate in Tam Dao National Park has a clear stratification according to altitude. Below 800m, the air is fresh, cool during the day, and chilly at night, creating favorable conditions for vegetation to grow green all year round.

In addition, Tam Dao mountain range is divided into East and West slopes with different climate characteristics. The difference between East and West slopes also contributes to enriching the natural ecosystem, bringing unique landscapes.

Tam Dao is recognized as a National Tourist Area.

On January 25, 2025, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 170/QD-BVHTTDL on recognizing Tam Dao Tourist Area, Vinh Phuc Province as a National Tourist Area.

Red rhododendron flowers in Tam Dao primeval forest. Photo: Bich Nhi.

According to this Decision, Tam Dao National Tourist Area has an area of ​​10,723 hectares, including: Administrative service area of ​​Tam Dao National Park in Tam Dao district is 5,399 hectares; Tam Dao mountain foot area is 4,561.5 hectares; Tay Thien relic and scenic area is 477.6 hectares, Tam Dao tourist area is 284.9 hectares.

Previously, on the evening of November 24, 2024, in Madeira (Portugal), the World Travel Awards announced the destinations recognized in this year's tourism categories. Vietnam is one of the countries that received many awards.

Of which, Tam Dao won the title of "World's Leading Tourist Town 2024". This is the second time the northernmost district of Vinh Phuc province has been recognized since 2022.

2024 is the third consecutive year that Tam Dao town (Tam Dao) has received the World Travel Awards honoring "The World's Leading Destination Town".

The number of tourists coming to Tam Dao in 2024 is constantly increasing, it is estimated that the number of domestic tourists coming to Tam Dao town will reach a record number of nearly 500 thousand people, the highest ever; the number of international tourists has increased dramatically from a few hundred tourists to about 2,000 people.

Tam Dao has a system of tangible cultural heritage, a system of relics worshiping Gods and Buddhas distributed in almost all localities. According to the 2022 relic inventory, the whole district has a total of 124 relics, 34 communal houses, 24 temples, 47 pagodas, 8 shrines, 2 revolutionary relics; 1 Uncle Ho Memorial relic, 4 Catholic churches, 3 other religious works and 1 scenic complex.

Among them are many famous relics that attract tens of thousands of tourists every year such as Tay Thien National Mother Temple, Chan Suoi Temple, Ba Chua Thuong Ngan Temple, Truc Lam Tay Thien Zen Monastery, Dai Bao Thap...

Source: https://danviet.vn/nui-tam-dao-noi-tieng-viet-nam-dai-80km-qua-3-tinh-rung-o-vinh-phuc-la-liet-dong-vat-hoang-da-20250326143856308.htm