Thác Bà lake is one of the 3 biggest man-made lakes in Vietnam. The lake is 140 km from Hanoi or approximately 3 hours of traveling by car on national highway 2 to the West.
Thác Bà lake is in an area between Lục Yên and Yên Bình communes of Yên Bái province. Workers began to build the lake in 1962 and finished it in 1970. Thác Bà lake was created to take water from the Chảy river to serve the Thác Bà hydropower plant.
Thác Bà hydropower plant was the first structure of its kind in Vietnam. It was built with the help of experts from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), now is the Federation of Russia.
The power plant has a designed output of 108 MW. It generates annually 400 million kWh of hydroelectric energy.
Until now, Unit 3 of Thác Bà hydropower plant still has bullet penetration marks from the time when the U.S warplanes attacked it in 1972.
Before building a dam to form Thác Bà lake, this area has 2 waterfalls with strong currents named "Ông" and "Bà".
After the Thác Bà hydropower plant was built, the two waterfalls disappear. To remember them, local people called the lake Thác Bà and they put the name "Thác Ông" on a bridge in Thác Bà town.
Thác Bà lake covers about 23,400 hectares, with 19,050 hectares of water area. The lake has a length of 80 km and its water depth level ranges from 46 m to 58 m. It has a capacity of 3 to 3.9 billion cubic meters.
With beautiful scenery, Thác Bà lake is seen as "Hạ Long Bay on the mountain" of the Northwest region.
The lake has 1,334 big and small islands and many beautiful caves.
Riding a boat on Thác Bà lake, tourists will have a unique chance to feel the cool air and smell the aroma of natural plants living around the lake. The beautiful and relaxing scenery of islands on the lake will make them feel better whenever coming here.
After a few hours on the lake, tourists can visit Thủy Tiên cave, Xuân Long Cave, Cao Biền mountain, Chàng Rể mountain, Thác Ông temple, and Thác Bà Temple. Also, they can ride on the Chảy river to Ngọc Lục Yên to visit Chùa São cave, Đại Cại temple, or Khai Trung plain. Those sites have strong cultural imprints of Tày and Dao ethnic people.
As a man-made lake with natural characteristics, Thác Bà lake is the result of human labor. The lake not only serves people but also become a natural habitat for many animal and plant species. It is a valuable tourist destination in Vietnam.
Thác Bà lake was recognized as National Heritage under the decision number 2410/QĐ-VH issued on September 27th, 1996 by the Ministry of Culture and Information, now is the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism.
In December 2018, the Vietnamese Primer Miniter has approved the Master plan to develop the National tourism area of Thác Bà lake
Under the plan, the national tourism area of Thác Bà lake will be developed base on its advantages, ie beautiful natural scenery, and rich cultural value, to form a unique brand of the region.
Along with developing Thác Bà lake as a tourism destination, local authorities have to ensure the safety of tourists and protect the environment of the lake. The plan to develop the lake has to match with other plans related to national security, climate change, disaster prevention... and relevant plans.
The initial plan is to develop Thác Bà lake, so it can become a national tourism area in 2025. And in 2030, the tourism area of Thác Bà lake will be a tourism center of Yên Bái that travellers must visit when they come to the province./.
