Our story

Husband and Wife, Ben (Australian) and Le Thi Bich (who grew up in the local community) had an epiphany to start a tourism business in the middle of nowhere. Her family and the rest of the community thought that they were mad. “Who would come and stay in the middle of some rice paddies, nobody comes here, we’ve never seen any westerners, you’re wasting your money and your time!” Bich’s family’s reservations were at the time somewhat warranted, as back in the day no one had heard of Phong Nha and even entering Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park was prohibited. Phong Nha itself didn’t get any foreign tourists, but Ben and Bich believed that if people knew about it, then the area could prosper.

Starting from housing people in hammocks at Bich’s family home to personally designing and building Phong Nha Farmstay from scratch, they set out to put Phong Nha on the map. Their initial goal was to aim to create what they would want if they were on holiday in the remote and beautiful region of northern-central Vietnam – comfortable accommodation, great scenery, swimming pools, full bar, tasty food and top-quality tours, activities, and entertainment.

And what an adventure the project ended up becoming! Now, most of Phong Nha’s community remember this as being their idea.