A corner of Khuôn Thần Lake with a total water surface area of ​​240ha. — Photos courtesy of Bắc Giang Province

BẮC GIANG — In recent years, Bắc Giang province has experienced significant growth, leading not only the northern provinces, but the entire country in economic development. This progress is highlighted by impressive investment and rapid industrial production growth. Additionally, Bắc Giang is a mountainous region rich in natural beauty and tourism potential.

Despite this promise, the province's tourism sector has not fully capitalised on its natural heritage due to various limitations.

Masterpieces of Hạ Long Bay but on land

Bắc Giang boasts a diverse and rich lake system, with Khuôn Thần Lake, Bàu Tiên Lake and Cấm Sơn Lake being the most prominent. Located in the mountainous district of Lục Ngạn, these lakes are accessible via well-paved roads. However, visitor numbers have been sparse and available services remain fragmented and of low standards.

Visitors to these lakes often describe them as poetic landscapes, with vast waters surrounded by pine forests and dotted with small islands, earning them the nickname, Hạ Long Bay on land.

Bầu Tiên Lake is situated five kilometres from Chũ Town and has great potential for community ecotourism. Covering 26ha, it features various fruit trees like oranges, grapefruits and lychees. Adjacent to it is Bầu Lầy Lake, with an area of over 80ha, connecting to Khuôn Thần Lake. This area is a cultural intersection for ethnic groups such as Tày, Nùng, Hoa, Sán Dìu and Sán Chí, rich in diversity. Managed by the Đồng Dao tourism cooperative, Bầu Tiên attracts thousands of visitors at peak times.

Cấm Sơn Lake is one of the largest lakes in the country, spanning several communes in Lục Ngạn District and bordering Lạng Sơn Province. Created from a natural lake and enhanced by a dam, it serves as the largest agricultural regulating lake in northern Việt Nam. The lake typically covers 2,600ha, expanding to 3,000ha during the rainy season.

Surrounded by high mountains and lush forests, Cấm Sơn Lake is home to the Tày and Nùng people. With ongoing planning and development, it promises to become an attractive resort offering activities like boating, mountain climbing, fishing and trekking into ethnic villages.

Musician Phó Đức Phương composed music for a documentary film celebrating the lake and the views, entitled 'Sông nước quê hương' (Homeland Rivers and Waters) at which time Cấm Sơn Lake was a large irrigation project of Hà Bắc Province. The song 'Vịnh cảnh hồ Cấm Sơn' (Praising the scenery of Cấm Sơn Lake) was also included, along with a new song, with a new name of 'Hồ trên núi' (Lake on the mountain).

Bàu Tiên Lake and Cấm Sơn Lake can be said to be ideal tourist areas, complementary, connecting and intersecting with the Khuôn Thần Lake system - one of the places not to be missed when coming to Bắc Giang, especially for those who love being close to nature and like to picnic. Located quietly and peacefully among the pine forests and green lychee hills, Khuôn Thần Lake has become a much-loved destination of visitors.

Recently Bắc Giang Province has focused on reviewing the planning work to build Khuôn Thần Lake into a large-scale tourist destination.

Khuôn Thần Lake is located in Kiên Lao Commune, Lục Ngạn District - more than 40km northeast of Bắc Giang City. The lake has an area of ​​240ha, sheltered by majestic pine forests and vast lychee hills. Thanks to its position, tourists coming here always have a feeling of harmony with nature.

The lake features five small bowl-shaped islands, surrounded by clear blue waters. The area includes approximately 800ha of pine forest, with 300ha of natural and 500ha of planted forests.

Despite these strengths, Cấm Sơn and Khuôn Thần Lakes have struggled to attract tourists beyond short casual visits. Recently, unofficial boat tours have emerged, but food and beverage services remain limited and require advance booking. With inadequate facilities and services, these beautiful locations have yet to realise their full tourism potential.

Expectations for a breakthrough

Despite offering itself as a treasure for tourism, many large-scale investors have offered to invest in the lakes to develop tourism on a larger scale, becoming a highlight for the province's key economic sector. However, due to many reasons such as poor infrastructure, fragmented planning, lack of synchronisation and lack of approval from competent authorities, so far all of those ideas have come to nothing.

This is also the concern of the provincial leaders in finding solutions and measures to build and create tourism areas as soon as possible.

Most recently, Bắc Giang Province has been focused on reviewing the planning work to build Khuôn Thần Lake into a large-scale tourist destination. With efforts, the province has recently approved the task of adjusting the Urban and Eco-tourism Sports Zoning Plan of Khuôn Thần in Kiên Lao Commune, Lục Ngạn District.

Accordingly, Khuôn Thần Lake tourist area will be designed over an area of ​​about 873ha, an estimated population of 12,000-15,000 people, with capacity for 3,000-5,000 guests.

Khuôn Thần Lake has beautiful scenery and great potential for eco-tourism and resorts.

Vice Chairman of Bắc Giang Provincial People's Committee, Lê Ô Pích said that potential tourism landscape has not been exploited, which would have created a large source of revenue for the budget, which is a special concern of the provincial leaders. Therefore, they have assigned different sectors to speed up the procedures to develop Khuôn Thần Lake and realise that potential.

The province is proposing solutions to enhance planning, addressing shortcomings while aligning with the district's development orientation and investment trends. The goal is to create a new urban area with beautiful landscape architecture, ample green spaces, modern infrastructure and compliance with construction and environmental standards, reflecting the overall development strategy of the region.

In addition, the planning of Khuôn Thần Lake will also formalise the General Planning of Chũ Urban Area, Bắc Giang Province until 2045. This will serve as a foundation for more detailed plans, establishing investment projects to build technical infrastructure systems, social infrastructure and housing, tourism and sports areas, in accordance with current regulations and within the legal basis for construction, according to planning, exploiting and reasonable use of land funds.

Currently, the project is being assigned by Bắc Giang Province to the People's Committee of Lục Ngạn District in terms of planning, while the Provincial Department of Construction is the appraisal and approval agency.

Chairman of Lục Ngạn District People's Committee, La Văn Nam, said that the orientations of the Chũ Urban Master Plan until 2045 were approved by the Prime Minister for the subdivision planning of Khuôn Thần Urban, Eco-tourism and Sports Area in Kiên Lao Commune, Lục Ngạn District.

In the orientation of infrastructure and traffic development of Bắc Giang Province until 2025, the province will pay attention to opening a number of new routes to promote socio-economic development of communes with difficulties in the districts of Yên Thế, Lục Nam and Sơn Động. The focus will also be on Lục Ngạn District, after the establishment of Chũ Town, in which Khuôn Thần Lake is also an important point for tourism development of this urban area.

Bắc Giang Province is speeding up the implementation of planning markers, creating favorable conditions for expanding and upgrading routes in the period after 2030. It will expand the scale and upgrade national highways and provincial roads in the area to ensure connectivity and serve the needs of socio-economic development and tourism.

Particularly in terms of the development of Khuôn Thần Lake, Bắc Giang Province requires the all the design solutions and economic and technical indicators of the network and traffic works comply with the approved master plan.

With the strategic directions and planning tasks for Khuôn Thần Lake, an opportunity is opening up for Bắc Giang Province to offer real, professional and attractive tourism. VNS