Butterfly Valley

Butterfly Valley is an inland karst valley about 30 minutes' scooter ride from Cat Ba Town, and one of the island's main rock climbing areas. The limestone walls here carry around 100 bolted sport routes ranging from beginner to French 8a — accessible from a small road and the only Cat Ba climbing area you can reach without a boat.

For the rest of the climbing, Asia Outdoors and a couple of competitors run boats out into Lan Ha Bay to the famous Deep Water Soloing at Hai Pai cliffs, where you can climb cleaning the holds and falling into the water below. Half-day and full-day climbing trips are bookable from any agency on the seafront and include all gear and a qualified guide — no experience needed for the introductory climbs.

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A story
Cat Ba's climbing scene was effectively invented in 2007 by the American couple who founded Asia Outdoors, who bolted the first routes on the limestone walls around Butterfly Valley and the nearby bay. Within a decade the island had hundreds of single-pitch sport climbs across a half-dozen crags, and the bay had become one of the standard stops on the Southeast Asia climbing circuit.

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