Paragliders enjoy spectacular flights over Mù Cang Chải terraced fields

The Flying over Scenic Spot festival will offer paragliders the opportunity to exchange experiences, and aims to develop further the recreational and adventure sport in Việt Nam.

Dozens of professional Vietnamese and foreign paragliding pilots will gather to showcase their spectacular and innovative paragliding skills in Mù Cang Chải, home of one of the 10 most beautiful terraced rice fields in the world.

The showcase, from September 23 to 26, is part of an ongoing paragliding festival entitled Flying over Scenic Spot. The festival has been organised by the Mù Cang Chải District People’s Committee, in collaboration with the Mebayluon Paragliding – a club for people who share a passion for paragliding.

The event will also offer paragliders the opportunity to exchange experiences, and aims to develop further the recreational and adventure sport in Việt Nam.

Tourists will have a chance to contemplate the breathtaking landscape created by impressive yellow terraced fields in Lìm Mông valley from a bird-eye view while flying together with a professional pilot.

Flying over the yellow rice fields in the morning sunlight or in the sunset can create an unforgettable experience for any tourist.

About 300km from Hà Nội and located by the foot of the majestic Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range, Mù Cang Chải is a small town of Yên Bái Province.

Mù Cang Chải terraced fields is a cultural heritage created by local ethnic minorities for generations. The 500ha of terraced fields, located in the communes of La Pán Tẩn, Chế Cu Nha and Dế Xu Phình in Mù Cang Chải District, have been recognised as special national sites by former Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. The site was listed among national relics and distinguished landscapes by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2007. They have also been on the list of ten most beautiful terraced fields in the world for many years.

Mù Cang Chải District is worth visiting all year round, however, the region greets increasing number of tourists in ‘peak seasons’ – the rainy season in May and June, and the ripening rice season in September and October.

In the rainy season, when the first summer rains bring water for ethnic people planting new crops, all the fields turn into thousands of sparkling pools of water, creating a scenery that is both charming and attractive.

In the ripening rice season, the district don a "yellow coat" as the paddies shift colours as the rice ripens.

With such breathtaking beauty, Mù Cang Chải became one of the most beautiful destinations for paragliding in Việt Nam.

“The paragliding festival is one of the key events in Mù Cang Chải, drawing the great interest of tourists," Trịnh Thế Bình, head of Mù Cang Chải District’s Culture and Information Department said. "With increasingly professional organisation at all stages, we hope that paragliding will became a tourism product that will be greeted by more and more tourists, thus transforming Mù Cang Chải into a centre of tourism with the motto of ‘identity, safety and friendliness’.”

According to Đặng Văn Mỹ, director of Viên Nam Sport and Tourism Company and the co-organiser of the Mù Cang Chải Paragliding Festival, the festival this year brings together many international-level pilots, who will showcase their stunning skills over the mountains and rice fields in the region. The event will also feature paramotoring.

“I truly believe that Mù Cang Chải is an attractive destination that any tourist should not miss this September," said Mỹ, a paragliding pilot who has the most flying hours of any paragliders in Việt Nam.

Alongside the paragliding festival in September, until the end of December, tourists can also join several interesting cultural and sport activities, such as the Marathon Mù Cang Chải Ultra Trail, Mông Ethnic Pipe Festival, Ethnic Scarf Dancing Festival, and the bicycle race ‘Conquering the Khau Phạ Pass’.