Bamboo River Raft Cruise, Hoa Binh, Vietnam

Camping Sông Bôi, Suối Nà Bờ, is a camping, shallow swimming, and river raft ride area in Hòa Bình, Vietnam. It’s located in the Sông Bôi area of Kim Bôi, Hòa Bình, Vietnam, and is a great place to spend a few hours, or even a whole day, relaxing and enjoying the river.

Many people can, and do, bring tents and camp overnight. I believe there are also some places to eat in some raft huts along the river here … “restaurants” I guess? We didn’t come for any of that though, so I don’t know when food is served, what the prices are like, or how good the food is.

What we came for later in the day was the bamboo river rafts, and it was actually really fun!

Camping Sông Bôi Info

• Address: Nà Bờ - Sào Báy - Kim Bôi, Hòa Bình
• Hours: Open all day
• Time needed to visit: An hour or two, or a whole day
• Bamboo Raft rental fee:
  • Whole day: 200,000 VND
  • Evening only: 150,000 VND
• Official Facebook page: facebook.com/people/Camping-Sông-Bôi-Nà-Bờ-Sào-Báy

Camping Sông Bôi Nà Bờ Sào Báy

So first off, I don’t know if “Camping Sông Bôi” is the official name of this site, but it’s what’s on their Facebook page, so that’s what I’m going with!

The “Sông” in “Camping Sông Bôi” means “river” in Vietnamese, and “Bôi” is the name of the river. “Nà Bờ” and “Sào Báy” are the names of the two villages on either side of the river here, and the names of the two villages that the river raft ride goes between.

But as far as the “Camping” in the name, I guess it is primarily a camping site, so it makes sense.

When we arrived, there weren’t any tents up, and the place was actually pretty much empty. We arrived probably somewhere around 5pm, and it had been pouring rain on our way over, so most people had probably left before we got there.

I don’t know how much the camping fees are, but you can book a whole day on one of the rafts for only 200,000 VND, which is pretty damn cheap at just over $10 CAD or a bit less than $10 USD. As we came later in the day though, we paid the evening price, which is 150,000 VND - still a good price.

Now I’m calling them “Bamboo” river rafts, but well, I guess they’re really more “metal frame with bamboo flooring and thatched roof” rafts. Just like the ancient Vietnamese did thousands of years ago, right? 🤪

In any case, we were more interested in relaxing on the river than the authenticity of the rafts. When in modern Rome I guess, eh? 🤷‍♂️

As I said, the place was pretty deserted when we got there, so most of the rafts were lined up on the side of the river. The ladies who paddle the rafts ushered us over to one of them, and we staggered our way across the rafts to get to it. It was a bit of a challenge, but we made it!

The river here is pretty shallow, so the ladies just use long bamboo poles to push the rafts along, or simply walk in the water while pushing the rafts.

The karst mountains on the side of the river really add to the relaxing ambiance of the place. And with the calmness of the water, you can just sit back, munch on some snacks or food if you brought any, and enjoy the ride.

After a while, we each started taking turns at pushing the raft along with the long bamboo poles. It’s actually quite a workout, but it’s also fun to do. Heck, even the kids gave it a go!

But as we came later in the day, it wasn’t long before the sun was starting to set.

So we started to head back to the starting point, and then just chilled and relaxed in the boat for a while until it was getting almost too dark to see our way around, and when the spiders started coming out! 😱

Final Thoughts

That was it for our bamboo river raft ride at Camping Sông Bôi. It was a really nice and relaxing way to spend a few hours, and for the price, you can’t go wrong.

So if you’re visiting Hoa Binh in Vietnam, and are looking for something fun, but also relaxing to do, I’d definitely recommend checking out Camping Sông Bôi.