Vietnam Paragliding Festival 2026 Opens on 30 August

📣 The 2026 Paragliding Festival: what you need to know

On Sunday 30 August 2026, the 2026 Paragliding Festival — titled "Flying Over the Golden Season" — opens at 8am at the Khau Pha paragliding landing field, on the Lim Mong fields in Lim Thai hamlet, Tu Le commune, Yen Bai province. The festival is organised by Vien Nam Tourism & Sports JSC (Mebayluon Paragliding) together with the Tu Le commune authority. This is the same operation as Sapa Paragliding, so if you have already flown with us in Sapa, you will recognise the same pilots in the sky over Khau Pha. Three things happen on opening day: a display flight carrying the national flag, an accuracy landing competition, and tandem flights for visitors. The timing is deliberate. Late August is when the Northwest terraces turn gold, and it also opens Vietnam's National Day holiday period — two conditions that rarely coincide.

🇻🇳 Display flight and the national flag

The morning opening begins with a display flight, built around a powered paraglider carrying the Vietnamese national flag over the valley. It is the most anticipated moment of the day and the best frame you will get: a red flag above ripening terraces, in the middle of the Khau Pha valley. If you are coming for photographs, be at the landing field before 8am.

🎯 Accuracy landing competition

After the opening ceremony, the accuracy landing competition runs through the rest of the day. The discipline is exactly what its name says: pilots launch from the top of the pass, cross the valley, and must touch down on the centre of a target laid out on the landing field, with the margin measured in centimetres. From the ground, the best part is the final seconds, when a pilot reads the wind and makes tiny corrections before touching down. Previous editions of the Golden Season Paragliding Festival have drawn close to 50 pilots. For spectators, it is a rare chance to see that many canopies in the Northwest sky at once.

🪂 Tandem flights for visitors

Alongside the competition, tandem flights stay open to visitors throughout the festival period. No experience and no special fitness are needed — you fly with a professional pilot, and your only job is to run a few steps at take-off. Beyond standard paragliders, the festival period also runs powered paraglider flights with several time options: cloud-chasing flights, flights up to 2,000m, sunrise flights and sunset flights over the golden terraces. One note: this is the busiest period of the year at Khau Pha. If you intend to fly during the festival, book early.

🍚 What else to do in Tu Le

The festival takes a morning, but the Tu Le – Khau Pha area easily holds you for a few days: Local ethnic cuisine, which can be arranged at the Mebayluon Clubhouse. Tu Le hot springs. Golden-season photo spots along Khau Pha. Ziplining at Le Champ resort. Sturgeon and salmon at Huy Thanh restaurant. A visit to It Thai village. Campfires and team activities on the landing field itself. And if you would rather sit still, the Mebayluon Clubhouse café looks straight out over the landing field — coffee in hand while pilots touch down in front of you. A few days earlier, the area also hosts the Tu Le green rice festival (21–23 August) and the Trail & Chill Golden Season running event. If your schedule is flexible, combining the whole cluster into one trip makes the most sense.

🚗 Getting to Khau Pha from Sapa

Khau Pha sits on national highway QL32 in Yen Bai province — the natural next leg of the Northwest loop after Sapa. The landing field is about 1km off the highway, turning at the Ban Lim junction; the take-off site is on the top of the pass, 11km further along. A suggested plan for visitors already in Sapa in late August: On the first day, fly in Sapa over Muong Hoa Valley in the morning — by then the Muong Hoa rice is also turning gold. Then drive QL32 to Tu Le and stay overnight. The next morning, be at the landing field before 8am for the opening, then stay for the accuracy competition and tandem flights through the day. That sequence gives you both of the Northwest's finest flying sites on consecutive days. If you are not yet sure what a flight in Sapa involves, read "Sapa Paragliding: Fly Over Muong Hoa Valley From 1,500m". For August weather and the right hours to book, see "Paragliding in Sapa in August: Weather and Best Flying Hours"

💡 One honest piece of advice

Festival day is crowded, and that is part of the atmosphere. But if you want a quiet flight, consider visiting Khau Pha on a weekday instead: lower flight prices, no queues for services, and a valley that feels like your own. Paragliding runs here every day, not only during the festival. The Khau Pha golden season lasts through September. The festival is the opening, not the only chance.