Yen Tu Extends the Tourist Season

From summer welcoming activities, Yen Tu will continue to establish a travel rhythm into autumn with highlights in sports, festivals, and cultural - spiritual events, providing more reasons for tourists to return to the heritage region.

After the early year tourist season, Yen Tu continues to extend its visitor welcoming hours with a series of activities linking summer to autumn. According to Mr. Pham Xuan Thanh, Vice Chairman of Yen Tu Ward People's Committee, a notable feature in the tourism development plan for 2026 is that the locality will not only organize individual events, but gradually build a chain of continuous activities across seasons, associated with the mountains, running paths, heritage spaces, and Truc Lam culture. Through this, Yen Tu will create a vibrant atmosphere while increasing the appeal of the heritage destination.

Among this series of products, sports tourism is a prominent highlight. After the Yen Tu Mountain Climbing Competition "Conquering Phu Van Peak" welcoming summer in mid-April, autumn will continue to be heated up with the Yen Tu Ultra Trail 2026 themed "Discovering Heritage - Spreading the Essence," scheduled to take place from August 21 to 23 at the Yen Tu heritage area. This is not only a trail running competition but also a way to refresh the exploration journey of Yen Tu through forests, rocky slopes, heritage paths, and distinctive natural spaces.

Thus, the attractiveness of the running competitions is also the potential to expand the customer base for Yen Tu. Besides pilgrims, the destination also has the opportunity to welcome the running community, young people, families, fitness enthusiasts, and experience-seeking tourists. When a race is held in a heritage space, athletes come not only to compete but also to feel the landscape, culture, and spiritual depth of this sacred land. This is a unique advantage that not every sports destination possesses.

Not only stopping at autumn, the series of sports events will also be extended to the end of the year with the Yen Tu Heritage Marathon 2026: "Touching the Heritage Area," scheduled for November 28 and 29. Together with the Ultra Trail 2026, this event will contribute to positioning Yen Tu as a destination capable of combining heritage, sports, and experiential tourism. In the long run, if organized systematically, the running competitions could become annual products, creating a stable flow of visitors outside of the spring festival season.

Alongside the series of sports events, the autumn in Yen Tu will also be enhanced by cultural - spiritual activities with deep nuances. Firstly, the Vu Lan Week held from August 21 to 27 here will be an important highlight, attracting monks, Buddhist followers, and tourists to return to the heritage region in an atmosphere of gratitude and kindness.

Continuing that atmosphere, the Yen Tu Autumn Festival and related activities are expected to be held from August to October, linked with the system of monuments, scenic spots, and Truc Lam cultural spaces. Together with the Buddha Dược Sư festival and memorial activities for Emperor Trần Nhân Tông at the end of the year, this series of events creates a cultural - spiritual rhythm extending from late summer to autumn, preserving the depth of heritage while renewing Yen Tu's appeal to tourists.

On that basis, Yen Tu Ward identifies that alongside cultural tourism and festivals, it will continue to expand sports, ecological, and community products; while enhancing digitization, improving service quality, and building a friendly, rich-in-identity destination. From this orientation, it can be seen that Yen Tu's focus is not only on increasing the number of events but also creating a new operational rhythm for the destination. Sports help expand the customer market; autumn festivals and cultural - spiritual activities maintain the depth of heritage. Meanwhile, complementary products such as relaxation, meditation, yoga, experiences in Nương village, Yen Trung lake, Song stream - Silver waterfall, cuisine, OCOP products, Yen Tu plum wine, etc., contribute to extending the journey and increasing tourist expenditure.

Therefore, the next challenge is connecting activities into clearer products, such as: Weekend tours, travel journeys combining relaxation, autumn experience routes, local product sightseeing - cuisine - shopping packages... Through this, the tourist season in Yen Tu can be naturally and sustainably extended.