Facts About Hai Van Pass
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The Hải Vân Pass crosses over a spur of the Trường Sơn Range that emerges from the west and juts into the South China Sea, forming the Hải Vân Peninsula and the adjoining Son Tra Island.
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Hải Vân Pass has been of major strategic importance in the history of Vietnam, and for a long time represented a major barrier to any land army that attempted to move between the northern and central regions of the country.
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The pass is crossed by two main transport routes: Vietnam’s main north-south highway, National Route 1A, and the North-South Railway.
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The pass is renowned for its scenic beauty. Presenter Jeremy Clarkson, then a host of the BBC motoring programme Top Gear, featured the pass during the show’s 2008 Vietnam Special, calling the road “a deserted ribbon of perfection—one of the best coast roads in the world.”
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Historically, the pass was a physical division between the kingdoms of Champa and Đại Việt.
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800 to 1000 years ago the pass was rumoured to be a physical barrier between the kingdoms of Đại Việt in the North of modern-day Vietnam and the Champa Kingdom in the south.
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Hải Vân Pass has been of major strategic importance in the history of Vietnam, and for a long time represented a major barrier to any land army that attempted to move between the northern and central regions of the country.
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The pass is renowned for its difficulty. A poem by Nguyễn Phúc Chu (1675–1725) describes Hải Vân as “the most dangerous mountain in Vietnam”
