My second attempt to climb Black Virgin Mountain - Núi Bà Đen near Tây Ninh. I left
12.12.2025 Friday: The Black Virgin Mountain (núi Bà Đen) is only 2.5 hours away from the Su Pham university. My lesson finishes at 11:30, so I could be there at 14:00. I finally decide to eat lunch first, so I leave at 12:10 and arrive at 14:30. Which is a little too late, the guard for the easy hiking trail won’t let anyone hike up the mountain after 14:00. Without a break it takes 2 hours to get to the top. I would arrive there at 16:00 or later, and still have to buy a ticket down.
The temple and tourist area on top of the mountain has been expanded by the Sun group, one can spend some time there. It is a little too much for my schedule today. I enter the area for 10k VND and walk to the different pagoda’s that are constructed at the lower part of the mountain at 200 to 300 meter height. There are 3 cable cars from the bottom to this area (only the Chùa Hang one works), another new one connects to the top of the mountain (Hòa Đồng to Tâm An). And the direct connection is from Nhà Ga Bà Đen station to Vân Sơn at 986 meters.
There is an old path up to the mountain with stairs all the way up to 350 meters. Even the guard rails next to the stairs have been painted in yellow recently. But some upper sections have been washed away, and only a boulder trail remains. At 400 meters height it is more and more overgrown, and increasing in difficulty. The heat map on Strava shows that very few continue this path. It might be an option for another day. Above 750 meters the trail from the top becomes more visible again on Strava. But what about the section in between? Last time been here: December 2021. And next time will be a successful ascent and descent: January 2026
Data from Apple watch
Time 14:49 - 17:32, 2:26:18, distance 7.71 km, elevation gain 454m