Ninh Binh ancient capital was considered as a little Vietnam with varied terrain for all: forests, mountains, deltas, rivers, lakes and seas. Ninh Binh mountain with May Bac is the highest peak not exceeding 648 m between immense and fanciful Cuc Phuong jungle. Ninh Binh has hundreds of lakes including 44 large lakes with beautiful names such as: Da Lai Lake, The Fall lake, White Sea lake, Ke Dong lake, Lam San lake, … Among them are 10 reservoirs with a capacity from 1 to 5 million m³ like: Yen Quang Lake, Dong Chuong Lake, Dap Troi Lake, Da Lai Lake, Dong Lieu lake, Thuong Sung lake, Yen Thang lake, Dong Thai Lake …
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Location of the lake
Yen Quang lake (also called Nho Quan lake) is a freshwater lake located in the Yen Quang commune, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province and adjacent to Cuc Phuong National Park. Yen Quang lake is 45 km from the center of Ninh Binh city and is the 3rd largest lake in acreage and reserves of water in ancient capital region.

Characteristics
Yen Quang Lake, Yen Thang lake and Dong Thai Lake are largest lakes in Ninh Binh with an area of 300 hectares and water reserve of 5.6 million m³. Yen Quang lake is 7 km in length ,1.2 km in width, average depth of 8m. This lake is the system of 4 big lakes connected each other by 4 dams which are called Yen Quang dam.
Four lakes are named as lake 1, lake 2 and lake 3, and lake 4, have been calculated numerical order from upstream dams, spill water also is respectively and in this order. 3 larger lakes are located on Yen Quang Commune, only lake 4 is almost in Van Phuong commune.

The beauty of Yen Quang lake
Four of dams connected with Yen Quang dike along the left bank of the lake, the right bank of the lake is majestic mountains of Cuc Phuong National Park. These natural and artificial factors create the beauty of Yen Quang lake very dreamy, unspoiled, spectacular and modern of a mountain lake. Yen Quang Lake was known for aquaculture projects with big scale on the lake. This is also a lake for fishing and development of tourist relaxing vacation in Ninh Binh at weekend.
From lake 3, climbing through Quen La into a valley is relatively flat, about 100 hectares that is Thung La. Passing over Thung La, climb to the foot of limestone mountains that visitors come to Pho Ma Giang cave. Right outside the entrance there is a stalactite with the shape of a king’s son-in-law. There are many chambers inside the cave , each chamber has formed magnificent stalactite systems, majesty as the royal palace.

On the lake surface is very clean and blue silhouetted rock cliffs, forest and small fishing boats, scenery is quite unspoilt and quiet.
Yen Quang lake has become a landmark tourist site in the buffer zone of Cuc Phuong National Park, in the middle of the lake is a small island with a temple, and water surface of the lake is a convergence of many water birds swimming.
Nice place for tourists
Bottom of Yen Quang dam also quite flat. Dam is beside hillside, shallower than at the embankment side, and gently sloping, only walkways or boat from the embankment.
Today, Yen Quang lake was upgraded to a system of large irrigation projects, ensuring safety for production and people’s life in communes around Nho Quan town. Yen Quang Lake is also a fishing lake for Ninh Binh people and tourists.

With a system of weirs, irrigation, convenient transportation system is just 45 km from Ninh Binh city, and located right in the center of Nho Quan town, Yen Quang lake becomes a tourist destination of eco tourism environment, weekend vacations of recreation for local and foreign tourists.