The Duck Stop Phong Nha: Honest 2024 Review

The Duck Stop in Phong Nha is one of the most famous and popular places in Vietnam on social media like TikTok and Instagram.

When I spent a month backpacking Vietnam, I spent 4 days in Phong Nha, and I headed to the farm to see if it was worth the hype, or if it was a case of “social media vs reality”.

As someone who loves animals, I had pretty high expectations and I’m happy to say the Duck Stop lived up to my expectations, but I’ll go into more detail in my thorough review.

The Duck Stop Phong Nha Review

Honestly, I absolutely loved The Duck Stop. I’m so glad I went and I can see why there is so much hype for it.

I was staying in Phong Nha town and the farm is a good bit outside it, approximately 10km outside. The hostel I was staying in had free bicycle rental so I decided to cycle there. It was really scenic and didn’t take too long – the views in Quang Binh province are some of my favourites in all of Vietnam.

It was my last day in Phong Nha, so I went early in the morning. I arrived about 20 minutes after it opened and I was the first one there. As soon as I pulled up I was greeted with a “Hello mate, you alright?” in the best English accent I have ever heard a Vietnamese person do haha.

I have to say, from the second I arrived until the second I left, the staff were all amazing. I had read some reviews that there are kids working there, which there are, but it’s a family-run business so in Vietnam, that’s to be expected.

After a quick chat, I was sat down and given the “menu”. There aren’t any choices but it’s essentially letting you know what you’re paying for. In my opinion, it’s incredible value for money.

For 100k dong, you get a Vietnamese pancake and a free cold drink (beer/coke/water). The duck experience is actually a free “extra”. I’m guessing there’s a legal reason for that or something.

You can also pay an extra 50k dong to meet Donald Trump, their retired water buffalo, and since it was cheap enough I decided to pay the extra price.

The first part of the experience is a traditional crispy Vietnamese pancake. I had made one during a cooking class in Hoi An, so I knew how delicious they were and this one did not disappoint. Honestly, if it was just a cafe, I would still come here for the food alone.

Since I was the first one there, I had to wait a bit for other people to come. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long and some people started arriving after only a few minutes.

While I was waiting, I was given some peanuts along with a chilli powder and black peppercorns. The guy showed me how the locals eat them and then left me to try for myself. Probably the nicest peanuts I have ever eaten!

After I’d eaten my pancake and peanuts, and enough people had arrived, it was time for the duck experience to begin – the whole reason anyone goes to The Duck Stop in Phong Nha.

The experience began with a tour of the farm where the guide showed us all of the fruit which they grow themselves. He said they eat most of it themselves and give the rest to guests as an extra welcome – so if you visit at the right time, you might get some free fruit too.

Then we headed for the duck pen. To be honest, the area the ducks have is smaller than I was expecting, but it still seemed big enough for them to be happy.

At the start, we were given a few minutes to just let things sink in and process the fact there are a few hundred ducks running around our feet, and then the show began.

Every single duck is perfectly white with an orange beak – it was like something out of a dream. Or a nightmare if you’re scared of ducks like someone in our group was. Why would you come to the Duck Stop if you’re scared of ducks? 🤣

The guy showed us how to become the duck leader by getting food and holding it above our heads, waddling side to side and making duck noises. When he threw the food, hundreds of duck heads all bowed down simultaneously. It was really funny to me – he really did become the duck leader.

Then we all had a go for ourselves and I have to say, it did feel pretty cool…it was like they were all worshipping me.

We got a few more goes each of us feeding them normally – not as the duck leader – and it was really fun to feed so many ducks at once. They’re so reactive and fast and they don’t care where they stand, they were walking over my feet and everything.

Next up we were told to all go and sit down and take off our shoes (you were given special shoes to wear). Everyone kind of looked at each other confusingly but we all took our shoes off anyway.

Then out of nowhere, the guy throws a load of food over all of our feet, leading us to be swarmed by hundreds of ducks. It’s one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had but it was so fun at the same time haha.

It’s so ticklish and I kept jumping when they brushed the inside of my thighs with their feathers. Again, they just walked right over my bare feet with their wet webbed feet which is a sentence I didn’t think I would ever say. Where else other than the Duck Stop Phong Nha?

I couldn’t stop laughing and neither could anyone else – the whole duck experience is just so much fun.

The guide knows all the perfect angles for taking photos, especially during the last photo opp where you raise your hand above your head while squatting down. It does make for great pictures to be fair!

This marked the end of our time with the main attraction at the Duck Stop Phong Nha, but I still had to meet the main man himself, Mr. Donald Trump.

While backpacking in Vietnam, I saw a lot of water buffalo out and about as they’re used on farms a lot and they’re Vietnam’s national animal. But I had never been up close to one, and I had definitely never stroked one or ridden one.

Don’t worry, they’re strong enough for it and they work on farms carrying much heavier weights than me – it’s not like elephants where they aren’t designed for it.

And with that, it brought my time at the Duck Stop in Phong Nha to an end. From beginning to end, I was there for just over an hour and I loved every second of it.

I can’t recommend a visit enough and I was so glad that it did live up to the hype and it wasn’t a case of social media vs reality.

The Duck Stop Pros

Now that I’ve given a complete and in-depth review, I thought I would split my thoughts on the Duck Stop into pros and cons. Starting with the pros…

Experience

The biggest and most obvious pro of the Duck Stop is the experience itself. It’s such a unique thing to do and it’s so much fun.

It’s so much more than just basic duck feeding – you’ll be laughing the whole time, that’s for sure.

As someone who loves animals, it’s one of my favourite things I did in all of Vietnam.

Price

The price of 100k dong per person is pretty fair in my opinion, as it’s equivalent to $4, which is great value for money.

Vietnam is cheap in general, but sometimes attractions can be on the pricier side, thankfully this one isn’t and the prices have been pretty much the same since it opened.

It’s a family-run business too so it’s nice to support local businesses rather than big tour companies.

Staff

Everyone who works at The Duck Stop is really friendly and you can tell they genuinely enjoy their jobs and they want you to have the best time possible.

As I said, it’s family-run so the staff are all invested in the success of the business, and their kids help out too which is nice.

Everyone speaks really good English too which is always a bonus. But I do always learn some of the local language to make an effort, such as learning hello or goodbye in Vietnamese.

Food

Obviously, the main reason I went to The Duck Stop was for the ducks, but the food there was really really good.

You get a Vietnamese pancake and you can choose between pork and shrimp, or a vegetarian option.

I went for the pork and it was really quick and tasted really good. As I said earlier, I would go here for the pancake alone.

Service

Kind of related to how good the staff are at The Duck Stop is how good the service is.

From the minute you sit down until the minute you leave, everything runs really smoothly and you can tell they’ve taken a long time to figure out the order of things.

The guides know all the perfect angles for taking photos and you don’t even have to ask, they offer to take photos for you.

Even just the small details like being given peanuts to eat while you’re waiting is what I really like about small businesses in Vietnam. They care about service, not just your money.

Donald Trump

On top of meeting all of the ducks, playing with them and feeding them, there’s one more animal you get to meet here and it’s a water buffalo.

Even though I’m not even American, I find it hilarious that they’ve named it Donald Trump. He’s a retired working buffalo from their farm and you can stroke him and take photos with him, as well as ride him if you want to.

It’s an extra 50k dong but it’s worth it to meet the national animal of Vietnam up close.

The Duck Stop Cons

In the interest of fairness and so I don’t come across as biased, I’ll give some of the downsides of visiting The Duck Stop, because nothing is perfect, right?

Location

One of the only downsides of the Duck Stop in Phong Nha is its location. It’s actually quite far from Phong Nha Town.

Since there is no Uber in Vietnam, it’s not as easy as just getting a ride there. You could use Grab but it isn’t the best in Phong Nha compared to other places.

I opted for a bicycle but everyone else in my group had rented a motorbike for the day, which is always a convenient option in Vietnam. Cheap too!

Time

While I was at The Duck Stop for about an hour, only 20 minutes of the whole time was actually spent with the ducks.

The time with the ducks didn’t feel rushed and it felt like I had been there longer, but I do wish it was a bit longer as that’s the reason for going at the end of the day.

Crowds

I went first thing in the morning and our group was full. I imagine it gets even busier as the day goes on and since it’s quite a personal experience with the ducks, you don’t really want loads and loads of people.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to book in advance so you just have to turn up and hope it’s not too busy.

Visiting Vietnam outside of peak season would probably lead to lower crowds. I visited in February.

Embarrassing

To become the duck leader, you have to walk while waddling like a duck making duck noises, which is pretty embarrassing.

But embarrassing yourself is half the fun. It’s a laugh! If you’re an introvert, you might feel a bit awkward though – I know I did for the first few minutes.

The Shoes

When you go with the ducks, you need to wear these funny flimsy red shoes. It’s to make sure you don’t hurt the ducks by standing on them by accident and to ensure there aren’t any diseases or anything brought into their space.

They feel quite weird on your bare feet, especially when the ducks start walking on them, but it’s a small price to pay for a fun experience.

FAQs

Below are some commonly asked questions related to The Duck Stop Phong Nha along with my answers to each question.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it, a complete and honest review of The Duck Stop in Phong Nha.

I’m so happy it lived up to the hype – I really enjoyed it and would go back in a heartbeat.

Note that you can only pay using cash, so make sure you have withdrawn money. I use Revolut while in Vietnam to withdraw cash without any fees.