Hải Vân Pass (Vietnamese: Đèo Hải Vân), literally means ‘ocean cloud pass’ in Vietnamese, is an approximately 21 kilometers long mountain pass in central Vietnam. Its name refers to the mists that rise from the sea, reducing visibility.
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.
A gate was built in 1826 on Hải Vân Pass by King Minh Mang. The gate overlooks both Da Nang on the south and Hue on the north.
Historically, the pass was a physical division between the kingdoms of Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ) and Đại Việt. It is nowadays also used as a signifier of the climates of northern Vietnam and southern Vietnam.
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.
The pass is renowned for its scenic beauty, it has been listed as one of National Geographic's Top 50. However, the garbage is everywhere, which destroys the beautiful environment.
