Part 2 — Long turnQ3/2026Difficulty 3/5

Describe a beautiful place you visited

IELTS Speaking questions reported by recent test-takers, compiled each quarter. Cambridge does not publish the active list, so this is a compilation of reports, not official material.

Questions

Question 160s to prepare · 120s to speak

Describe a beautiful place you visited. You should say: • where it is • when you went • what you did there • and explain what made it beautiful

Model answer

Written by 8020 teachers. Do not memorise it — take the structure and the way ideas are developed, then speak about your own life.

The most beautiful place I've been to is a valley near Bac Son, in the north. I went there about four years ago with two friends. We weren't really planning it — we were driving north and someone said there's a viewpoint if you climb for forty minutes, so we did. What we did there was mostly just sit. We got up at four in the morning to climb, which I complained about the whole way, and reached the top just before sunrise. Then we stayed maybe two hours and came back down. What made it beautiful is hard to explain without sounding like a postcard. It's rice fields, but they're not laid out in squares — they follow the shape of the valley, so from above it looks like something poured rather than planted. And because the mist sits in the low ground early in the morning, the fields appear one at a time as it lifts. You're watching the view assemble itself. The other part was the quiet. Not silence — there were birds, and someone's motorbike somewhere — but no traffic, no announcements, nothing designed to get your attention. I hadn't realised how loud my normal life was until I stood somewhere that wasn't. I've seen more famous places since then, some genuinely spectacular. But that's still the one I describe when someone asks.

Vocabulary you can use today

without sounding like a postcard
mà không nghe như lời quảng cáo du lịch
laid out in squares
được chia thành từng ô vuông
poured rather than planted
như được rót ra chứ không phải trồng — hình ảnh so sánh ghi điểm
the mist lifts
sương tan dần lên
watch the view assemble itself
nhìn khung cảnh tự hiện ra từng phần
nothing designed to get your attention
không có gì được tạo ra để giành lấy sự chú ý của bạn

Common traps for Vietnamese speakers

Đề tả nơi đẹp là đề dễ nói dở nhất, vì ai cũng dùng đúng mấy từ: beautiful, amazing, breathtaking. Cách thoát ra là mô tả MỘT chi tiết cụ thể thay vì khen chung — trong bài là sương tan làm ruộng hiện ra từng thửa. Thêm một chi tiết KHÔNG hoàn hảo (tôi cằn nhằn suốt đường leo, có tiếng xe máy đâu đó). Bài mẫu quá đẹp nghe ra là học thuộc ngay. So sánh ngầm ở câu cuối — "tôi đã đi nơi nổi tiếng hơn, nhưng vẫn kể về nơi này" — làm cả bài mạnh lên mà không cần thêm từ khó.

âm cuối /z/ trong fields, birds, squares/θ/ trong north, four, three/v/ trong valley, view — đừng thành /f/âm cuối /t/ trong sat, sit, mist

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