Highlights

– Ride around the terrace fields, enjoying the beautiful sight of terrace fields, local daily life with the peaceful sight of ducks, chickens, pigs, and buffalo,...

– Driving way with many hairpins, each opening up a new vista of the mountains

– Trekking through the local village where you can understand more insight local people live

Full Itinerary

Day 1: Hanoi – Nghia Lo (L, D)

It only takes us 2 hours to get to Duong Lam ancient village from Hanoi Old Quarter. 50 km away from Hanoi, this village has been awarded the National Cultural History Monument since 2006. The houses in this village were built with laterite walls from even a few thousand years ago. This place, two great kings of Vietnam were born King Phung Hung and King Ngo Quyen, so there are many historical temples and ancient Confucianism culture.

At noon, we stop at a local house, take a rest and enjoy the lunch here.

After taking the rest, we continue to transfer to Nghia Lo through the rural countryside to visit the paddy field, then go higher to admire the tea farm and continue to see the corn or maize amongst the karst limestone outcrops. You will have a night sleeping in a local traditional stilt house of White Thai family in Nghia Lo.

Day 2: Nghia Lo – Mu Cang Chai (B, L, D)

In the early morning, we will rise early to enjoy the fresh air and peaceful atmosphere in the countryside.

After that, we will start our morning activity with a bicycle ride through the paddy fields, cornfields, to see the beautiful picture of the rural life of livestock and poultry and observe the activities of villagers. You will have breakfast in the open air and check out.

After that, we will get on the road to visit Khau Pha pass and amazing Tu Le rice fields and stop at a local house for lunch.

After lunch, we continue to Nam Co Village where you can have a chance to know more about Vietnamese ethnic minority: H’Mong people. You can see their customers, daily life activities, local markets (if you are lucky to get there on the right day).

 

Lastly, we will drive to Mam Soi and La Pan Tan terraced rice fields, then talk a short walk to a higher point to admire the great view of this area.

In the evening, you will have a cozy dinner and overnight at a White Thai family in Kim Noi Village.

Day 3: Mu Cang Chai – Sapa (B, L, D)

We start the morning with a nice breakfast and then take a drive of near 160km from Mu Cang Chai to Sapa. On the way, you will see a lot of hairpins, at each point, you will see a whole new fantastic view of the mountainous area and crossing Sin Ho pass.

Arriving Sapa at noon and have lunch here. In the afternoon, our guide will trek with you to Giang Ta Chai Village, here you will have dinner and overnight at a Dao people homestay – another ethnic minority

Day 4: Sapa – Bac Ha – Hoang Su Phi (B, L, D)

We will wake up early to take fresh air and start to go to Bac Ha province. If this day is Sunday, you can have a chance to join the Local Market, one of the biggest and most interesting marketing in the West Northen Mountainous Area.

Here you can find a lot of ethnic people and a lot of types of customers from many ethnics. They are well handmade, colorful and this is a great chance for you to take photos of the market.

After having lunch and relax for a while, we will continue to visit Hoang A Tuong Palace. Here you can find the palace very interesting, it is a mixture of baroque and oriental style built-in 1992.

On the small road to Ban Phung village, you will see many amazing rice terraces here and there, which makes this area look so beautiful.

When we reach the village, you will see La Chi ethnic and their amazing custom which is made so meticulously with a little delicate colored embroidery. The local people here have a truly hard life, they usually carry a heavy load in a pannier and put it on their head to move from this place to other places.

At the end of the day, we will descend to Hoang Su Phi and have dinner here and overnight in the local house

Day 5: Full day explore Hoang Su Phi (B, L, D)

You can find an interesting view of Hoang Su Phi’s terraced fields, which curl around the hills like contour lines. You can also find many tea plantations here, some of them are planted from a hundred years ago.

On the way to Ha Giang, you will visit Cong Troi pass and Tan Su Phi pass. From these two passes, you will see the most stunning view of the high mountainous area. It is so wild, so beautiful that it will make you take your camera out of your bag to take photos of this area. We stop on the way to have lunch and take a rest.

In the afternoon, we keep going to Ha Giang.

In the evening, we have dinner here and overnight at a stilt local Tay people’s house.

Day 6: Ha Giang – Dong Van – Meo Vac (B, L, D)

We start getting on the road to Dong Van via Cong Troi pass Yen Minh.

The first stop on the way is King’s Palace in Sa Phin‘s Local village. It was built in the early 20th century, you can see the amazing architecture of this palace and it shows an important part of the history of H’mong people.

Next, we will visit Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, this area is formed of 80% limestones, easily recognized by black limestone craggy peaks, you will be surprised to see how local ethnic people can plant corn on these areas. People here harvest the agricultural products by hand, they can use the backpack made of bamboo or wood to carry the corn or rice down the mountainside.

We will have lunch at Dong Van, where has some ancient houses near the old market. You can also see the traditional custom of both men and women in this area.

After lunch we will go to Meo Vac, on our way, we will pass Ma Pi Leng pass, we will trek through this pass, it will be a very nice experience. The stunning view of the river between the valleys and the mountainous frontier with China. Have dinner and overnight at Meo Vac

Day 7: Meo Vac – Bao Lac – Cao Bang (B, L, D)

In the morning, we will visit Meo Vac, it is a small town and is the home of many ethnic groups like Tay, Dao, H'mong and Lo Lo. If we are lucky to get here on Sunday morning, we will have a chance to see the local weekend market and one more chance to see more colorful ethnic customs.

You can find a lot of local people selling handmade clothes here and fabric and even men make the men's indigo-dyed jackets on their own on old sewing machines. Local people here raise many kinds of livestock and poultry like pigs, horses, chickens, cows, birds.

On the way to the restaurant in Bao Lac for lunch, we will stop for a few more places in the ethnic village. In Pac Rang, we will visit Nung ethnic people, their traditional farming village is well-known for blacksmiths and their farm tools and the way they produce them.

We will have dinner and also stay a night at a local Nung ethnic house, you will have a chance to know more about the life of another ethnic people

Day 8: Ban Gioc Waterfall – Ba Be Lake (B, L, D)

After breakfast, we get on the way to Cao Bang. The first stop is the Ban Gioc waterfall. This is one of the most beautiful places in the Northen mountainous area. There have been so many photos taken here. You will not only surprised by the stunning beauty but also feel so fresh with the atmosphere here. A very nice place to refresh yourself after the long trip and trekking.

If you can go in the period of September to December, it will be the best time for you to admire the majestic beauty of this waterfall since this is the raining season in the upstream area so the amount of water flow will be big and most beautiful.

After that, we head to Nguom Ngao Cave which attracts tourists by its amazing limestone formations, and stalactites of various shapes. You will also be impressed by its size and it is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Cao Bang mountainous province.

After that, we drive to Ba Be National Park and feel the peace of the National park. Have dinner and overnight at Homestay.

Day 9: Ba Be Lake – Hanoi (B, L)

After breakfast, we will take a short walk to rice fields to Bo Lu boat station. Then take 3 hours boat trip through Ba Be Lake. Jump into the lake for swimming is allowed.

Have lunch at a local house before taking the transfer back to Hanoi.

Inclusion

 – Accommodation 

 – English speaking tour guide

 – Entrance fees for Vietnam attractions, as per itinerary

 – Meals as indicated in the program

 – Car transfer all trips

Exclusion

 – Travel Insurance

 – Tips, laundry, and gratuities

 – Meals not marked on the itinerary, and water during meals