EXPLORE NORTH EAST & NORTH WEST VIETNAM - 13 DAYS/ 12 NIGHTS - From: 830$

You will be greeted at Hanoi Airport and transferred to the city for hotel check-in. Room is available from 2.00 pm. The rest of the day is free at your leisure to explore Hanoi. Find some excellent Vietnamese foods for your own in this colorful cuisine. Night at the hotel

The whole day is for the capital city. You will visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum for the first (closed on Monday and Friday), the traditional stilt house and the revered One-Pillar Pagoda  along the trip. The next destination is the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature – also Vietnam’s first university . After lunch, have a visit to the Ethnology Museum (closed on Monday), where you can explore the diverse and unique cultures of the 54-ethnic Vietnam. Then stroll along the famous Old Quarter of 36 streets, or take a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake vicinity and visit Ngoc Son Pagoda. Evening is the time to enjoy Vietnam’s traditional water puppet shows. Choose for yourself a nice local dish, and back to your hotel for overnight

Remark : From 08 September to 08 November Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed for annual maintenance.

In the morning, drive about 6 hours to Ba Be Lake (260 km), stop en route to have lunch. Right after your arrival at the lake, transfer by a boat to the home villgae of the boatmen, located right on the lake bank. From the village you will have a perfect panorama of the lake and mountain ranges with cornfields surrounding. Have dinner and stay overnight at a local’s traditional wooden stilt house

Visit a local market in the morning. According to lunar calendar, people here held different markets such as: Quang Khe, Nam Cuong, Cho Ra... Then spend about 1 hour or 1 hour and a half to go hiking (3km) towards the Vang village of Tay minority people. On standing on a mountain path at height of 350m, you will see the whole picturesque village lying in the heart of a valley. On the way make a stop at a waterfall. Depend on season, you can immerse in the cool and fresh water of the flow. Lunch as a picnic meal.

Keep hiking approximately 3 more hours in a distance of 8km along a small river, passing through dramatic landscape of corn fields, rice paddies, and limestone rocks, back towards Pac Ngoi Village. Another option is transferring by private vehicle (park at the main road - about 3km far from Vang village) in case you are too tired for another hiking. Have dinner and stay overnight at a local house.

Today you will spend your time to explore Ba Be Lake. Reaching the other side of the lake by a boat, our excursion starts with a kayaking tour to visit a quiet part of the lake and then to further areas. Lunch is ready at Pirate Ong. In the late afternoon, after a few hours kayaking, back on the boat to move for a swimming in an isolated calm-water area. Have dinner and stay overnight at a local house.

This morning we take a 6-hour drive (260 kms) to Meo Vac in upper mountainous area of northern Vietnam. En route you will have chances to enjoy magnificent natural landscapes of peaceful rivers and stunning mountain ranges. Lunch is served on the way. In the late afternoon, arrive at Meo Vac - populated by Lo Lo and Pu Peo ethnic minority people. Find some specialities for your own dinner. Night at the hotel.

The vast limestone plateau of Dong Van, inhabited by the Blue Hmong ethnic group, will be our first landscape to see. On the way let your breath be taken by picturesque and dramatic mountainous scenery with colorful hills of orchid flower, unlimited local houses and innumerable caves. The  most impressive part of the trip is 30km of winding road connecting Dong Van and Meo Vac. This part will lead you through one of the 4 greatest passes of the Northern of Vietnam,  which provide a breathtaking views of the landscapes and Nho Que karst river flowing far under the foot of the mountains. If good fortune meets, upon arrival at Dong Van Town, you can observe a more excited sight of the famous Dong Van local market (only organised weekly on Sundays). 

Afterwards, Leave Dong Van town behind to head towards Pho Bang. This old district holds a lot of stone houses, as well as the famous villa of Vuong Chi Sinh Royal family. Built in its most prosperous period, its architecture shows the amazing creativity of H’Mong people in their constructive art with a combined between European and traditional Chinese styles. Continue our trip through landscapes of Yen Minh, Quan Ba district with sugar fields and stone forests holding towering limestone peaks that seem touching the skies, until we reach "Heaven Gate" – the peak of the highest mountain in the area.

Having lived for hundred years in this wild and far-flung region, the H’Mong people are clearly influenced by their tough  living environment, but they have also learned to adapt. Their vehement vitality would not be possible to fit in any where else. It is such harsh climatic conditions: extremely hot in summer and piercingly cold in winter. But from generation to generation, no matter how harsh the climate is, people have still lived and turned gray barren rocks hills into invigorating cornfields. There are a culture of rice cultivation in the Red River Delta, but here they actually founded a culture and civilization of maize cultivation. In the late afternoon you will arrive Ha Giang. Dinner and overnight in the village Me.

Note: The Dong Van market is weekly held on every Sunday morning. Meo Vac, Dong Van, Yen Minh and Ha Giang are remote areas and not many tourists come to here. So local restaurants in this region has a lower standard than restaurants in big cities. Tourist's meals have to be like local resident‘s only..

After breakfast at the hotel, departure for Bac Ha Town and reach the town in the late afternoon. If we have enough time, stop en route to take a short visit to Thai Giang Pho village of flower Hmong people (20km away from Bac Ha Town). Meet up with local children who will follow you everywhere, and this will be a good chance explore the real daily life for the ethnic minority people living in the mountainous regions of Vietnam. Upon arrival, check in your hotel. Have your own meals here as an exploration of cuisine. Night at the hotel.

Drive about 45km to Lao Cai then Coc Ly tribal market (held weekly on Tuesday morning only). H'mong and Dzao minority people always take this occation to get in their most colorful costumes so this is the perfect chance to experience their unique culture of fashion. Then hop a boat for a trip down stream  Chay river to enjoy scenic view from river and trek to Dzao. Lunch is prepared by a local restaurant.

After lunch, transfer to the Old French hill station of Sapa. Check in your hotel and the rest of day is free to explore the town. Have your own dinner. Night at the hotel.

Remark: Coc Ly  Market is weekly held on Tuesday morning only. Some other days of the week you can visit other markets: Sin Cheng & Cao Son (every Wednesday); Lung Khau Nhin & Muong Khuong (every Thursday); Can Cau market (every Saturday morning) and Bac Ha Market (every Sunday morning). Depend on your traveling dates, exact itinerary will be arranged.

After having breakfast and taking a quick bath, your exciting story of Sapa is started by taking a walk from Sapa heading to Cat Cat Village. Hold your step a few minutes by a little waterfall. and then we walk through rice terraced fields on a trail. When we reach a narrow river, keep walking along the bank and you can enjoy the picturesque landscape. After arriving at the Black Hmong people’s Y Linh Ho Village, we will stop for a rest and enjoy a picnic lunch by the river bank. When we finish, walking towards the Muong Hoa Valley where lying Lao Chai Village (also of Black Hmong people) and Giay people’s Ta Van Village. End of the trip, return to your hotel in Sapa. Have your own dinner. Overnight at the hotel. 

In the morning transfert to the Sin Chai village of the Black H’mong people. Sin Chai is covered by rain forests of Hoang Lien National Park, located right on the foot of Fansipan Mountain. Take a walk around to explore this very unique lifestyle here, having stayed unchanged for hundred years as their ancestor’s way of life. Out of the village, you will continue with a short walk on a dirt trail along a narrow river through an amazing scenery of rice paddies and corn hill. Upon reaching a suspension bridge, you are free to visit a local house of the few Black H’mong families living here. Return the village centre after that to transfer back to Sapa by private vehicle.

You will be free in the afternoon to go shopping or explore more of Sapa before leaving the town for Lao Cai train station. Have your own meals, and get on a night train back to Hanoi . Spend the night on the train in an 4-person contained cabin with air conditioners and sleeper berth.

Departure for Halong Bay (180km – 3.5 - 4 hour driving) to see a  fabulous World Heritage site recognized by UNESCO. More than 3,000 islands of towering limestone with different fantastic shapes, dotting the bay and Gulf of Tonkin. Board  a beautiful boat when you arrive and have an overnight cruise on Halong Bay Fresh seafood, which is one of factors to  make Ha Long Bay famous, will be served for your lunch and dinner right on the boat. Have a good night on board !

Early morning is the best moment to enjoy the aquamarine water of the bay. Wake up early and after a tea break, we take a quiet cruise through amazing caves and strangely shaped islands hidden in the fog of the bay. In the late morning. back to the pier and disembark, then after a brunch you will be transfered to Hanoi Airport for your onward flight. Along the way, you will visit a pottery village, to feel the charm and the enigmatic soul of an old standstill craft village. Have your own meals when getting back to the city. Put an end to our services here.