Northern Vietnam Uncover 12 Days

Warmly welcome upon your arrival in Hanoi. Your local guide will meet you at the airport for a transfer to your hotel in the city center. Hotel rooms may not be ready until 14:00 but an early check-in would be guaranteed with a surcharge. The rest of the day is at leisure. Subject to your arrival time, you may want to venture out to explore the city on your own or join one of our wonderful optional excursions in and around Hanoi, such as a walking tour through Hanoi’s Old Quarter for you first impression of Vietnam’s capital city.

Optional: We introduce two one-of-a-kind traditional performances which are found nowhere else than in Vietnam. You can choose one of below options:

- Water Puppet Show where puppets are performed on water stage with folk music, presenting ancient tales, folklore and daily life in Vietnamese countryside.

- Tu Phu (Four Palaces) Show - a very unique show about ritual of spirit practiced in the Vietnamese indigenous religion with music, colors and lively dance performance. The Four Palaces Shows take place on Thursday and Saturday every week.

Meals: NA

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

Activities: Transfer from the airport to hotel in Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

8:30 Your car, driver, and tour guide will be ready at your hotel to start your Hanoi City Tour.

This full day tour takes you around Hanoi’s most interesting sights. Firstly, you will visit Ho Chi Minh Complex including Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, House-on-Stilts, the Presidential Palace, One Pillar Pagoda. After that we explore the Temple of Literature - the first university in Vietnam. Have lunch at a local Restaurant with traditional Vietnam cuisines.

After lunch time, Visit the Ethnology Museum – an interesting museum offers informative and well-documented display about 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam.

Return to city center, continue to discover Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son temple, listen to a special legend story about Hoan Kiem Lake.

Ending trip with a Warter Puppet show. Go back to hotel and relax.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

Activities: Sightseeing tour full day, visit some "must-see" attractions of Hanoi and enjoy a cyclo around Hanoi Old Quarter.

Hoan Kiem Lake

7:00 Your car, driver, and tour guide will be ready at your hotel to start to Ba Be National Park (~ 260 km, 7 hours) with lunch on the way. This national park protects the freshwater lake (Ba Be Lake). Arrive in Ba Be around late afternoon, just enough time for 30 minutes boat cruise to the boatmen’s home village. After arriving at our home stay in Pac Ngoi village, you are welcome by the host family of Tay people. Free time then to have shower, walk around the village before dinner. Dinner and overnight at a traditional wooden stilt house of locals

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Homestay/ Stilt house in Ba Be

Activities: Transfer to Ba Be National Park. Experience homestay with Tay people in Pac Ngoi village.

Ba Be Lake

8.30 After breakfast your tour guide will take you on a trek to Pac Ngoi village where the local people live by fishing and growing rice and corn. Continue to walk along the stream edge to view the stilt houses. We will visit Tay ethnic by bike where we explore an amazing cave in the mountain. The journey continues to Silk waterfall which is about another five km by bike. If it’s hot, you can jump in and swim. We will have a picnic lunch at the waterfall.

In the afternoon we come back and leave the bikes and walk around Ba Be lake shore and try to get some great photo of the sunset. We will go to the local markets for souvenirs and then back to our homestay.

Dinner and overnight in the village of ethnic people.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Homestay in Ba Be

Activities: Bike around the village to get an insight into daily life of ethnic people and visit amazing cave, Silk Waterfall.

Trekking in Ba Be

We leave Ba Be at 7:30 AM by land transfer to Meo Vac (260 km – 6 hours driving), enjoy beautiful natural landscape along the way with majestic mountain ranges and peaceful rivers. We will also enjoy lunch on the way. Arrive at Meo Vac town of Lo Lo and Pu Peo ethnic minority people in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at your homestay in Meo Vac.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Homestay in Meo Vac

Activities: Transfer to the remote mountainous area of Meo Vac

Pu Peo Ethnic

After breakfast, we leave Meo Vac at 7:30 AM and head straight to Dong Van – the limestone plateau which is inhabited by the Blue Hmong ethnic group. Enjoying the poetic and magnificent mountainous scenery on the way. The most impressive part of your trip is 30km zigzag road between Dong Van and Meo Vac with breathtaking views of the landscapes. Arrive at Dong Van Town, we can witness one more local market: Dong Van market which is organized on every Sunday only if lucky enough.

After that, we continue driving to Pho Bang, visit the villa of Vuong Chi Sinh Royal family, whose architecture is a mixture between Chinese and European styles. Continue the trip passing through Yen Minh, Quan Ba before arriving at "Heaven Gate" the peak of the highest mountain in the area. During the drive you will discover sugar fields and limestone peaks touching the skies which are located among stone forests. Arriving in Ha Giang in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight in the local village.

Note: The Dong Van market is held on every Sunday morning. Meo Vac, Dong Van, Yen Minh and Ha Giang are remote areas and have not many tourists. Local restaurants in this area therefore do not have the same standard as restaurants in big cities. Tourists have to take meals as local residents only.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Homestay in Ha Giang

Activities: Take you off the beaten track in Ha Giang and home stay in local village

Mapileng

After breakfast at the hotel, we leave Ha Giang at 7:30 for Bac Ha Town (~ 240 km, 6 hours driving), you will arrive in the late afternoon. If enough time, on the way to Bac Ha, we can stop at Thai Giang Pho village of flower Hmong people for short visiting. You will have a chance to explore the reality of life for the ethnic minority people in the mountains of Vietnam… Check in your hotel for relaxation. Dinner on your own and overnight at your homestay.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Homestay in Bac Ha

Activities: Transfer to the border town Bac Ha. Meet ethnic minority people in the mountainous area of Vietnam

Black Hmong

Leave Bac Ha early at 6:30 AM for ethnic weekly market; enjoy the peaceful life of different minority peoples (Flower H'mong, Black Dzao, Tay, Dzay, HaNhi and Nung). The market is the chance for the minorities to meet and share joy and sorrows after the crops, to exchange one another's experience. Say goodbye to the market and get down onto a boat along Chay river. You are bound to feel great and find yourselves smaller among high rock mountains and to be surprised at white and breathtakingly waterfalls. The Fairy Cave is located deeply in the rocks. Get off the boat to visit a village of the Tay Minority (TrungDo village) by the river. After the boat trip, visit a small town – Bao Nhai and then take car back to Sapa. Dinner in your own and overnight in Sapa.

Remark: Coc Ly market is held on every Tuesday morning only. Other markets are held in the region on some other days of the week: Sin Cheng & Cao Son are on every Wednesday; Lung Khau Nhin & Muong Khuong are on every Thursday; Can Cau market is on every Saturday morning and Bac Ha Market is on every Sunday morning. Depending on your traveling dates, another market visiting will be arranged rather than Coc Ly market

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Homestay in Sapa

Activities: Visit lively fair market gathering ethnic people from different hill tribe villages with colorful costumes. Transfer to Sapa.

Bac Ha Market

6km of walking down to the south east of Sapa along the side of Muong Hoa valley to Y Linh Ho village of the Black H’mong. A 2km-trekking down to Lao Chai village, through terraced rice fields to Ta Van village of the Dzay minority people. Lunch at a local family, it gives you a worth chance for you to learn about the local house architecture which is full of their daily life styles and exclusive custom. Enjoy the landscapes…on the way. Get back to Sapa by Car.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Sapa

Activities: Trekking full day to villages of ethnic minorities: Y Linh Ho - Lao Chai - Ta Van

Ta Van Village

This morning, you will take a short transfer to the small village of Sin Chai, inhabited by Black H’mong people. You will walk around and experience the daily life of the villagers. Continue to walk out of the village, following a trail running through rice paddy and corn hill along a narrow river, enjoying the spectacular scenery surrounding. Return the Sapa for lunch, relaxing before transfer back Hanoi by car. Arrive Hanoi in the evening, dinner in your own and overnight in Hanoi Hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

Activities: Explore the village Sin Chai and transfer back to Hanoi

Sapa Valley

This morning, you will take a short transfer to the small village of Sin Chai, inhabited by Black H’mong people. You will walk around and experience the daily life of the villagers. Continue to walk out of the village, following a trail running through rice paddy and corn hill along a narrow river, enjoying the spectacular scenery surrounding. Return the Sapa for lunch, relaxing before transfer back Hanoi by car. Arrive Hanoi in the evening, dinner in your own and overnight in Hanoi Hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

Activities: Explore the village Sin Chai and transfer back to Hanoi

Sapa Valley

Wake up early in the morning to enjoy aquamarine water of the bay at its best. After tea break, the boat continue to cruise quietly through spectacular limestone formations of Halong Bay. Enjoy this more isolated bay’s spectacular and unique islands of the bay. Return to Halong harbour around noon for a transfer back to Hanoi airport for your own flight. Meals on your owns, end your services.

Meals: Breakfast, Brunch

Accommodation: NA

Activities: Spend the morning exploring the magical bay and transfer to airport in Hanoi for onward flight

Kayak 2