Meal: N/A – Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi Our guide and driver will meet you at Noi Bai Airport then transfer to your hotel (check in to your hotel after 14:00 pm). In the afternoon, we will tour around the Hanoi Old Quarter on a cyclo then enjoy a traditional water puppet show. Go back to your hotel and spend the evening discovering the dynamics of the neighborhoods or sampling local delicacies on your own arrangement.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: Homestay The first adventurous journey on your North Vietnam travel is Mai Chau Plateau. After breakfast (around 8:00 am), we will set out on a 4-hour drive to the Northwest of Hanoi. Stop along the way on the top of a pass to capture the finest panorama of the ravishing mountainous vista and treat yourself to some exotic local treats. Continue the drive up a gigantic pass and you will arrive in Mai Chau Valley around noon. Lunch will be served at a local Thai Ethnic household, where you will spend the night at. After lunch, take a pleasant stroll around the valley and see the livelihoods of the locals reveal themselves – engaging in their daily routines, cultivating rice, weaving brocade, or designing and building wooden houses on stilts. Go back to your homestay for a tea break and some chitchatting with your tour guide and host. Dinner will be served with some homemade rice wine specially reserved for family gatherings After dinner, you will have time for a chat, exchanging emails or adding each other on social media before hitting the sack.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: Home-stay After breakfast, take a sneak peek into the tribal living with a visit to a local market for some local treats. Then, proceed to Hua Tát Village, residing at the entrance to Mộc Châu Plateau. Check in to your homestay in a village inhabited by the H’mong people then go for a leisurely stroll to see how they live life at their very own pace. Go back to your homestay for lunch and some rest. In the afternoon, continue your exploration of the plateau trekking for about 5 km to local villages and the old French Number 6 road. You will get to meet and interact with friendly inhabitants of many ethnic backgrounds such as the H’mong, Thai, etc., while soaking up the sunshine and serene natural opulence exuding along the way. Your guide will take you back to your homestay as the sun starts to set and the backdrop of mountains eventually vanish into the misty horizon. You will be back to your homestay late in the afternoon to relax, have a tea break, and enjoy a cosy homemade dinner in the company of your hosts and friends. Your friendly hosts will also introduce to you some traditional music performances showcasing the ingenious culture of the locals.

Activities : Trekking

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: Hotel in Nghia Lo After breakfast, bid farewell to our friendly hosts then drive through Moc Chau Plateau towards Nghia Lo. Stop en route for photo opportunities as you pass evergreen tea hills, corn fields, and dairy farms along the way. You will be ferried across the Da River (Dark River) before continuing the drive. Stop midway for lunch. Mu Cang ChaiIn the afternoon, we will arrive in Nghia Lo town, where you will check in to your hotel. In the evening, take a leisurely walk around the town; enjoy dinner in a local restaurant, then go back to your hotel for good night sleep.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: Homestay After breakfast, we will drive up along the Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range, passing through gleaming rice terraces. Get out of your van and hike into the beautiful scenery. That is a paradise for amazing photos so do not forget your camera. As you hike, visit a local village of Thai and H’Mong Ethnic minorities to meet and chat with friendly villagers. The local people here still retain their traditional lifestyles, customs, and habits, so this will be a haven for cultural buffs. Go back to the main road then stop for lunch then continue the drive to Mu Cang Chai with imposing mountainous landscapes and striking rice terraces. Get out of the car for a short trek to the top of the hill where the Thai and H’Mong villages located. You will be rewarded with an unparalleled visual glory. The stellar terraced rice fields, mountains, traditional stilt houses, are on full display and looking like intricate brocade patterns elaborately sewn together. Watch the daily local life go by, say hello to the kids, then check in to your homestay later in the afternoon, rest, and enjoy a home-cooked dinner.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, – Accommodation: Hotel in Sapa No North Vietnam Travel is complete without a visit to the dreamy Sapa Town. Bid adieu to your host, you will visit a local market to see how local people do trading with their traditional products and gain further insights into the customs of tribal markets. After that, you will drive through Muong La Valley and Than Uyen Plateau to Tram Ton Pass – the highest pass in Vietnam recorded at 2,047 meters above sea level. Stop to take photos and fill your lungs with fresh mountain air. If weather permits, you can see the roof of Indochina – Fansipan Mount, standing at an elevation of 3,014 meters and shrouded in billowing clouds all year round. Continue your drive to Sapa Town and check in to your hotel. The rest of the day is at your leisure for further exploration of Sapa Town.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: Homestay After breakfast at your hotel, you will start out your full day trekking to Golden Stream Valley at 9:00 am. You can then start hiking along local trails, across vegetable gardens and rice terraces at the foothill of Mount Fan Si Pan. The first part goes downhill for about an hour and a half towards Y Linh Ho Hamlet. After crossing a suspension bridge, you will see some stunning views of the rice terraces, gardens, and stilt houses. The trail leads up to Lao Chai San Village where you will have lunch in the local family. After lunch, walk down through Lao Chai San Village and stop at Lao Chai Village to visit local H’mong people. You will explore the villages of Lao Chai (Black H’mong) and Ta Van (Dzay) people. This is the biggest and most scenic valley in Sapa. This trek is relatively easy as you walk along the local trails. You will arrive at a Dzay ethnic family, a simple home-stay equipped with clean mattresses and a mosquito net. Have a tea break and have a chit-chat with family members as well as learn about their daily life and fascinating culture, as they prepare your home-cooked dinner. Enjoy dinner and a sip of homemade rice wine served as the host’s greeting to their guests and stay there for the night.

Activities : Trekking

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Guesthouse After breakfast, say goodbye your hosts then drive along mountain roads for about 2.5 hours before arriving in Muong Hum. If your visit falls on Sunday, you will have a chance to visit Muong Hum Market – a very colorful market attended by many ethnic minorities as Ha Nhi, H’Mong, Hoa, Dzay, Red Dzao, Dao Tuyen, Han, etc., clad in their distinctive traditional clothes, to discover the culture of a hill tribe market. If it isn’t on Sunday, the landscape and villages along the way are enough to make our trip special. Stop for lunch in a mountain town then continue to drive to Y Ty. Passing through a rainforest, you will arrive in Y Ty Commune early in the afternoon. Leave your luggage at the guesthouse then go exploring the Y Ty area – a frontier bordering China. Start a small trek to the valley to visit the local villages of ethnic people such as Ha Nhi, H’mong, etc. Do not forget your camera to capture the most candid picture of local life in the highlands. Go back to your guesthouse, enjoy a simple dinner then have a good night with cool air mountainous atmosphere.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch – Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi Wake up early and feel the cool air of mountain brushing your skin, see locals going about their everyday business, kids going to school. Head over to the local market to peek into the lifestyle habits of the people living in here and have a good idea about what they eat, how they cook and what is important in their lives. Then, you will drive through Y Ty Valley to go return to Lao Cai Town, where you will stop for lunch. After lunch, continue your drive on the highway back to Hanoi. Check in to your hotel in Hanoi and unwind.

Activities : Sightseeing

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Accommodation: On boat Halong Bay is your much-needed relief on your North Vietnam travel bucket list after all the trekking, hiking, and embracing new cultures. About 8:00 am, you will leave the noise of Hanoi behind and travel about four hours to Halong Bay by car or shuttle bus, passing many small towns, villages, and rice paddies along the way. Stop midway for a 20-minute break then continue proceeding to Halong Bay. Hop aboard a tender to arrive at your cruise ship, a beautifully restored traditional wooden junk, to explore the jade green waters of Halong Bay over lunch. This afternoon the tender will take you to a secluded part of the bay where the water is perfect for swimming and kayaking around the limestone outcrops. You’ll return to your mother boat just in time to watch the sunset from the top deck before enjoying dinner with the bay’s freshest seafood.

Activities : Trekking

Meal: Breakfast, Brunch – Accommodation: N/A Wake up early for a rejuvenating morning dip before breakfast. Then head off to visit Cave of Surprises. This is the biggest cave in Halong Bay and here you can see a dazzling labyrinth of stalagmites and stalactites as you walk along the illuminated paths. Once you are done with your caving experience, return to your ship and cruise back to the main harbor, brunch also is served on boat before saying goodbye to your crew and Halong Bay. Drive back to Hanoi at around 16:00 pm. All services end at your hotel or you can get transferred to the airport for your departure flight, marking the end of your North Vietnam travel.

Activities : Sightseeing