8-Day Northern Vietnam Off the Beaten Track Adventure

Our guide and driver will pick you up around 7:30 am for your 5-hour drive to Sapa. Sit back, relax, and enjoy as the scenery transforms from a bustling metropolis to rolling hills and endless rice paddies. Around midday, you will arrive in Sapa, where you’ll get to enjoy a local lunch. Then for your first trip use the longest cable car system in Asia, departing from Sapa Town to the highest mountain top of Southeast Asia, Fansipan, once known as the ‘Roof of Indochina’. The highest point of the mountain culminates at 3,143m above sea level. The ascension by cable car takes about 30 minutes offering you on the way a stunning view of terraced rice fields as far as the eye can see. Once you arrive, you can visit the temples and finish the climb by foot, just 600 stairs, or by funicular before you head back to Sapa Town by car for an overnight stay in a hotel. It is recommended to bring a jacket as the temperature drops and the wind blows at this altitude.

Today you will trek to rice paddy fields Ý Linh Hồ, flower valleys, and Black Hmong villages, located in the mountains with amazing panoramic views. You will visit a local house to meet the villagers and discover their daily life. After lunch in a local restaurant, you will continue through the rice terrace fields to Lao Chai and Ta Van Village of Zay people to discover their culture. This is the biggest valley and features the most impressive rice terrace fields in the whole of Sapa. You will have dinner and spend the night in a homestay in Ta Van Village.

Today we’ll leave Sapa in favour of Vietnam’s final frontier, Ha Giang. On the way, we’ll make a stop at Pho Rang for lunch before we have a walking tour to Vinh Yen inhabited by Tay communities. We continue our drive deeper into Ha Giang, enjoying the spectacular scenery along the way, before finally reaching the Tay village for another walk where we will spend the night around 6 pm, just in time for a home-cooked dinner. You’ll overnight in this traditional Tay stilt house. - A 6-8 km walk.

Once we have purchased the mandatory permit at the Immigration Office, you will begin the journey to Dong Van following a spectacular series of passes that wind through the mountains and valleys. En route, you enjoy exceptional views of the rolling landscape and interesting flora and fauna. After that, we will have lunch in the small mountain town of Tam Son to visit the villages of the H’mong Lung Cam B. You will have the chance to see the former palace of the H’mong King, Vuong Chinh Duc who was an ally of the French. You will arrive in Dong Van around 18:00, where you will have dinner at a local restaurant and spend the night in a hotel.

You’ll start the day off with breakfast and a visit to the Dong Van Market, where locals come from all the surrounding villages to purchase and trade for essentials they cannot produce themselves. Then you will be making the trek up to Pu Lo fortress which was built in 1890 and evacuated in 1945. From here you can enjoy spectacular views of the entire region, before climbing 8 km to the top of Ma Pi Leng Pass, through a gigantic maze of limestone peaks, stone forests, and canyons (the Sky Path at the Nho Qué River Viewpoint) before descending into the valley of Meo Vac. Winding our way through the valley, we’ll eventually reach Bao Lac village, where we’ll rest for a bit and have lunch before being driven to Cao Bang where you’ll spend the night in a hotel. - An 8-10 km trek.

This day is likely to be the highlight of your Vietnam tour, as we take you to one of the most incredible natural wonders in Northern Vietnam; Ban Gioc Waterfall. The drive here from Cao Bang is roughly two hours, and this breathtaking 300-metre-wide cascade sits right on the border between China and Vietnam, amidst a beautiful mountainous landscape. While you’re here you can spend your time relaxing in the glow of the natural beauty, take some amazing photos, and board a bamboo boat that will take you so close to the falls you’ll feel the spray on your face, practically sitting at the very edge of Vietnam, so close to China that you can touch it. After enjoying the waterfall, you will venture deep underground into the magical Nguom Ngao Cave to discover the rock formations that have been carved by erosion over millennia. After visiting the waterfall and cave, you will travel down a beautiful road that is unknown to many, which winds through the mountains before reaching the Nung village of Quang Uyen. You will be welcomed by Mr. Hung Dao, an amazingly friendly blacksmith, before having dinner at his house and settling in for the night in this cozy traditional Nung house.

Today we leave Quang Yen behind and drive through Ma Phuc Pass on our way to Ba Be National Park. Once in the park, you’ll have time to explore the many wonders located here, such as the lake itself, the caves of Puong Grotto, the rapids of Dau Dang Waterfall, and finally the tiny Widow Island located on the lake. We’ll be staying in a traditional Tay stilt house overnight, staying with a local host family.

After breakfast, we’ll take you on a stroll along the riverfront to visit some surrounding villages, followed by a hike up one of the higher points around the lake, providing you with some impressive views surrounded by limestone formations and mountain peaks. Following this we enter Hua Ma Cave, famous for its thousands of stalactites and stalagmites, and also known for being the biggest dry cave in Northeastern Vietnam. After lunch in a local restaurant, it’s sadly time to head back to Hanoi and say our goodbyes, arriving at your hotel around 5 pm. End of your Vietnam travel package.