Option 04 (3D/4N)

Sapa Hilll Tribe Villages & Trekking Tour is an adventure tour with hard grade of trekking, hiking and home staying. The terrain may be steep and slippery sometimes. This trekking tour brings our adventure travelers through the mesmerizing beauty of Muong Hoa Valley of Sapa Town through different hill tribe groups inhabiting the area. We’ll trek for about 8 hours a day.

All meals on this adventure tour are prepared by the local cook. Accommodation is simply homestaying with a local hill tribe family each night. Since the weather may be unpredictable and the local conditions are poor, please bring along a rain coat or poncho, good hiking shoes, degradable soap and medicine. The reward for the adventure is the physical challenge, the stunning natural beauty and the colorful hilltribe culture.

Option 04 (3D/4N)

8.00 pm: We depart ODC's Sales Office to Hanoi Railway Station to catch the night train (soft sleeper with air conditioning) to Lao Cai.

Day 1: Laocai -Catcat -SinChai (5 hours trekking, 10 km, 2 villages) (B/L/D) 

5.00 am: Arrive in Lao Cai and be transferred by shuttle bus to Sapa, which gives yours eyes a massage with the endless blue sky and colorful terraced paddy field. The road is curved around the mountain and you will just go from one surprised to another. The further you go, the closer you are to the sky and to nature. 

On arrival, you will stop by our office and leave your luggage and possibly take a shower in our partner hotel’s waiting room.

7.00 am: Have breakfast at a local restaurant.

9.00 a.m: Trek around 10 km to visit 2 villages of the Black H'mong (CatCat and SinChai). And enjoy traditional dances of ethnic minorities. You will stop by a waterfall and a hydroelectric station for a while and enjoy traditional dances of ethnic minorities. Before continuing the trek on a dirt trail through rice paddy terraces. You also will enjoy spectacular scenery while walking along a narrow river. 

12.00: Picnic lunch at a waterfall and this is a chance to see the hydroelectric power station established by the French. 

2.00 p.m: Jeep from Sin Chai back to Sapa.

In the afternoon: Take a walking tour of Sapa for a visit to the busy market where Red Dao, Black & Flower H'Mong, Tay and other ethnic minority people converge from the surrounding countryside to sell their silverware and handicrafts, vegetable, bamboo shoot, mushroom, medicinal herbs and souvenirs…

Tip from ODC:

At your free time, you could go up to Ham Rong peak where you are able to experience a stunning vista over the charming Sapa town. This is a great chance for some unforgettable photos! This is recommended for the good weather afternoon only (Entrance fee is not included)

7.00 p.m: Have dinner then you are free to walk around Sapa town in the evening

DAY 2: SAPA – BAC HA MARKET – LAO CAI STATION:

Bac Ha market is located about 76km from the train station, about 3 hours way, it is a remote district of Lao Cai province and the market takes place every Sunday is famous for the originality and authenticity that the traders still preserve. It is not simply a place for buy and sell but also opportunity for people from different ethnicities to come and meet, for relatives to reunite after a long time missing, for women to demonstrate their beautiful handmade traditional costumers and even for youngsters to find their dates. To reach the market, many ethnic vendors have to walk a long distance passing mountain and hills. Yet distance has never discouraged them from joining the Sunday colorful market. 

7.30 a.m: After having breakfast, you will travel by car to Bac Ha for 3 hours, which is 70 km Northeast of Lao Cai. At the market, all the activities of the locals are just natural and they enjoy eating ice creams, checking out and bargaining various things, talking with each other, eating noodles and "thắng cố" food which are a mixture of all parts of horses and drinking corn wine.

In the other area of the market, there are horses, buffaloes, pigs and even dogs on sale. The pigs raised on the farms are of small size. You can see a man holding the tail of a buffalo when asking the owner something in their local language.

12.00: After spending the whole morning exploring the market, your lunch will be served in a local restaurant (paid by yourself). 

In the afternoon:

1.00 p.m: Leave the market for the H'mong King's house (King Hoang A Tuong) built by the French colonists and the Chinese in 1920. Spend time visiting another village (BanPho village, 4km from the market) and visit a couple of houses of H'mong people. In the kitchen of one house, the guide will explain how to make corn wine and in another house the owner will invite you to try this wine.

3.00 p.m: Say good bye to BacHa and get back to Sapa. On the way back, drop in to see the Vietnamese and Chinese Harbor Mouth in Lao Cai. 

7.00 p.m: Have dinner then you are free to walk around Sapa town in the evening

Day 3: Sapa – Lao Chai – Ta Van – Lao Cai (7hours trekking, 15 km, 3 villages)(B,L ) 

You meet your guide and depart at 8.00 a.m and start trekking. The first part we will mostly trek downhill Y Linh Ho hamlet. The trek offers some stunning views of the rice terraces, gardens and Fan Si Pan mountain ranges. After going through a suspension bridge, we start walking up to Lao Chai San village.

There we are experiencing the richest traditional culture of Black H’Mong people in the region. The trekking route offers a breathtaking view of vegetable gardens and rice terraces with green mountains rising above. There will be time for visiting with local families and learning about their traditional fiber processing.

10.00 a.m: After this you continue to Ta Van village (1.200 m) to visit Zay people. Zay is a fairly small minority group of about 38.000 people who live mainly in the mountains in Northwest Vietnam. Ta Van is a small village set within a picturesque valley not far from the northern Vietnamese mountain resort of Sa Pa. The area is renowned for its colourful ethnic minorities, and Ta Van is home to two such groups.

12.00: Picnic Lunch by the side of the river.

The rest few hours in the afternoon is for freshen up, packing and rest before leaving Sapa for Lao Cai station to take the overnight train back, which arrive in Hanoi early next morning and ends the trip.

6.00 pm: Bus departs ODC's Office in Sapa for Lao Cai.

7.00 p.m: Dinner at Lao Cai station (paid by yourself).

8.20 p.m: Night train back to Hanoi.

5.00 a.m: Tour ends at Hanoi Railway Station.

Tour includes:

• Transfer from the hotel to Hanoi Railway station 

• Roundtrip transfer in Sapa 

• Return train tickets Hanoi – Lao Cai – Hanoi (Soft sleeper with A/C – 4 persons in one cabin) 

• 2 nights at 3* hotel in Sapa 

• Meals as stated above

• English speaking guide 

• Entrance fees

Tour excludes:

• Travel insurance 

• Extra food and beverages 

• Phone and laundry 

• Tips and personal expenses

Tour Notes:

• Bring walking shoes, raincoat, jacket, extra clothes, torch, insect repellent and sunscreen... 

• Train departure from Ha Noi at 9:15PM and from Lao Cai at 20:45PM 

• Pick you up at your hotel at 8:00PM 

• Please take your passport to check in hotel. 

• Beware of your luggage and money 

• Inform in advance if you are vegetarian. 

• All customers must obey the order of your tour guide for your safety. 

• Passengers are advised not to take along big luggage for convenience.