Sapa adventure

If you want a place of cultural authenticity and natural tranquility, you have found the right place. Sapa is a mountainous town in Northen Vietnam where you write poem, have your cameras on for most of your time, cheer over a community wine pot, learn to appreciate indigenous culture or just to escape Hanoi heat and city noise. Being one of the most attractive tourism destinations of the country, Sapa is a precious gift that Mother Nature dedicates to Vietnam.

Spending time visiting ethnic minorities’ villages, observing their daily’s activities or even living homestay, in order to understand more about their culture is now the top priority of visitors, especially international ones. A trip to Sapa would definitely more meaningful with participatory activities, such as learning to make handicrafts or helping the local with farm work! In case time does not allow, you can always hire a local guide for your trekking routes. Chances are these boys and girls will tell you lovely stories about their traditions, their lives or even ask you to join their family activities.

This special trip brings you to some of the most outstanding sceneries of Sapa and Lao Cai: visit 2 special markets o Bac Ha and Coc Ly then a boat trip on Chay River, visit 4 villages (Ban Pho, Su Pan, Ban Ho, Trung Do) and 8 different minorities (Tay, Black H’Mong, Flower H’Mong, Red Dao, Black Dzao, Dzay, Ha Nhi and Nung).

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 sells 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

Sapa adventure

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 (Sunday): Lao Cai - Bac Ha - Sapa

5.00 am: Arrive in Lao Cai and be transferred by shuttle bus to Bac Ha, 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. 

7.00 am: Have breakfast at a local restaurant.

7.30 a.m: After having breakfast, go to visit market 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. For local men, Bac Ha market is also a place where they gather to drink together. Wine can be considered as a specialty of the H’Mong people. In the market session, you may hear the sounds of traditional songs and musical instruments of the local boys and girls. Foreign tourists are especially excited with the daily lives and the custom of hill tribe people. In the commercial age when most highland markets are influenced by modern style, Bac Ha is still a traditional market which reserves its unique features. This is a great place for those who love nature and love to explore the local traditional characteristics of the friendly hill tribes.

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.

In the afternoon:

1.00 a.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. It is a unique construction work, which harmonizes the Asian and European architectural styles. Over 80 years of existence, the old palace still stands imposing and outstanding in the town center. Its owner was Hoang Yen Chao of Tay origin. He was the father of Hoang A Tuong, a tribal mandarin under the domination of the French colonialists.

2.00 p.m: 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 Sa Pa. On the way back, drop in to see the Vietnamese and Chinese Harbor Mouth in Lao Cai. 

6.00 p.m: Arrive Sa Pa, check in hotel in Sa Pa and have dinner. Overnight in Sa Pa. 

Day 2 (Monday): Sapa-Su Pan-Ban Ho-Sa Pa.

8.00 am: Get up early in the morning to enjoy the daily life of the ethnic minorities in the village and have a breakfast.

9.30 a.m: Take the bus to a village located at the foot of Hoang Lien range via bamboo forests. 

10.00 a.m: Arrive Giang Ta Chai village; it is home to the Red Dzao who wears plain black trousers and a long black tunic with embroidered cuffs and lapels. From here, we can visit a waterfall and a rattan bridge.

11.00 a.m: After the village, get down to the river, cross it and keep going to Su Pan Village for 2 minorities – The H’Mong and the Red Dzao. Also located along Muong Hoa Valley like Lao Chai and Ta Van but Su Pan Commune can be referred to as “mountainous commune”. Occupying the highland on the east side of the main road about 17 Km from Sapa town, Su Pan including 4 small hamlets of the Black H’mong and Red Zao looks down to the Muong Hoa Valley and is one of the poorest commune to Sapa due to the thin and poor soil, you can take a rest while you are served lunch. 

1.00 p.m: Get off the road to go downhill to Ban Ho village.

1.30 p.m: Arrive in Ban Ho village; Ban Ho is worth the somewhat difficult journey to get there, as the village rewards visitors with stunning views of unspoiled sites and an opportunity to discover the daily activities of the ethnic people Tay. 

2.30 p.m: Walk out of the Lavie Stream in the scenic village Ban Ho, more than 26 kilometers away from the famous resort town of Sapa. The water was fresh and cleans in the stream which ran from rocks and hills where a few minority groups live.

Young citizens of Lao Cai Province Vietnam and foreign tourists often trek to Ban Ho to indulge in the pristine Lavie Stream, enjoy the sweet sound of running water from the Ca Nhay Waterfalls and other natural attractions of the tranquil village.

4.00 p.m: Back to Su Pan, where take the bus back to Sa Pa.

5.00 p.m: Arrive Sa Pa, have dinner and overnight in Sa Pa.

Day 3: Sapa – Coc Ly market – Hanoi (Tuesday) (B, L, D)

About 35km from Bac Ha, Coc Ly Market is a colorful Tuesday market in a mountainous area where ethnic people gather to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market by the Chay River.

Visiting Coc Ly Market in Bac Ha is also a chance for travelers to see ethnic people such as Flower H’mong, Phu La and Dao Tuyen in their colorful costumes. All of them are busy with buying and selling their homemade products, whatever they can sell to the festive market. Adding color to the bazaar by the Chay River also have scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of ethnic fabric.

7.30 a.m: After having breakfast, you will travel by car to Coc Ly market for 3 hours follow national road 70 traveling through the lush farm of Lao Cai for 60 km to Phong Nien Commune. 9.30 a.m: Arrive the market; join local ethnic peoples for 2 hours of the morning to enjoy the exciting atmosphere as well as activities of this weekly market. Walk from section to sections, corner to corners, seeing and smelling of different local product, spices, vegetable, farming tools, handicraft even medicinal herb, 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.

The market is always crowded for the whole morning and over after lunch time.

12.00: Have lunch at local restaurant.

1.00 p.m: We also can do a short trek to the nearby village of Sa Koun Ho inhabited by the Flower H'mong and Black Dao minority as well as visit Trung Do village, inhabited by Tay minority. Spend about an hour walking to explore this charming village before continuing the boat trip briefly to Bao Nhai. There will be an exciting boat cruise winding you through a breathtaking, out of this-world landscape where the mountain grow from water presenting their most hidden mysteries, including beautiful caves and bustling life on the riverbank.

3.00 p.m: Say good bye to Coc Ly market and get back 46km to Lao Cai. On the way back, drop in to see the Vietnamese and Chinese Harbor Mouth in Lao Cai. Transfer to Station for overnight train back Hanoi. 

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) 

• Boat trip on Chay River 

• 2 nights at 3* hotel in Sapa 

• Full board meals 

• English speaking guide 

• Entrance fees

Tour excludes:

• Travel insurance 

• Extra food and beverages 

• Phone and laundry 

• Tips and personal expenses

Tour Notes:

• Breakfast in hotel : Buffet(plentiful and variety food) 

• 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.