DAY 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau Valley (L,D)
7:30-8:00 – Pickup at your hotel in the Old Quarter in our comfortable van/bus
10:00 – Short break
11:30-12:00 – Scenic photo stop of Mai Chau valley/arrive in Mai Chau
12:15 – Traditional lunch in our home(vegetarian available)
14:00-16:30 – Bicycle ride with your tour guide, see farmers working in fields, locals weaving scarves and visit surrounding peaceful villages.
16:30-18:00 – Free time for cycling, walking, shopping
18:00 – Enjoy the outdoor BBQ party at Mai Chau BBQ garden and watch the Thai’s traditional dance and drink traditional wine “ruou can”.
Overnight in Communal stilt house or Valley view Bungalows
Day 2: Explore the more remote rural villages ( B,L)
07:30 – Have breakfast at the homestay
08:00 – Go with a local Thai tour guide to visit more remote rural villages: Na Meo, Na Mo and Xam Pa villages to understand more about their culture and customs
12:00 – Back to the homestay for lunch and check-out
13:00 -15:00 – Free time for shopping and relaxing.
15:30 – Get on the van/bus to drive back to Hanoi.
19:00 – Arrive in Hanoi Old quater. Drop you off at your hotel.
Our Perfume Pagoda – Cuc Phuong – Mai Chau Trekking 3 day tour with HTS tour was an insight into real life of Vietnamese locals. I set off on time in an air con car with a guide and after travelling through the countryside stopped, took a boat and arrived at the pier and took a boat to of the Perfume Pagoda site. A cable car took me to the summit and my guide explained the relevance of the Pagoda to the Vietnamese. Returning to our vehicle, we then drove to our home-stay house and tried the delicious local cuisine. After a comfortable night I walked around a bit then headed for Cuc Phuong N Park, and I witnessed the beauty of the grounds there and what the Viets are doing at the Rescue Centre, after which I went to Mai Chau and met my host family, had a look around the village and surrounds then joined my hosts for dinner. In the morning I took some photos of the beautiful setting, mountains and people then came back to Hanoi stopping on the way. I had a great journey, and thanks to driver and guide who were always pointing things out and explaining meanings to me, i had a really good time.
Took the 3day tour with HTS Tour and firstly discovered the sacred Perfume Pagoda, and was blown away. We approached the site on a sampan after a 30 minute ride, and caught the cable-car to the top of the mountain. The view on the way up was spectacular looking down from the cable-car and at the top we joined the people and visited the main Pagoda, in a cave. We decided to descend by the paths and visit other temples on the holy mountain. We took the same sampan back to the pier and our car took us to Yen Mo where we spent the night in a home-stay situation with local hosts. In the morning after meandering around the village we drove to Cuc Phuong National Park and visited the Primate Rescue Centre to see the conservation efforts of the workers there. Then we went to Mai Hich in the scenic Mai Chau valley, where we looked around and met our hosts for the night. We spent the night in their stilt house and they provided a local meal. In the morning we bid our hosts goodbye then took a final look around before we set off back to Hanoi,very satisfied that our trip had lived up to our expectations.