Day 1: Ha Noi – Ha Giang (L, D)
8.00am: You will be collected from your hotel to visit Hanoi-Viet Tri-Tuyen Quang-Ha Giang today. On the way, we will stop for lunch in gardens at Tuyen Quang and continue on to Ha Giang arriving around 6pm.
We will go to a nearby Thai village, where we will have dinner and spend the night in the stilted house of a local family
Day 2: Ha Giang – Dong Van (B, L, D)
After purchasing the mandatory permit at the Immigration Office, we will take the a scenic road, which leads to Dong Van, via a series of long passes and deep valleys. Lunch will be taken in the small mountain town of Tam Son.
We then cross an incredible landscape of pine forests, and arrive at the King of the H’mong’s Palace, a fortress built by a local chief allied with the French, against the Vietminh, Vuong Chin Duc. He was evacuated in 1950 and his descendants now live in France and Canada.
We will arrive in Dong Van around 6pm, have dinner in a local restaurant, and spend the night in a local hotel.
Day 3: Dong Van – Ma Pi Leng Pass – Meo Vac – Bao Lac- Ba Be Lake (B, L, D)
Today is an unforgettable day, starting with a visit to the market of Dong Van, where the locals shop before returning to their mountain homes. We then climb a pass up to the French Fortress at Pu Lo, built in 1890 and evacuated in 1945, from where you will enjoy a commanding and spectacular view of the entire region.
The road climbs 15 km up to the top of the Ma Pi Leng Pass, through a gigantic maze of limestone peaks, (known as “stone forests”), and canyons, a very unique landscape. Then we descend into the Meo Vac valley, we continue on winding through the mountains, across the river, and arrive in the village of Bao Lac, where we stop for lunch. We take the mountain road Bao Lac – Cao Bang and before reaching Cao Bang take another gorgeous small road winding through the mountains to the Tay village of Cho Ra, then down to the Tay village of Bo Lu, where we meet Mr. Tuan Linh and his friendly Tay family in their traditional stilted house. If it’s hot, just jump in the refreshing waters of the lake. You will enjoy a superb dinner, cooked by Mrs Tuan Linh, on the river terrace.
Day 4: Ba Be Lake – Puong Cave (B, L, D)
Enjoy your breakfast on the lakeside, then take a short walk to the house owner’s boat, which cruises through the entire length of the 3 connected lakes of Ba Be and up the Nang River, to Dong Phuong and a tunnel 300 mtrs long that the river has cut through a limestone mountain.
The boat then cruises down river to the small village of Hua Tang, a simple and authentic place, where lunch is enoyed in a local house by the river.
After lunch, take a short walk through the jungle that takes you to the very scenic Thac Dau Dang Waterfalls, a series of spectacular tiers between sheer rock walls, and return by boat for another delightful evening at your Tay house.
Day 5: Ba Be Lake – Ha Noi (B, L)
Relax in Bo Lu and depart on a secret road following the river and then snaking from pass to pass through the hills of Central North Vietnam. You will find the locals are fascinated by you as few tourists ever go this particular way.We then join the main road to Ha Noi, with a short stop in Cho Chu to visit the ruins of an old French Prison. You will return to your hotel around 5pm, where the tour ends.
We travelled the northern reaches of the country on a private 5 day tour with HTS Tours. We travelled by ourselves with a guide and driver in an a/c car. We enjoyed the hospitality of a local family in Ha Giang, explored an old fortress, and travelled through a stone forest and past some of the most scenic countryside that I have ever encounted and swam in a lake. We cruised on Ba Be Lake and saw some spectacular waterfalls. It was a very good tour that left no stone unturned, thanks to the organisation skills of miss Lilly in the office.