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Overview
- Duration: 10 days / 9 nights
- Tour Type: Private Tour, Small Group
- Departure: Hanoi
- Theme: Adventure Tours
Highlights
- Trek through the rolling rice terraces, mountains and lush green hills in Pu Luong and get in touch with people from ethnic minority groups
- Cast away on a traditional junk boat and set sail through hundreds of limestone karsts that rise dramatically from the emerald waters of Halong Bay
- Experience Mai Chau on 2 wheels, cycle around the valley; enjoy the stunning lush landscape and Thai culture by visiting the nearby villages. Get a glimpse of life in countryside in Vietnam, enjoy the peace with endless rice paddy fields and fresh air.
Tour itinerary
Transfer: 45 mins
Upon arrival to Noi Bai Airport, our guide and driver will be waiting to provide transport to the city and hotel for check in.
This evening, enjoy a delicious welcome dinner as well as a trip briefing from the guides.
Overnight in Hanoi.
Transfer: 3.5 hrs; Trekking: 2.5 hr Difficulty: Very Easy
Depart early this morning for the Mai Chau area, southwest of Hanoi. Shortly after leaving the city behind, the scenery starts to take on an altogether different look with endless stretches of farmland and hills and mountains looming in the distance.
Arrive in Mai Chau and fuel up with lunch at a local restaurant before beginning the first trek. Depart on foot for Pom Coong, a village inhabited by the White Thai minority people. Enjoy a warm welcome by the hospitable locals and get a taste for their culture with a local bbq meal and traditional dance performance. Spend the night in a local home of the White Thai people.
Accommodation: Homestay at Pom Coong Village
Transfer: 1 hr ; Trekking: 6 hrs Difficulty: Medium
After breakfast, transfer by car a short way to the day’s starting point: Xa Linh village. The trekking route follows a mixture of paths, streambeds, and steep jungle hillsides. Reach the flat trains of “Elephant Valley” leading to Hang Kia (the only H’mong village of the trip), to relax and enjoy a late lunch.
This afternoon’s trek is mainly downhill, following tracks which wind through hamlets and cultivated fields with beautiful views of the Mai Chau Valley below. Trek with a stunning backdrop of rice paddies and the karst rock formations in the distance. There are several stream crossings, suspension bridges, and good descents along the way.
Finally arrive at Cun Pheo, a village of the White Thai minority, for a night in a local homestay.
Accommodation: Homestay in Cun Pheo Village
Transfer: 1 hr ; Trekking: 6 hrs Difficulty: Hard
Today is one of the longest trekking days, but with fabulous rewards. The route passes through many indigenous villages and offers a wonderful opportunity to experience rural Vietnam village life.
Stop in Van Me for lunch and transfer by road to Sai village to embark on a 7.5km trek to Hang Village, an oasis in the middle of Pu Luong Nature reserve. From here, cross into a new and exciting district, once used as part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where very few westerners have traveled. Arrive late this afternoon to Hang Village for an overnight stay in the local stilt houses.
Accommodation: Homestay in Hang Village
Trekking: 6 hrs Difficulty: Hard
A harder day of hiking, 50% on village paths 50% on an old, disused, unpaved French road. There are some steep climbs followed by more stream crossings. Though the trekking becomes more remote, one is never far from a villager tending fields or walking back from the market.
Relax from the heat of the day in a local home at Pak Kha village while lunch is cooked. After lunch, continue on along the old jeep road to a village nestled between steep karst mountains. Arrive early (with energy to spare) to hike a two-hour round trip to a newly discovered and incredibly large cave. Hidden on high ground surrounded by thickets and hanging vegetation, the cave is now protected by Forest rangers, due to the delicate ecosystem and bat species inside.
Accommodation: Overnight in ecotourism homestay, Kho Muong village.
Trekking: 7 hrs Difficulty: Hard
Begin the day with a challenging but glorious downhill hike (starting at 6 AM), leading to the Nature Reserve’s only market. Appreciate the previous night’s dinner upon the realization that all produce is brought to the village two hours uphill on foot! Enjoy wandering the region’s bustling market before having lunch in a local house.
The trail after lunch begins on the valley floor for about an hour, climbing over a small mountain to Hin village; here will be the final homestay of the trip. The village is perfectly positioned close to a small river with opportunities to cool off with a swim after a long day. Explore the fascinating architecture and numerous hamlets that dot the valley or just relax in a hammock, enjoying the serenity of this gorgeous region.
Accommodation: Overnight in ecotourism home-stay
Transfer: 4 hrs ; Trekking: 5 hrs Difficulty: Medium
After an early breakfast, enjoy the final hike of the trip, which leads out of the valley and back up into the mountains. The first hour is relatively flat, passing through small hamlets where farmers work their rice paddies, before crossing the river and heading up into the hills. Trek uphill for 2 hours on a well-trodden trail, enjoying magnificent views of the valley below and a patchwork of rice fields and forest-covered mountains. The trail then levels out and passes along the ridge through thick forest and emerges in the village of Ban Son, where lunch will be had.
After lunch, hike for an hour on a dirt road to the village of Ban Ba, where a bus will be waiting to provide transport back to Hanoi.
Arrive in Hanoi late that afternoon and check in to the hotel.
Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi
After breakfast, leave Hanoi for an overnight boat trip on Halong Bay. The journey out runs through the rich farmlands of the Red River Delta, where it’s possible to observe the everyday life of Vietnamese villagers as they work the rice fields. Arrive in Halong City late in the morning and board the crúie for the overnight journey into the Bay (with lunch served enroute.)
After sailing along the idyllic rock formations, end the day by setting anchor in the middle of the Bay. As the sun sets over the water, dinner is served on board, consisting of fresh seafood, salads, and fruits.
Accommodation: Overnight on Halong Bay cruise
Transfer: 3.5 hrs
Spend the morning returning to Halong City, enjoy a wholesome brunch as the boat weaves through strange-shaped limestone rock formations. Upon reaching the port, our driver will be waiting to provide transport back to Hanoi.
Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi
Transfer: 45 mins
Spend the day at leisure until transport (provided) to the airport for the departing flight.
Accommodation: NA
Accommodation
Homestay
Overnight on Halong bay cruise
Transportation
Price Includes
- Private vehicle for transfer except trekking days
- English Speaking Guide with official lisence
- Additional assistant guide for 16+ pax
- Local guide during trekking days
- Motorbike support where need
- Plenty of water per person per trekking day
- Snacks and local fruits
- 1 first aid kit per guide
- Sightseeing tickets and zone entrance fees where mentioned in the itinerary
- Meals as mentioned in the itinerary (B – Breakfast, L – Lunch, D – Dinner)
- Accommodation as listed above.
Price Excludes
- Visa arrangement
- International and domestic flights.
- Soft drinks, or beverages beyond water – we can add this into costs at agents request
- Beverage and alcoholic drinks at mealtimes
- Meals other than mentioned above
- Tips
- Energy drinks or powders, performance bars, or performance gels (Gatorade, Powerbars, Gu, Isostar, etc)
- Personal Travel Insurance
- Personal expenditure (laundry, telephone etc.)
- Credit card/bank transfer fees
- Any other services not clearly mentioned in the itinerary and in the inclusive portion
- Supplement for other language speaking guides
Important Notes
- We strongly recommend the purchase of travel insurance (covering emergency medical evacuation) for trips.
- Prices are valid 30 days from date of offer. Past this date price and conditions may be readjusted.
- The cost of air tickets is subject to change without prior notice by the airlines.
- Reservations during peak times (Christmas, New Year, Vietnamese Lunar New Year, National Holidays) may be subject to supplementary charges.
- Rooms at hotels are available only from 1400 on arrival day till 1200 on departure date. A supplement will be added if early check-in or late check-out is desired.
- Please note that all the above services & tours have yet to be booked, they are proposed for your information only and we will not make any reservations before we receive your confirmation to do so.
- If one or some proposed service(s) is (are) not available at the moment of booking, we will try to find other possibilities/options or other similar service(s) in order to avoid changes to the program.
