Northwest Vietnam Adventure Tour

Arrive in Hanoi in the afternoon. You will be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel for a rest after your long travels. The remainder of the day is free to rest, relax or travel and explore Hanoi on your own. Hanoi is a picturesque city of more than 6 million people. Its tree-shaded streets are filled with lovely examples of French colonial architecture. As we walk the streets we will be transported back in time. We’ll be swept away by the scenes in the marketplaces, family life in the street, commerce, and a mixture of old and new technologies. In the evening we’ll enjoy a welcome dinner at one of finest restaurant, where we will begin our exploration of the culinary delicacies of Vietnam and have our trip orientation. Overnight at the hotel.

Today we will have a full-day travel tour of Hanoi. In the morning we will visit the Confucian Temple of Learning as well as the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh and the War Museum, and listen to traditional Vietnamese music. After lunch at Cha Ca restaurant, we’ll explore Hoan Kiem Lake (where local seniors practice a rigorous, joint-limbering version of Tai Chi), and the Ngoc Son Temple, built on an islet in the middle of the lake. We may also have time to wander the downtown area and visit the colorful Hanoi market and the market district, where each street hosts vendors of a particular trade: metal workers, funerary wreaths and electronics. We’ll have dinner at a restaurant before transferring to Hanoi station for the overnight train to Lao Cai, on the Chinese border. Overnight on the train.

Arrive in Lao Cai and transfer one hour to the village of Sapa. Built in the early 1920s as a French hill station, Sapa village has rested peacefully in isolation since the end of World War II, and was opened up to foreign travelers just a few years ago. The French nicknamed the Sapa region the “Tonkinese Alps,” and its rugged and exotic beauty is still a draw. The district is peopled by eight different ethnic groups that originated in China and other countries surrounding Vietnam, and the majority of them are subsistence farmers, with rice being the most important crop. 

You’ll have a chance to shower and have breakfast at a hotel. After a short briefing with a local guide, we leave Sapa by Jeep and with a beautiful view of the valley below us, we descend to the river and the village of Ban Ho. Cross the river by a suspended bridge and move slowly eastward through a landscape dominated by verdant mountaintops with rice terraces climbing up the slopes. Gradually, we’ll learn to recognize the different people who have been using these paths for generations by their varied, colorful traditional dress. After crossing one more river, we reach the lively Tay village of Than Phu, with its rice mills scattered around the banks of a small stream. We’ll enjoy lunch in a local house, as curious children peek in and giggle, before leaving the village and heading up a nearby valley. The path rises gradually to an altitude of 3,400 meters, and on the other side we’ll descend to the small, isolated village of Sin Chai (at 3,080 meters). Before 1998 the village had few visitors, so we can enjoy the rustic surroundings and the beauty of the people’s life in harmony with nature. Dinner is a simple meal prepared by a local family. Overnight at a local house.

The day starts early, as we wake up to the sound of a cock crowing, the grunts of free-roaming pigs, and the creaking of watermills grinding rice. (Some families will turn the flour into rice paper, which you may see hanging out to dry around the homes.) Sin Chai is a Dzao village; the women wear beautiful silver coin jewelry and huge red woven turbans. Those interested in learning more about the area can set out after breakfast on an easy two-hour walk to another Dzao village, Suoi Thau (at 3,380 meters). Along our travels we’ll enjoy a magnificent view all the way across the valley to the mountains before reaching a unique wooden bridge with a thatched roof that connects the village to the rice fields. After lunch here, we return to Sin Chai to spend the rest of the day relaxing or exploring the village.

After the H’mong porters pack our gear, we’ll say goodbye to Sin Chai and hit the trail. We’ll stop for tea and a swim in the river in Than Phu before heading to the Tay village of Ban Ho. A local family is expecting us, and the cook will have prepared lunch for us to enjoy on the porch before heading back up the escarpment toward Su Pan and the waiting vehicles for our return journey. Return to Sapa and check into the hotel where you’ll be sure to appreciate the modern convenience of a hot shower and a cold drink! At dinner we can reflect on how quickly you can get in touch with a different culture largely unaffected by the modern world.

In the morning after breakfast, we start our day by cycling about 20 miles from Sapa down to Lao Cai. It’s a thrilling ride out of the mist through a river canyon down to the Chinese border. Along the way we meet people walking the road and selling fruit, and motorbikes carrying incredible loads up and down the canyon. From Lao Cai we drive in our support vehicles to the  boat dock at the Coc Ly River. In a shallow draft fan-tail launch we follow the narrowing limestone gorge of the river up to the small H’mong village of Coc Ly, where children play and water buffalo graze by the side of the river. If there’s time we will explore one of the many limestone grottos along the river. After returning down river, we meet our support vehicles and continue up the steep hill to the town of Bac Ha. Continue to Bac Ha, arriving in the afternoon. Overnight at hotel.

We awake early in the morning and join the throngs at the Bac Ha market, which takes place only on Sunday. This is an extraordinary event where local people walk in from surrounding villages to trade, buy, eat and gossip. After lunch back at the hotel, we can take an easy walk to visit the string H’mong village nearby. Return to Bac Ha and drive to Lao Cai. After dinner in Lao Cai we’ll take the overnight train back to Hanoi.

Arrive in Hanoi in the early morning. Transfer to a restaurant for breakfast, then drive to Ha Long Bay by van, stopping several times to stretch our legs. Time permitting, we’ll visit Bat Trang pottery village en route. In Bat Trang village life centers around ceramics. We will visit a ceramic factory and the home of a famous artist, pass by the stands of old women selling betel nut. As we head north we catch a glimpse of rural Vietnamese life, people working in the rice paddies, water buffalo, children returning from school, and ancient temples. After three hours we come to Ha Long Bay, where the silhouettes of endless limestone formations beckon us to begin the second part of our adventure. Board a traditional wooden junk and overnight on board.

We visit spectacular beaches sheltered by imposing limestone towers, and today we encounter fishing families in a “floating village.” These are true boat people, spending their lives in the narrow confines of their small vessels. They still practice an ancient cult of worshipping creatures of the sea, and we may be invited to share in their ceremonies at the temple. Today we visit the three tunnel lakes, a series of limestone lagoons reachable only by small boats when the tide is right. Overnight on board.

We’ll enjoy a final morning paddle. After lunch on board the boat we bid a farewell to our Vietnamese support crew before returning to Hanoi.  Farewell banquet in the evening at one of Hanoi’s finest restaurants.