Private Festive Sapa Exploration 9D9N

Get picked up at your hotel at the Old Quarter to go to the meeting point of the cabin sleeper bus.

Overnight on bus

6:00: Arrive Sapa. Our tour guide picks you up at the drop off point of  the bus and take you to a local restaurant to have breakfast.

9:00: Our journey will depart with a car riding along a road get to Silver Waterfall. You descend on foot through a valley and cross a river. Heading and climbing to village of Ban Khoang of Red Dao minority. You get a great opportunity to discover the traditional life and daily activities of local people there. After lunch, our trek will be taken through the corn-farm and the rainy forests in order to get to Ta Phin village of Red Dao and Black H’mong tribe. There is more chance for you to get to know more about local hill tribes as visit their home, communicate with them, and experience some of their daily activities. You will be able to study traditional cuisine and enjoy cooking dinner with your hosts.

Overnight in Sapa

After breakfast, you will depart by car crossing a valley of Ma Tra village. Follow a small trail, that will take you up the hill for 2 hours to the Den Thang range. Reach the top to enjoy the great view of the Fansipan Peak and the stunning Muong Hoa Valley as the trek approaches Hang Da Village - the home of Hmong which is at 1,800m above sea level and overlooks the Muong Hoa Valley. Discover the village and then have a picnic lunch.

After a short rest we will continue walking to Hau Thao village. You will see the stunning view of Muong Hoa valley. Arrive at Hau Thao Commune, you will have a chance to discover the daily life of the Black Hmong minority and their traditional customs and costume.

From here we will make our way to Lao Chai, an established Hmong minority village which has been inhabited for centuries. See the product of this minority at its best with established rice terraces, homes and a vibrant community. We will stay overnight at homestay of Giay Minority people.

Take a well-earned rest and enjoy a soothing cup of tea before learning the art of Batik painting. The beautiful textiles of the Black H’mong are famous around the world and Batik is a traditional part of H’mong culture. Under threat from modernization, Batik is now only practiced by a handful of villagers. Join a hands-on master class led by a local expert and take your creation home! You will be supporting a sustainable tourism project that supports local women and ensures this amazing art form is handed down to the next generation.

Overnight in Sapa

When you awake on Day 3, open the window and have a look outside - weather permitting - you will be treated to amazing views across the rice terraces in the valley. After breakfast you will make your way to Ta Van where you will visit the Giay minority people. This tribe traditionally fished for a living and as a result established themselves close to rivers. They have mastered the art of fishing with bamboo sticks, and cook the fish in the bamboo. Nowadays however you are more likely to see the Giay working in fields planting or harvesting rice. We will continue our walk through an impressive bamboo forest to Giang Ta Chai, and then on to the village of Supan where you will be able to rest your legs and take in the stunning mountain scenery as we stop for a picnic lunch.

Feeling revitalized, we will hike the final 6km to Ban Ho village where we will spend the night at another homestay. This building is particularly special as it sits on stilts overlooking the rice terraces. Dinner is cooked on an open fire, and some local speciality rice wine will be on offer to help you wind down!

Overnight in Sapa

On Day 4 you will know when it’s time to wake up when you hear the patter of feet on bamboo heading up the stairs to the bathroom. After a filling breakfast in the homestay we will walk 3km to Nam Toong village, home to the Red Dao minority. We will then follow a buffalo trail through sprawling rice terraces, taking in the spectacular views of Hoang Lien National Park as we make our way to My Son village. Here you can meet the Xa Pho minority, one of the smallest tribes in the Sapa area. We will spend the night in the village of Thanh Phu, where you enjoy local food and a warm bed in a Tay minority stilt house.

Overnight in Sapa

We will start Day 5 with a filling breakfast, after which we walk from Thanh Phu back to Ban Ho by a different route, following the Muong Hoa River. It is an easy but beautiful route to wind down from the last three days, and it will give you the chance to absorb as much of the remaining scenery as possible. There will also be a chance to swim in the river if the weather is good (or even if it’s not if you are brave!). Transport will be waiting in Ban Ho to take you back to Sapa for a well deserved rest!

Overnight in Sapa 

Today is time for a special market experience: the Can Cau market.

After have breakfast at hotel, our tour will be started. Arrive to the market place at about 10.00 am. Spend two hours joining the local tribal peoples including Flower H’mong, Black Zao, Phu La and Tay for the festive market activities where peoples in their best traditional costume gather every Saturday for shopping and socializing. The right location of the market place also offers photo-hunters ideal opportunity for taking photos, not only of peoples in colorful traditional costumes but also breathtaking landscapes of the perfect surrounding. Leaving the market almost at noon, drive 20 km back to Bac Ha town let for lunch break.

In the afternoon, you will take a walk to Ban Pho, a small village of Nung and Flower Hmong. The villagers grow vegetables and fruit trees. One of the most famous fruit of the area is plum. Visit a local house and taste a cup of corn wine, another famous product of the village. Then go back to hotel late in the afternoon.

Overnight in Sapa

Early departure from Bac Ha Town at about 08.00am Sunday morning to arrive to the market place. Spend three hours joining the local tribal peoples including Flower H’mong, Black Zao, Phu La and Tay for the market activities and festive atmosphere. All peoples in their best traditional costume gather every Sunday for shopping, but socializing is of great importance. The cattle and clothing sections are the most interesting until 11.00 and then come the food section where peoples meet, talk, enjoy food and especially drink a kind of locally made corn-wine.

Lunch break in a local restaurant

In the afternoon, we take a short trek from Bac Ha town to Nahoi village

Located 2  kilometer from Bac Ha Town’s center, Na Hoi commune is also worth visiting. Coming here, you will see the green color of rice and corn fields, mountains, plum forests, and many wooden stilt houses surrounding the villages in the commune. Besides, you can feel the tranquil life and learn the customs, habits, and daily life of local ethnic minorities: Hmong, Nung, Tay, Dao, and Phu La. Besides Tay people’s Xoe dancing, you will see the Hmong people weaving, sewing, and embroidering traditional clothes. In addition to discovering the unique culture, you can also enjoy many dishes made by the local people, such as upland sticky rice, grilled chicken, bitter bamboo shoots, etc. 

Overnight in Sapa

After having breakfast, enjoy the opportunity to trek from Bac Ha to Lung Phinh via Ban Pho village, where the Flower H’Mong ethnic group live. Strolling around this beautiful village for deeper explorations. Learn how to make local corn wine.

Leave the village and follow the trail passes through vegetable plantations, terraced fields, green hills, the trail offers gorgeous views lead to Lau Thi Ngai. Then, take rest and enjoy some refreshing moment with a packed lunch box.

In the afternoon, your trek passes through varied landscapes ranging from evergreen forest to Lung Phinh, where you will be welcomed in a Phu La family, enjoy some teas with the friendly host family, this makes an addition to the beauty of your trip.

At the end of the day, enjoy wonderful moments of having dinner and stay overnight at a local family

Overnight in Sapa

Enjoy your breakfast at the homestay, travel through forest to the rural villages with beautiful site of traditions and culture of ethnic Black Dao and Phu La. The hiking offers you to see the smiling and welcoming local people, the Bac Ha rural lifestyle as well as full picturesque view of the valley, panoramic view of Bac Ha City, and its surroundings at the mountain top.

Picnic lunch at a beautiful site of the valley.

After lunch, continue on winding trails that will traverse you into many different beautiful valleys during the way. Trekking down to the villages of Thai Giang Pho and Na Lo. Then, be picked up by our driver and being transferred to Trung Do village which is beautifully set in a valley on the eastern bank of the mighty Chay River (if the river has water). Take an hour leisure walk to explore this prosperous village of the Tay ethnic people who live in large stilt houses andl have maintained well their traditional way of life. Walk to the boat pier in mid afternoon, boarding a boat for cruising downstream the Chay River for an hour to Bao Nhai. Boat cruise end at Bao Tan Village, near the motorway.

Picked up and transfer 45 km to Lao Cai city, spend half an hour to see trading activities at the border gate and coffee break before transfer to the meeting point of the limousine bus/van  in Lào Cai by 3:30pm. 

20:00-20:30: Get dropped off at your hotel by Trip ends!

Note: The itinerary can be flexible according to weather, force majeure, or the date of festivals. However, be assured that you will join all these activities during the trip.