Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market

Await the guide in your hotel lobby. They will arrive at 20.30 and take you via taxi to Hanoi train station, where they will provide you with your tickets and all the information you need for your overnight journey to Lao Cai.

Once you have stepped off the night train in Lao Cai, your new local guide will collect you and take you to Sapa on the hour-long bus ride through the already-stunning scenery of the region.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and drop your bags off at your hotel. We will begin our trek with a 6km hike down into the stunning Muong Hoa Valley, where many lush rice paddies are stacked up against the side. We will visit the villages of Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai, two small communities of the Black H’mong ethnic minority.

Continuing past idyllic scenes of perennially ancient Vietnam, we arrive at Ta Van village, home to the Giay minority. We have lunch with a family here and take the opportunity to advance our learning about this humble and friendly hill tribe and the unique architecture of their houses.

After lunch, we have a small walk to the pick-up point, where we will climb into the car and head back to Sapa via road. You will have the rest of the day to spend in Sapa at your leisure. Perhaps you would like to continue your walking up Ham Rong Mountain and around its magnificent gardens.

After breakfast in your hotel, we head 4km southwest of Sapa to Cat Cat village, a colourful locale courtesy of the Black H’mong, who live here in their traditional multicoloured dress. We continue to a waterfall nearby and watch the power of nature in this naturally beautiful land. We will stop here for a wonderful picnic lunch with a magnificent backdrop.

Trekking 6km further, we will reach Sin Chai at the foothills of the soaring Fansipan Mountain. Even from the bottom of Indochina’s tallest mountain, you can see gloriously sweeping views of the valley, protected on all sides by soaring rock cliffs. We explore the area around Sin Chai village and head back to Sapa by car, where you will have another afternoon to explore however you see fit. Maybe this time you would prefer to check out some of Sapa’s interesting religious buildings, like Notre Dame Cathedral and Mau Son Temple, or alternatively, just relax with a coffee and watch the town in motion.

Take an early breakfast at your hotel; we will be driving for 110km to Bac Ha Market at 07:00.

About 2.5 hours later, we arrive in the colorful whirlwind of activity that is Bac Ha Market. We will see examples of different hill tribes dressed in their Sunday best, the fantastically vibrant  traditional clothing that sets tribes apart and is often used for courting at the market between young men and women. We will shop around the market finding equally colourful and exotic foods, animals, clothes and many other items sold here.

We will visit the stunning H’mong King’s Palace in Bac Ha town, built by the French in 1921 and still standing as a stunning example of their architectural style that developed in Vietnam.

After lunch in Bac Ha, we take the short trek to Ban Pho, a village of the beautiful Flower H’mong tribe. We will explore the local trades here by seeing examples of green tea and corn wine production, listening to our welcoming hosts explain the process and letting us try some fine products at the end.

We head back to Bac Ha and take the transfer to Lao Cai, leaving time for you to comfortably catch your night train back to Hanoi. This is where the Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days tour will end. We thank you sincerely for joining us on this tour and we hope to have the pleasure of your company again at some point in the future!