12-Day Northwest Vietnam Tour from Hanoi with Homestays and Lan Ha Bay

• The guide and driver will pick you up upon arrival at Nội Bài Airport in Hanoi and transfer you to your hotel in the city centre.
• Check in at the hotel around noon.
• In the afternoon, enjoy a walking tour around Hoàn Kiếm Lake, the Restored Sword, and visit Jade Mountain Temple (Ngọc Sơn) on the lakeside.
• Then, take a cyclo ride through the ancient streets for a first glimpse of the daily life of Hanoians.
• In the evening, attend a water puppet show. Overnight in Hanoi.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Enjoy a Hanoi city tour with visits to Trấn Quốc Pagoda, the Defense of the Fatherland, on the shores of West Lake, Quán Thánh Temple, the Great Genius, and the Temple of Literature, originally dedicated to Confucianism and later becoming the first university of Vietnam.
• In the afternoon, visit the Museum of Ethnography, where about 1,500 objects from the daily life of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups are exhibited. Overnight in Hanoi.

• Depart for Thác Bà, the first water reservoir in Vietnam and home to the Dao and Cao Lan communities.
• Arrive in Thác Bà and settle into a local home.
• After lunch, enjoy a cruise on Thác Bà Lake, followed by a walk through a Dao minority village, with opportunities to meet and talk with local inhabitants.
• Return to the local home in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at the homestay.

• Breakfast at the local home before departing for Bắc Hà.
• Visit ethnic minority villages along the way.
• Lunch at a local home in Trung Đô.
• Visit the Tay village in Trung Đô, then continue the journey to Bắc Hà.
• Enjoy a hike around Bắc Hà, meeting the colorful Hmong and Thai communities. Dinner and overnight at a local home.

• Depart in the morning to visit one of the region's ethnic markets. These markets take place only on fixed days: Bắc Hà on Sunday, Cán Cấu on Saturday, Sín Chéng on Wednesday, and Cốc Ly on Tuesday. Ethnic groups from the region gather here to exchange goods.
• Then, hike through the village, meet the colorful Hmong people, and discover magnificent landscapes. Dinner and overnight at a local home.

• In the morning, there is the possibility of visiting Bắc Hà Market, which takes place only on Sundays, where you can meet ethnic groups such as the colorful Hmong, Tay, Dao, and Phù Lá, and observe animal trading reminiscent of the Middle Ages.
• Drive to Lào Cai and stop to visit the Sino-Vietnamese border gate.
• Continue to Sapa and hike in the Mả Tra - Tả Phìn area. Terraced rice fields stretch all along the route, and you will meet Black Hmong and Red Dao communities on the way.

Overnight at the hotel.

• The morning begins with a hike in the Y Linh Hồ - Tả Van - Lao Chải area.
• Walk through rice terraces and Black Hmong villages.
• In the afternoon, take the road to Mù Cang Chải via the Hoàng Liên Sơn Pass.
• This is the highest pass in Vietnam at 2,047 m above sea level. Magical landscapes accompany the journey throughout, with the possibility of contemplating Vietnam's highest peak, Fansipan, at 3,143 m.
• Dinner and overnight at a local home in Mù Cang Chải.

• The day begins with a walk in the La Pan Tẩn area, known for its magnificent rice terraces. The walking route is nicknamed "the photographers' road," and the site is recognised as national heritage. Meet the Green Hmong along the way.
• Then continue with a hike in the Tú Lệ Valley, where you will meet Thai communities and see their houses on stilts.
• Dinner and overnight stay with locals in Nghĩa Lộ.

• In the morning, enjoy a bike ride around the Nghĩa Lộ Valley, visiting Thai villages, then drive toward Hanoi.
• Visit a Mường village and the Thén hills along the way.
• Explore the ancient village of Dương Lâm, which has preserved the structure of old Vietnamese villages with its entrance gate, banyan tree, temple, communal house, and houses dedicated to ancestor worship, including century-old laterite houses.
• Stop to visit Dương Lâm's communal house, an old house, and Mia Pagoda. Lunch in a family restaurant before continuing on the road to Hanoi.

• Depart for Ninh Bình.
• Visit Hoa Lư, the ancient capital of Vietnam, where the royal temples of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and Lê Hoàn are located.
• Then enjoy a 2-hour boat cruise rowed by local women, passing among the limestone karsts of Vân Long, known as "Halong Bay on land."
• Take a short walk through the village and meet and talk with local people. Dinner and overnight at a local home.

• After breakfast, depart for Lan Ha Bay. Located south of Halong Bay, Lan Ha Bay offers similar scenery but is much less frequented by tourists. Its islands and islets are green and dotted with small coves and deserted beaches.
• You can visit floating villages where fishermen live. Upon arrival around noon, board a traditional junk for an enchanting 2-day/1-night cruise in the bay.
• For an authentic and off-the-beaten-track cruise, the southern part of the greater Halong Bay was chosen: Lan Ha Bay, where the large boats of mass tourism do not yet pass, and only a few small traditional junks sail in this corner.
• Part of the bay remains very authentic, with thousands of rocks, wild beaches, and large floating villages that cannot be found in other parts of the bay.

Overnight on board the junk.

• Continue the cruise in Halong Bay.
• The return cruise allows you to discover other corners of the bay.
• Disembark around 11:30 am and transfer to the airport for your departure flight.

End of your journey.