On your arrival at Noi Bai International Airport, your guide will be waiting to take you to the center of Hanoi City to check into the hotel. Hanoi is over 1000 years old and is the capital of Vietnam as well the commercial, political, and cultural heart of the country.

After breakfast, we head north out of Hanoi to the Ha Giang Province, a remote and spectacular area of Vietnam. We will stop for lunch en route arriving at the village of Me, where you will spend the night and enjoy dinner with your host family.

Overnight stay in Me

Travelling north, We are go to the district of Yen Minh via the photogenic Quan Ba pass. We visit the villages of White Hmong and Dao people before moving on to Dong Van. The itinerary today offers opportunities to explore or relax as you choose. We have dinner in Dong Van and stay overnight. Remember to charge the batteries on your cameras as tomorrow offers even more irresistible opportunities for photography.

Overnight stay in Dong Van

Start the day with a stroll down the Dong Van Streets, near to the market to see the old houses that the Hmong built centuries ago of clay bricks and tile roofs. On the outskirts of the town is the village of Pho Cao, a typical village showing the unique architecture of the old houses of the Hmong and Lolo people. Next stop is the Vuong's Palace- a building used to belong to a King of the Hmong people during the French domination. The palace attracts keen interest from those interested in buildings due to its mixed style of European and Chinese architecture.

Overnight stay in Ha Giang

Today we travel to Hoang Su Phi across the mountains an drice terraces of Thong Nguyen. We stop in the village Ta Phin to meet the Dzao people, then on to Hoa, La Chi Den and Pa Then villages. Dinner will be at a local restaurant.

Overnight stay at the Pan Hou Eco-lodge in HoangSuPhi

After breakfast, we will leave for Sapa. Stopping en route for photographs and to visit villages of the H’mong Hoa, Black Dao, Tay, Giay, Ha Nhi and the Nung tribes. We also make a stop at Coc Ly market for a cruise on the Chay river to village Trung Do of the Tay people. In the late afternoon, we arrive in Sapa. Sapa is a charming town nestling into the mountainside at an alttitude of 1560m. The French built the town as a retreat to escape the hot and humid summers of Ha Noi.

The first excursion in Sapa takes us to Ham Rong (Dragon Raw) to get a panoramic view of the town and the tiered rice paddy fields carved out of the sides of the mountain. In the afternoon, we drive to Lao Cai before heading downhill to visit the Black H’mong Villages.

Lai Chau is the ultimate destination for today. While en route, we will stop to visit the Tam Duong and Binh Lu markets. The ethnic minority people in these areas are different from those in Sapa. The ancestors of these people were believed to have originated from Laos, which and are called the Black Zao, Zaowith coins, Red H’mong, and especially Lu & Lao. We go trekking through the rice terraces and villages of the red H’mong and Red Dzao after which we continue to Lai Chau.

Overnight stay in Lai Chau

Today, you will meet people from the Black Thai, White Thai, and Red H’mong tribes. We then drive via the Pha Din Pass to the town of Son La stopping to visit Tuan Giao Market.

Hotel in Son La

From Son La, we travel south via the Moc Chau Plateau with its tea plantations, waterfalls and beautiful terraced rice fields to the charming village of Mai Chau. Mai Chau nestles in an enchanting valley and is home to the friendly Thai ethnic minority group. We take a leisurely walk around the Lac and Poom Coong Village. During the walk, you will see farmers working in fields, locals weaving scarves and get a sense of the nature of these hospitable people.

From Kim Boi, there is a short drive to the area that abounds with stunning landscapes, ancient culture and history of Vietnam. The Ninh Binh Province is also known as “Ha Long Bay on land” and is characterized by the jutting of huge rock structures from water and land that is reminiscent of Ha long Bay itself. The province is located just 80 km South of Hanoi.

After breakfast, we drive to Ha Long Bay, one of the most beautiful places in Southeast Asia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The day starts with a leisure boat ride through the breathtaking Ha Long Bay where you will see unique rock peaks (karsts) reaching majestically out of the water. We eat our delicious lunch onboard while cruising to Bai Tu Long Bay, Teapot Islet, Blockhouse Islet, and Goat Head Islet.

After breakfast, we continue to cruise through the karsts, some of which display fantastic and mystical shapes before getting into a small boat to visit the Luon Cave. Back on board for an early lunch before saying goodbye to our boat and crew before heading back on the road to Hanoi and stopping off at the Bat Trang ceramics and pottery village. The village sells all kinds of ceramics, embroidery and marble statues. Eat dinner at the “Rung” Restaurant.

Hotel in Ha Noi.

Today there is a full city tour of Hanoi starting with a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Complex, which includes the Mausoleum–the final resting place of the Vietnamese great father or ‘Uncle Ho’ as he is commonly known. You can also see the stilt house where Uncle Ho lived and worked from 1958 to 1969, then visit Ho Chi Minh Museum where tourists can learn about his devotion for Vietnam. Then shift from a historical to spiritual perspective by visiting the One-Pillar Pagoda. A short drive then takes us to the Temple of Literature. Built in October 1073 to worship Confucius, it is the first known university in Vietnam. The final stop for the morning is the Tran Quoc Pagoda. This is located beside the dazzling West Lake in Hanoi. It is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi and acknowledged as a cultural symbol of Vietnamese Buddhism.