The Hidden Area of Sapa

 

Night 1: Hanoi to Lao Cai by the night train 4 berth soft sleeper cabin with AC

At about 7:30 pm transfer from your hotel in Hanoi to the train station for boarding at 8:35 pm (Or we pick you up at 8:00 pm for the train which leaves at  9:15 pm). You will be in shared AC soft sleeper cabins of 4 to travel North to Lao Cai town.

The next morning: The train arrives in Lao Cai at about 5:00 am where your guide will welcome you. Look for the "Sapa Panorama Hotel" sign when you exit the train station. Then take a morning drive through the clouds by car / van to Sapa (about an hour). When you arrive in Sapa you will be taken to Sapa Panorama Hotel for a morning shower & breakfast, then prepare for Fansipan 2 day trek as detailed below:

 

Day 2: Sapa - Tavan - Seo Mi Ty

After Breakfast at hotel, be ready for the 4 days trek, you should leave heavy belongings at the hotel, just take with you clothes, camera with charger and things you need for 4 days.

Leaving Sapa by car southwards to Muong Hoa valley you will start trekking will from Ta Van village of Giay minority. The morning trek is really challenging because the path is tough and mostly uphill but you will enjoy many short breaks for resting. The scenery gets more beautiful and the view gets wider as after every hundred meter you walk. As you get to a high elevation of the Hoang Lien Son park, you will find yourself in the middle of nowhere but trees, birds, cloud and wind…the forest here is well preserved.
After a long break at a nice place for Lunch, the trek gets easier and the trail winds its way through an area of the nature reservation. Enjoy your discovery of the wild nature before paying visit to an isolated village of the Black H’mong, watching everyday life activities before arriving to our camp site which is nearby a river away from the village. You may join your tour guide and porters putting up tents and prepare dinner or fancy a walk around to stretch the legs and discover wild life. Evening comes earlier than usual and everyone sit down near the fireplace for dinner and revise of what you got today.

 

Day 4: Ta Trung Ho - Nam Toong - Thanh Phu

Saying good bye to our host, you are now on the path again, from the fringe of the rain forest of the Hoang Lien Son mountain, ascending through forest and terraced rice paddies and corn fields to Nam Toong, another village of Red Dao and here lunch will be prepared in a local school. It is interesting to spend time talking with the teachers and playing with children, teaching them some English. They are very keen to learn new things.

Continue our trek in the afternoon while the descends to the valley and lead to My Son village of Xa Pho ethnic whose population is just about 4000 individuals living in North Vietnam, who basically live on hunting, gathering and slash and burn agriculture till recently. After an hour visiting the Xa Pho dwellings, we walk to Thanh Phu village of Tay minority. The Tay people live a sedentary life in large village and farming rice and other food plants intensively. They built large wooden houses on stilts and well organize their villages. We settle here in this village for home stay overnight.