Hanoi - Halong - Tam Coc - Sapa - Hanoi 7 days 6 nights

Day 01 : Arrive Hanoi 
 
Meeting at Noi Bai airport  and transfer to hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure.  Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 02 : Hanoi to Halong Boat Cruise (B, L, D)

Driver's VietNam Typical Tour transfer overland to Halong Bay northeast of Hanoi and enter into the Red River Delta, rich with rural beauty and picturesque rice-farming villages. Once reaching Halong Bay, We board the wooden junk and set sail for a leisure cruise of Halong Bay. Declared a World Heritage Site to protect its beauty, we'll cruise through its three-thousand islands and rich rock-formations, passing by Ga Choi Island, Dinh Huong Island, Dog Island, Sail Island, and even visit Sung Sot Cave. Lunch served on-board while viewing the islands. Dinner and overnight in Halong Bay on Cruise.

Day 03 : Halong Bay - Hanoi (B, L)
 
Keep cruising around the bay. Back to Halong bay harbour. Lunch. Back to Hanoi. Check in hotel. Free time for shopping and dinner. Overnight in Hanoi

Day 04 : Hanoi - Tam Coc Cave or Perfume Pagoda - Hanoi (B, L)

Option 1: Hoa Lu - Tam Coc Cave
AM : Pick-up from your hotel is at 8:00am, we have a 2 hour drive (110km South) to the city of Ninh Binh, also known as the Island Ha Long and the Ancient Capital. It will be an exciting day highlighted, by a 2 hour boat ride in a hand woven bamboo row boat down the Tam Coc stream enjoying spectacular scenery surrounded by rice paddies and towering limestone mountain peaks.
PM : After lunch served at a local riverside restaurant we make a short transfer (4 km) down a peaceful country road to Hoa Lu, Vietnam’s ancient capital eleven centuries ago. Here, there are two temples dedicated to King Dinh and King Le, the founders of the ancient capital during the 10th century. Return to Hanoi and the tour ends at your hotel around 5:00 pm. In the evening, take the night train to Lao Cai. Overnight on train. (Soft Sleepers)
Option 2: Perfume Pagoda
Depart for the Perfume Pagoda, which is not just one pagoda but many shrines and sanctuaries built into mountainsides. This famous complex of pagodas is also one of Vietnam great pilgrimage sites. After two and half hour drive through the rich farming land of the Red River Delta, we arrive at the Perfume Pagoda. Here we enjoy a leisurely boat excursion on the Yen River past the spectacular landscape of flooded rice fields and undulating mountains. After two hour river trip we embark on a rugged walk uphill to explore some of the many pagodas and the sacred grotto of Huong Tich. Back to Hanoi. In the evening, take the night train to Lao Cai. Overnight on train. (Soft Sleepers)

Day 05 : Lao Cai - Sapa - Cat Cat Village (B, L)

 Arrive in Lao Cai, transfer to Sapa. You will freshen up & have breakfast at restaurant. After that you will visit some of nearby hill tribe villages, such as Cat Cat or Ta Fin. End you will come back hotel to check in & have lunch.
PM: Free time for walking & discovering Sa Pa town. Overnight in Sapa.

Day 06 : Sapa - Lao Chai - Ta Van Village - Lao Cai (B, L)
 
In the morning, take a drive to visit Lao Chai village – home of Black H’Mong – here you will trek through terraced rice fields to villages, meet and talk with locals to learn more about their daily life and habits. Then trek through Ta Van village – home of Dzay hill tribe and get on car  back to Sapa. A short shopping in town before moving to Lao Cai station. Have dinner at local restaurant before getting on AC 4 berth soft sleeper train.

Day 07 : Hanoi (B, L)
 
A short city tour to: Ngoc Son temple and Hoan Kiem Lake; Ho Chi Minh complex: Ho Chi Minh museum, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum; One pillar pagoda; West Lake and Tran Quoc Pagoda. Lunch. At leisure until transfer to Noi Bai Airport for onward flight. Finish the trip. See you again next trip.
 
VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

The People in Sapa Lao Cai

The population of the Lào Cai province is a mosaic of ethnic groups. An incredible variety of peoples, some of them unique to Vietnam, are found on a relatively small area.
In fact, visitors can meet 24 ethnic groups, each with its own language, culture and traditions. This cultural wealth is explained by the diversity of landscapes and of land available for farming. History also offers clues as to why the highlands in the Lào Cai province served as a refuge for certain ethnic groups during political unrest like the Taiping rebellion in 19th-century China.
The seven most numerous ethnic groups in the Lào Cai province account for over 90% of the whole population. The following groups are found: the Kinh (the true Vietnamese) 35%, the Hmong 22%, the Tay 14%, the Dao (Mien) 13%, the Thai 9%, the Nung 4.5% and the Giay 4.3%. The other ethnic groups: the Phula, Hani, Latis, Tu Di, Pin Tao, Tu Lao, Pa Di, Sapho, Lolo and the Xa Mang are sometimes represented only by a few villages and a few hundred individuals.
The Hmong

The Hmong, known for centuries in China by the name of Miao, used to be called the Méo in Southeast Asia. Numbering about three million, they are scattered over a vast territory stretching from south-west China (2 million) to north Vietnam (600,000), Laos (about 250,000), Thailand (150,000) and Myanmar (formerly Burma) (about 30,000).
The main subgroups present in Vietnam are the White Hmong, the Hmong Leng, Hmong Pua, Hmong Shi or Sheu and the black Hmong. In Sa Pa, the Hmong Leng are the most numerous, some Hmong Sheu and Hmong Pe women – with their colourful skirts and double-breasted tops – come from the Muong Khuong district.
Originally, the Chinese hmong populations used to live in the wide plains south of the Yangtse river. As of the 16th century, they started to migrate to the south-east under the demographic, territorial and political pressure of the Chinese. During the first half of the 19th century, the Hmong left the Chinese territory and settled in neighbouring countries. At the time, the great Taiping rebellion (1850-1872) was disturbing all southern China (Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces) causing long periods of famine that pushed numerous ethnic groups to go south. The Hmong entered the Indo-Chinese peninsula through North Vietnam, their presence near Lai Chau was reported in 1848. These successive waves of migration were probably facilitated by the hmong tradition of shifting cultivation and their close contacts with the Chinese caravaneers who had been travelling for centuries through the mountains of southern Asia.
Today, the traditional agrarian economy is still based on family farms raising pigs, chickens, buffaloes and horses, on food crops (rice, corn, manioc) and cash crops (cardamom and vegetables).
The traditional social organisation of the Hmong is based on the clan. Each clan is made of lineages, all the members of which acknowledge a common founding male ancestor. In the Hmong household, up to fourdifferent generations may be gathered under the same roof. The household is the most important economic, political and ritual unit. The villages perched on the mountain slopes house several clans.
Easily recognisable by their costume, the Sa Pa Hmong Leng – who do not call themselves Black Hmongs – still wear hemp clothes dyed with natural (black-blue) indigo. The women wear stiff indigo-blue turbans over their hair gathered into a bun. Nowadays, they hardly ever wear their batik or embroidered pleated skirts, replaced with short indigo pants. Only the collar, sleeves and belt are embroidered with geometric patterns in silk. The White Hmong women from the Bat Xat district wear long black pants, fairly short-waisted double-breasted jackets, and cover their hair with colourful head scarves. The Hmong Pua, Hmong Pe and Hmong Sheu women from the Bac Ha district wear similar batik skirts with an embroidered band. They are distinguished by the decorative patterns and shape of their aprons.
The Dao

The Dao, known as the Man or Yao in south-west China for centuries, also number a few tens of thousands in Laos, Thailand andMyanmar (formerly Burma). The Dao-Mien settled in Vietnam two to three centuries ago, depending on the area. One of the Dao's specific cultural features is their traditional writing system using Chinese characters. Preserved texts make it possible to trace their origins back to the provinces of south China. Their taoist religion is also based on texts. For major taoist ceremonies, the ritual space must be surrounded with painted pictures of the divinities and celestial generals. As a consequence, the art of painting on paper and canvas survives among the Dao. Like the Hmong, the Dao build terraced paddy-fields irrigated by a sophisticated system of canals around Sa Pa. They also have a reputation for pig and horse breeding. The different Dao groups from the Lao Cai province usually wear red headdresses or red pieces of clothing. The Dao (Ké Mien) from the Taphin and Tavan villages (Sa Pa district) wear flat headdresses, totally red, hung with silver coins. The headdresses of the Dao (Ké Mien) from Muong Hum district (north of Sa Pa) are cone-shaped and made of red flowery material. The Bac Ha (Ké Moun) Dao enhance their turbans with red and pink wool or silk threads. The headdresses of the Dao (Iu Mien) from Van Ban district – south of Sa Pa – are decorated with red and yellow pompoms, and hang low down their backs.
The Tày
The Tày grow rice in paddy fields, preferably in the plains and in the valleys. The villages consist of wooden or bamboo stilt houses and are often built in the immediate vicinity of a stream or a river. The household is the basic economic unit and tends to be a nuclear family limited to close relatives.
The Tày, Giay, Numg and Thai women wear brightly-coloured jackets, – pink, green, or blue – double-breasted, often with contrasting braid at the collar. The tartan headscarf covers their hair gathered into a bun. Traditionally, each group used to have their own style of bun, held up with long silver needles, but the custom is vanishing.

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

Cat Cat village in Sapa

Location: Cat Cat Village is 2km from Sapa Townlet, Sapa District.
Characteristics: This is an age-old village of H’Mong ethnic group remaining unique customs and practices that are lots in other villages.
Visitors to Cat Cat have an opportunity to admire a lively and colorful picture. That is the image of young women sitting by looms with colorful pieces of brocade decorated with designs of flowers and birds. When these pieces of brocade are finished, they are dyed and embroidered with beautiful designs.
A noteworthy is that H’Mong women use plants and leaves to dye these brocade fabrics. And then they roll a round and smooth section of wood covered with wax on fabrics to polish them, making their colors durable.

In addition to the brocade weaving craft, many residents in Cat Cat are good at manipulating gold and silver jewelry. Their products are fairly sophisticated, especially jewelry for women.
Tourists to Cat Cat are most attracted by its unique customs, including the custom of “pulling wife”. A man can ask his friends to lure a girl he likes to his house and keeps her there in three days. During these days, if the girl agrees to become his wife, a wedding will be held. However, the girl can happily go home after three days if she does not like him.
Traditional houses of H’Mong people in Cat Cat have three rooms with three doors and covered with po mu wood roof. In the house there are three columns that stand in round or square stones. The walls are made from sawn timber. The main door is always closed and only opens when people in the house organize important events. Altar, inlaid floor containing food, places for sleeping, kitchen and receiving guests are indispensable parts of the houses.

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

Sapa - Catcat - SinChai - Giang TaChai

Day 1 : Hanoi - Laocai

20: 00 pm - Pick up at your hotel in Hanoi and transfer to Hanoi railway station for boarding the Express Train to Laocai. Overnight in an air-conditioned soft sleeper wooden cabin. (4 pax/cabin or 2 pax/cabin on request).

Day 2 : Laocai - Catcat - SinChai ( 5 hours trekking, 12 km, 2 villages ) ( B/L/D )
 
6:00 am - Arrive at Laocai train station. Welcome by your local guide and driver. Transfer to your hotel. Have breakfast and a shower. Trek around 12 km to visit two villages of the Black H'mong (Catcat and SinChai). Enjoy a picnic lunch by a waterfall and see the hydroelectric power station established by the French. Walk from Catcat back to Sapa at around 4pm. Dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight at your chosen hotel in Sapa

Day 3 : Sapa - Giang TaChai - Sapa ( 6 hours trekking, 17 km, 3 villages ) (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel. Head for the valley by jeep to visit two villages of the H'mong and the Dzay. Picnic lunch en route or with a local family. Visit the Red Dzao in GiangTaChai village, stopping off to see a picturesque waterfall and suspension bridge. Walk up to the road and take the jeep back to Sapa. Dinner at a local restaurant. Transfer to Laocai train station for boarding the Express to Hanoi (20:15 - 5:00). End of services.

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

Sapa Trekking & Home-stay

Day 1 : Hanoi - Laocai

20 : 00 pm - Pick up at your hotel in Hanoi and transfer to Hanoi railway station for boarding the Express Train to Laocai.Overnight in an air-conditioned soft sleeper wooden cabin (4pax/cabin or 2pax/cabin on request).

Day 2:  Transfer to Sapa – Trek to Tavan Village ( B/L/D )
 
Arrive in Lao Cai around 5.30 am. We will take 1hr bus ride uphill to the beautiful town of Sapa. The ride give you a glimpse of the stunning vistas and impressive rice terraces. Upon arrival in Sapa Town we have breakfast in local restaurant and prepare for a great trek down to the picturesque valley of Muong Hoa. We will walk on small paths and trails to reach Tavan Village, where we will have unique homestay experience among hill tribe people. Pinic lunch on the way. Dinner and overnight in the local house.

Day 3: Trek to Ban Ho Village ( B/L/D )

We will have breakfast in the local house before embarking upon another day of adventure. Today we will trek across mountains, bamboo forest, terraces and streams to reach Ban Ho Village, a beautiful village at lower altitude. Picnic lunch by the stream before moving on to Ban Ho. Dinner and overnight in local house.

Day 4: Trek/drive to Sapa – Night train to Hanoi ( B/L/D )
 
After breakfast we leave Ban Ho for Sapa. We will trek shortly to the dirt road for a jeep ride back to Sa Pa. Back to the town we can take shower and change clothes in hotel.
Free at leisure in the afternoon. We can explore the town on foot and have great shopping time in Sapa market. In the late afternoon, we transfer to Lao Cai for night train back to Hanoi.
Arrive in Hanoi around 5 am. Tour ends at Hanoi Railway Station.

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

Sapa market tour and home stay 5 days

Day 1: Hanoi – Train to Sapa / Lao Cai (Must be on Wednesday)
 
This evening, our guide and driver will pick you at your hotel in Hanoi and transfer to the train station for the overnight train to Lao Cai.

Day 2: Sapa Trekking Tour to Lao Chai – Ta Van Village
 
Meals: B, L, D
Pick up at the train station and transfer to Sapa. This morning, we have already arranged a room at our hotel for you to have shower and breakfast before our guide take you for a walk to explore Sapa. In the afternoon, we will do one of the most beautiful Sapa Tours with the drive to visit Lao Chai and Ta Van village of the Black H'mong and the Day people where you can enjoy fresh air, amazing scenery of the imposing mountain range, trek down world's most beautiful terraced rice fields, visit some local family on the way and learn unique culture and life of these ethnic groups. The rest of the day, you are free at leisure, walk up the beautiful mountain or help your guide cook delicious dinner. Overnight in homestay in Ta Van village.

Day 3: Ta Van – Giang Ta Chai – Sapa
 
Meals: B, L, D
After your breakfast with pancake made by your host family, we continue our beautiful Sapa trekking tour to Giang Ta Chai village along the winding stream, among wonderful scenerries of rice terraced fields, bamboo forest... Upon arrival, take the rest at the summit of Giang Ta Chai waterfall before walking into the village for visit. After picnic lunch at a roadside famliy, then walk up the main road where your private car is waiting to take you back to Sapa. Check in on arrival and overnight in Sapa.

Day 4: Sapa – Market Tour & Train to Hanoi
 
Meals: B
The markets in the Northern Vietnam are always the colorful meeting places for the hill tribes, spotlight for any Sapa Tours and of course, your unique Vietnam Tours experience. Minority people come down from the mountains to sell their products, or just for catching up on the latest news, gossip, drinking away troubles or seeking for lover. In the morning, drive to visit one of the areas weekly markets;
Market days:
Can Cau Market - Saturdays
Bac Ha Market or Muong Hum Market or Muong Khuong Market - Sundays
Cao Son Market - Wednesdays
Bac Ha MarketLung Khau Nhin Market - Thursdays
Coc Ly Market - Tuesdays
In the late afternoon, your Sapa tour guide and driver transfer you back to Lao Cai to catch the night train back to Hanoi. We hope that you have enjoyed your Sapa Tours with us. We say goodbye with sincere thanks and looking forward to welcoming you again for your coming Vietnam Tours and Sapa Tours.
Overnight on the train.

Day 5: Hanoi arrival
 
Meals: None
Pick up by our driver and transfer to your hotel. No accommodation included.

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com

Hanoi - Mai Chau - Son La - Muong Lay - Sapa - Nghia Lo 8 days

Day 1: Hanoi - Mai Chau.
 
Depart from Hanoi to Mai Chau – the peaceful valley in the West of Hanoi. We will take the road to Luong Son then drive up to Cao Phong via Kim Boi. This trip gives you a lot of photo opportunities with spectacular scenery of mountain area and rice fields. Upon arrival to Mai Chau, check in and have lunch at local house of Thai people in Pom Coong village. Afternoon we will take a walk around the valley to visit some nearby villages, carpet green rice fields and Mai Chau town. Dinner and overnight in the long house of Thai people. Includes: (L, D).

Day 2: Mai Chau - Son La.
 
This morning we will drive to Son La. On the way take a short trek over the jungle to visit the village of Muong people on the beautiful plateau overview to Da River. Enjoy lunch in local restaurant along the way.Then we drive to Son La by beautiful area of White Thai people along the river. Visit a village of Thai people over typical suspension bridge over the river before arriving to Son La. Overnight in Son La. Includes: (B).

Day 3: Son La – Tuan Giao – Muong Lay.
 
The morning we visit Old French prison of Son La old Prison then depart for Dien Bien Phu, the site of the decisive battle in Vietnam’s struggle for independence in 1954. Drive over Pha Din, one of the most famous pass in the North of Vietnam. Enjoy the great scenery and visit Red Mong village on the pass. That can explain the name of the pass in Thai language is the place where Heaven and Earth meat. After lunch at Tuan Giao, keep driving to Lai Chau over the beautiful area of White Mong people on unpopular Hoa pass. Overnight in Muong Lay. Includes: (B).

Day 4: Moung Lay – Sin Ho – Lai Chau.

Upon leaving Muong Lay, we spend a full day traveling through Vietnam’s most mountainous region. In the morning, the road will take us over the cloud to conquer Sin Ho, the hidden town located on high elevation as Sapa. You will have change to integrate to Red Mong people along the way. Then descending from Sin Ho to Lai Chau, the beautiful town located in beautiful green terrace tea plantation. Overnight in Lai Chau. Includes: (B).

Day 5: Lai Chau - Sapa.

After a morning bumpy drive through the most beautiful hidden-north landscapes region, we will pass over Hoang Lien Son Pass, where you can admire the most spectacular scenery of mountain in the whole of Vietnam before arriving in Sa Pa. At an elevation of 1,500 meters, Sa Pa is a former French hill resort and home to some of Vietnam’s most colorful ethnic minority groups. After orientation walk around the town, you will have free afternoon to discover the town with its villas in French architecture, church and Ham Rong Mountain. Overnight in Sa Pa. Includes: (B).

Day 6: Sapa.

This morning, we have chance to explore the villages of different ethnic groups around Sapa. First, we take very beautiful drive from Sapa to the villages along the valley of Muong Hoa. Our first stop is at Lao Chai village of the H’mong people. It is said that H’mong was one of the first immigrants to this area and famous for their hand weaving and terrace rice field in Sapa. We take a walk around the village and to the village of Ta Van of the Giay people via the terraces and the trails, experience the diversity of hill tribe people there. After that, you will be transferred back to Sapa by car. Afternoon visit Ta Phin, the village of Dzao people. Overnight in Sa Pa. Includes: (B).

Day 7: Sapa - Than Uyen - Mu Cang Chai - Nghia Lo.

Morning we will drive over the Pass to Than Uyen, the beautiful town located on the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain range. From here, you can admire the tremendous scenery of the greatest mountain in Vietnam then drive over to Mu Cang Chai, where the most beautiful terrace rice field of the country located and have been recognized to be natural heritage of Vietnam. We will have lunch at local restaurant along the way then drive to Nghia Lo.
Overnight in Nghia Lo. Includes: (B).

Day 8: Nghia Lo - Duong Lam - Hanoi.

Morning we will take another beautiful drive from Nghia Lo to Duong Lam, the ancient village of Viet people in the Red River Delta, which still preserve many hundred-year-old houses. It will be your unique experience as you walk along tiny ancient alleys, visit Communal House in Mong Phu hamlet - the only hamlet whose original village entrance gate remains intact, dedicated to national heroes. Enjoy the great home hosted lunch in traditional atmosphere in the oldest house in the village of Mr.Hung date back to 1649. After lunch, take the bike ride around the village before driving back to Hanoi. Includes: (B, D).

VIETNAM TYPICAL TOURS COMPANY
Hotline : (84) 974.861.652
Email : info@vietnamtypicaltours.com
Website : http://vietnamtypicaltours.com