Vietnam's far north: the Ha Giang loop and Ban Gioc Falls

1. Day 1: Arrive in Hanoi

   Noi Bai International Airport to the Old Quarter

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Hanoi
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN), north of the city, and drive you to your hotel near the Old Quarter. If you land by early afternoon, your guide takes anyone who wants to go to the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 to honour Confucius and later home to the Imperial Academy, a quiet place of courtyards, old trees and stone stelae carrying the names of scholars who passed the royal exams. Otherwise rest after the flight. In the early evening the group meets for a briefing on the days ahead: the roads, the rooms in Dong Van, what to pack for the cool plateau nights and how the market day works. Then we walk to dinner in the Old Quarter, with dishes such as bun cha and spring rolls, and an early night, because tomorrow starts the drive north. If your flight lands too late for dinner, we meet you at breakfast instead.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)
   • Temple of Literature with your guide, for guests who land by early afternoon
   • Trip briefing
   • Welcome dinner in the Old Quarter

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest

   

2. Day 2: North to Ha Giang

   Hanoi to Ha Giang by the Lo River valley

   • Drive about 5.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ha Giang
   Day 2 details

   This is one of the trip's long days, about 5.5 hours of driving, because no flights or trains reach Ha Giang or the plateau, and Ha Giang is the gateway to the loop. We leave Hanoi at about 7:30 am, before the worst of the traffic, and take the expressway north-west, then follow the valley of the Lo River through tea hills and Tay villages. A coffee stop breaks the morning, and lunch is at a local restaurant on the way, around Tuyen Quang. The road climbs as the hills close in, and we reach Ha Giang city in the mid-afternoon. It is a small, green provincial town on the Lo River, the last place with larger hotels before the plateau. After check-in, the rest of the afternoon is free to stretch your legs along the river. Dinner together tonight, with your guide explaining the route over the next days and the peoples of the plateau: Hmong, Dao, Lo Lo, Tay and others.

   Included

   • Transport from Hanoi to Ha Giang with your guide
   • Coffee stop and lunch on the way

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: About 5.5 hours of driving with two stops.

   

3. Day 3: Onto the plateau: Quan Ba to Dong Van

   Ha Giang to Dong Van by Quan Ba, Yen Minh and Sa Phin

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dong Van
   Day 3 details

   Today the road is the point. We climb out of Ha Giang to the Quan Ba pass, known as Heaven's Gate, where the Twin Mountains rise from the valley floor below. The road then winds through pine forest to Yen Minh, where we stop for lunch, and onto the grey limestone of the Dong Van Karst Plateau, a UNESCO Global Geopark. Here Hmong families grow maize in pockets of soil between the rocks, and fields are walled with stacked stone. In the afternoon we visit the Vuong family palace at Sa Phin, the house of the Hmong leader Vuong Chinh Duc, built of stone and carved wood in the early 20th century. We reach Dong Van by late afternoon. Driving is about 4.5 hours, a little over our usual cap, but it is spread across the whole day with short walks at each stop. Dinner together in Dong Van.

   Included

   • Quan Ba pass (Heaven's Gate) and the Twin Mountains viewpoint
   • Lunch in Yen Minh
   • Vuong family palace at Sa Phin

   Activity: About 4.5 hours of driving on mountain roads, spread over the day.

   

4. Day 4: Lung Cu and the Dong Van market

   Dong Van to the Lung Cu flag tower and back, then the market

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dong Van
   Day 4 details

   Departures are set so that today is a Sunday, Dong Van's market day. We go to the Lung Cu flag tower first, about an hour's drive north, arriving early before the day groups from Ha Giang. The tower stands on Dragon Mountain near the country's northernmost point, about 800 steps up in three sections with rest points, and from the top you look over Lo Lo villages and into China. On the way back the road passes terraced fields below the limestone, and we stop in a Lo Lo village to see the houses and fields. By mid-morning we are in Dong Van for the market, when families come in from the hills to trade buffalo, pigs, cloth, tools and maize wine, and to eat thang co and corn cakes at long tables. Your guide explains what is being sold and how to ask before taking a photograph. Lunch together, then the afternoon and evening are free in the old quarter, a short street of stone and earth houses with tiled roofs around the old market hall.

   Included

   • Lung Cu flag tower, early
   • Lo Lo village stop
   • Dong Van Sunday market with your guide
   • Dong Van old quarter

   Easier option: Skip the steps at Lung Cu and wait at the foot of the tower with tea.

   More active option: Walk up to the Dong Van ruined French fort above the town in the afternoon, about 30 minutes each way.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in the old quarter

   Activity: About 800 steps at Lung Cu, in three sections with rest points.

   

5. Day 5: Ma Pi Leng and the Nho Que river

   Dong Van over the Ma Pi Leng pass to the Nho Que, then Meo Vac

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Meo Vac
   Day 5 details

   A short driving day with the best of the scenery. The road from Dong Van to Meo Vac runs about 20 km along the side of the Ma Pi Leng pass, cut into the cliffs by hand by young volunteers in the late 1950s and 1960s. We drive it in the morning, when the light comes into the gorge, and stop at the viewpoints above the Nho Que river, a green ribbon far below. Then we go down to the landing and take a small boat along the river through the Tu San gorge, with the walls of the pass rising on both sides; the trip lasts about an hour. Lunch together on the way to Meo Vac, a small town in a bowl of mountains, where we arrive in the early afternoon. The rest of the day is free to walk the town and its square, or to rest before dinner together.

   Included

   • Ma Pi Leng pass viewpoints
   • Boat on the Nho Que river through the Tu San gorge
   • Lunch on the way to Meo Vac

   Easier option: Go down to the boat landing by road instead of the steep path.

   More active option: Walk a stretch of the old path along the Ma Pi Leng cliffs with your guide, about 1 hour.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Meo Vac

   Activity: The path down to the boat landing is steep; the road is the easy alternative. The boat runs only when the river level allows, and in the low-water months it may be shortened or replaced by the viewpoints.

   

6. Day 6: Over the mountains to Cao Bang

   Meo Vac to Cao Bang by Bao Lac and the Khau Coc Cha pass

   • Drive about 5.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cao Bang
   Day 6 details

   The second long day, about 5.5 hours of driving, because this is the only road east from the plateau to Cao Bang. We leave Meo Vac after breakfast and drive down through Dao and Hmong villages towards Bao Lac. Before the town the road drops down the Khau Coc Cha pass, with its tight stacked bends, and we stop at the top in the morning light to look down the hairpins. We reach Bao Lac, on the Gam River, around midday and stop for lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon the road runs through forest and Tay and Nung farmland, with a coffee stop at Nguyen Binh, to Cao Bang city. Your guide times the stops so you are never much more than about 1.5 to 2 hours in the van at a stretch. We reach Cao Bang in the late afternoon, a provincial town on the Bang Giang River, and check in to a hotel for two nights. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Transport from Meo Vac to Cao Bang with your guide
   • Khau Coc Cha pass viewpoint
   • Lunch at Bao Lac
   • Coffee stop at Nguyen Binh

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 5.5 hours of driving with a stop about every 1.5 to 2 hours.

   

7. Day 7: Ban Gioc Falls and Nguom Ngao cave

   Cao Bang to Ban Gioc and Nguom Ngao, and back

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cao Bang
   Day 7 details

   We leave Cao Bang at about 6:30 am and reach Ban Gioc at about 8:30, early in the site's day. The road runs just under two hours east, about 90 km, through the karst valleys of the Non Nuoc Cao Bang UNESCO Global Geopark. Ban Gioc is a wide, tiered waterfall on the Quay Son River, which forms the border with China here; the Chinese side, Detian, faces you across the water. The morning is usually quieter at the viewpoints than midday, and a bamboo raft takes you across the pool to the spray at the foot of the falls. We walk up to the Truc Lam Ban Gioc pagoda on the hill above for the view, then drive a few minutes to Nguom Ngao, a large limestone cave with lit chambers of stalactites, about 1 km on a paved path. Lunch is near the falls, and we are back in Cao Bang by mid-afternoon. Dinner together tonight, the last of the trip.

   Included

   • Ban Gioc Falls in the morning
   • Bamboo raft to the foot of the falls, water level permitting
   • Truc Lam Ban Gioc pagoda viewpoint
   • Nguom Ngao cave
   • Lunch near the falls
   • Last dinner together

   Optional experiences

   • Pac Bo cave and Lenin Stream, with an extra night in Cao Bang. Half day with your guide on day 8, then the drive to Hanoi on day 9.

   Easier option: Stay at the lower viewpoint instead of walking up to the pagoda.

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: The raft runs only when the river level allows; Nguom Ngao has steps and can be damp.

8. Day 8: Back to Hanoi

   Cao Bang to Hanoi by Lang Son

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 8 details

   The last long day: about 6 hours of driving back to Hanoi, which is the price of ending in the far north with no flights out. We leave Cao Bang at about 8 am and follow the valley south through Tay and Nung country to Lang Son, then take the expressway towards Hanoi. A coffee stop and lunch at a local restaurant break the drive. We reach Hanoi in the mid-afternoon and drop you at your hotel or at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN). Book flights home leaving after about 8 pm, or let us add a night in Hanoi, which we recommend: it gives you an unhurried evening in the Old Quarter and a morning flight. If you are staying on in Vietnam, our Northern Vietnam trip and our Hanoi to Saigon trip both start in Hanoi.

   Included

   • Transport from Cao Bang to Hanoi with your guide
   • Coffee stop and lunch on the way
   • Drop-off at your Hanoi hotel or Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)

   Optional experiences

   • Extra night in Hanoi. Per person sharing, with breakfast.

   Activity: About 6 hours of driving with two stops. Book flights leaving after about 8 pm.

Wildlife and weather: September to November is the best time: the rice terraces turn gold from about mid-September to early October, and the pink and white buckwheat flowers cover the plateau from about October into November, while the roads are mostly dry. March to May is green and mild, with fruit blossom early in the spring. June to August is the rainy season, when the passes can be closed by landslides and Ban Gioc is at its fullest but muddy. December to February is cold on the plateau, sometimes close to freezing, with fog on the passes. Departures avoid the week of Tet, the Lunar New Year.

• Hanoi1 night
• Ha Giang1 night
• Dong Van2 nights
• Meo Vac1 night
• Cao Bang2 nights