Itinerary
7:30pm ( you can also leave at 10:00am bus & arrive at 4pm if you want ): Meeting at our hostel for departure by over night sleeper bus to Ha Giang city and We will arrive about 4:00am. The bus drop you off at our base in Hagiang city, Where We arrange you free bed of the first night in Hagiang. So you can take a rest, shower, then having breakfast before we tart to exploring the loop the next day.
The tour may be done clockwise or anti-clockwise around the loop and will depend on driving skills, seasons and market-days. For the tour to include Dong Van or Meo Vac weekly Sunday market it needs to start on a Friday morning.
Day 1: Ha Giang – Quan Ba – Du Gia ( approx. 120 km drive ).
After some breakfast, we go out on ‘Road of Happiness’ and start driving north out of Ha Giang City. We climb up the Quan Ba mountain pass and enter the Dong Van Geopark and reach the Heaven’s Gate and pass the Fairy Hills. In or around the small town of Tam Son we find our lunch. Thereafter we venture deep into Ha Giang mountains and reach the picturesque village of Du Gia. Here we will stay with an ethnic minority family at their homestay. We will have dinner and breakfast with the family. (Day includes Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Day 2: Du Gia – Meo Vac – Nho Que river - Ma Pi Leng – Dong Van ( approx. 110 to 150 km drive ).
We say thanks to the family of the homestay and head north, passing some of the most magnificent mountain passes you will ever have seen, pass the town of Meo Vac (where we take lunch). Then you will take a boat trip on Nho Que river that passes through Tu San Abyss Alley and then runs along Ma Pi Leng. Lastly, you will move up the majestic Ma Pi Leng mountain pass before reaching Dong Van, the most northern town in Vietnam. Back to Dong Van where we take into a hotel or homestay as agreed for the tour. Maybe a Hot Pot for dinner? (Day includes Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner).
Day 3: Dong Van – Sa Phin – Yen Minh – Tam Son – Ha Giang City ( approx. 150 km drive ).
After breakfast, we start our journey south. Soon we reach Sa Phin where we find the one-hundred-year-old palace of Vuong Chinh Duc – the King of H’mong people. We go down the Highland of Stone and reach Yen Minh where we take lunch and then climb a mountain pass covered in pine forest and sweeping rice terraces along our drive. Down to the Song La river valley until the road takes us up to Tam Son, over the Quan Ba mountain pass and back to our base in Ha Giang, where we will get on the bus about 5pm to head back to Hanoi. Where the tour ends.. (Day includes Breakfast, Lunch)
Disclaimer: While above itinerary outline the broad and most likely inclusions. At Hagiang Buffalo Tour we are no firm believers in absolute programs. There are many reasons why things might have to be modified to situations and facts that may be both within the control and beyond when we embark on a tour