3 Days Best of Sapa & Local Market

BRIEF ITINERARY:

Day 1: Sapa Arrival – Bac Ha Sunday Market & River Boat Trip – Sapa (B)
Day 2: Sapa – Trek to Y Linh Ho – Lao Chai – Ta Van Village – Overnight at homestay (B, L, D)
Day 3: Ta Van Village – Ham Rong Mountain Trekking – Night Train Back To Hanoi (B, D)

DETAIL ITINERARY:

Day 1: Arrival Lao Cai – Bac Ha Sunday Market – Sapa (B)

Bac Ha Market 

Attractions: Bac Ha Sunday Market
After meeting a guide at the Lao Cai railway station we have breakfast there and go to the Bac Ha market for two hours by van (AC). This is the region’s largest market, where many ethnic groups gather to buy and sell, eat and drink together. There are 10 minority groups in the Bac Ha region. You can buy homemade handicrafts and clothes. In the afternoon we will have a 2-hour trek to Ban Pho/ Trung Do village (Flower H’Mong people). In the village, we can look at their house and understand a little more about their lifestyle and traditional customs. Especially, we can try homemade wine from corn. And then we drive back to Sapa for 3 hours.
Trekking distance: 5km
Overnight at hotel in Sapa

Day 2: Sapa – Trek to Y Linh Ho – Lao Chai – Ta Van Village (B, L, D)

Peach blossom season in Ta Van Village

Attractions: Lao Chai, Ta Van Villages – Black H’mong, and Dzay people.
At 10 am we leave the hotel and start trekking. The first part is on the road but we soon turn to the right and walk on a small path down the valley to the Muong Hoa River and from here to the Black H’mong village Lao Chai. Black H’mong is one of the biggest minority groups in the Sapa area. They are proud of their culture and keep their traditions and way of living. They have their language and wear traditional indigo-blue clothing. After this, you continue to Ta Van village (1.200 m) to visit Zay people. Zay is a fairly small minority group of about 38.000 people living mainly in Northwest Vietnam’s mountains. The development has meant that some of their old customs have been lost but many women still wear traditional shirts with a purple, blue, or green colour. The Zay houses are built of wood and bamboo with a clay floor. We stay overnight with a local Ta Van family and have dinner here.
Trekking distance: 5 km
Overnight at home with the local family in the village or at a hotel in Sapa upon your request

Day 3: Ta Van Village – Ham Rong Mountain – Night train back to Hanoi (B, D)

Ham Rong Mountain

Site visited: Ham Rong mountain
After breakfast, you are met and transferred back to the center of Sapa to relax (today the time is flexible up to your request/ anytime you want, then we have a couple of hours to explore Ham Rong Mountain, although this place is called a mountain it is not so high and hard for you to trek and climb, from here you could review all of Sapa town and see Fansipan Mountain).
Then, relax at Sapa town to shop or relax at the hotel until our driver and tour guide pick you up and transfer you back to Lao Cai Railway Station for dinner before catching our night train back to Hanoi.
Trekking distance 3 km
Overnight on the train 

Trip includes:
– Private tour
– A/C private transportation with an experienced driver
– English-speaking tour guide
– All entrance fees
– Return night train: Hanoi – Sapa – Hanoi (first class, soft sleeper, A/C wooden four berths cabin)
– Meal: Breakfast, L-lunch, D-dinner
– Accommodation at homestay with the local family in the village or at a hotel upon request