Sapa and Dien Bien Phu – North West Vietnam

Day 1: Arrive in Hanoi

Arrive at Hanoi airport, where you will be met for a private transfer to the hotel. Meet your tour leader for a pre-tour briefing and welcome dinner.

Overnight at a hotel in Hanoi. (D)

Day 2: Hanoi to Mai Chau (140km)

After breakfast we travel to the Ho Chi Minh Trail museum on the edge of Hanoi, where we get onto our bikes. As we leave the city behind on little-known rural laneways, we enter a sea of paddy fields split by tree-lined roads and limestone mountains. After lunch near Hoa Binh, we cross two mountain passes before descending to the gorgeous mountain valley settlement of Mai Chau.

Overnight at a bungalow resort. (B, L, D)

Day 3: Mai Chau to Bac Yen (130km)

In the morning we leave the Mai Chau valley behind us and rise up onto the cooler Moc Chau plateau, passing forested mountains where Hmong hill tribe people grow apple and plum trees. Then we descend to the Black river reservoir, and cross it by local ferry. After winding along the edge of the lake, we find ourselves in the rice paddies of the Bac Yen valley.

Overnight in Bac Yen at a mountain eco lodge. (B, L, D)

Day 4: Bac Yen to Mu Cang Chai (180km)

After crossing a pass that was crucial to the Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu, we ride through the splendid Nghia Lo valley, surrounded on all sides by high mountains where Tay and Thai people tend their fields. We approach the foothills of the Hoang Lien Son range, where extensive tea plantations give way to a remarkable tapestry of horizontal rice terraces, worked on by friendly Hmong hill tribe people.

Overnight in a homestay in the mountain settlement of Mu Cang Chai. (B, L, D)

Day 5: Mu Cang Chai to Dien Bien Phu (230km)

Dropping down onto the western side of the mountain range, past more remarkable rice terracing, we enter the world of Thai and Giay hill tribe peoples whose picturesque villages are dominated by the abrupt, steep sides of the mountain range. After crossing the Da River gorge, we cut through heavy karst before coming to Dien Bien Phu.

Overnight in Dien Bien Phu at a local hotel. (B, L, D)

Day 6: Dien Bien Phu to Sin Ho (190km)

We visit the old battlefield of Dien Bien Phu and the museum showcasing the Vietnamese victory over the French Colonial army in 1954. After that we continue climbing towards the resettled village of Muong Lay, formerly home to a Thai kingdom, before climbing up to the spectacular Sin Ho plateau.

Overnight in Sin Ho at a local hotel. (B, L, D)

Day 7: Sin Ho to Sapa (160km)

We skirt along close to the Chinese border on recently improved roads, which become steeper and windier as we approach the base of the Hoang Lien Son mountains. We then climb steeply up the fabulous Tram Tom pass, which is the highest in Vietnam, before descending into the famous Sapa valley. We visit the spectacular rice terracing of Sapa’s Muong Hoa valley. In the afternoon you have time to catch the cable car to the top of Mt Fansipan, the highest in South East Asia.

Overnight at the hotel in Sapa. (B, L, D)

Day 8: Sapa to Ha Noi (by bus)

We drop down to the border town of Lao Cai, where a private coach will take everyone back to Hanoi, arriving there in the early evening. We treat you to a final night dinner in Hanoi.

Overnight at a hotel in Hanoi. (B, L, D)

Day 9: Ha Noi (Departure Day)

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight home or you can stay on in Hanoi for some additional nights of R&R.

(B)