HA GIANG PHOTO TOUR 5DAYS- start from Hanoi

7 hours’ traveling / 3 hours of photography

6:30 – 7:00: Our bus will pick you up from your hotel in Hanoi to Ha Giang city. Around 14h, the bus arrives in Ha Giang, and our guide will pick you up, take the motorbike and start to go Quan Ba.

You will reach Quan Ba in the late afternoon. Before Quan Ba, we will pass the “Heaven’s Gate”, with its mountains stretching to the horizon, marking the entrance to Dong Van Karst Plateau. This marks a magnificent point of view to share when you are back home with stunning landscape photos. Hopefully the weather will play its part!

Dinner and a night’s sleep in our Red Dao eco-lodge or homestay of Dao people in Nam Dam village

6 hours traveling / 4 hours of photography

We will start the day in a beautiful valley below Quan Ba. We will ride into Dong Van Plateau, an extremely wild region made of limestone pitons and black granite needles. This is a truly breathtaking panorama.

The whole Dong Van Karst Plateau is a major heritage sight in Vietnam. You will see unending rice fields, thousands of limestone rocks and breath-taking views. You can observe the life of hill-tribe villages where local people work on the land. The driver can also take you to the Chinese border and the famous northernmost viewpoint in Vietnam. Few kilometers before the Dong Van Town, we will stop in Hmong King’s Palace, a home for Voung’s family in Sa Phin. It’s an H’ mong family of high rank during French colonial rule – this palace attracts keen interest from architecturally minded visitors due to its mixed style of European and Chinese architecture and the history of this land.

Sleep: If you want to experience sleep in a homestay of Hmong people, explore their culture via learning their traditional music dance, wearing their traditional clothes, we will arrange sleep in Hmong Dong Van homestay.

If you want to have a comfortable and private room in a Hotel, we will book a hotel 2-3 star in Dong Van.

After breakfast, we leave for the Lung Cu flag pole around 8 am.  It’s another amazing ride.  Lung Cu flag pole where is about 25km from the center of Dong Van district. Lung Cu mount is considered as “a high forehead of the motherland” where marks the extreme North of our country. From its top, visitors can see the whole of the beautiful and spectacular landscape.  When we are in Lung Cu, we also can leave our bikes and walk to visit a small village of LO LO people – one of the minority ethnic people in North Vietnam. They still keep their unique culture with beautiful and colorful traditional clothing. It’s also one attraction for photographers. 

Turn around back to Dong Van, then, drive to the peak of Ma Pi Leng which gives stunning views of the mountains and sweeping valleys. It’s the most beautiful part of the whole journey, located on the Happiness road connecting the towns of Dong Van and Meo Vac, Ma Pi Leng Pass. The legendary pass is well known for craggy cliffs and breath-taking views. It is the most rugged pass in the north, often referred to as the “king” of the passes in Vietnam! The whole road is winding through the cliffs and overcomes Ma Pi Leng pass at an altitude of 2,000 meters.

To show you the full beauty of the pass, we will trek the breathtaking Sky Path to admire the scenery of the whole valley and Nho Que river. From the amazing mountain viewpoint, you will be able to experience a 360° panorama of Ma Pi Leng Pass and take unforgettable pictures. Standing on the peak of the pass, you will feel overwhelmed by the majestic space of mountains and rivers.

Overnight at homestay in Meo Vac. ( private room with shared bathroom or dormitory room)

or If you want to upgrade the room, we can arrange a night at luxury ecolodge- Average de Meo Vac.

2 hours traveling / 7 hours of photography

We’ll have much to do in the morning, as we’ll visit Local Sunday Market. The ethnic minorities of many different groups leave their home villages very early in the morning to reach Dong Van & Meo Vac market. There are very colorful and various ethnic minorities in the beautiful traditional clothing, it will be a special experience for you to take photos here.

Upon arrival, we’ll discover the livestock market, a one of a kind location in the Ha Giang province. Here, between 400 and 1000 cattle are traded during the course of the morning, along with many horses, pigs and dogs. The market in Dong Van and Meo Vac still keep their traditional atmosphere, it’s not only the trading place but it’s also the place for social activities, meeting relatives and friends. Merge with local life and take great shots for you. 

The market will finish before 12h. We will eat lunch at a local restaurant, take a rest before preparing for the afternoon photograph trip.

We will wander around Meo Vac and the Ma Pi Leng passage taking multiple photography stops, following a road meandering through the mountainsides. 

Come back to Meo Vac, sleep there one more night.                                                                   

6 hours traveling / many landscape photography stops

In the morning, leave Meo Vac, we will take the Boating trip in Nho Que river, it’s located in the bottom of Ma Pi Leng pass with Tu San canyon – it’s a new interesting destination in your Ha Giang tour. Tu San canyon is considered the deepest and most unique canyon in Vietnam. Nho Que river start from China runs through the Meo Vac area, Ha Giang. You will trek down from the main road to the bottom of the river, take the boat and enjoy the poetic beauty with the green color of Nho Que river. You will be enchanted by the overwhelming presence of the towering mountains on both sides of the river.

                                                                                        Boating in Nho Que river, Ha Giang

p/s: You can choose KAYAK activity

Afternoon, we will head back to Ha Giang town following a different road surrounded by breathtaking karst mountain landscapes. We will take our time and make multiple landscape photography stops. We will arrive in Ha Giang town in the early evening for dinner.

We expect to arrive at Ha Giang around 5:00 pm.  Take plenty of breaks on the way back.  Wash up and have dinner at a local restaurant, then return our bikes at the bike rental place. Our sleeper bus leaves at 8:00 pm.

We begin our journey back to Hanoi with a good night’s sleep on the bus.  Arrive Hanoi at 5:00 am on the next day.