What to expect:
You will trek through beautiful landscape. You will be able to meet the Black Hmong and Red Dao minorities living in the same village and hear about their unmixed culture.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Hanoi - Lao Cai

8pm transfer pick up you at your hotel in Hanoi to railway station for night train up to Sapa.


Day 2: Sapa - Mong Sen - Taphin (L,D)

 We will first travel by car downhill to Mong Sen, where you start trekking Sapa uphill through a mountainous area by following a dirt trail. En route, you will have many opportunities to enjoy spectacular view over rice paddy terraces and cornfields. You will take a stop for lunch at a nice spot.

After lunch, the trek will continue by going downhill toward Taphin village where you can meet Red Dao and Black Hmong minorities, two largest ethnic groups in Sapa. Your guide will tell you about daily life and tradition of these two people. Here you stay overnight in local house. You will be able to take a walk around the village while your guide prepares dinner
Approx: Grade 2 of 5/ 30 minutes driving/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.

Day 3: Taphin - Matra - Sapa (B,L)

Once your breakfast finished, you will be heading toward Sapa. You will pass through several minority villages along the way. The walk through rice paddy terraces is very enjoyable. You then stop by Matra village of Black Hmong, where your lunch will be served atop a hill.
After lunch, you take a walk under the shadow of pine trees as well as a short walk from side to side of the town of Sapa  then transfer down to Lao Cai Station for nigt train back to Hanoi.End of services.

Approx: Grade 2 of 5/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.
Note: This is a soft trek and not touristy.

Contact Lotussia Travel for more details and Book this tour.

What to expect: This trekking trip you have an opportunity to explore one of the most beautiful parts in Sapa area, which is under protection of Hoang Lien National Park. The trip also takes you to one of the most remote area where you can meet very friendly locals. The night you spend in bamboo hut built by Topas in the hilly ground of a Red Dao family will be a good experience. The trip also offers you opportunity to enjoy wonderful scenery, which is still well protected.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Hanoi - Lao Cai

8pm transfer pick up you at your hotel in Hanoi to railway station for night train up to Sapa.

Day 2: Sapa- Heavens Gate - Sin Chai (L,D)

 You travel by car toward the Silver Waterfall where you will be able to take a short walk to the waterfall. You will then drive further to Heaven Gate, the highest peak of roads in Vietnam. From there you can see Fansipan, the highest peak of Indochina mountains as well as enjoy stunning views.
We start descending nearby the waterfall. The trail takes you all the way downhill through bamboo forest, which belongs to Hoang Lien National Park. Your lunch will be served at a nice spot nearby a river.
After lunch, you continue the trek to Sin Chai village of Black Hmomg minority, where Community Based Tourism in Sapa takes place. You will have opportunity to explore daily life of one of the largest group ethnic minorities in Sapa area. Here you spend the night in local house.
Approx: Grade 2 of 5/ 40 minutes driving/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 3: Sin Chai - Cat Cat - Y Linh Ho (L,B,D)

After having breakfast, you start heading up the mountain. Once you get to the top, you will trek on a small trail with spectacular view and then gradually descend to Cat Cat village, where you will have lunch nearby a waterfall.
In the after noon, you take a trail sneaking through mountain. You also will enjoy spectacular scenery while walking along a narrow river You eventually arrive in Y Linh Ho village of Black Hmong minority, where you can take a rest in a nice spot nearby the beautiful river before climbing toward a road, where you return Sapa by car.
Approx: Grade 4 of 5/ 3 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 4: Y Linh Ho - Lao Chai - Tavan (B,L,D)

Today's trek will continue along Hoang Lien mountain range, which offers you many opportunities to enjoy view over huge rice paddy terraces in Muong Hoa valley, the largest one in the area.
After lunch at a nice spot, you descend into the bottom of the valley. You will pass through Lao Chai village of Black Hmongvillage of Giay minority by following a very popular trekking route.  You spend the night in a traditional house of Giay minority. You will be able to take a walk to enjoy the valley view as well as swim in the river nearby. minority and then Tavan
Approx: Grade 2 of 5/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 5: Tavan - Seomity (B,L,D)

After having breakfast, you start today's trek, which is mostly uphill until lunchtime. Whenever you stop for a rest, you will be able to enjoy valley view. Before noon, you stop again at a nice spot for lunch.
The trek will be softer in the afternoon. But the scenery becomes even more beautiful. You pass by Seomity village of Black Hmong minority before you arrive in a campsite, which locates nearby a river outside the village. While porters put up tents and cook dinner, you can take a walk to stretch the legs.
Approx: 0,5 hour driving/ grade 3 of 5/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 6: Seomity - Den Thang - Ta Trung Ho (B,L,D)

The trek today takes you through beautiful rice paddies and over old suspension bridges. You will trek on small trail sneaking through rainforest. You arrive in Den Thang village of Black Hmong by noon. Here you stop for lunch either nearby a river or in a local school according to the weather.
After lunch, the trek will becomes tough on tinny footpath going up and down, which requires a lot of concentration. You will reach to Ta Trung Ho village of Red Dao minority where you spend the night in local house. Both the valley and the village have just received foreign visitors. The night will be even more interesting when you are in the wonderful hospitable atmosphere of the Red Dao.
Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 7 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 7: Ta Trung Ho - Nam Toong - My Son - Thanh Phu (B,L,D)

You are now at the fringe of the rain forest by the Hoang Lien Son mountain range. Fansipan, the highest peak in Indochinavillage of Red Dao with its 3143 m, is located in this mountain range. You will start the trek today by ascending to Nam Toong minority. Here your lunch will be prepared in a local school.
After lunchtime, you descend to the valley where locates My Son village of Xa Pho minority, one of the smallest groups ethnic in Northern Vietnam. From there you take a short walk to Thanh Phu village of Tay minority. Here you spend the night in traditional house of the Tay. You can take a walk to explore local daily life while your dinner will be served with Vietnamese dishes.  (B, L, D)
Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 6 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 8: Thanh Phu - Nam Cum - Sin Chai (B,L,D)

Today's trek will be relatively short and soft. Once leaving Thanh Phu, you follow the trekking route built in the bottom of the valley, which offers the best view to the surrounding mountains. You stop at a nice spot for lunch. After lunchtime, you continue the walk toward Sin Chai village of Red Dao minority where the night will be spent in bamboo huts. You will be attracted by the wonderful hospitable atmosphere of the Red Dao.
Approx: Grade 2 of 5/ 4 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch

Day 9: Sin Chai - Nam Ket - Ben Den - Lao Cai (B,L)

After a good sleep in bamboo hut, you wake up for an early breakfast and repack your luggage for the long trek heading toward Lao Cai.
Once you leave Sin Chai, the trip takes you into a fabulously mountainous area, the most remote part of Sapa. En route you meet children curious eyes as you are very first tourists passing by. Red Dao ethnic minority inhabits the entire area. You will enjoy the fresh of bamboo forest and jungle until you make a stop at Nam Ket for lunch.
After lunch, your trek will be mostly downhill. After about half an hour, you will have a opportunity to enjoy one of the most beautiful view of days over a green valley lying along the Red River. You eventually arrive in Ta Thang village of Tay minority. Here you will be transferred by car to Lao Cai.
Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 7.5 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.
Note: The trek is hard. The itinerary can be changed due to high water level in the river between Seomity and Ta Trung Ho. There will be no toilet facilities in the National Park area. Toilet tent will be provided. This trip will easily combine with the transfer to Lao Cai railway station without repeating the way or passing by Sapa.

Contact Lotussia Travel for more details and Book this tour.

About one and a half million years ago mankind learned how to stand upright and walk. So in some way you could say that hiking was invented in the Stone Age. Nowadays when we talk about Hiking and Trekking we mean it in the pastime sense of the word. It is hard to say when walking as a means of hunting and surviving became walking for fun and recreation. Throughout the years man has always used walking as a means of relaxation. Going for a stroll is a great way to meditate on possible dilemmas or to get away from things and clear your mind.

General hiking tips:

1. Make sure that you drink enough water. Also make sure that you bring enough water with you or you can find water supply during the hike. In hot weather dehydration is especially dangerous.

2. Be careful what you pack. The most important rule of hiking is smart about what you pack. A beginning hiker generally becomes exhausted carrying a sack full of trail munchies, games, a portable CD player, three sweaters, and a video camera. Although pictures are nice, consider carrying a disposable camera for a more enjoyable hike. ( Learn more about Minimizing your pack)

3. Think before you step. Keep an eye on the trail well in front of where you are walking, and always consider the path before bounding forward.

 4. Bring your own medicines.

5. Never hike alone. NEVER- under any circumstances venture into the woods by yourself. Outdoor adventures are fun for the family, but hiking is only a group sport. The chances of becoming lost, sustaining injury, or losing supplies is much higher when alone, making the sport extremely dangerous.

6. Don't don and doff layers continually.
Though it is good to dress in layers, choose which layers, and stick with them for a time. Otherwise, you will exhaust yourself and try the patience of the group you are with. It's generally better to be a little cool than too hot, but don't change unless you are really getting uncomfortable.

7. Put the slowest hiker in front and pace the group to that person.
This works great in a group of differing ages! With the fast hikers in the front, they have a tendency to spread out too much. Then someone small at the back gets exhausted running to keep up. If you do divide into faster and slower groups, the one ahead should never get too far ahead and should stop and let the others catch up on a regular basis.

8. Take regular breaks.

9. Avoid sunburn.

10. Encourage kids not to exhaust themselves early in a hike. Sometimes little ones run at the beginning, run out of energy and have to be carried.

11. Always carry out what you carry in. The first rule with interacting with the environment is: Leave it as you found it. This rule applies to the trees, the earth, the animals, the campsite, and even the flowers.
Contact Lotussia Travel for more details.
.