Can Cau & Bac Ha Markets – Sapa Tour – 3 Days

Day 01: Hanoi – Lao Cai (Night train)
Our tour will be started at 20:45 at the lobby of the hotel. Our guide will pick you up and transfer to the Hanoi Railway station for the overnight to Sapa.

Day 02: (Saturday): Lao Cai – Bac Ha – Can Cau – Bac Ha ( L, D)
You will be met by local guide and driver upon your arrival at Lao Cai station then transferred to a local restaurant for breakfast (optional). Then start our drive to Can Cau market. The road is relatively flat from Lao Cai to Bao Nhai bridge. After crossing the bridge, we begin our journey uphill offering beautiful views over the valleys. Situated 20 km from Bac Ha, Can Cau is a small, but very colorful market. Opening only on Saturdays, it always delivers a very photogenic display of Flower Hmong, Black Zao, Phu La ethnic costumes. After spending the whole morning exploring the market, you will leave the market for Bac Ha town for lunch. In the afternoon, you will take a walk to Ban Pho, a small village of Nung and Flower Hmong. The villagers grow vegetables and fruit trees. One of the most famous fruit of the area is plum. Visit a local house and taste a cup of corn wine, another famous product of the village. Then go back to hotel late in the afternoon.

Approx: 3-hour driving/ 1.5 hours walking.

Day 03: (Sunday): Bac Ha – Trung Do – boat trip on Chay river – Sapa (B, L)
After breakfast, we take a short walk to visit the old castle of the former Hmong King. Then continue to visit Bac Ha market, the biggest Sunday market in the area. Every Sunday, the different and colorful ethnic minority come all here to sell their homemade products or buy something for the family. They are Hmong, Phu La, Back Dzao, Tay or Nung minorities. Some of these ethnic minorities can’t be met in any other areas. Your lunch will be provided in a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, we drive downhill towards Lao Cai for about half an hour. We stop on the way (before reaching Lao Cai) to take a short walk to Trung Do village inhabited by Tay people. Tay villages are always set up at the foot of a mountain or along a stream and are named after a mountain, a field, or a river. Each village contains about 15-20 households. A large village is divided into many small hamlets. The houses are built on stilts or level with the ground. Stop by a traditional Tay house for a cup of tea before taking a boat cruise upstream the Chay River. The scenery is very beautiful on both sides of the river. The boat trip will end at Bao Nhai bridge where your vehicle will be waiting for you for the journey back to Sapa. Overnight in Sapa.

Approx: 2-hour driving/ 1 hour’s walking/ 1.5 hours boat cruise.

Day 04: Sapa – Lao Chai Ta Van – Night train to Hanoi
After having breakfast in a hotel we embark on a lovely trek that will take us along buffalo paths and trails and through several hill tribe villages Lao Chai & Ta Van, home to Black H'mong, and Dzay people. This is an absolutely spectacular walk through stunning scenery inhabited by someof the friendliest people you can meet. Once on the valley floor you can really appreciate the wonderful scenery that surrounds you. The walls of the valley are covered with multi-layered rice terraced fields and scattered villages. Return to Sapa and then to Lao Cai railway station to get night train to Hanoi. The guide sees you off at Lao Cai train station and takes you on the train.

Day 05: Lao Cai – Hanoi
Arrival Hanoi in the early morning, back to your hotel by yourself. End of all the services.