Explore North-West Vietnam | Hanoi - Mai Chau - Moc Chau - Dien Bien Phu - Sapa 6D5N| Code: IBNW601

Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau - Moc Chau (-L/D)

Our guide and driver will pick you up at Noi Bai airport. Then we will take a 4 hour drive heading southwest of Ha Noi to Mai Chau. The amazing drive through a spectacular mountain range. This is an authentic hill tribe region and a fantastic bases for treks and homestay soft adventures. This typical houses you see here are house on stilt with elevated 10-12 feet of the ground. Because to avoid water damage ad shelter animals from the elements.

Have lunch at local family.

You will explore the surrounding villages on foot, meet the local people and learn about their lives raising crops and livestock. En route you will stop to visit Mai Chau market, it’s a great chance to take plenty of great photos of the spectacular mountains and green valley.

Then we will depart Mai Chau and embark on a 2-hour drive toward Moc Chau Highland, located at Son La province, approoximately 180 km North West from Ha Noi. Dinner at local restaurant. Overnight in Moc Chau.

Day 2: Moc Chau - Dien Bien Phu (B/L/D)

Breakfast at hotel or homestay. Moc Chau Plateau blessed with a wide variety of nature beauty, gifted with boundless meadow for an unlimited source of fresh milk. We will visit some places:

• Heart-shaped Tea Hill – Doi Che Trai Tim: Tan Lap commune is famous for the most beautiful tea hills in Moc Chau. These green tea hills are likely unlike anything you have seen before. The most beautiful tea hill in Tan Lap is Doi Che Trai Tim, also known as Doi Che Moc Suong. Many couples choose this place to take their wedding photos and record their happiest moments. Besides tea hills, there are plum blossoms and yellow mustard flower gardens in the commune. 
• Ban Ang village is home to the Thai people who live mainly on farming, livestock breeding, and handicraft. In Ban Ang village, you will have the opportunity to experience daily life with the villagers such as staying in the stilt houses, picking the tea on the hill, fishing in the stream, and eating local dishes. 
• Ban Ang Pine Forest is located in Dong Sang commune, Moc Chau district, Son La province. From Moc Chau town, follow Highway 43 for two kilometers to get there. Ban Ang has a natural lake with an area of five hectares surrounded by green pine forests planted on reddish brown ferralsol hills. In the distance, the scenery of Moc Chau plateau with the tea hills and colorful flowers is romantic and stunning.

After enjoy lunch continue to visit

• Dai Yem Waterfall: Located in Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau district, Dai Yem Waterfall is the most beautiful from April to September. A big amount of water pours into the waterfall in the rainy season, making the scenery majestic and poetic with the white color of frothing water. The waterfall consists of two parts. The upper waterfall is 70 meters wide and there is a distance of 270 meters between the upper and lower waterfall. The vegetation on the top of the waterfall is rich and beautiful. 

Then we continue our wonderful jouney to Dien Bien. You drive over the “ Zigzag Pha Din pass”. It’s one of the most beautiful passes in Vietnam before reach Dien Bien Phu, the former battlefields where the French, afte nearly 100 years of colonization and nine years of war, were defeated in 1954 by Viet Minh, lead by Ho Chi Minh president. Check in hotel, dinner and overnight in Dien Bien.

Day 3: Dien Bien Phu sightseeing - Lai Chau (B/L/D)

After breakfast we head out for a guided tour of the historical relics:

• Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory Situated in Pho 1 Street, Muong Thanh Ward. The museum was built in 1984 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the historic victory of Dien Bien Phu. At the end of 2003, Dien Bien Phu Museum upgraded and revisited the exhibition. Presently, the museum has 5 exhibits with 274 artifacts and 122 paintings by each owner.
• Hill A1 is located in Muong Thanh ward. One of the most important base in the conglomerate of French colonialists in Dien Bien Phu. It is located in the direction of Northwest - Southeast, including 2 peaks: Northwest is higher than 490m, Southeast is 493m higher. A1 is the symbol that the Vietnamese army places on the hill. On the morning of May 7, 1954, the Vietnamese army captured the A1 hill.
• Bunker of General of De Castries: Located in the center of Dien Bien Phu Garrison, French commander’s bunker is 20m in length and 8m in width, including rooms for both boarding and working. Standing on any hill of the strong-point, you can see this iconic bunker, the seize of which has been recorded and showed on TV by Vietnamese government every anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory.
• Victory Monument of Dien Bien Phu: Dien Bien Phu battlefield relics are a collection of historical relics that record the victories of Vietnamese troops and soldiers during the heroic resistance against the French colonialists. The prominent relics of the old battlefield of Dien Bien are the hills of A1, C1, C2, D1, Hong Cuc, Him Lam, Doc Lap, Muong Thanh bridge and airport, the commander of General Catri. Victory monument Dien Bien Phu consists of 3 standing soldiers, raising a Thai baby, the top is decisive victory. The statue is 16.6m high, brass material, reinforced concrete structural gut, weighing 220 tons. The Dien Bien Phu Victory Monument located on D1 Hill is located at the center of Dien Bien Phu City, Dien Bien Province.

After lunch we transfer to Lai Chau, passing the stunning gorges and the Nam Na River. Arrive in Lai Chau. Dinner and overnight at Lai Chau.  

Day 4: Lai Chau - Sapa (B/L/D)

The drive today is the highlight of this trip. The road is a bit bumpy at times but it compensates by the magnificent scenery of the surrounding fertile valley, pristine rivers and high mountains - the photographer's dream.

Have lunch at local restaurant in Sapa. After lunch, we will visit:

• Cat Cat village which is occupied by the Black H'Mong tribe. You will experience the tribal way of life while enjoying wonderful views of the terraced rice paddy fields and the waterfall in Cat Cat village. Coming here, you can see the hydroelectric power station which was built by the French in twentieth century.                 
• Ham Rong (Dragon's Jaw) Mountain, Dong Duong Orchid Garden, Heaven Gate, San May (the Cloud Park). Enjoy traditional art performance on Ham Rong Mount.
• The Silver Waterfall (Thác Bạc), a waterfall of 200 meters.

Dinner at local restaurant. Free to discover the beautiful Sapa, shopping at Sapa market. Overnight in Sapa.

Day 5: Sapa - Ha Noi (B/L/D)

The drive today is the highlight of this trip. The road is a bit bumpy at times but it compensates by the magnificent scenery of the surrounding fertile valley, pristine rivers and high mountains - the photographer's dream.

Have lunch at local restaurant in Sapa. After lunch, we will visit:

• Cat Cat village which is occupied by the Black H'Mong tribe. You will experience the tribal way of life while enjoying wonderful views of the terraced rice paddy fields and the waterfall in Cat Cat village. Coming here, you can see the hydroelectric power station which was built by the French in twentieth century.            

• Ham Rong (Dragon's Jaw) Mountain, Dong Duong Orchid Garden, Heaven Gate, San May (the Cloud Park). Enjoy traditional art performance on Ham Rong Mount.
• The Silver Waterfall (Thác Bạc), a waterfall of 200 meters.

Dinner at local restaurant. Free to discover the beautiful Sapa, shopping at Sapa market. Overnight in Sapa.

Day 6: Ha Noi City tour - Ha Noi Departure (B/L/-)

Breakfast at the hotel. Enjoy sightseeing tours to visit the city's landmarks such as:

• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum in Ba Dinh square is one of the most visited attractions in Hanoi. It is the final resting place of Ho Chi Minh, the most iconic and popular leader of Vietnam, known to his people as “Uncle Ho”.
• Presidential Palace was built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French Governor –General of Indochina
• Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts: with simple design with peaceful and fresh air at this place, visitors can know more about the greatness and simplicity of the man who lived there
• One Pillar Pagoda is said to represent a lotus flower growing up out of the water. Built between the years of 1028 and 1054 during the reign of Emperor Ly Thai Tong of the Ly Dynasty.
• Temple of Literature: Originally built as a university in 1070 dedicated to Confucius, scholars and sages, the building is extremely well preserved and is a superb example of traditional-style Vietnamese architecture.

After lunch free for shopping at Hanoi Old Quarters till transferring to the airport to take a flight back home. Tour End!