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MAI CHAU NATURE 2 DAYS 1 NIGHT

Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau Valley (L,D)

7.30 – 8.00: Pick up at your Hotel in the Old Quarter in our comfortable van.

10.00: Short break.

11.30 – 12.00: Scenic photo stop of Mai Chau valley/ arrive in Mai Chau, welcome Drinks.

12.15: Traditional lunch in local village (vegetarian available).

14.00 – 16.30: Bicycle ride with your tour guide, see farmers working in fields, locals weaving scarves and visit surrounding peaceful villages.

16.30 – 18.00: Free time for bicycling, walking, shopping.

18.00: Enjoy the outdoor BBQ party in the garden and watch the Thai’s traditional dance and drink the traiditional wine “ruou can”. Overnight in the communal stilt house or Valley View Bungalow.

Day 2: Trekking to remote rural villages (B,L)

7.30 – 8.00: Wake up and eat breakfast.

8.00: Go with local tour guide to visit more remote rural villages Na Meo and Na Mo villages to understand more about their culturevand customs.

12.00: Back to the homestay for lunch and check-out.

13.00 – 15.00: Free time for shopping and relaxing.

15.00 – 15.30: Say goodbye to the family to get on the bus to drive back to Hanoi.

18.30 – 19.00: Arrive in Hanoi Old Quater. Drop you off at your hotel. End of tour.

Set in an idyllic valley, hemmed in by hills, the Mai Chau area is a world away from Hanoi’s hustle. The small town of Mai Chau itself is unappealing, but just outside the patchwork of rice fields rolls out, speckled by tiny Thai villages where visitors doss down for the night in traditional stilt houses and wake up to a rural soundtrack defined by gurgling irrigation streams and birdsong.

The villagers are mostly White Thai, distantly related to tribes in Thailand, Laos and China. Most no longer wear traditional dress, but the Thai women are masterful weavers producing plenty of traditional-style textiles. Locals do not employ strong-arm sales tactics here: polite bargaining is the norm.

Mai Chau is a successful grassroots tourism project and the village homestays here are firmly stamped on the tour-group agenda, as well as being an extremely popular weekend getaway for locals from Hanoi – try to come midweek if possible. Due to its popularity, some find the experience too sanitised. If you’re looking for hard-core exploration, this is not the place, but for biking, hiking and relaxation, Mai Chau fits the bill nicely.

All rates are USD per person.