Mai Chau is about 2 and a half hours away from Hanoi, suitable for weekend trips.
Mai Chau is a small town located in a valley between limestone cliffs, 135 km from Hanoi. Mai Chau attracts domestic and foreign tourists thanks to its natural beauty, cuisine and unique culture of the Thai and Muong people. The 48-hour itinerary is suggested through the experiences of photographer Pham Tu and VnExpress reporter.
Day 1
Morning and afternoon
Travel from Hanoi to Mai Chau, time is about 2.5 hours. The road is convenient along Thang Long Avenue - Hoa Binh Expressway, passing through attractions such as Cao Phong, Tan Lac, Thung Khe Pass.
After arriving at the center of Mai Chau town, continue to Hang Kia - Pa Co valley, about 40 km away. These are two communes located next to each other, surrounded by rocky mountains, still preserving many cultural features as well as traditional occupations of the Mong people such as hand weaving, brocade embroidery, indigo dyeing, beeswax painting. Hang Kia - Pa Co is also home to the gate of heaven, visitors can climb up to the gate of heaven and immerse themselves in the sea of floating white clouds.
"The sea of clouds in Hang Kia is lower than the view so it feels like I'm standing on the clouds," said Mr. Tu.
Compared to other famous cloud hunting spots in Vietnam such as Ta Xua, Y Ty, Ha Giang, Hang Kia - Pa Co is "quite peaceful, not many tourists, you can easily choose a shooting angle to capture all the majesty and poetry of nature", Mr. Tu added.
November to April is the ideal time to hunt clouds in Hang Kia - Pa Co. The clouds are usually abundant and beautiful from 5am to 9am. If you are not lucky enough to see clouds, visitors can sit on the top, sip a cup of coffee, enjoy the scenery and take photos. Fee 20,000 VND.
Lunch at Pa Co. Visitors should choose a catfish hotpot for about 120,000 VND to 150,000 VND per person or in the Pa Co market area there are also many other dishes such as bun cha, bun long.
Evening
Return to Lac village and have dinner here. Each meal costs from 100,000 VND to 200,000 VND per person, served on a tray (photo). Visitors should choose all the local specialties such as grilled chicken, grilled pork, stir-fried buffalo meat with lolot leaves, stir-fried beef with sour bamboo shoots, bamboo rice, and cat cabbage.
Overnight in Lac village in budget motels. Private rooms range from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND per night, with private bathrooms. Collective stilt houses (numbered) for 10 to 20 people cost around 1 million to 1.2 million VND per night, with shared bathrooms.
In addition, if tourists have the means, they should choose to stay in resorts such as Mai Chau Ecolodge, Mai Chau Lodge, Mai Chau Hideaway Lake Resort, Mai Chau Mountain View Resort, Sol Bungalows Resort, with prices ranging from 1 million to 3 million VND per night. Avana Retreat, in Bao La commune, is a high-end resort, located about 30 km from the center of Mai Chau town, with room rates from 5 million VND per night.
Day 2
Morning
Breakfast and coffee in the center of Lac village. Breakfast in Mai Chau does not have many special dishes, visitors can choose vermicelli, rice noodles, pho at some small restaurants in the village or Western food such as bread, fried eggs.
Beautiful cafes you can refer to include: Coffee Lop Lac Lac, Da and Cay Coffee, Sol Cafe & Lounge, Canh Dong Coffee, Hua Tong Coffee.
Take a tour around Mai Chau town with an electric car service. There is currently an electric car service that takes visitors to visit Mai Chau villages such as Lac village, Pom Coong village, and Nhot village, at a price of 400,000 VND for a trip of 8 people or 600,000 VND for 12 people. The tour time depends on the needs of the visitors, usually a trip lasts 2-3 hours. The car can stop anywhere, wait for passengers and continue the journey.
"Tram drivers are usually locals who are quite knowledgeable about the history and life in the area, so they are also tour guides," said Mr. Tu. Tourists can also choose to go to certain places according to their own requests. The price of the tram is calculated per trip, 10,000 VND per passenger.
Noon
Moving to Hanoi, on the way stop to visit some highlights of Hoa Binh such as Thung Khe pass (with Da Trang pass - one of the famous check-in spots for young people), buy Cao Phong oranges as gifts.
Lunch in Hoa Binh city. Along Da Giang street along Da river there are many restaurants.
Note, Mai Chau starts to get hot from late March to early April, but the evenings are still chilly. Visitors need to prepare suitable clothes.
Alternatives
The itinerary for days 1 and 2 can be changed depending on demand because clouds usually only appear in the morning and Pa Co market is only open on Sundays. The market sells local products and brocades of the Mong, Thai and Muong people. If you have more time, you can visit other places such as Mu waterfall, climb Chieu cave and Mo Luong cave, rent a raft to row along the stream around Lac village or cycle to explore the area yourself. You can also take a boat trip on the Da River reservoir.
According to vnexpress.net
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