Hiking in the land of Thaïs

Hanoi arrival - Walks / Rest (D)

Your guide awaits you at Noi Bai, Hainoi airport, then takes you to the old center of the capital, for your first encounter with Vietnam.

Depending on your arrival time, you may visit different sites or stroll through the old quarter of Hanoi to experience the lively, colorful life of this city with a rich past.

Transfer and check-in at the hotel, then free time. Welcome dinner and overnight in Hanoi.

Hanoi - City tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast quickly gives way to a day of exotic discoveries:
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum will be the starting point. Pass by the stilt house, right next door, which housed this figure of Vietnamese history. You will get a glimpse of the life of a great man whose life was very modest.

The One Pillar Pagoda is certainly known for its original construction, but you will discover its legendary birth...

Make way for calm and serenity at the Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius and his disciples. The first Vietnamese university to be created in the 11th century, it trained civil servants until 1915!

In the afternoon, you will familiarize yourself with the 54 ethnic minorities present in Vietnam, by visiting the Museum of Ethnography.

What would a tour in Hanoi be without a cyclo-pousse tour in the old quarter? Dive without hesitation into the moving river of constantly moving inhabitants!

At the end of the day, find some calm in the Jade Temple, in the middle of the Lake of the Restored Sword. Perhaps the giant turtle in this temple will do you the honor of telling you the 6-century-old legend that surrounds this lake...

In the evening, rediscover your inner child during the water puppet show, a very widespread popular art of Vietnam.

Dinner in a local restaurant and overnight at the hotel.

Hanoi – Hoa Binh - Mai Chau (B/L/D)

Departure in the morning for Hoa Binh, after two hours drive, we go down to the Black River Dam for a boat trip on the second terrestrial Ha Long bay amidst magical and picturesque landscapes.
We go to meet the Muongs by the lake. They invite us to their homes, stilt houses, with all their hospitality, they will smoke the water pipe and tell us about the customs of the people.

Lunch on site, then we continue our journey to Mai Chau, a beautiful valley bordered by rice fields, the land of the White Thai.

In the evening, the villagers organize a party to welcome us: after the dinner prepared by the Thai women, we are invited to participate in the folk dance show of the five ethnic groups and to taste the local wine (fermented sticky rice from medicinal herb roots).

Dinner and overnight with the Thais in their stilt house.

Mai Chau – Ban Xa Linh - Hang Kia (B/L/D) ~ 5 hours walk

In the morning, we discover the daily life and specific cultures of the Thais, during a walk in the villages in Mai Chau then transfer by road to the H'Mong village of Ban Xa Linh.
Hike to Hang Kia, a village located in a high valley where the H'Mong cultivate corn and plum trees.  Dinner and overnight at a local's house.

Hang Kia – Cun Pheo (B/L/D)~ 5 - 6 hours walk

This morning, we take a path that gently ascends then we suddenly enter the jungle frequented only by hunters and mountaineers looking for dry wood.

We will then cross the rice fields to find the White Thais below.

Dinner and overnight at a local's house in a stilt house

Cun Pheo – Van Mai (B/L/D) ~ 6 hours walk

The morning hustle and bustle of the locals going to work in the fields soon wakes us up.

We cross White Thai villages located along the way.
All the houses here have in common that they lean against the mountains and face the crops. In front of the houses there are orchards, stables and ponds for fish farming. The Thais are very hospitable and often offer fish dishes to their guests.
The hike is on flat and easy paths.

Meals and overnight at a local's house in Van Mai, a beautiful White Thai village located in the heart of the Mai Chau valley, in the middle of a green rice field.

Van Mai – Song Ma – Ninh Binh – Tam Coc (B/L/D)~ 4h-5h walk

The village of Van Mai is only 5 km from the course of the Ma River whose banks are covered with bamboo forests. We go down by bamboo raft, heading towards the region of Quan Hoa.

Bamboo-related activity is really very important in this region. The making of rafts is a good way to transport bamboo to the large areas of the plain.

Then on the road to Ninh Binh, from where we continue by road to Tam Coc.

Dinner and overnight in a local inn in Tam Coc

Tam Coc – Cuc Phuong Park (B/L/D) ~ 3 hours of walking

Morning sampan ride to visit the Tam Coc caves, also known as the "Halong Bay on land" with numerous limestone karsts covered in lush vegetation.
Then, on the way to Nho Quan where we take a cruise to Kenh Ga village. It is a floating village of 300 souls, all Catholic, who live from fish farming, moving around in sampans or cement boats! Far from modern life, amidst picturesque landscapes, it seems like time has stopped...The encounter with the villagers, especially with the children, will engrave in our memory images of an authentic and truly unique region.

Lunch of local specialties in a restaurant amidst the rice fields is another memorable experience!

In the afternoon, on the way to Cuc Phuong, this primitive forest was discovered in 1960 and recognized as a national park in 1962. We discover the cave of prehistoric men and the hundred-year-old pecan tree.

We return to Ninh Binh in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Ninh Binh – Ha Long (B/L/D)

08:00 AM: On the way to Ha Long Bay, just after half an hour's drive, we visit a carpentry village, where locals carve wooden furniture and decorative objects from generation to generation, often covered with very fine mother-of-pearl patterns.
We continue our journey through the very fertile Red River Delta region, admiring magnificent landscapes of rice fields and tobacco fields in the provinces of Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, and Hai Phong.

Arrival in Ha Long around noon, embarkation for the 5-hour cruise to the magnificent Surprise Cave, where we admire the different shapes created by stalactites and stalagmites.

Seafood lunch with white wine, on board the boat.

The landscape lives up to its descriptions in countless guides: magical. We then climb to the summit of Ti Top peak, all the beauty of Ha Long Bay is beneath our feet, 428 steps are worth this happiness, it is worth noting that Ho Chi Minh reached it at 72 years old!

Dinner and overnight on board the boat in the middle of Ha Long Bay.

Ha Long – Cat Ba – Viet Hai Fishing Village (B/L)

Morning: After visiting the magnificent Lan Ha Bay, pearl oyster farms, and the floating fishing village, we disembark at Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Ha Long Bay. Possibility of swimming on the fine sand of Cat Ba beach.

In the afternoon, we walk through Cat Ba National Park to discover the tropical jungle vegetation. After 5 hours of walking, we arrive at Viet Hai, a fishing village.
A very authentic landscape: old houses amidst rice fields, surrounded by limestone karsts, hide a long history of sea pirates over several centuries.

Overnight with locals is an opportunity to discover the ancestral life of the Viets.

Viet Hai Fishing Village – Ha Noi – Hanoi (B/L)

In the morning, we say goodbye to the hospitable villagers and continue our walk to the village gate where our small boat awaits us for the return to Cat Ba. During the cruise, we admire Lan Ha Bay.

Arrival in Cat Ba around noon.

After lunch in Cat Ba, we board the local hydrofoil for a one-hour cruise to Hai Phong where our driver awaits us, and we take the road back to Hanoi to collect your luggage.

Then, direct transfer to Ha Noi airport for your return flight.