Tours - Skypath adventures + Local culture experience

We start the tour early and either collect you from your homestay or hotel near the centre of town. Driving from Ha Giang town to our first sight is only 45km away, but the twisty and steep roads means that it takes us an 1.5hr to get there. A theme we will soon be getting used to.

Heavens Gate is our first catch of the day. And what a show it is. We stop for photos and the beautiful views.

The Fairy Breast Hills are next, just a few minutes away where we can admire the view and hear of local legends.

Lung Tam Workshop is a corporative run by women for local women. Here traditional hemp products are made and we can see them making them. The batik process has been passed down the generations - it takes a steady hand to draw the pattern freehand. Our next destination is 30km, this time it’s our lunch date.

Lunchtime! An amazing spread of local food is on offer. We don’t just stop at any place though - we stop off in Yen Minh at a restaurant with incredible views of the mountains in front of us and the valley below. Food is a local selection of pork / chicken dishes with steamed vegetables, rice and more. Lunch is an hour, maybe a little longer if you want to walk around a bit.

Tham Ma Pass, the winding snake pass that descends down the valley where there are young girls with large baskets with flowers for photo opportunities. The ethnic people here also have a few stalls selling handicrafts. We spend usually around 1/2 hour here for photos and to chat. Then we drive to our next stop near the Chinese border.

Lao Xa village is famous for making jewelry and accessories from silver. We chat with some of the locals while walking in the local area. Then we head to the Sa Phin Valley located in the Dong Van Geopark.

The Hmong King Palace, was built between 1898 and 1903 with 64 rooms set in 3 hectares of land. We spend an hour here learning about the history of the palace while exploring the grounds.

We arrive at our hotel in Dong Van - a nice place with all the modern amenities. We have a chance to freshen up, have a rest or explore the town a little before going out to dinner later.

Supper. Local food and plenty of it. We eat out at a local restaurant close by to where we are staying. The local cuisine is more in tune with Chinese food than Vietnamese because of our proximity to the border.

We get breakfast in the local market square which is close by. The breakfast favourites here are Banh Cuon and a multi-coloured sticky rice. Banh Mi is also available if you prefer.

Lung Cu Flag Tower - the northern most part of Vietnam. You can see China from here. The historic flag tower has been rebuilt many times over the last 150 years. The tower sits atop a hill (Dragon Mountain) that has 400 steps. There is an electric shuttle service that can take us part of the way up - handy to save time as well as some stairs.

We visit the Chai village of the Lo Lo people. It’s only 1km walking from the flag tower. Walking to the village is quite picturesque. There are many preserved classic style buildings to see here as well as new developments of course. We can get food and drinks here but usually in we have that in Dong Van. We get a chance to talk with some of the locals about their lives here - the Lo Lo people only number 4800 in the whole of Vietnam so seeing this ethnic tribe is quite rare. Our next stop is for lunch - 20km away in Dong Van.

Lunchtime! We eat at a local restaurant. The food is traditional vietnamese with the usual selection of food. We have an hour to catch up on the things we have seen so far and the people we met along the way. Next stop is a rather famous trek.

Skypath / Skywalk - this is the trek everyone talks about because of the amazing views. We get dropped by a large statue to the builders of the peace road (loop road). As we travel along the path, we have incredible views of the the new que river and the canyon. We pass along the finger pointing rock. A popular tourist photo opportunity to climb it, however it is rather un-recommended, so we pass. We are now descending into the valley into the Hmong village of Pai Lung who farm the area somehow, despite the number of black rocks. The path carries on descending, till ultimately we see the Ma Pi Lang pass in front of us where we will stop for photos & a rest. We then drive to Yen Minh - 10km away.

We stop in Yen Minh to see amazing view of the limestone mountains. We stop here for a while to relax and take photos as it’s the last sight of the day. We now head to a new homestay in Nam Dam village.

Mr Dat has a beautiful homestay - we have our own private bungalow to relax in. They are quite new, so everything shines. The private view of the rice fields is amazing. Mr Dat and his wife like to see all the guests and they really give it a welcoming vibe.

We eat a selection of Red Dao food. The menu rotates regularly as it depends on what they have growing in the garden! The atmosphere is quite lively and there maybe one or two more private tours that have also come here to chat with.

Breakfast is served! Usually crepes (French style pancakes) are on offer along with some fresh tea / coffee. All done in around 3/4 hour as we want to get the day started as there is so much to do and see. We drive the 10km to our first destination of the day.

To get to the Lung Khuy Caves, we have to trek a bit from the village of Lung Khuy! There and back is 3km in total. The path takes us around the hillside with glorious views of below as we climb many steps. There are monkeys in this area - if we are lucky we may catch sight of one. We also see people farming along the route. The gradients of their fields are quite something. As we near the summit of this trek the stairs get steeper. Even though many are broken, its not too difficult to get to the top, however - passing people coming the other way with no safety barrier or hand rails is a challenge. This is why we go early. At the top, if we are a bit warm - there is a small kiosk selling drinks and ice creams.

Lung Khuy Caves. Opened to the public in 2015 but known about by locals for centuries, these caves have a local spiritual significance. The caves are over 500m long and in places over 30m high. There is a metal walkway inside the caves to walk on as the cave floor is actually quite wet. A tiny part of the cave is roped off for locals to make special ceremonies. The features of the cave are quite lovely and we spend up to 1/2 hour in there before walking back down the path to the village. Our next stop is 20km away.

To get to the recently discovered Khau Ian Waterfall, we must first do a little trekking. The falls were recently discovered so the access path is small and easy to miss if you don’t know about it! We trek though the dense forest, first descending then later ascending. As we approach the waterfall, we can hear the thunder of the water and also the trail starts to get a little muddy from the overflow from the waterfall. Later we will trek back on the same route.

Khau Ian Waterfall waterfalls are some 100m+ high in total, the final step (fall) is around 10m high where we will go. The flow of water is fantastic though & makes a thunderous noise. Swimming is possible in the warmer months. Our next stop is for lunch in Quyet Tien village.

Quyet Tien village has Hmong, Dao, Nung & Tay people. The main produce of the area is a variety of vegetables as well as having some livestock. They have a market on saturday’s, if we are there on this day - we will stop by to look. We stop at local restaurant to enjoy a lovely traditional vietnamese meal. We spend an hour here. After lunch its time to get back on the road as our next stop Ha Giang city, 30km away.

We drop you off at your location of choice in Ha Giang city, weather that be a homestay, hotel or the bus station. The tour alas has ended but the memories should live on forever. We hope you had a fantastic tour and taste of what Ha Giang has to offer!