Tours - Sapa to Su Pan 2

We start early to get the most out of the day. Also the valley looks great in the morning. Leaving Sapa town square we to head towards our first destination 6km away.

Y Ling Ho. We stop here for a few moments with a view the village with the most rice terraces in the whole valley. We may bump in to some locals who are interested to know who is in their village. We stop for around 10 minutes before heading off to our lunch time rendezvous.

We eat in San Sa Ho at a local restaurant. Food is choice of either Hmong food or Vietnamese. If you go for Hmong food - please try the pork belly with wasabi spinach (its our favourite). We have an hour for lunch.

Headed to Lao Chai we see the valley below again - this time the rice terraces are not so steep. Then we go to a Hmong family who will show us how they make traditional clothing. Our traditional clothing is made from hemp which you have seen growing along the way - depending on season of course. We stay with the family at their house for about 1/2 hr before heading to the next stop.

Setting off to Ta Van. To get there we can have two route options - one easy & one very hard that is high up the valley. If we stay high up on the harder trek - we get to see better views of the valley below. The easier one is also slightly shorter.

Arriving in Ta Van and staying at the lovely homestay of Mrs Yen of the Zay tribe. We have a little time before supper to explore the nearby Ta Van village which is highly recommended.

Supper and Mrs Yen loves cooking, so there will be plenty of food available. It’s quite a family atmosphere there and many other tour guides like to stop in to have chat with her.

Mrs Yen won’t let us leave on an empty stomach, so breakfast is a choice of French pancakes or a local food breakfast with tea and coffee of course. After breakfast we head for Giang Ta Chai.

To get there, we must travel though the bamboo forest. Access is via a small footpath that leads up from the village. When the footpath ends we cross the tops of some rice terraces. If it’s harvest season we may chat to a farmer, if you are interested we can even help out for a bit & learn some farming! We then ascend some more into the forest. The forest is alive with birdsong. There is the sound of running water too if it has been raining recently.

We exit the forest & find ourselves at a lovely waterfall. We stop to take some photos. The waterfall is nearly 100m from the very top. It is possible to swim in the pool at the top if there is enough water. We can talk with some locals here if you wish - the locals love to talk. To cross the Muong Hoa river we must do a little “rock hopping”.

In Giang Ta Chai have a choice of 2 locations for lunch. Either with Cam, a local or having a picnic. Lunch is Vietnamese style - pork / chicken, steamed rice / noodles, spring rolls. All freshly made and very delicious.

Hugging the river (Giang Ta Chai is on both sides of the river) we travel heading towards Su Pan 2. On the way we see some homes of the Red Dao. If you wish, we can stay to a chat & find out about their way of life. Continuing our journey we find a narrow path that takes us through a 2nd smaller bamboo forest. We then ascend the valley to get to our final stop - Su Pan 2. This takes about an hour from valley floor to the village.

Alas now its the end of the tour and we have arrived in Su Pan 2. We can take you back to either Ta Van or Sapa, whichever you prefer.