Tours - Top to bottom! The furthest any Sapa tour goes...

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.

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 at Giang Ta Chai and 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.

We travel heading further down the valley. 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. We cross the river at the lower bridge of Giang Ta Chai and this then leads us to ascend the valley to get to our final stop - Su Pan 2.

In Su Pan 2 Lunch is Vietnamese style - pork / chicken, steamed rice / noodles, spring rolls. All freshly made and very delicious. We break for an hour to eat and chat.

Our final trek of the afternoon takes us to Ban Ho some 2.5hrs of trekking. Thankfully it’s all downhill as Ban Ho is in the next part of the valley much lower down. Along the way we see the steep sides rice terraces and the corn fields on gradients so steep a Land Rover would struggle.

Arriving at our homestay of Mr Thien for the night. The Black Tay house is a stilts house and is quite different to that of the Hmong. Instead of exploring the village we can go to the hot springs near by for a few hours!

Mr Thien’s wife does the cooking and wow she is impressive. Food is with a Black Tay twist, I have to say I love her cooking so much, everything is recommended.

Breakfast is a choice of French pancakes (crepes) or a local food breakfast with tea and coffee of course.

We head off to go trekking to Nam Toong, the furtherest any of our tours go down the valley some 4km away. The road is typical being single track 2m wide concrete. It is in fair condition and pretty easy to trek along. On the sides of the road we can see more of the farming of the region as well as the other things they grow here unique to this area.

Arriving in Nam Toong we stop to check out this beautiful village. The village is quite isolated so the Red Dao people are welcoming to visitors. We stay for around an hour, taking photos and chatting with locals before setting off.

These parts are remote and there is only one way in and out. So we head back to Ban Ho 4km away.

Our last meal of the tour and a chance to talk about our adventures. Lunch is at the homestay we were at before. This will be the last time to taste Mrs Thien’s cooking, so don’t fill up on the bread! We have an hour to eat, chat and be merry.

Ban Ho marks the end of the tour. We can return you by car to either Ta Van or Sapa - which ever you prefer. We hope that you have an a wonderful time and met interesting people along the way.