This 3 day, 4 night tour is a perfect combination of trek and culture while visiting hill tribe villages at a pace and style that complements you. Journey away from the crowds and homestay at a traditional Dao home. Learn and participate in village life and truly feel the warmth and hospitality of these incredible people, and support a community based tourism project. This is an unforgettable soft adventure to Sapa that should be part of everyone’s time in Vietnam. A Footprint favorite!
The night before: 8:00 pm transfer to the Hanoi train station for boarding at 9:10 pm. You will share an AC soft sleeper cabin and travel North to Lao Cai town.
Today’s morning: The train arrives at about 6:00 am. Look for the “Footprint Travel” sign when you exit the train station, as our guide will pick you up there. Take a morning drive through the clouds by car / van to Sapa, about 1.5 hours. When you arrive in Sapa you will be taken to a local restaurant for a morning shower, breakfast, a short rest and some last preparations before our inspiring trek.
We will then take short ride from Sapa to our trekking base. Our trek through the terraced valleys, up and down hills will take about 5 to 6 hours. We will pass rice paddies, bamboo forests, and minority villages. Lunch break along the way depending on our pace. When we arrive in Taphin village, our Dao host family will welcome us to their home where we will share in an ethnic style dinner and stay the night.
Inclusion:
Transfer, guide, train ticket, entrance fees, all meals, permit, homestay.
At the first gleam of daylight, you will see and hear the sounds of morning village life. You can join your host family in some of their morning activities like feeding the animals, cleaning the houses, gardening or preparing breakfast. After breakfast, we can take a short wander around the village or spend more time enjoying the view and company at the homestay.
You will be then supported by our car / van back to Sapa (30 minutes). When we arrive back in Sapa, check into the hotel, shower, and pause for lunch on your own. At 2:30 pm we will take an easy 5 km walk to Cat Cat village, home of Black H’mong hill tribe, and to take part in a traditional ethnic music performance put on by the ethnic minority people. Dinner and the evening on your own. Overnight in the hotel in Sapa.
Note:The music show in Cat Cat is closed on Tuesday afternoon, an alternative will be arranged.
Inclusion:
Breakfast, transfer, guide, entrance fees, music show ticket, hotel.
Wake up in Sapa town, breakfast at the hotel then enjoy the morning with some of your new friends that you may have met the afternoon before. Today your guide is available to you for the whole day, although, you have the entire day for free time and visiting the lively markets. Some suggestions include a visit to the orchid gardens of Dragon Mountain, or a cultural day trek to Taphin village.
In late afternoon, depart from your hotel for the Lao Cai train station at 5:30 pm. The train leaves Lao Cai at 8:15 pm and arrives after a pleasant sleep in your first class, shared AC soft sleeper car to Hanoi. Arrival at about 5:00 am the next morning. Please find your own way to your hotel, a taxi normally costs about 50,000 VND.
Community Support: As you will see that we are going to stay one night in Ta Phin village, where the local people are working on their own community based tourism, we use their homestay, food cooking. It's about 5% of the tour cost goes directly the family we stay and the local community.
