Ha Giang is the leading province of the country, the East borders Cao Bang province, the West borders Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces, the South borders Tuyen Quang province, and the North borders China. The winding and craggy Ha Giang roads are inherently challenging for drivers. But when you look around, the tension gives way to a strange sense of relaxation when admiring the beauty of the plateau.
What season is beautiful in Ha Giang?
Being a mountainous province, the climate in Ha Giang is noticeably cold compared to the lowlands and adjacent midlands. The average annual temperature is about 21-23 degrees Celsius. The highlight of the climate is high humidity throughout the year, and abundant and prolonged rain.
You can travel to Ha Giang during any season of the year. People often come to Ha Giang in the autumn when the rice is ripe. The most beautiful time is October, November and December when buckwheat flowers or mustard fields are in bloom. In spring, apricot blossoms and plum blossoms bloom in the forest, making you feel like you’re floating in the clouds.
In May, the fields sparkle in the pouring water season. In June and July, many people miss Ha Giang because of the sudden summer rains. But also thanks to this humidity, the mountains and forests here put on a green color that captivates people.
Move
Getting to Ha Giang from the northern provinces is very easy because there are many direct bus companies. In contrast, travelers who are far away in the South or Central region should start their journey from Hanoi. From Hanoi, almost every hour, there are buses departing from My Dinh, Luong Yen, Yen Nghia, Gia Lam bus stations.
Guests can choose a sleeper bus or a high-quality limousine, depending on their budget. However, you should travel by night bus to save time and keep your energy for the long journey of discovery. The price of a bus ticket from Hanoi to Ha Giang and vice versa ranges from 200,000 to 300,000 VND one way.
When you come to Ha Giang city, you can rent a motorbike to travel by yourself for 150,000 – 300,000 VND per day. On the contrary, if you do not have enough time and health, or the group has elderly people and children, you should rent a car with 7 – 16 seats.
Nice hotel, homestay
Families and couples who want to stay at a separate, high-class resort can come to P’apiu in the Yen Dinh commune, Bac Me district. Here, visitors are immersed in the colors of the highlands by the longest brocade road in Vietnam, staying in villas and villas with the design of houses of the H’Mong people. The price for a night’s stay is about 10,000,000 VND.
For tourists who love novelty, H’Mong Village with a rocking-shaped design is a suggestion. The resort is located on the hills in Trang Kim, Quan Ba, facing the Mi River and majestic mountains in the distance. Guests can choose to stay in the community room, priced at 400,000 VND per night or in a bungalow partying at 2,400,000 VND per night.
With the option close to the community, lower cost, guests can stay at homestays , in which Hoang Su Phi has Hoang Su Phi Lodge and Kinh Homestay, next to the terraced fields in Nam Hong village; Ho Thau Eco Village Ho Thau commune with a cottage with walls and thatched roofs.
In addition, you can stay at Cho Pua – Auberge de MeoVac (Meo Vac) with a local rustic house or Dust homestay with a stilt house in Dong Van. In Dong Van, there is also an ancient house called Hoang Than, which costs 100,000 VND per person; Meo Vac Golden Bee costs only 230,000 VND a night. In Lo Lo Chai village, near the Lung Cu flagpole, there is a homestay Lo Lo Ancient House.
Play where?
Because the tourist attractions in Ha Giang are far apart, you should choose a journey of at least 3 days and 2 nights to have enough time to “ride a horse to see the flowers”. Itinerary 3 days 4 nights is recommended by many tourists, or more than 5 days .
Below is the reference schedule for the 3 day 2 night trip.
Day 1: Hanoi – Ha Giang – Dong Van
To catch the Dong Van market on Sunday morning, you should depart from Hanoi on Friday night. At 8 am the next day you can go to Dong Van and take pictures along the road, when the early morning atmosphere is still easy. bear. The road from Ha Giang City to Dong Van should be divided into stops to enjoy while walking rather than running in a single circuit.
Stage 1: Ha Giang – Quan Ba Heaven Gate (40 km)
From the city, the first point is the Km 0 landmark, then move to Quan Ba about 40 km. There is a sky gate here which is a famous check-in point, but if you go in winter, there is a possibility of meeting clouds. If the weather is clear, you can take pictures, watching the fields below.
From here, you can see Nam Dam lake, in Nam Dam village, a homestay village of the famous Dao people in Quan Ba. In addition to the heaven gate, you can also visit the Co Tien Twin Mountain not far away.
Stage 2: Quan Ba Heaven Gate – Yen Minh Town (30 km)
Note, when going to Can Ty bridge with 2 turns, the uphill will save you 20 km, but it is also more difficult and requires a hard steering wheel. Please calculate the time to come to Yen Minh and have lunch there.
Stage 3: Yen Minh town – Dong Van old town (45 km)
This is a route with many beautiful scenes and famous tourist attractions. That is Tham Ma Doc or 9 Khoanh Pass, the iconic check-in point of Ha Giang. Here, you can easily meet foreign friends, landscape photographers, and especially Mong children full of flowers and grass.
Pho Cao – the old village has not been commercialized, so it still retains many traditional features of the ancient Mong people. Or Pao’s house, the setting of many Vietnamese films, is also a place to visit. Currently, Pao’s house is both a homestay and a tourist destination. The above points are 10 km apart, please visit and pay attention to the time to reach Dong Van in time to get dark.
Day 2: Dong Van – Meo Vac
Take some time in the morning to go to the market, a regional feature that the lowlands have nowhere else. The market is bustling with many items, from common things of the Kinh people such as electronics, vegetables, clothes… to ethnic specialties such as linen, brocade, buckwheat cakes, and Thang Co. .. If you’re buying gifts, remember to choose something easy to carry like spices or linen.
In addition to the fair, in Dong Van, you can also visit the Meo King Palace. The campus of the relic site is nearly 3 hectares wide, located in the valley of Sa Phin commune. The Meo King Palace was built in the early 20th century, modeled on Chinese architecture (Manchu Dynasty) with curves, curves, and sophisticated carvings. The entrance ticket is 20,000 VND one time.
If you don’t go to the market or the palace of King Meo, you can depart from Dong Van to Lung Cu at 6:30 am to visit the flagpole in the morning. This distance is 25 km long, and has to go through many bad sections with crushed stone, steep crabs, potholes,… Travel time is about 1 and a half hours. Arriving there, visitors climb the flagpole and see the mountains and forests at the top of the country. If relaxing, the North Pole cafe is also an option to rest.
Around 9:30, you move back to the old road to Dong Van, then follow the direction of Meo Vac to Nho Que River. The motorbike road going down to the marina is very steep, some places are under construction, so it needs someone to handle the steering wheel. If you are not confident, you can hire a motorbike taxi service from a local for 150,000 VND two-way.
The road is difficult to go, and many sections are bumpy, but the beauty of the turquoise river will partly dispel the fatigue of visitors. Weaving all the way around the winding road embracing the cliff, you will come to the marina. The price for a boat ride on the Nho Que river is 100,000 VND per person, the journey is about 40 minutes long. Boats often stop in front of Tu San Alley, which has the most beautiful scenery for guests to take photos.
Around 14:30, you move towards Meo Vac to visit Ma Pi Leng Pass. Although the pass is winding but wide and flat, one side is a mountain and the other is a cliff.
Surrounding the pass is the sky, clouds and mountains, so visitors can leisurely admire the scenery and take pictures. At the foot of the pass, you visit the Museum of Happiness, and learn about the difficult construction history of National Highway 4C, from Ha Giang city to Dong Van, Meo Vac.
Around 5pm, you can stop at the 12km marker area to Meo Vac. This place is one of the beautiful spots to watch the sunset on Ma Pi Leng pass, with a view in front of the Nho Que river. After watching the sunset, you move about 10 km to the Mong Ethnic Cultural Village in Pa Vi to spend the night.
Day 3: Meo Vac – Ha Giang City – Hanoi
In Pa Vi, the scene has peaceful colors, when you wake up, you will find surrounded by green, green mountains. Meo Vac is about 150 km from Ha Giang, you should depart early to catch the bus to Hanoi. There are two bus time frames for you to choose from: 2pm (return to Hanoi at 9pm) and 9pm (return to Hanoi at 4am the next day).
If you choose the time frame at 14:00, you should depart from 8am at Meo Vac and run straight in the direction of Mau Due – Yen Minh – Quan Ba - City. Ha Giang, do not stop visiting. Note that the road from Meo Vac to Mau Due is quite bad, with many potholes and elephant holes.
If you choose the bus departing at 9pm from Ha Giang city, you have time to visit some more spots. You go Mau Due – Upper Street, then visit Lung Tam Weaving Village, pass Quan Ba, and visit Lung Khuy Cave. Then move to Ha Giang city.
Ha Giang specialties
Coming to Ha Giang, don’t miss the egg rolls with a thin layer of wet dough, inside is the egg yolk color, a specialty of the top land of the country.
Another dish you should try is au tau porridge which is cooked with glutinous rice with yellow flowers mixed with plain rice, the tubers are well simmered with a rich broth of pork feet and herbs. Au Tau porridge is not only a simple dish, but also a tonic to relieve colds.
Chung hump cake is a specialty of Ha Giang, wrapped by hand, the crust is blue or black depending on the type of rice. If the cake is green, the rice is mixed with the rice, and the black cake is mixed with brown rice. The filling has both lean meat and fat. Cakes are packed daily by some families in Ha Giang city, but must be pre-ordered because quantities are limited. Each cake costs 17,000 VND.
Thang is in Dong Van looks like drift cake in Hanoi, made from glutinous rice flour, can be made vegetarian or wrapped with bean paste.
Thang co is not a dish that everyone can eat, but it is a specialty of the Northwest with the aroma of cardamom, doi seeds, and lemongrass with the greasy taste of meat.
Au Tau porridge is made from upland glutinous rice, pig’s feet and tubers. The tubers are brought home, washed, soaked in water to wash rice for one night, then simmered for about 4 hours to soften and loosen. The meat is then mixed with rice and cooked in the broth from the pig’s feet. Cuu tuber is very toxic, so it must be processed carefully, drinking alcohol, and fighting joint pain.
Buckwheat cake is a typical cake of the Mong people in the rocky highlands. The process of making cakes has many stages, harvested buckwheat seeds are dried and then ground until smooth, then mixed with water and then molded into flat round cakes, put into molds and then steamed. When eating, bake or fry. The cake has a fragrant, sweet, slightly gritty taste.
Com Lam Bac Me gradually becomes a typical specialty of the Tay ethnic group. When enjoying, Lam rice has a complex aroma mixed with banana leaves and grilled pipes, eating with sesame salt or eating with grilled stream fish will be interesting.
What to buy as gifts in Ha Giang?
Ha Giang’s delicious oranges are famous for their ripe and sweet fruits, which are gifts that any tourist wants to bring back to relatives and friends.
Kitchen sausage is made from half-lean and half-fat meat marinated with salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, white wine, ginger juice and a few chopped dried macadamias marinated with the smell of kitchen smoke with a characteristic aroma that makes you eat. once and remember forever.
From September to December of the lunar calendar is the time to harvest mint honey on the rocky plateau. Along with National Highway 4C to Quan Ba, Dong Van, and Meo Vac districts, visitors can easily meet beekeeping shacks and honey mining on the spot. Typical honey has a lemon-yellow color, strong aroma, sweet and cool like mint.
