Ha Giang is the leading province of the country, bordering Cao Bang province to the East, Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces to the West, Tuyen Quang province to the South, and China to the North. Ha Giang’s winding and steep roads are inherently challenging for drivers. But when you look around, stress gives way to a feeling of relaxation when admiring the beauty of the plateau.

What season is Ha Giang beautiful?

Being a high mountainous province, the climate in Ha Giang is noticeably cold compared to the neighboring lowlands and midlands. The average annual temperature is about 21-23 degrees Celsius. Outstanding features of the climate are high humidity throughout the year, heavy and prolonged rain.

You can travel to Ha Giang in any season of the year. People often come to Ha Giang in the fall when the rice is ripe and golden. The most beautiful time is October, November and December, when buckwheat flowers or mustard fields bloom. In spring, apricot blossoms and plum blossoms bloom white in the forest, making you feel like you’re floating on the clouds.

In May, the fields sparkle during the flood season. In June and July, many people miss Ha Giang because of the sudden summer rains. But thanks to this humidity, the mountains and forests here take on a captivating green color.

Move

Getting to Ha Giang from the Northern provinces is very easy because there are many direct bus companies. On the contrary, tourists living 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.

Tourists can choose high-quality sleeper buses or limousines, depending on their finances. However, you should travel by night bus to save time and conserve energy for the long journey of discovery. The bus ticket price from Hanoi to Ha Giang and vice versa ranges from 200,000 – 300,000 VND per trip.

When you arrive in Ha Giang City, you can rent a motorbike to travel on your own for 150,000 – 300,000 VND per motorbike for the 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 7-16-seat service car.

Beautiful hotels and homestays

Families and couples who want to stay at a private, high-end resort can come to P’apiu in 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 wall house design 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 its quadruple design is a suggestion. The resort is located on the hills in Trang Kim, Quan Ba, facing the Mien River and the majestic mountains in the distance. Guests can choose to stay in a community room, priced at 400,000 VND per night, or in a party bungalow, priced at 2,400,000 VND per night.

Photo:  Hoang Su Phi Lodge

With the option of being close to the community and at lower costs, tourists can stay at homestays, of which in Hoang Su Phi there are Hoang Su Phi Lodge and Kinh Homestay, next to the terraced fields in Nam Hong village; Ho Thau Eco Village, Ho Thau commune, has a resort with walls and thatched roofs.

In addition, you can stay at Chung Pua – Auberge de MeoVac (Meo Vac) with a local land house or Bui homestay with a stilt house in Dong Van. In Dong Van, there is also Hoang Than ancient house priced at 100,000 VND per person; Golden Bee Meo Vac costs only 230,000 VND per night. In Lo Lo Chai village near Lung Cu flagpole, there is Lo Lo Ancient House homestay.

Where to play?

Because tourist destinations 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 horse to see flowers”. A 3-day, 4-night itinerary is suggested by many tourists, or a more generous 5-day itinerary.

Below is a reference itinerary for a 3-day, 2-night trip.

Day 1: Hanoi – Ha Giang – Dong Van

To be able to attend the Dong Van market on Sunday morning, you should depart from Hanoi on Friday night. At 8:00 a.m. the next day, you can leave for Dong Van and take photos along the road, when the morning air is still pleasant. bear. The road from Ha Giang City to  Dong Van  should be divided into stops to enjoy while walking rather than running all at once.

Stage 1: Ha Giang – Quan Ba ​​Heaven Gate (40 km)

From the city, the first point is milestone Km 0, then move to Quan Ba ​​about 40 km. There is a sky gate here that is a famous check-in point, but if you go in winter, you are likely to encounter clouds and fog. If the weather is clear, you can take pictures and admire the fields below.

From here you can see Nam Dam lake, located in Nam Dam village, a famous Dao homestay village in Quan Ba. In addition to the heaven gate, you can also visit 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, there are 2 turns, the uphill path will save you 20 km, but is also more difficult and requires strong steering. Calculate the time to get to Yen Minh and have lunch there.

Stage 3: Yen Minh town – Dong Van ancient town (45 km)

This is a route with many beautiful scenery and famous tourist attractions. That is Doc Tham Ma or Deo 9 Khoanh, the symbolic check-in point of Ha Giang. Here, you can easily meet foreign friends, landscape photographers, and especially Mong children carrying baskets full of flowers.

Pho Cao – an ancient village that 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 movies, is also a place you should visit. Currently, Pao’s house is both a residential house 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 for darkness.

Day 2: Dong Van – Meo Vac

Take some time in the morning to go to the market, a unique feature of the region that nowhere else in the lowlands has. 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, thang co… If you When buying gifts, remember to choose things that are easy to carry such as spices or linen.

In addition to the market, in Dong Van you can also visit King Meo Palace. The relic site is nearly 3 hectares wide, located in the valley of Sa Phin commune. King Meo’s Palace was built in the early 20th century, modeled after Chinese architecture (Manchu Qing Dynasty) with curves, curves, and exquisite carvings. Entrance ticket costs 20,000 VND per visit.

If you don’t go to the market or King Meo palace, you can depart at 6:30 from Dong Van to Lung Cu to visit the flagpole in the morning. This distance is 25 km long, you have to go through many bad sections with gravel, steep curves, potholes, etc. Travel time is about 1 and a half hours. Upon arriving, tourists climb to the flagpole and look at the mountains and forests at the beginning of the country. If you’re relaxed, the North Pole Coffee Shop is also an option to rest.

At around 9:30, you move back to the old road to Dong Van, then go in the direction of Meo Vac to Nho Que River. The motorbike road going down to the wharf is very steep, some places are under construction so you need a strong driver. If you are not confident, you can hire a motorbike taxi service from a local for 150,000 VND round trip.

The road is difficult, with many bumpy sections, but the beauty of the emerald river will partly dispel the fatigue of tourists. Weaving through the winding road hugging the cliff, you will reach the boat dock. The price for a boat trip on Nho Que River is 100,000 VND per person, the journey is about 40 minutes long. The boat often stops in front of Tu San Alley, where there is the most beautiful scene for guests to take photos.

Around 2:30 p.m., you move towards Meo Vac to visit Ma Pi Leng pass. Although the pass is winding, it is wide and flat, with mountains on one side and cliffs on the other.

Surrounding the pass are sky, clouds and mountains so visitors can leisurely admire the scenery and take photos. At the foot of the pass, you visit the Happiness Road Museum, learn about the difficult construction history of National Highway 4C, from Ha Giang city to Dong Van, Meo Vac.

Around 5:00 p.m., you can stop at the 12 km marker area to Meo Vac. This is one of the beautiful spots to watch the sunset on Ma Pi Leng pass, with a view of the Nho Que river in front. After watching the sunset, you move about 10 km to the Mong Ethnic Cultural Village in Pa Vi to stay overnight.

Day 3: Meo Vac – Ha Giang City – Hanoi

In Pa Vi, the landscape has peaceful colors. When visitors wake up, they will see surrounded by lush, green mountains. Meo Vac is about 150 km from Ha Giang, you should depart early to catch the bus back to Hanoi. There are two bus time frames for you to choose from: 2pm (returns to Hanoi at 9pm) and 9pm (returns to Hanoi at 4am the next morning).

If you choose the 2:00 p.m. time frame, you should depart at 8:00 a.m. at Meo Vac and run straight in the direction of Mau Due – Yen Minh – Quan Ba ​​- City. Ha Giang, non-stop sightseeing. 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 9:00 p.m. from Ha Giang city, you will have time to visit some more places. You go on Mau Due – Duong Thuong road, then visit Lung Tam Weaving Village, pass through Quan Ba, visit Lung Khuy cave. Then move to Ha Giang City.

Ha Giang specialties

Coming to Ha Giang, you should not miss the egg roll cake with a thin layer of wet dough, inside is the peachy red color of the egg, a specialty of the homeland.

Another dish to try is Au Tau porridge, cooked with yellow flower glutinous rice mixed with regular rice, water chestnut tubers simmered thoroughly in rich pork leg broth and herbs. Au Tau porridge is not only a simple dish, but also a cold tonic.

Chung gou cake is a specialty of Ha Giang, wrapped by hand, the crust is green or black depending on the type of rice. For green cakes, the rice is mixed with dill, while for black cakes, black rice is used. The filling contains both lean meat and fat. Cakes are packed daily by several families in Ha Giang city, but must be ordered in advance because quantities are limited. Each cake costs from 17,000 VND.

Thang aran in Dong Van looks like banh troi 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, lemongrass and the greasy taste of meat.

Au tau porridge is cooked from upland sticky rice, pig’s feet and au tau root. Take home au tau roots, wash them, soak them in rice water for one night, then simmer for about 4 hours until soft and crumbly. Then the meat is mixed with rice and cooked in broth from pig’s feet. Au tau root is very toxic so it must be carefully processed and eaten to relieve hangovers and prevent bone and joint pain.

Buckwheat cake is a typical cake of the Mong people in the rocky highlands. The process of making cakes has many steps, the harvested buckwheat seeds are dried, then ground until smooth, then mix the flour with water and mold into flat round cakes, put them in a mold and then steam them. When eating, grill or fry. The cake has a fragrant, slightly sweet, slightly gritty taste.

Bac Me Lam Rice gradually becomes a typical specialty of the Tay ethnic people. When enjoyed, Lam rice has a delicious aroma mixed with banana leaves and grilled tubes, eating with sesame salt or grilled stream fish will be very interesting.

What to buy as gifts in Ha Giang?

Ha Giang oranges are famous for their ripe fruit with a distinct, sweet flavor and are a gift that any tourist wants to bring back to relatives and friends.

Stove-top sausage is made from half-lean, half-fat meat marinated with salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, white wine, ginger juice and a little bit of dried minced macadamia nuts marinated with the smell of kitchen smoke with a characteristic aroma that makes you eat it. once and remember forever.

From September to December of the lunar calendar is the time to harvest mint honey in the Stone Plateau. Along Highway 4C to Quan Ba, Dong Van, and Meo Vac districts, visitors can easily encounter beekeeping shacks and exploiting honey on the spot. Typical honey is lemon yellow in color, deeply fragrant, sweet and refreshing like mint.

Du Hy