Mai Chau Community Tour

3 days

Duration

9/10

physicality

Mai Chau

location

2, 3, 4, 5, 6

group-size

Year-round

dates

Mai Chau Community Tour – Trekking & Homestay Experience

Soaking into the Mai Chau valley, trek and discover the rural villages, lush rice paddy fields and hill tribes; eat and sleep like locals that a 3 day Mai Chau community tour features.

ARRIVAL LOCATION

Hanoi

DEPARTURE LOCATION

Hanoi

INCLUDED

Accommodations (homestay)	Private transfers
Professional guide	Meals (B: Breakfast, L: Lunch, D: Dinner)
Boat cruises	Entrance fees

NOT INCLUDED

Internal and external flights

Personal expenses

Visa fee

Travel insurance

Set in an idyllic valley, hemmed in by hills, the Mai Chau area is a world away from Hanoi’s hustle. The small town of Mai Chau itself is unappealing, but just outside the patchwork of rice fields rolls out, speckled by tiny Thai villages where visitors doss down for the night in traditional stilt houses and wake up to a rural soundtrack defined by gurgling irrigation streams and birdsong.

The villagers are mostly White Thai, distantly related to tribes in Thailand, Laos and China. Most no longer wear traditional dress, but the Thai women are masterful weavers producing plenty of traditional-style textiles. Locals do not employ strong-arm sales tactics here: polite bargaining is the norm.

Mai Chau is a successful grassroots tourism project and the village homestays here are firmly stamped on the tour group agenda, as well as being an extremely popular weekend getaway for locals from Hanoi – try to come midweek if possible. Due to its popularity, some find the experience too sanitized. If you are looking for biking, hiking, community service and Eco travel or relaxation, Mai Chau fits the bill nicely.

Day 1: Hanoi - Mai Chau - Xa Linh- Hang Kia (L, D)

Our guide and driver will come to meet you at your hotel in Hanoi around 7:00am and transfer to Mai Chau. After a 3,5 hour drive through the picturesque countryside of rice paddy fields and spectacular, rugged mountain scenery, you arrive Mai Chau, home of the Thai minority. After lunch in a local Thai family, you will drive to Sa Linh Village to begin your trekking expedition. From here you will walk along gravel tracks and small paths used by the locals to Hang Kia village where you will spend the night as honored guests of an Hmong family in a traditional long house. Overnight in Hang Kia village.

Day 2: Hang Kia Village - Van Village (B, L, D)

Rising to the sound of lovely Mai Chau valley, you will say good bye to the local host family. Today your trek path is quite challenging as you will walk through tropical rain forest, up and down the uneven steps. It takes a 6 hour trek with picnic lunch en route. In the late afternoon you will arrive at Van village where is home to the Thai people. Check in at home-stay for refreshment and leisure. Rest of the day is free to stroll around the village until dinner served by the host. Overnight in Van Village.

Day 3: Van Village - Sam Khoe -Mai Chau - Hanoi (B, L)

This morning, you will continue your trip by trekking through beautiful scenery to the small village of Sam Khoe where you will meet up with our waiting vehicle and drive back towards Mai Chau where lunch will be served. Spend your time Take the chance wandering around or shopping from the great range of local handicrafts before returning to Hanoi. Tour ends at your hotel around 5:00pm.