Eye-popping Hanoi motorbike tour to Mai Chau, Pu Luong, Ninh Binh

Today, we will start our journey at 8h00 am to Mai Chau valley, in Hoa Binh province along with the stunning view of mountains & valleys. Mai Chau is a beautiful valley where has been a residential area of white Thai, Black Thai, Muong, Black H’mong & Tay ethnics for a long time. Travel to Mai Chau, you will get to know local cultures by trekking or biking to visit their villages, staying & eating local foods cooked by the host, taking part in traditional lively dances & songs performed by locals.

Arrive to Mai Chau at 12h00, check-in the room and have lunch in homestay or resort, then relax till 3h00 p.m, we will start biking about 2 hours to visit villages nearby learning about local lives, their house styles & their farming activities. Back to the villages for leisure, then dinner at about 7h00 pm. After dinner, you will have time enjoying a special show of dances & songs performed by locals. It is a great chance for your open cultural exchange with locals. You can dance, sing & drink local pipe wine (named as Can in Vietnamese) with them.

Overnight in Mai Chau (Homestay).

We have breakfast at the homestay, then continue with our trip to Pu Luong nature reserve ( off- beaten- track area) for the wonderful view of terraced rice fields and villages living along the valleys. Stop in Don village down to the valley and up to hills for the great views of the region. Have a picnic lunch on the way, then our car picks you up from the other side of the hill to Doan town where we will continue to Hieu village of Black Thai Ethnics. Hieu hamlet is located in the slope of the mountain with a stunning view of waterfalls & terraced fields.

To reach Hieu village, a remote one in the region, we will trek through small roads, then dirt trails along with some hamlets, rivers & rice fields about 6 km. At the area of the waterfall, we trek up along Hieu waterfall and then up to the top side of the mountain where you can see 20 houses on stilts. We will stop in Mr. Ba’s house on stilts for homestay – the best one with efficient facilities that you could find in the village. Dinner with local foods prepared by Mr. Ba’s wife.

Overnight in Pu Luong nature reserve (homestay).

A peaceful moment with the sound of rooster, cow, and waterfall nearby, it is nice to wake up early to enjoy this moment & sunrise. Have breakfast at 7h30 then take a motorbike back to Doan town. You can take time walking along with the Doan town’s market, we ride our journey to Ninh Binh.

Arrive in Hoa Lu at 12h00, we do a visit to Hoa Lu, known as the Ancient Capital of Vietnam from 968 – 1009. Here, we visit Dinh temple dedicated to Dinh Tien Hoang and his family; then Le temple worshiping the King Le Dai Hanh & his family. Our guide will introduce you to the history of Vietnam in the 10th & 11th centuries under Dinh, Le & Ly dynasty.

Dinner and overnight in Ninh Binh Homestay.

After breakfast, then we continue with a rowing boat trip to visit Tam Coc (three caves), also regarded as Halong Bay on land. Beautiful view of mountains & rice paddy fields along the Ngo river and of course three caves’ view when your boat rows thru. Back to the harbor, you can do biking to discover villages nearby for photos.
We ride back to Hanoi.

End of the trip!