Vietnam cycling holidays: Travel Hanoi Son La Tuan Giao Lai Chau Tam Duong Sapa Lao Cai (7 days)

This 7-day mountain biking tour is arranged in the north western Vietnam taking to such places as Lao Cai, Sapa, Lai Chau, Muong Lay, Phong Tho, Binh Lu, Tam Duong, Tuan Giao, Son La, Moc Mai, Mai Chau, Hoa Binh province. Begin the tour with a car transfer out of Hanoi to Mai Chau where you start cycling on paved roads towards Son La. You mostly cycle on paved roads with many up and downhill ride. Sometimes you get off the main, paved roads taking small, single dirt track biking trails leading to remote hill tribe villages. Taking this 7-day mountain biking tour, you enjoy the beautiful scenery, the wild nature of the less travelled north western Vietnam. You meet up with lots of ethnic groups during your bicycle tours including the Tay, the Dzao , the Xa Pho, the H’mong…The tour is provded with experience English-speaking tour guide, support vehicle and good mountain bikes, trek bikes.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Hanoi to Son La

8:00: You will be met up with Lotussia Travel team and transferred to Son La. The drive will take you through different minority villages as we climb onto a higher plateau. We pass through coffee and tea plantations before arriving Son La in the late afternoon. Son La was once the site of a French penal colony where radicals and revolutionaries were incarcerated during French rule. The prison was destroyed by American war planes during the Vietnam War (or as the Vietnamese sensibly call it the American war) except for a lone peach tree planted by an inmate in the 1940s. Since then the prison has partially rebuilt and a museum opened.

Check in hotel for overnight.

Day 2: Cycling Son La to Tuan Giao

The bicycle tour begins with a 5km riding up to the beautiful surrounding countryside. We bike through a patchwork of rice fields and plum orchards. The scenery makes up for the hard work as the rolling land erupts into stunning karst rock outcrops bristling with trees. The land is home to the Black Thai. The women can be glimpsed working the fields in brightly colored dresses and hats, the children riding water buffalo and the men speeding along on noisy motor cycles. We finish the day with a thrilling 11km decent before we reach the town of Tuan Giao.

Day 3: Bike Tuan Giao to Lai Chau

Once out of Tuan Giao the road deteriorates as we take a spectacular back road to Lai Chau. We cycle past rice fields and bananas plantations as we pass through small minority villages of Red Hmong and Kho Mu. There are two hard climbs today the first starts after 50km with a 5km ascent but the second, and most challenging comes at the end of this stunning day, with an 8km strength-sapping climb. All this hard work is easily forgotten as we finish the day with a stunning descend of 18km on a winding road into this lush valley of Lai Chau.

Day 4: Biking Lai Chau to Tam Duong

After we leave Lai Chau we cross the Hang Tom suspension bridge and follow the Na River passing through spectacular gorges and Black Dao villages. The Dao worship spirits and ritually sacrifice pigs and chickens. The women clothes are covered with intricate weaving and silver colored beads and coins. It is said the wealth a women can be judged by the weight of the coins she carries. We finish this long day with a 15km ascent followed by a gentle 10km ride down to Tam Duong.

Day 5: Cycle Tam Duong to Sapa

Today we cycle up to the Tram Ton Pass (1,900m; 6,230 ft) the highest mountain pass in Vietnam, on our way to Sa Pa. We start with a relatively easy 7km ride before we hit the first of two major climbs. A 8km tough ride sets us up for the 26km monster climb later in the day. As we start the second climb we slowly start to witness the beauty of Mt. Fan Si Pan, South East Asia’s highest peak. Often hidden with a veil of moving mist and fog, we will hopefully get a glimpse of its lofty peaks.

Sa Pa is an old French hill station perched in the Hoang Lien Son Mountains near the Chinese border. Its position gives it some of the best vantage points to savour the surrounding mountain peaks.

Day 6: Sapa – Laocai – Hanoi.

Enjoy a half day walking to visit hill tribe villages before you take the night train trip to travel back to Hanoi. You will commence your short journey by driving south toward Muong Hoa valley. You will then start your walk by descending into the valley, which is the largest rice paddy terraced among Sapa area.
The  guide  can  provide  you  interesting  information  about  rice.  If  you  visit  the  valley  sometime  in between May and October, you will be able to observe and experience how the local do planting and
harvesting, one of the most important activities in the daily life. The walk takes you from Lao Chai
village  of  Black  Hmong minority  to  Ta  Van  village  of  Giay minority  including  a  visit  to  the  local
Catholic Church. After visiting Ta Van the car will return you to Sapa.

Have quick shower in a mini/standard hotel before taking the overnight train to Hanoi. Overnight on the train.

Day 7: Arrive Hanoi train station. Departure.

Arrive Hanoi early this morning. You will be picked up by our car and transferred to Hanoi airport for onward flight. Trip ends.

Contact Lotussia Travel for more details