Trekking tour Mai chau 5 days – 4 nights – trekking Pu luong nature
Mai Chau is located in Hoa Binh Province, 70km from Ha Noi Capital City to arrive in Hoa Binh Town, then go ahead more 60 km to come Mai Chau. Across 15 km on the Cun pass you will see Mai Chau valley. From the top of Cun Mountain you can have the beautiful view of this valley with green rice fields, small houses. Although it is a small town, this is the attractive destination of many tourists. In addition, from the summit of the pass you will see the small house of minority people where people gather as a market. People purchase their agriculture products such as vegetables, wooden, rice… Look far from 5km to the foot of the pass you will see the valley hidden under the green rice and villages of minority people among the large rice fields.
Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau – Pu Luong (~ 170 km & 3hour walk)
7:30am: VPT tour guide and driver bring you to Mai Chau with spectacular views around every bend.
Upon arrival at Poom Coom village in Mai Chau, take a short walk to visit the ethnic Thai people, then lunch at local home.
By 1:00pm trekking to the beauty of Pu luong Nature Reserve, the everyday life and culture of the white Thai people. Become guests at a traditional Thai home on stilts. Here in Hang village, have a traditional dinner and stay the night.
Day 2: Hike to Eo Ken & Kho Muong villages
Here, daily life starts early. Get up, take part in your host family’s activities in the morning, take an opportunity to stroll around Hang village
Have breakfast served by Thai people. Start our trek at 8:00am. Walk for a approximately 5 to 6 hrs. The first hiking is hard with some steep climbs and yet more stream crossings, the next is really glorious with beautiful views of valley, rice terraces, rich rain forest.
Picnic lunch on the way at Eo Ken village. Arrival in Kho Muong- the setting of the village is perhaps the most beautiful in Vietnam nestled between steep karst mountains and nice terraces in the afternoon.
Spend the second night in a typical Thai eco – stilt house in Kho Muong.
Day 3: Trek to Nua and Hin villages
Having breakfast, then start for a harder full day of hiking. Continue on through the valley. Trek to an incredible cave, only recently discovered and now protected by the Forest rangers. The trekking becomes more remote yet one is never far from a villager tending fields, passing steep limestone mountain, rain forest inside the Pu Luong Nature Reserve to Nua village.
After a rough trek, what is more refreshing than a cool stream .This will surely bring you a new experience. Stream bathing! Then have picnic lunch here.
Relax from the heat of the day before continuing on to Hin – the village of Thai people in the afternoon.
Have dinner with local people at their traditional house. Free time for you to talk and learn their traditional customs and culture. Prepare picnic lunch for the next day.
Day 4: Hike to Son village
Leave Hin village after having breakfast at Thai people. Start for a full day trek to Son village. Climbing up hardly to get in deeper inside the Pu luong Nature Reserve with wild and rich tropical forest, having picnic lunch on the way.
Continuing our trek passing through Ba beautiful village to Son village when the “sunset” – if it does not rain. Take a break and stretch your legs on the house on stilt of Thai people or strolling round this village and get in contact with hospitable friendly local people here.
Dinner and overnight in Son village.
Day 5: Trek to Ton village then van to Hanoi
Have breakfast and then, start a nice and easier trek to Ton village, just a bit up and down through rice paddies, jungle fever. After 2.5 hours, get to Ton village. Driver will pick us up and transfer to Muong Khen town for lunch.
Arrive and end in Hanoi in the afternoon.
Tour includes:
Transfer
English speaking guide
Meals as indicated in the itinerary
Homestay permissions
Entrance fees & Sightseeing fees
Tour excludes:
Travel insurance
Visa
Tips
Personal expenses
What to bring: Passport, change of clothes, sun-glasses & hat, toiletries, sun-block, insect repellent, flashlights, good shoes, personal first aid kit & medicines, small VND notes for buying drinks. If you feel the need then sleeping bags, cable lock for your bags is recommended.
Isolated Mai Chau is a 139km trip from Ha noi and 66km further on from Hoa Binh. Though it’s not far, the trip from Hoa Binh to here takes almost two hours by motorbike due to the mountainous terrain.
Mai Chau is in a valley just over the biggest hump, about 10km from the Song Da river and only 150 metres above sea level. The village presents an idyllic rural valley that could easily charm you into staying longer than intended. Nestled between two towering cliffs and surrounded by emerald green paddies, it is an enchanting sight as you wind down the cliff side.
In spring Mai Chau is a bright, almost parrot-green and by autumn this green transforms into golden hues as the rice approaches harvest. Taking the time to watch these transitions of colour seems like a perfectly useful way to spend your time while there.
Beware that whilst a beautiful time of year, Mai Chau can become unbearably hot in June / July with little respite from the heat as electricity doesn’t come on until the evening.
Those bemoaning the dearth of truly budget accommodation in Vietnam will be happy to learn that this is one place you can stay for a song. The star attraction here is a ‘homestay’ in a stilt house in one of the two ethnic White Thai villages, Ban Pom Coong and Ban Lac. While both are run by ethnic minority families who have lived on and worked the land for generations, this is hardly like trucking into a Karen village in village in northern Thailand and staying in the spare room of someone’s house.
The ‘bare bones’ accommodation is purpose-built to give tourists the ‘homestay’ experience,
Mai Chau Trekking Tour 