Why this route
The northern loop, given enough days that nothing has to be skipped. The road runs from Hanoi up to Bac Ha for the market, east across Ha Giang onto the Dong Van karst plateau and over the Ma Pi Leng pass, then south through Bao Lac to Ba Be lake. The last three days ease off: Ninh Binh, a night afloat in Halong Bay, a morning in Hanoi.
It suits people who do not mind five hours in a vehicle on a road that turns every hundred metres, who would rather sleep in a village house than a resort, and who want the walking to count. Everything is private, so the shape of the days is yours. The fixed points are the Sunday market and the cruise departure.
Day by day
Day 1
Your guide meets you at Noi Bai and drives into the Old Quarter, about forty minutes. The rest of the day is yours: a lap of Hoan Kiem Lake, a bowl of bun cha, an early night. Before dinner we spend twenty minutes at the hotel going over the road days and your kit.
Day 2
A full day in one of the craft villages ringing Hanoi. You walk the brick lanes between family workshops, watch a trade that stayed in households rather than moving to factories, and eat lunch with one of those families. Back in the city by late afternoon, evening free.
Day 3
Early start for Bac Ha: six to seven hours towards Lao Cai, then a climb onto the plateau. After lunch you leave the vehicle and walk to Ta Van Chu, roughly two hours on farm tracks between maize terraces and Flower Hmong hamlets. Night in a small hotel in town.
Day 4
The day belongs to Bac Ha. The market is why people come: buffalo and pigs at one end, embroidered cloth at the other, thang co simmering between them and corn wine going round by ten. It fills on Sunday, so we build the route around that date. Second night here.
Day 5
A driving day, around six hours east to Ha Giang through river valleys and between limestone walls. The tarmac is good and the bends never stop, so pack tablets if anyone gets car sick. You arrive mid-afternoon, walk the riverfront and eat early. Night in Ha Giang city.
Day 6
North onto the Dong Van karst plateau, a UNESCO geopark where maize grows in whatever pocket of soil there is. You stop above the Quan Ba twin hills, cross the pine forest at Yen Minh and reach the Hmong king's mansion at Sa Phin. Night in Dong Van, cold after dark.
Day 7
The best road in the country. Ma Pi Leng is cut into a cliff with the Nho Que river far below, and you stop at the pass to look at it properly. Lunch in Meo Vac, then hairpins down towards Bao Lac, four to five hours in all. Simple guesthouse in town.
Day 8
A quieter road east into Cao Bang province and on to Ba Be. In the afternoon a wooden boat crosses the lake, past drowned trees and the rapids, and drops you at Pac Ngoi, a Tay stilt-house village. You sleep upstairs under a mosquito net and the family cooks dinner.
Day 9
The morning is free for a walk or a bicycle along the lakeshore before the drive back to Hanoi, about six hours with a lunch stop. You reach the Old Quarter in the early evening, back in the hotel you started from, where the luggage you left is waiting.
Day 10
South to Ninh Binh for the day. A rower takes you through flooded karst valleys, ducking under low cave mouths, and you visit the temples of the tenth-century capital before climbing a stone staircase above the paddy. Lunch is goat and crisped rice. Back in Hanoi for dinner.
Day 11
Drive to the coast after breakfast, about two and a half hours, and board your boat. Lunch is served as you move out among the islands. The afternoon is kayaking or a swim off the deck, plus a walk through one of the caves. Dinner and the night on board.
Day 12
Tai chi on the sundeck for anyone awake, then brunch while the boat works back through the islands. You step ashore around midday and return to Hanoi by road, arriving mid-afternoon. Last night in the city: name the dish you want again and a table gets booked.
Day 13
Breakfast, then a transfer to Noi Bai timed to your flight. If you leave late we hold the room or store the bags and fill the morning with coffee shops or the ceramics street. Your guide stays with you as far as the check-in desk.
What the price covers
- Twelve nights: small hotels on the road north, a homestay at Ba Be, a cabin on the Halong boat
- Private vehicle and driver for the whole route, sized to your party
- One English-speaking guide from arrival to departure
- Breakfast daily, plus the lunches and dinners in the plan
- The Halong Bay cruise with meals, kayaks and cave visits
- Boat on Ba Be lake and a rowing boat in Ninh Binh
- Entrance fees and local permits
- Airport transfers and drinking water in the vehicle
Not included
- International flights and Vietnamese visa or e-visa fees
- Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold
- Meals and drinks not named in the plan, including alcohol
- Laundry, telephone calls and other personal spending
- Tips for the guide, driver and boat crew
- The single supplement if you want a room to yourself
Good to know
The middle third is physical in a modest way: two or three hours on your feet on several days, on uneven ground, and four to seven hours in the vehicle on four of them. Knees that dislike descents will notice, and January nights on the plateau are genuinely cold.
- Roads up north are paved but narrow and constantly turning; say so if anyone gets car sick and we will cut the days shorter
- Bathrooms are shared at the homestay, and the mountain hotels are plain rather than smart
- October and November are the clearest months up north, and the buckwheat flowers from late October
- December and January bring fog that can sit on the passes for days
- June to August is wet, and a landslide can add hours to a driving day
- Phone coverage is patchy between Dong Van and Ba Be, and there is none at the homestay
Plan this trip
- Days
- 13
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