Mai Chau is about 2 and a half hours away from Hanoi by car, suitable for weekend trips. Amazing Things to do in Mai Chau, Vietnam Mai Chau is a small town located in a valley between limestone cliffs, 140 km from Hanoi. Mai Chau attracts domestic and foreign tourists thanks to its natural beauty, cuisine and typical culture of the Thai and Muong people, our suggestion below an itinerary for 48-hour in Mai Chau as much as possible.


Day 1: Morning and afternoon

Travel from Hanoi to Mai Chau, time about 2.5 hours. Convenient route along Thang Long Avenue - Hoa Binh Expressway, passing through attractions such as Cao Phong, Tan Lac, Thung Khe Pass.


After arriving at Mai Chau town center, continue to Hang Kia - Pa Co valley, about 40 km away. These are two communes located next to each other, surrounded by rocky mountains, still preserving many cultural features and traditional crafts of the Mong people such as hand-weaving, brocade embroidery, indigo dyeing, and beeswax painting. Hang Kia - Pa Co is also home to a sky gate, visitors who climb to the sky gate can immerse themselves in the sea of floating white clouds.


Hang Kia - Pa Co is quite peaceful, not many tourists, you can easily choose a shooting angle to capture all the majesty and poetry of nature.


From November to April is the ideal time to hunt rattan in Hang Kia - Pa Co. Clouds are often abundant and beautiful from 5am to 9am. If you are not lucky enough to see clouds, visitors can sit on the top, sip a cup of coffee, admire the scenery and take photos.


Lunch at Pa Co. Tourists should choose a catfish hot pot for about 100,000 VND to 200,000 VND per person or in the Pa Co market area there are also many other dishes such as bun cha, vermicelli noodles.


Evening: Return to Lac village and have dinner here. Cuisine is served on bamboo trays. Tourists should choose a full range of typical local dishes such as grilled chicken, grilled Ban pork, stir-fried buffalo meat with bamboo leaves, stir-fried beef with sour bamboo shoots, bamboo-tube rice, and mustard greens.

Overnight in Lac village in budget motels. Private room from 300,000 VND per night, with attached bathroom. Collective stilt houses for 10 to 20 people cost from 1 million VND per night, with shared toilets.

In addition, if tourists have the means, they should choose to stay in resorts such as Mai Chau Ecolodge, Mai Chau Lodge, Mai Chau Hideaway Lake Resort, Mai Chau Mountain View Resort, Sol Bungalows Resort. Avana Retreat, in Bao La commune, is a high-class resort, located about 30 km from Mai Chau town center.

Day 2: Morning

Have breakfast and drink coffee in Lac village center. Breakfast in Mai Chau does not have many special dishes. Visitors can choose from vermicelli, vermicelli, pho at some small restaurants in the village or Western food such as bread and fried eggs.

Beautiful coffee shops that you can refer to include: Shaking Tire Coffee, Iced Coffee and Trees, Sol Cafe & Lounge, Canh Dong Coffee, Hua Tong Coffee.

Take a stroll around Mai Chau town on the tram service. There is currently a tram service to take tourists to visit villages of Mai Chau such as Lac village, Pom Coong village, Nhot village. Visiting time depends on the needs of visitors, usually a trip takes 2-3 hours. The car can stop anywhere, wait for passengers and continue the journey.

Noon

Moving back to Hanoi, on the way stop to visit some highlights of Hoa Binh such as Thung Khe Pass (with White Stone Pass - one of the famous check-in spots for young people), buy Cao Phong oranges as gifts. .

Lunch in Hoa Binh city. Along Da Giang Street along Da River, there are many restaurants.

Note that Mai Chau starts to get hot from late March to early April, but the evenings are still chilly. Visitors need to prepare appropriate clothing.

Alternative choice

The schedule for days 1 and 2 can change depending on demand because clouds usually only appear in the morning and Pa Co market only opens on Sundays. The market sells local products and brocade of the Mong, Thai, and Muong people. If you have more time, visitors can go to some other spots such as Mu waterfall, climb Chieu cave and Mo Luong cave, rent rafts to row along the stream around Lac village or ride a bicycle to explore the locality. Visitors can also take a boat ride on the Da River lake bed.