Welcome to Northern Vietnam
Vistas. This is Vietnam’s big-sky country; a place of rippling mountains, cascading rice terraces and the winnowed-out karst topography for which the region is famed.
Halong Bay’s seascape of limestone towers is the view everyone’s here to see, but the karst connection continues inland, to Ba Be’s sprawling lakes and the knobbly topped peaks of Ha Giang, until it segues into the evergreen hills of the northwest highlands.
Not to be outdone by the scenery, northern Vietnam’s cultural kaleidoscope is just as diverse. In this heartland of hill-tribe culture, villages snuggle between paddy-field patchworks outside of Sapa and the scarlet headdresses of the Dzao and the Black Hmong’s indigo fabrics add dizzying colour to chaotic highland markets.
The twisting ribbon-roads winding north from Hanoi reveal a rural world far removed from Vietnam’s horns-a-honking big-city streets. If you’re up for some road-tripping, this is the place to do it.
Lao Cai
mountainous Northwest region of Vietnam bordering Yunnan
Important cities within the province at the border with China; the former is well known as key trading post and the latter is hill station famous for tourism, in the Northwest region of Vietnam. Lào Cai is also the capital of Lào Cai Province and shares border with the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. This border town was closed after the 1979 war with China, since reopened in 1993, has become a major tourist centre between Hanoi, Sa Pa and Kunming (China).
Lao Cai
Bac Ha
Explore the ethnic minorities n the northern hills
Rural district of Lao Cai province in the Northeast region of Vietnam. It is the capital of the region of Vietnam, It is the capital of the region of the Flower Hmong, one of the the 54 minorities of Vietnam and of the six groups of Hmong people.
It is famous for its Sunday morning market, where thousands of locals gathered, the women dressed in their very intricate handmade customes (it takes three to five months to embroider one by hand), as well as for the Saturday morning smaller market of Can Cau, 18 kimometres north of Bac Ha.
Bac Ha was the location at which the adventure sport competition “ Raid Gauloises” was held in 2002. Bac Ha is also famous for its Tam Hoa plums, the flowers of the tree must bloom three times before the fruits are ripe.
Bac Ha Sunday Morning Market
Sapa
terraced rice fields tribes villages
A town in the Hoàng Liên Son Mountains of northwestern Vietnam. A popular trekking base, it overlooks the terraced rice fields of the Muong Hoa Valley, and is near the 3,143m-tall Phang Xi Pang peak, which is climbable via a steep, multiday guided walk. Hill tribes, such as the Hmong, Tay and Dao, make up much of the town’s local population.
Sapa Market – Though there are few stalls during the week, the main Sapa market is organized every Sunday at the main square. Unfortunately turfed out of central Sapa, and now in a purpose-built modern building near the bus station, Sapa Market is still a hive of colourful activity with fresh produce, a butcher’s section not for the squeamish and hill-tribe people from surrounding villages heading here most days to sell handicrafts. Saturday is the busiest day.
Terraced rice fields of the Muong Hoa Valley
Cat Cat Village
the old village of ethnic groups
Nestled in a beautiful valley about three kilometers from Sapa Town, Cat Cat attracts tourists from all over the world for its distinctive customs and practices which have been lost in almost ethnic villages.
Cat Cat Village, the old village of ethnic groups
Ta Phin Terraced Rice Fields Landscape
one of seven most beautiful rice fields of Asia
Ta Phin Village is about 17 km from Sapa Town surrounded by mountains and spectacular rice terraces where the Red Dao and H’Mong live together share the land and still retain traditional tribal cultures. Ta Phin Terraced rice fields in Sapa were voted as one of seven most beautiful and impressive ones of Asia and the world by readers of the US’s magazine Travel and Leisure.
Ta Phin Terraced Rice Fields Landscape
Hanoi
a rich culture in capital of Vietnam
Vietnam Museum of Ethnology – This is the most recent yet probably the largest and undoubtedly the most interesting Museums in Hanoi and Vietnam.
Ba Dinh Square – The square adjacent to the Ho Chi Minh complex is called Ba Dinh square, where many important national historical events in modern history took place.
Tran Quoc Pagoda- The oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi, is located on a small island near the Southeastern Shore of Hanoi’s West Lake, Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House – It’s a small 2 storey house built of wood in front of the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, where the leader Ho Chi Minh spent the last part of his life.
The Presidential Palace- A luxurious French colonial style building, Ho Chi Minh, however claimed that he could not live in such Palace taking into account the situation of its people, Vietnam. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh ordered to build a small and modest wooden house on the other side of the presidential Park Lake.
One-pillar pagoda – The One-pillar pagoda or Dien Huu pagoda, has one of the most special architectures in Vietnam.
Hanoi Old Quarter (36 Old Streets) – Hanoi Old Quarter definitely has so many interesting cultural places for you to visit, even by just spending time walking around the Quarter, you can have a grasp of the local’s life hundreds of years ago.
Hoan Kiem Lake – The lake is full of tortoise, which is second to none to be found among Vietnamese lakes. If you are lucky, you will catch sight of these giant animals rising out of water. And because tortoise is considered a sacred animal in Vietnam’s culture (along with dragon, phoenix and unicorn), Hoan Kiem Lake then become a holy place that nurtures tortoise
Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi
Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi
Halong Bay
World Heritage seascape on the biggest Golden cruise
One of the first Vietnamese heritages claimed by UNESSCO. Located in the Gulf of Tonkin, within Quang Ninh Province, in the northeast of Vietnam, is165 km from the capital of Ha Noi.
Covering an area of 43,400 ha and including over 1600 islands and islets, most of which are uninhabited and unaffected by humans, it forms a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars and is an ideal model of a mature Karst landscape developed during a warm and wet tropical climate. The property’s exceptional scenic beauty is complemented by its great biological interest.
