What “All Inclusive” on a Ha Giang Tour
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Two tour pages. Both say all inclusive. One costs noticeably more than the other. Somewhere between those two claims sits the thing you’re actually trying to work out: what will I end up paying by the time I’m back in Hanoi? “All inclusive” is not a regulated term in […]
Xuan Truong Valley: Off Radar Cao Bang
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Most people arrive in Cao Bang with two things on their list: Ban Gioc Waterfall and Nguom Ngao Cave. Both are worth it. Both are also where everyone else goes. Xuan Truong Valley sits at the other end of the province, a couple of hours of mountain road west […]
Are $99 Ha Giang Loop Tours Worth It? What Gets Cut
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents You’ve been scrolling hostel boards and Facebook groups, and the numbers don’t line up. One Ha Giang Loop tour is $99 for three days. Another is nearly double. Same route, same passes, same photos on the website. So what’s the difference, and is the cheap one a bargain or […]
Ba Be Lake Between Ha Giang and Cao Bang: Worth the Detour?
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Open any map of northern Vietnam and Ba Be Lake looks like it belongs on your route. There it is, a long green ribbon of water sitting almost exactly between the karst peaks of Ha Giang and the waterfalls of Cao Bang. It seems like the kind of place […]
Ha Giang and Ha Long Bay: Mountains and Sea in One Trip
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Four days on a motorbike across a limestone plateau takes more out of you than the photographs suggest. Early starts, mountain roads, homestay evenings that run later than intended, and by the last morning most people are quietly looking forward to sitting down somewhere warm and doing nothing. That […]
Mu Cang Chai and Ha Giang: The Rice Terrace Trip
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Two of the best landscapes in northern Vietnam sit about a province apart, and most people see one of them. Mu Cang Chai is terraced rice built up mountainsides over generations, stacked in curves that follow the contour of the slope, and in the right fortnight it is as […]
Cao Bang in 2 Days from Hanoi: Is It Enough?
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Short answer: mostly no, and it depends entirely on what you mean by two days. That sounds like a dodge and it is not. From Hanoi, “two days in Cao Bang” describes at least three different trips, one of which works well, one of which is tight but real, […]
12 Day Northern Vietnam Itinerary: Ninh Binh to Cao Bang
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Twelve days is the length at which northern Vietnam stops being a highlights tour and starts being a proper trip. It is enough to do three genuinely different landscapes without rushing any of them, and short enough to fit inside most people’s annual leave. The three are Ninh Binh, […]
Ha Giang Loop from Bangkok: Flights, Visas, Route
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Two hours in the air, no visa to apply for, and no time difference at all. Of every international riding trip available from Bangkok, this is the least complicated one to organise and probably the most rewarding. What you land in is a limestone plateau in the far north […]
Phong Nam Valley: Where to Go After Ban Gioc
Facebook X Reddit Table of Contents Ban Gioc is the photograph. It is on every poster, it is why most people come to Cao Bang, and it deserves the attention. It also fills with domestic tour groups around the middle of the day and empties again by late afternoon, and a lot of visitors see […]