DestinationsAsiaA Guide to Travel Ha Giang, Vietnam
A Guide to Travel Ha Giang, Vietnam

A Guide to Travel Ha Giang, Vietnam

Ha Giang was the first destination in my ‘14-day travel from North to Central Vietnam‘. With me, this place is definitely ideal and awesome for backpackers to wander around. The reasons? Beautiful landscapes, good foods with cheap prices, and especially the experience of riding motorbikes on the passes surrounded by amazing sceneries. Also, Vietnam’s northernmost point is at Ha Giang.

Extract from my note: Arriving in Ha Giang City at 4:45 am, we had breakfast and rented motorbikes to wander around Ha Giang province … We had to go through Quan Ba town and Yen Minh town… As we could not take our eyes off the beautiful scenes on the way to Dong Van Town, we arrived at 6 p.m., later than expected. Along the way to Dong Van town, there are many marvelous and picturesque landscapes with the famous Buckwheat flower…

The next day, our plan was to visit H’Mong King’s Palace, and Lung Cu – the Northernmost point of Vietnam, then move to Meo Vac town…

On day 3, except for the good breakfast we had at Meo Vac and the enjoyable, memorable experience of riding a motorbike on the passes at night without lights, we just were on the road all day long. Finally, we arrived in Ha Giang City around 9 p.m. and directly went to a homestay in Tuy village to spend the rest of the night with delicious food and special wine.

When is the Best Time to Go?

  • January and February for plum flowers, the peach flowers, and yellow rape flowers blossom.
  • April for Khau Vai love market.
  • September and October for ripening rice season.
  • November for Buckwheat flower season.
  • December with snow (if you are lucky).

How to Roam the Province?

To have a full and awesome experience at Ha Giang, riding a motorbike around is highly recommended. It’s better to have a round trip to enjoy the province. Here is my route: Hiring a motorbike at Ha Giang City and starting from the city → Quan Ba → Yen Minh → Dong Van → Meo Vac → Ha Giang City.

the map of places to visit in ha giang province

This is the address where I rent motorbikes for the trip – Group 15, Nguyen Trai Ward, Ha Giang City. Phone no. is 091 779 7269 or 097 815 9123.

motorbikes for rent in ha giang city

Where to Visit in Ha Giang?

Dong Van

You have to pass Quan Ba, Yen Minh, and a lot of beautiful scenes with a total distance of around 150km to go to Dong Van. Always keep your camera ready, or you will regret missing the views that you didn’t capture.

  • Visit – many fields of Tam Giac Mach flowers along the way, Thach Son Than, Sky Gate, Double Mountain, Happy Road (old), Lung Khuy cave, House of Pao, especially Dong Van Rocky Plateau, H’Mong King’s Palace, and Lung Cu Flag Tower – the northernmost point of Vietnam.
  • Eat – Tam Giac Mach pie (at Thach Son Than), spices and fast foods sold at the market in front of H’Mong King’s Palace, stuffed pancake with egg, Au Tau congee, Thang Den, black chickens and stream fishes at restaurants at Dong Van Town.

Meo Vac

In order to come to Meo Vac, you have to go through the Ma Pi Leng pass, one of the four top passes in North Vietnam. The pass is 20km long which is also named the “Happy Road”.

There are not so many places to visit in Meo Vac but for food… Yeah! you are going to the right destination.

  • Visit – hm… actually, wandering around the town is interesting enough.
  • Eat – We went to Thanh Phuong restaurant most of the time for meals. It had a long list of foods cooked specially with North-mountain-area’s recipe. The restaurant’s address is no. 51, group 3, Meo Vac town, Ha Giang.
    There is a place that has Banh Cuon (stuffed pancake). It’s also a special food at Meo Vac and it’s different from the one we have in South Vietnam.
    Furthermore, you should try the food at street shops in the town too (I don’t really remember the place but you can see it while wandering around the small town).

Ha Giang City

The city is the start and also the last point of the trip around Ha Giang. However, when we came back, we chose to stay at Ban Tuy village rather than the city center for the rest time in Ha Giang province. I believe our choice was so good as we had a chance to enjoy the very local foods of the ethnic minority. Additionally, the environment around was quite peaceful with many scenes to discover. It even had a path for short trekking in the morning.

Here is the phone no. in case you want to book the homestay that we stayed at – 094 282 50 88.


Hey, I Have Travel Planning Resources Here to Help You Easily Plan Your Trip

Essential Items

Don't forget to bring the Travel Medicines, as well as your necessary Travel Kit.

If Your Next Destination Requires a Visa

IVISA will help you with their speed, simple, and secured services with just a minimal chance of being rejected.

Find Your Flight and Transportation to The Destinations

You can read my travel tips to Find Cheap Flights. You can also use 12Go to book buses, trains, ferries, or any transportation to places.

Book An Accommodation

I mostly use Booking.com to find a place for my trip. Sometimes I try to Get Free Credits on Airbnb to book homestays.

Driving Yourself Will be More Enjoyable

You can easily compare prices and find great deals on Discover Cars.

Protect Yourself and Your Trip

Travel Insurance is Important, especially after COVID-19, there are more possible health issues and pandemics. Please don't forget to have a shield for yourself and your trips!


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READ MORE POSTS OF VIETNAM’S DESTINATIONS

Ha Giang is one of the destinations in my 14-day trip traveling around Vietnam. Here are other posts of places on the trip which I believe you will love reading too:

Khoi Nguyen builds The Broad Life with a desire to inspire people go exploring the world and live a more interesting, experience, and adventurous life. This blog shares the stories, pictures, and experiences at destinations where he has traveled to.

7 Comments

  • Tahnee's Blog

    What an incredible place with so much to do

  • LaiAriel Samangka

    This is truly a great post and you have written it perfectly. I enjoy reading it.

  • Erin

    Ha Giang is such a beautiful, dreamy and peaceful place! It is less touristy compared to Sapa, therefore I could totally immerse myself in the authentic and interesting local life with minority people.
    Thank you for your informative and amazing blog post!

  • Janelle

    Nice post thanks for sharing!

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