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.
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.
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.
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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: