3 days, 2 nights
2-12 guests
Why we love it
Cở Thị Giàng taught herself English by talking to the tourists who came through Sa Pa. You stay in her home, and what you pay goes directly to the villagers, through her.
What's Included
Private van transfers: Lào Cai to Sa Pa, and the village to Sa Pa
Luggage transfers between Sa Pa and the village
Two nights in H'Mong family homes
Local guide, with Cở Thị Giàng as host and trekking guide
Meals: 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners
Indigo and beeswax dyeing (a process similar to batik) and village farm work
Limousine cabin bus from Lào Cai to Hà Nội or Hạ Long
330
USD per person
Sa Pa
Sa Pa Village Trek: Three Days with Cở Thị Giàng
Two nights in H'Mong family homes, walking Sa Pa's terraces with Cở Thị Giàng, then a limousine cabin bus back to Hà Nội or Hạ Long.
Cở Thị Giàng is a H'Mong woman of small stature and enormous presence. She taught herself English by talking to the tourists who came through Sa Pa, and she is the guide who takes our guests into her village: into her own home, to her table, and into the H'Mong stories told after dinner. What you pay goes directly to the villagers, through her. She also organises the other women in Tả Van around the income these walks bring, which changes what is possible for them and their standing in the village.
Day 1: Lào Cai to Tả Van
A private van takes you from Lào Cai up to Sa Pa, where breakfast comes first. Your luggage travels on to the village separately while you have lunch, and in the afternoon a local guide walks you down into Tả Van. There you meet Cở, check in to her family's home and eat dinner with her household. The evening is unhurried, and the stories are H'Mong ones.
Day 2: Tả Van to Hầu Thào
After breakfast you set out with Cở on narrow trails through rice terraces and bamboo groves, past villages where H'Mong and Dao families have farmed these slopes for generations. Lunch is on the way. By late afternoon you reach Hầu Thào, and the night is spent in another H'Mong family home.
Day 3: Back to Tả Van, then Sa Pa
The morning belongs to ordinary work. You join the household for firewood, fieldwork and cooking over an open fire, then walk up to a bamboo forest to gather wild vegetables for the farm animals. You also try indigo and beeswax dyeing, the H'Mong resist technique for cloth (a process similar to batik). You say goodbye to Cở and ride by private van to Sa Pa town, with time for a short walk and lunch. A limousine cabin bus then takes you back to Hà Nội, dropped in the Old Quarter unless you say otherwise, or on to Hạ Long.