Essential
Sapa to Ban Gioc: The Northern Arc by Private Car: 6 Days 5 Nights
Sapa to Ban Gioc: The Northern Arc by Private Car — 6 days, day by day
Day 1 · Sapa → Ha Giang City → Quan Ba Heaven's Gate → Nam Dam
Easy · ~310 km, the longest driving day, about 8 hours with stops
Morning
- 07:00 pick-up at your hotel in Sapa.
- Down off the Hoang Lien range and east along the Lo River, with stops whenever the valley opens up.
Noon
- Lunch in Ha Giang City, the gateway town where the mountains begin.
Afternoon
- Climb the Bac Sum Pass to Quan Ba Heaven's Gate, the first view over the limestone plateau and the Twin Mountains.
- Turn off the main road into Nam Dam, a village of the long-tunic Dao.
Evening
- Check in at a Dao family homestay, private room with private bathroom.
- Dinner cooked in the house: herbs from the garden, chicken from the yard.
Day 2 · Lung Tam → Yen Minh → Tham Ma Pass → H'mong King's Palace → Lo Lo Chai → Dong Van
Easy · ~140 km · short walks in three villages
Morning
- A walk around Nam Dam.
- Lung Tam, where a women's cooperative still works hemp by hand: stripping, spinning, indigo dyeing, weaving.
Noon
- Lunch in Yen Minh, then the switchbacks of the Tham Ma Pass.
Afternoon
- The H'mong King's Palace in the Sa Phin valley, the Vuong family mansion of 1902.
- Lo Lo Chai, a Lo Lo village of rammed-earth houses right under the northern border.
Evening
- Check in to your hotel in Dong Van, then walk the old quarter.
Day 3 · Ma Pi Leng Pass → Nho Que River boat → Meo Vac → Bao Lac
Easy · ~120 km · boat 60–75 minutes
Morning
- The Ma Pi Leng Pass, a road cut into the cliff face above the gorge, with stops at the viewpoints.
Noon
- The boat into the Tu San Canyon on the Nho Que River, walls rising straight out of jade-green water.
- Lunch in Meo Vac.
Afternoon
- Cross into Cao Bang province, following the Gam River through country that sees very few visitors.
Evening
- Arrive in Bao Lac: hotel, dinner, early night.
Day 4 · Khau Coc Cha Pass → Pac Bo · Lenin Stream → Tra Linh
Easy · ~140 km · flat walking at Pac Bo
Morning
- The Khau Coc Cha Pass: fourteen hairpins stacked up a mountainside, the whole staircase of road below the viewpoint.
Noon
- Lunch on the way north.
Afternoon
- Pac Bo, where the Lenin Stream runs blue-green out of the limestone, and the cave where Ho Chi Minh lived in 1941.
Evening
- Check in at a family homestay in Tra Linh, among the karst hills.
Day 5 · Angel Eye Mountain → Phja Thap → Ngoc Con → Truc Lam Pagoda → Ban Gioc Waterfall → Khuoi Ky
Easy · ~100 km · bamboo raft 20–30 minutes · pagoda steps
Morning
- Angel Eye Mountain, a mountain with a hole straight through it.
- Phja Thap, a Nung An village that makes incense sticks by hand and dries them in fans across the yards.
Noon
- Lunch, then the rice valley of Ngoc Con on the way to the border.
Afternoon
- Truc Lam Pagoda, with the whole of Ban Gioc Waterfall in view from the terrace.
- A bamboo raft to the foot of the falls, close enough for the spray.
Evening
- Khuoi Ky, a Tay village where every house is built of stone.
- Dinner with your hosts.
Day 6 · Nguom Ngao Cave → Phuc Sen → Cao Bang City → Hanoi
Easy · ~330 km, the second long driving day
Morning
- Nguom Ngao Cave: chambers inside the mountain, lit and walkable.
Noon
- Phuc Sen, where Nung An blacksmiths still forge knives over charcoal.
- Lunch in Cao Bang City.
Afternoon
- The drive down to Hanoi, about five hours on good road.
Evening
- Drop-off at your hotel in Hanoi. End of the tour.
Where you sleep
- Night 1 — Don Dao Homestay, Nam Dam · Nam Dam Dao village · private room with private bathroom
- Night 2 — Phuong Dong Hotel, Dong Van · Dong Van · private room with private bathroom
- Night 3 — Paolo Hotel, Bao Lac · Bao Lac · private room with private bathroom
- Night 4 — Moc Homestay, Tra Linh · Tra Linh · private room with private bathroom
- Night 5 — Yen Nhi Homestay, Khuoi Ky stone village · Khuoi Ky stone village, Dam Thuy — private en-suite room
Why riders pick this one
- Starts in Sapa and ends in Hanoi: no backtracking
- One English-speaking driver-guide for all six days, stopping wherever you ask
- Boat into the Tu San Canyon on the Nho Que River
- Ban Gioc Waterfall from a bamboo raft, then a night in the stone village of Khuoi Ky
- Private room with private bathroom every night
- Border-area permits for both provinces already inside the price
What is included
- Private car with a private English-speaking driver-guide for the whole route, Sapa to Hanoi: fuel, tolls and parking included
- 5 nights · private room with private bathroom every night (Nam Dam · Dong Van · Bao Lac · Tra Linh · Khuoi Ky)
- Meals as per itinerary: 5 breakfasts · 6 lunches · 5 dinners
- Entrance fees to every site in the programme
- Boat into the Tu San Canyon on the Nho Que River and the bamboo raft at Ban Gioc Waterfall
- Border-area permits for Ha Giang and Cao Bang, filed and paid by us
- Drinking water every day
- Travel insurance for every guest
- VAT 8%, already inside the price
Not included
- Your hotel in Sapa before the tour and in Hanoi at the end
- Drinks other than the water provided
- Tips for your driver-guide
- Personal spending and anything not listed above
Read before you ride
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