On the first day of your tour, your English-speaking guide will pick you up from your hotel in Hanoi at 7:00 AM and take you to Hoang Su Phi where you will enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. Continue on to Suoi Thau arriving around 3:30-4:00 PM. You will start exploring the area by taking a 1-hour trek to a Suoi Thau community-based tourism village to enjoy the poetic beauty of the natural landscapes and breathe in the fresh air. You will continue onto your homestay and on the way, you will learn about the Red Dao people. After arriving at your homestay you can participate in a fishing experience to catch fish for your dinner. If you are interested, you can prepare your dinner with your homestay host. After a tasty local dinner, you will settle in for the night.
After breakfast on your second day, you will trek around for a little while before being picked up by a car. You will drive for about an hour towards the heaven gate Nam Ai to start trekking through the forest. As you explore the forest you will enjoy views of the valley and paddy fields. After trekking for around 1.5 hours you will eat lunch in Nam Khoa then continue on for another 2.5 hours to reach your homestay in Nam Hong village. When you arrive at your homestay you can enjoy a traditional herbal bath and relax after a long day of traveling.
On the third day, wake up around 7:00 AM to experience local life. Learn about the tea cultivation and tea picking techniques, then help carry tea leaf baskets back to the village around 8:00 AM. Once back in the village, you can rest and have breakfast before participating in the tea farming process for another hour. You will get to test the green tea you made. After having tea you will start your trek for the day. You will treck past a waterfall and through the forest and mountains before arriving at Pan Hou Ecolodge where you will relax surrounded by the nature of Pan Hou. When you wake up on the fourth day, spend a couple of hours exploring the life of the Tay people in Pan Hou. If you are traveling on the weekend you will have the change to explore the colorful local market. A car will pick you up in Pan Hou and take you back to Hanoi. On the way, you will stop at a local restaurant for lunch and arrive back in Hanoi around 5:30 PM.
