Mountain Tribes and Villages of Vietnam

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 - Hanoi Arrival

Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey before a welcome dinner at a good restaurant in a colonial building. In the evening, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry (an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and an interesting, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture). Your overnight stay will be in Hanoi.

Overnight: Hanoi Elegance Sapphire Hotel (Dinner included)

Day 2 - Hanoi - Mai Chau - Pu Luong

After breakfast, you’ll drive to Mai Chau, passing through mountainous landscape on the way. When you arrive, you’ll have lunch in a stilt house in Lac village, the home of a Thai ethnic minority group. After lunch, you can wander around the houses to see the daily life of local people. They specialize in weaving brocade products, and are happy to show visitors their skills. The village is operated as a community co-operative, set up by the people themselves. You’ll then drive a further 15km to board a sampan on the Ma River, stopping en-route to visit some ethnic minority villages. Later, you’ll dock and hike to Hang Village where you’ll spend the night in a stilt house.

Day 3 - Pu Luong: Ethnic Minority Villages

After breakfast, you’ll stroll around Hang Village, a small Thai minority community where you can visit local families in their stilt houses, and drink green tea. You’ll then hike through pristine scenery will take you to Eo Ken village, well off the beaten track high on a slope of a mountain. It’s a stiff hike, but the effort is worth it. Lunch will be prepared by a local family, after which a short hike takes to meet a waiting land-cruiser for a one-hour drive. When you step down, a stroll downhill will take you to Kho Muong village where you’ll spend the night with a family in a traditional stilt house complete with a natural stream for your bathroom!

Day 4 - Pu Luong

After an early breakfast, you’ll explore a large limestone cave near the village. Care must be taken as the route can be dangerous in some places. Your guide will be on hand to see all goes smoothly - the cave is worth the effort! From there, you’ll continue through the forest, passing through villages on the way with a picnic lunch en route. Your dinner and overnight stay will be in a stilt house.

Day 5 - Pu Luong - Thanh Hoa - Hanoi

This morning, you’ll drive through several villages to visit a local market. You’ll see the local people heading to the market and going about their business. From there, your route takes you to a small town for lunch. On the way, you’ll see the remarkable water wheels of the Muong people. After lunch, a ferry crossing over the Ma River and a single kilometer walk takes you to Cam Thuy’s ‘Sacred Fish Stream’. Not only will you see these obliging fish in a shallow stream, but also be able to paddle among them! Then it’s back to Hanoi, arriving in the late afternoon.

Overnight: Hanoi Elegance Sapphire Hotel (Breakfast, Lunch included)

Day 6 - Hanoi - Pleiku - Kon Tum

After breakfast, your car will arrive to take you to the airport for the morning flight to Pleiku. On arrival at Pleiku, a car will be waiting to take you to Kon Tum to freshen up and enjoy dinner before you continue to Konkotu village for a well-earned night’s sleep in the village Rong house.

Konkotu village, where you’ll stay overnight, lies beside a wide river that’s good for bathing, although care must be taken as the current can be quite strong in places. The whole area is very beautiful and naturally pristine; the village is very attractive, and the people are welcoming and friendly.

Day 7 - Kon Tum: Hiking And Rafting

In the morning, you’ll have a gentle six-kilometer hike through the forest to Jolong village and the source of the DakBla River, crossing the KonBa hanging bridge en-route. Next, you’ll climb into an inflatable dingy to ‘raft’ down the DakBla River, stopping on the way for a riverside picnic lunch. After lunch, you’ll carry on down the river for a couple of hours, eventually returning to Konkotu village where you’ll be met and driven to Kon Tum City for an overnight stay in a hotel.

Day 8 - Kon Tum: City Tour

After breakfast, enjoy the morning at your leisure. In the afternoon, your guide will take you to visit a charming wooden church and, if convenient, drop in at a nearby orphanage. From there, you’ll ride on the back of a motorbike through the outskirts of Kon Tum to visit some ethnic villages including a Jarai village before the sunset when the villagers return from their farm/plantation.

The most striking feature of a Jarai village is its ‘Rong House’, a communal building with great ritual significance. It is built on stilts and has a most unusual thatched roof, sweeping upwards as much as 20 meters from low wooden walls. In many villages, fire risk has led to the replacement of the thatch with corrugated iron - more practical, but obviously less aesthetic. In this village, the Rong House is traditionally built.

The complicated burial rituals of the Jarai are also of great interest. They involve internment in family tombs surrounded with grotesquely, and sometimes humorously, carved wooden effigies - there are examples in the cemetery of the village you’ll be visiting.

Day 9 - Kon Tum - Buon Ma Thuot

In the morning, your vehicle will take you to Buon Ma Thuot. Upon arrival and after checking in and lunch, you’ll visit Gia Long waterfall. You’ll then drive to the other bank for a stroll through primitive forest. After clambering down a slope, you’ll be able to bathe in the ‘Fairy Pool’, a small natural lake with a sandy bottom. You’ll return to Buon Ma Thuot for an overnight stay.

Overnight: Dam San Hotel (Breakfast, Lunch included)

Day 10 - Buon Ma Thuot

After breakfast, you’ll drive to visit the local Ethnology Museum and A Co Thon village, home of many Ede ethnic minority people. Then, you’ll drive further to Don Village in Yokdon National Park, about 45km from Buon Ma Thuot. There, you’ll visit the oldest house of the M’Nong people, the tomb of elephant and taming King. Your car will take you another village nearby for an elephant ride along Serapok River. In the late afternoon, you’ll return to Buon Ma Thuot and your overnight accommodation.

Overnight: Dam San Hotel (Breakfast, Lunch included)

Day 11 - Buon Ma Thuot - Ho Chi Minh City

You’ll be free in the morning until your car and driver arrive to take you to Buon Ma Thuot airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City. When you arrive, a private car will be waiting to take you to your hotel in the city center. After checking in, you’ll be free for to wander around town for the afternoon. Your overnight will be in Ho Chi Minh City.

Overnight: Elios Hotel (Breakfast included)

Day 12 - Ho Chi Minh - Phant Thiet - Ke Ga

In the morning, you’ll drive from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet, then to Ke Ga Beach. You’ll have time to relax, swim or sunbathe as you wish. Your accommodation will be in a hotel on the beach.

Overnight: Rock Water Bay Resort (Breakfast included)

Days 14 - 15 - Ke Ga Free Day

Enjoy this free day on the beach at your leisure.

Overnight: Rock Water Bay Resort (Breakfast included)

Day 15 - Ke Ga - Ho Chi Minh City Departure

In the afternoon, you’ll return to Ho Chi Minh City for your overnight accommodation or your departure flight.

Accommodation Information

Hanoi Elegance Sapphire Hotel

The luxury Hanoi Elegance Sapphire is the perfect combination of our renowned hotel service, the finest architecture and the most luxurious facilities, which far exceeds all other hotels in Hanoi. Located at No. 106 in the main shopping area of Hang Bong Street, in the center of the historic Old Quarter of Hanoi, the hotel stands out from the others with its grand façade, the superb pillar structure of the lobby lounge, finished in marble and granite.

The must-see sights such as the Lake of the Sword Returned (Hoan Kiem Lake), the HCM Complex, the Temple of Literature etc. are within walking distance from the hotel, as are all shopping, banking facilities, as well as eating and entertainment options. At Hanoi Elegance Sapphire hotel, guests will enjoy a luxurious stay supported by brand new and modern facilities & amenities, looked after by a team of dedicated and professional staff.

Dam San Hotel

Situated in the heart of the city and spiced with the local culture essence, Damsan is your best choice when coming to Buon Ma Thuot City. At Damsan Hotel, you will enjoy comfortable rooms or luxurious suites with a broad valley view.

All rooms are equipped with Satellite TV, ADSL Internet access, IDD telephone, air conditioning, mini bar, bath tub with hot running water. In addition, all guests have access to massage, sauna, jacuzzi, steambath, swimming pool, tennis court, money exchange and 24 hour room service.

Elios Hotel

Elios hotel enjoys its location in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, within walking distance of fabulous shopping as well as the city's business and entertainment district. We boast of eye-catching, spectacular park view and 90 cozy rooms are elegantly designed with your utmost comfort in mind. Our hotel, a home away from home, will offer a pleasant stay where all your needs are satisfied.

Rock Water Bay Resort

Just a 15-minute drive south of spectacular Phan Thiet and less than 200 kilometers north of bustling Ho Chi Minh City, our Rock Water Bay awaits discovery. Spreading over an eleven-hectare area, it stands by itself with a great, serene majesty straddling nature and bringing together the wild beauty of mountains and forests with the mightiness of rock expanses playing on blue waves.