North Vietnam
Our tours in a Private Vehicle with Chauffeur and Guide
Our tours in a Private Vehicle with Chauffeur and Guide
4 to 6-day Tours
(Ha Giang-Dong Van, Cao Bang-Ban Gioc, Babe Lake, Langson)
All the Oriental Bridge tours depart from and return to your hotel. All the rates include the vehicle and driver expenses (hotels and restaurants), tolls, entrance fees, the boat ride if any, your hotels and all meals, taxes and service. They do not include your drinks and other personal expenses.
BABE LAKE– CAO BANG (BANG GIOC WATERFALLS) – LANGSON (6 days/5 nights)
This tour takes you to a beautiful site : Babe Lake, which offers you two treats : a day of boating on the lake and the Nang River, and the pleasure of sleeping in the Thai stilted house of the very hospitable Duy Tho family in Pac Ngoi. We then take a mountain road to reach Cao Bang and the mountain town of Quang Uyen, with another treat the next day : the visit of the magnificent Ban Gioc Waterfalls. We then go back to Hanoi using the Chinese border road, through Dong Khe and Langson, with visit of historical sites.
Day 1: HANOI - THAI NGUYEN - BABE LAKE
Departure from your hotel at 7:30. Stop in Thai Nguyen to visit the marvelous Museum of the Culture of the Ethnic Minorities of Vietnam, followed by lunch in a street restaurant. We then leave the main road to take a smaller one snaking through the mountains and tea plantations, and arrive to White Thai village of Pac Ngoi, where you are welcomed by Mr. Duy Tho amazingly friendly Thai family in their traditional house. If it's hot, do like the local kids, just jump in the river! Superb diner (Mrs Duy Tho is a true Cordon Bleu) on the river terrace.
Day 2: BABE LAKE (GROTTO AND WATERFALLS)
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A treat! Breakfast on the terrace, then short drive to the house owner's boat, who takes you through the entire length of the 3 connected lakes (Ba Be - "3 bays") and up the Nang River, to an astonishing site: Dong Phuong, an enormous tunnel (300m long by 30m high) that the river has dug through a lime mountain. The boat then goes up river to the small village of Hua Tang. As simple and authentic as you have been dreaming of! Lunch in a local house alongside the river. |
 Babe Lake |
After lunch, a short walk (20 mn) through the jungle takes you to the very scenic Thac Dau Dang Waterfalls, a series of spectacular cascades between sheer rock walls. You may continue the trail to arrive in a large river bend full of colorful local life, with a small "harbor" where the local unloads goods to then bypass the falls by motorbike and then reload them on boats to go through the lake. Return by boat for another delightful evening at your Thai house.
Day 3: BABE LAKE – CAO BANG – QUANG UYEN
Morning departure to take a road snaking through the mountains up to the border town of Cao Bang, nestled between mountains and the Ré Dao River. Lunch in orwn, and we then take a very scenic road climbing the Ma Phuc Pass, with its sumptuous panoramas, to arrive at the small town of Quang Uyen, where you have diner and sleep in a Thai stilted family house.
Day 4: BANG GIOC WATERFALLS AND THE 36 THANG HEN LAKES
One of the most scenic roads in Vietnam road climbs the Ma Phuc Pass and arrives at the magnificent Ban Gioc waterfalls, the closest you can come from the Chinese border: it passes through the middle of the falls and the river. Local lunch facing the falls. After lunch, another visit that we are the only ones to offer: the 36 Thang Hen Lakes (one can see only the largest ones, the other ones being accessible only with a 2-day trekking). Return to Cao Bang, where we have diner and spend the night in a hotel alongside the river. |
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Day 5: CAO BANG – LANGSON
Departure on a very beautiful road alongside the Chinese border. We arrive in the village of Dong Khé, siege of a terrible battle between the French and the Vietminh in October 1950. Visit of the ruins of the French fort, followed by a beautiful ride among the lime peaks to arrive to the village of Duc Long, location of General Giap's headquarters during the battle. Stroll in the village and visit of the local museum. Lunch in Dhong Khé and we then take the road to reach Langson. Registration in a hotel on the small lake and diner at the New Century, famous in the entire region for its extensive menu, followed by the visit of the Night Market.
Day 6: LANGSON – HANOI
 View of Langson from the French Fort |
sp; | In the morning, we visit a site unknown to tourists, the formidable Langson French Fort. In addition to the magnificent view of the entire region, it impresses by the power of its huge remains (it was blown to pieces by the Chinese in 1979). We then go back to town and visit Tam Thanh Grotto and the ruins of the Citadel of the Mac Dynasty, a deserted site offering of beautiful view of the countryside. Lunch and return to Hanoi. |
Rates per person in US dollars:
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THE FOLLOWING TOURS TAKE YOU TO THE FABULOUS REGIONS BORDERING THE CHINESE BORDER.
VERY FEW TOURISTS AND ABSOLUTELY STUPENDOUS SCENERY!
WE ARE THE ONLY ONE TO PROPOSE THOSE ORGANIZED TOURS
VERY FEW TOURISTS AND ABSOLUTELY STUPENDOUS SCENERY!
WE ARE THE ONLY ONE TO PROPOSE THOSE ORGANIZED TOURS
HA NOI – HA GIANG – DONG VAN – MEO VAC – HA GIANG – HA NOI
(4 Days/3 nights)
(4 Days/3 nights)
| This tour takes you to the most stupendous region of Vietnam, the massif of the Black H’mong of Dong Van and the Ma Pi Leng Pass. An extremely wild region of lime peaks, black granite needles (the locals call them “The forests of stone”), vertiginous canyons, limitless panoramas, and the local Black H’mong. The men are dressed in black, with a beret, a souvenir of their great allies the French. A proud race of fearless warriors. The region is the MUST SEE of North Vietnam, especially for the Ma Pi Leng Pass between Dong Van and Meo Vac, considered as the most amazing road in the entire country. |
 Forest of stones |
 Ha Giang Resort & Spa |
sp; | Day 1: HA NOI - HA GIANG 8:00 departure to Road No. 2 Hanoi-Viet Tri-Tuyen Quang-Ha Giang. Excellent lunch among gardens in Tan Quang; arrival in Ha Giang around 18:00. We go to a nearby Thai village, where we have diner and spend the night in a family stilted house. |
Day 2: HA GIANG – DONG VAN
After purchasing the mandatory permit at the Immigration Office, we take the first spectacular road, which leads to Dong Van, a series of long passes and deep valleys. Lunch in the small mountain town of Tam Son. We then cross a landscape of pine forest and arrive at the astonishing King of the H’mong’s Palace, a fortress built by a local chief allied with the French against the Vietminh, Vuong Chin Duc, and evacuated in 1950 (his descendants now live in France and Canada). Arrival in Dong Van around 18:00. Diner in a local restaurant and hotel night. |
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Day 3: DONG VAN - MA PI LENG PASS - MEO VAC - HA GIANG
 Khau Vai |
sp; | An absolutely unforgettable day! It starts with the visit of the market of Dong Van, where the locals shop before returning to their eagle nest. We then climb a cliff up to the French Fortress of Pu Lo, built in 1890 and evacuated in 1945, from which we enjoy a spectacular view of the entire region. |
Day 4: HA GIANG - HA NOI
Return to Hanoi by the same road; we would like to take another one, but it is the only one which does not request a hotel night in-between. Arrival at your hotel in Hanoi around 18:00.
Rates per person in US dollars:
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HANOI – HA GIANG – DONG VAN – MEO VAC – BAO LAC – BABE LAKE - HANOI
(6 days/5 nights)
(6 days/5 nights)
This tour takes you:
- To the most stupendous region of Vietnam, the mountains of the Black H'mong of Dong Van and the Ma Pi Leng Pass.
- To the magic Babe Lake, through another very spectacular mountain road.
Days 1 and 2: HA NOI-HA GIANG-DONG VAN
Same programme as the previous tour.
Day 3: DONG VAN - MA PI LENG PASS - MEO VAC - BAO LAC
| An absolutely unforgettable day! It starts with the visit of the market of Dong Van, where the locals shop before returning to their eagle nest. We then climb a pass up to the French Fortress of Pu Lo, built in 1890 and evacuated in 1945, from which we enjoy a spectacular view of the entire region. We then drive back to the site of the H'mong Palace and up north to Lung Cu, the most septentrional village in Vietnam. Back in Dong Van for lunch and then, take the most astonishing road in Vietnam, which climbs on 15 km up to the top of the Ma Pi Leng Pass, through a gigantic maze of lime peaks, "stone forests", and canyons unique in the world. We then go down into the valley of Meo Vac, where we have lunch. We then continue snaking through the mountains, cross the river, and arrive in the village of Bao Lac, where we have diner and spend the night. |
 The Market of Dong Van |
Day 4: BAO LAC - BABE LAKE (PAC NGOI)
We start early to take the mountain road Bao Lac - Cao Bang. Before Cao Bang, another one of our little secrets : a gorgeous small road snaking through the mountains to the Thai village of Cho Ra and then down to the White Thai village of Pac Ngoi, where you are welcomed by Mr. Duy Tho amazingly friendly Thai family in their traditional stilted house. If it’s hot, do like the local kids, just jump in the river! Superb diner (Mrs Duy Tho is a true Cordon bleu) on the river terrace.
Day 5: BABE LAKE (GROTTO AND WATERFALLS)
 The Nang River before Dau Dang |
sp; | A treat! Breakfast on the river terrace, then short drive to the house owner’s boat, who takes you through the entire length of the 3 connected lakes (Ba Be - “3 bays”) and up the Nang River, to an astonishing site: Dong Phuong, an enormous tunnel 300-long that the river has dug through a lime mountain. The boat then goes up river to the small village of Hua Tang. As simple and authentic as you have been dreaming of! Lunch in a local house alongside the river. |
After lunch, a short walk through the jungle takes you to the very scenic Thac Dau Dang Waterfalls, a series of spectacular cascades between sheer rock walls. Return by boat for another delightful evening at your Thai house.
Day 6: BABE LAKE - HA NOI Relax in Pac Ngoi and late morning departure on a secret road of ours, following the river and then snaking from pass to pass through the hills of Central North Vietnam. Everybody will look at you, for no tourists ever go that spectacular way. We then join the main road to Ha Noi, with a short stop in Cho Chu to visit the ruins of the French Prison. Return at your hotel around 19:00. |
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Rates per person in US dollars:
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