The buckwheat fields are waiting for your arrival so, are you ready to go to the rocky highland yet? If you are ready, please read some experiences to backpack to Ha Giang by motorbike as below to support your trip.

1. What is suitable time to travel to Ha Giang?

2 days and 3 nights are enough for you to visit around the most famous tourist attractions in Ha Giang

Ha Giang looks like a beautiful and elegant girl in buckwheat flower season.

2. How to backpack to Ha Giang

You can choose a passenger car or motorbike as a means of transportation to Ha Giang. However, the most convenient and optimal one is still the motorcycle. Because if you go there by car, you will not be able to admire the beautiful scenery in the rocky plateau, and there are some places that you will find difficult to move by car. So, if you want to travel by motorbike, you should find James Hanoi Motorbikes that offers reliable bikes for rental to ensure the safety and competitive prices.

If you have a health problem, you can take a passenger car to Ha Giang City and rent a motorbike there to travel to tourist destinations.

3. Which roads should you travel to Ha Giang?

There are two main roads to Ha Giang (starting from Hanoi).
The first routes: Depart from Ha Noi – Son Tay (Go to road 21 in Co Nhue) – Trung Ha Bridge – Co Tiet – Phong Chau Bridge (After going through Phong Chau Bridge, you will turn left) – Go along Thao River to Phu Tho Town – Doan Hung, then turn to Tuyen Quang – along Highway 2 to Ha Giang. (Total length is about 300km)

The second routes: Depart from Hanoi – Vinh Phuc – Viet Tri – Phu Tho – Tuyen Quang – Ha Giang. (This road runs to National Highway 2C and Highway 2, about 280km in length)

Curves in Yen Minh town

4. Schedule and suggestions to buckwheat in Ha Giang

Day 1:

Depart from Hanoi in the morning and go to Ha Giang in the evening. You can take an evening break in the city, or choose to continue the trip to Quan Ba (more than 40km away from the city) or Yen Minh to have dinner. However, staying in Ha Giang for a night is most reasonable to ensure health after 300km drive. In the evening, you have time to go around the city to eat and refresh your minds to continue the trip in the next day.

Day 2:

Have Breakfast and then, leave Ha Giang to Quan Ba, Yen Minh and to Dong Van Plateau (you can stop for lunch in Yen Minh or Quan Ba). On the way to Dong Van, you can turn to Pho Bang (5km) to visit the “sleeping” town. There are ancient houses with unique architecture in that town. On the way to Pho Bang, you also have the chance to go through the valley of roses and a large buckwheat field along the road (about 500m from the town).

After leaving Pho Bang, the next place at the foot of the slope is the Sung La Valley where there is famous Lung Cam village for home filmed in “Pao’s Story” and its beautiful white buckwheat fields. Moreover, you can visit the houses of the H’Mong group, the beautiful pear and pine trees on the roads.

After leaving Lung Cam, Sa Phin will be your next stop. From Lung Cam to Sa Phin, there are also some buckwheat fields lying in the corners of the road to the moon rocks.
In Sa Phin, you can visit the palace of the Vuong family (or also called the Cat king’s house). This is one of the existing ancient palaces of wealthy families thanks to the opium trade in Ha Giang.

From the palace, you go back to the crossroads to turn Lung Cu Flag pole where you will put the mark firstly on the S-shaped map. Right on the way from Ma Lo to Lung Cu, you will see a large buckwheat field on the hillside. This is the most buckwheat growing area up to the present.

After the Lung Cu flag pole, you can choose to stop at bollard 428 and then go to Dong Van or go straight to Dong Van. Many people choose go to the bollard 428 first, but they need to consider the time as they have to walk to that place. This walking will take up to 3 hours. After the long day, you will have dinner and stay in Dong Van.

Ma Pi Leng Pass-a must visit while riding in Ha Giang

Day 3:

You will have breakfast at Dong Van and go to conquer Ma Pi Leng. Then you will go to Meo Vac, Bac Me and return to Ha Giang for lunch. You will drive back to Hanoi at late night. This route is more than 400km in length so you need to prepare for your health and eating habits properly to ensure a healthy and safe journey.

With this schedule, you have visited the most attractive places and the most beautiful buckwheat fields in Ha Giang. However, due to the short time, you cannot spend much time to explore and experience the culture with the locals. So, you can spend time discovering the culture for longer trips.

In this season on the way, there are many small waterfalls so, you can use water to wash face or drink – it is very clean and cool.

5. How to eat and rest in Ha Giang

About places to stay: In Ha Giang, Quan Ba, Yen Minh and Dong Van, there are many guest houses. If you want to save more money, you can find information about families with stilt house for homestay (there are a lot in Quan Ba, Yen Minh and Dong Van). The cost is only 50 – 70.000VNĐ / person ($1.5-$3.5/person)
Foods: Ha Giang has many attractive dishes such as hen porridge, egg stuffed rolls, 5-color sticky rice, salted steak, buffalo steak and corn wine.

Come to Ha Giang to observe and experience the life of the noble and hospitable highland locals; play with mischievous and adorable children.

6. Notices for Ha Giang backpacking trip:

• You should find information and book rooms in advance if going in group to avoid the out of room situations or bloody expensive prices.
• The services price in Ha Giang is higher than other tourist sites in the North, so you should be prepared and ask price before using the service.
• If you travel by motorbike, you should bring spare equipment and spare tires in case of out-of-order cases without repair stalls
• Do not go in a too large group to ensure safety on the road.
• Limit to drink alcohol or beer in the evening to ensure the health during the trip.
• You should not give money to local people, especially children in order not to cause bad habit.
• Most importantly, when you go to the rice fields or buckwheat fields for photography, you need to consciously preserve and protect the property of the farmers. Always remember the saying “take nothing but photos, kill nothing but time and leave nothing but footprints”!