Live a unique experience, rich in encounters and discoveries, by spending one or two nights in a traditional village in Vietnam. Whether you are with family, your partner, or friends, if you are in search of authenticity, this immersive stay will offer you beautiful surprises and will be a highlight of your trip.
In Hoa Binh province, about 100 km southwest of Hanoi, many ethnic minorities are settled in villages, often surrounded by the magnificent landscapes of the region, between lake and mountains. These villages are not well known for their tourism and offer an authentic facet of rural Vietnam. To discover the country off the beaten track, we suggest you spend one night with a family from Dao Tien and one night with a Muong family, two of Vietnam’s many ethnic groups.
ON THE PROGRAMME
- Day 1: Meeting with the Dao Thien and discovering their local knowledge
- Day 2: Trekking to the Muongs
- Day 3: Activities around the lake
Get ready for a more exotic experience: discovering a traditional village in rural Vietnam. From Hanoi, a three-hour drive awaits you. The further away you go from the city, the more the landscapes reveal their beauty. Before reaching the village, a mountain-side road overlooking Lake Hoa Binh will offer you a superb panoramic view.
You will go directly to your hosts, a Dao Tien family, who will welcome you with a delicious meal made up of local dishes. The dishes are all placed in the centre of the table, and everyone uses a pair of chopsticks and a small bowl to eat.
In the afternoon, you will visit the village and meet its inhabitants. You can watch them go about their business. Here, no specific workshops are organized for visitors, but you will be invited to take part in the daily and authentic activities, without filters. For example, you can discover the techniques of dyeing fabric, or learn batik, a technique used to create geometric patterns on traditional fabrics. If they are open at the time of your visit, you can visit the tea cooperative or fabric cooperative, and perhaps even try on a traditional costume, an essential attribute of this Vietnamese ethnic group. A local guide can also take you for a short hike to the village cave and explain the legends associated with it.
You will end with a meal with your hosts.
This morning, after a delicious breakfast, your local guide will accompany you to the next stop on your journey, a Muong village that is reached by foot and boat. The trek will surprise you with the calm and silence that reigns, marking a real change from the bustle of the capital!
During the morning, you will travel about ten kilometres and cross a bamboo forest to reach a superb view of the lake. You will then descend in its direction. Arriving at the bottom of the valley, a boat will take you to your hosts’ village, allowing you to take in the landscapes.
The Muong family, who will host you for the night, will welcome you for a friendly lunch, as they are so popular in the traditional villages of Vietnam.
The afternoon will be devoted to visiting the village and discovering its activities, many of which are related to fishing. On the surface of the lake, you can see intriguing facilities: natural fish cages, which make it possible to set up fish ponds.
In the evening, after dinner, you can attend a traditional Muong dance show and share a real moment of hospitality with the whole village. If they don’t speak your language, the smiles of the inhabitants are contagious and you will have an excellent evening. In turn, perhaps they will ask you to give them a little performance… be ready!
Take advantage of this last morning in the region to stroll through the surrounding areas or go kayaking on the lake.
After lunch, it will be time to say goodbye to your hosts. A boat will take you on Lake Hoa Binh for a one-hour ride to join your driver and continue your Vietnamese trip. From the boat, you can observe the fishermen and their facilities, but also contemplate the surrounding mountains which, when they fall steeply into the lake, have a little bit of a Halong Bay feel.
The immersion with these two ethnic groups of Vietnam will then come to an end, but it will undoubtedly leave you with unforgettable memories
Hoa Binh province is home to some of the poorest villages in northern Vietnam: nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. For several years, an NGO has been educating these villages on topics such as local governance, education, and economic development. It recently set up a Community Based Tourism project, a tourism model whose financial impact enables the development of the entire community. It is in this context that Atypique Vietnam offers you the opportunity to live this experience. When you take part in this immersive stay, you contribute directly to the local economy. It is not only the owners of the homestays who are paid through your trip, but also local guides, boat owners, producers, fishermen, etc. In total, more than 140 households benefit indirectly from your stay.