Cao Son Market

Departing early from Lao Cai or Sa Pa for about 130 km, you will enjoy beautiful scenery and visit Lung Khau Nhin and Muong Khuong markets. We then take a dirt road which leads up into the mountains through Pine Tree forests and villages that surround the tiny markets. Flower H'mong, Tu Di, Tay and Giay ethnic minorities come to trade local products such as food, agricultural supplies and fabric. After exploring these markets your car will take you to Cao Son - the most stunning part of Lao Cai province. Here you will visit the most secluded, peaceful villages and have the opportunity to observe traditional practices such as distilling wine from corn and making bacon. You will be offered a special corn cake when you drop by local houses. You will be transferred to Sa Pa or Lao Cai at your request

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Can Cau Market

Can Cau market is one of the most fascinating open-air markets in the region, specialising in livestock. It's 20km North of Bac Ha and just 9km south of the Chinese border. Visitors are generally H'mong groups from highland villages

Can Cau market is one of the most fascinating open-air markets in the region, specialising in livestock. It's 20km North of Bac Ha and just 9km south of the Chinese border. Visitors are generally H'mong groups from highland villages. The local H'mong are the famous variegated or Flower H'mong due to the intricate and colourful nature of their costumes, and their colourful dresses makes is a beautiful sight. Almost every Saturday around 8 different minorities are represented at the market. Travel is often made by horseback as a way of carrying the heavy loads to and from market. Can Cau also attracts a large number of Chinese traders, evidenced by the booming dog trade here

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Coc Ly Market

It is the colorful market in a mountainous area where the Flower H'mong mainly gathers to exchange their homemade products. This Tuesday market is about 35km from Bac Ha. You can get here via a fairly good road, or by road and river; hotels in Sapa and Bac Ha can organise trips. Coc Ly is a small village on the Chay river inhabited by the Flower H'mong Minority people

It is the colorful market in a mountainous area where the Flower H'mong mainly gathers to exchange their homemade products. This Tuesday market is about 35km from Bac Ha. You can get here via a fairly good road, or by road and river; hotels in Sapa and Bac Ha can organise trips. Coc Ly is a small village on the Chay river inhabited by the Flower H'mong Minority people. The Flower H'mong traditionally wear a distinctive and bright colored costume. They are a gentle, softly spoken people who live in the steep mountainous country close to the Chinese border. Because Coc Ly is more remote than Sapa, the dress and way of life is more traditional than in the large centers. The market deals in fruit, vegetable, pork and chickens, in addition to colourful fabrics and items of traditional dress. There is a buffalo sale in progress and many of these placid animals are tethered close to the market. Buffalo are still widely used in the growing process, especially in the mountainous regions. Horse are an important form of transport in the North West and a quite a few, sturdy ponies were tied to tree around the market. The horse carry a light timber frame on their back to carry produce to and from the market. There’s no dancing or singing, but Coc Ly Market in Laocai Province always turns colorful and festive on Tuesdays, when ethnic people gather there to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market. Many ethnic traders from Bac Ha and other parts of Lao Cai Province dress up in colorful costumes and bring horses, chickens, buffaloes, vegetables or whatever they can sell to the festive market in the wee hours, and will not return home until 1pm. Certainly, what catches the eyes of visitors most are the different colors of the costumes worn by ethnic people and the handicrafts they sell at the market, about 50 kilometers from Laocai City in the northern province. You can see young and old Hmong women, wearing skirts and hats with different types of embroidered flowers, crowding the market during the opening hours of Coc Ly. Scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of tho cam (ethnic fabric) on sale also add color to the bazaar by the Chay River. The colorful items are put on sale not just for locals but also tourists, particularly foreigners. However, you should remember to bargain when you want to buy your favorites, and the items at the booths located at the start of the path you walk on always have higher prices. Keep walking toward the end of the traditionally ethnic market until you find a real bargain. A good idea is to stroll every corner of the once-a-week bazaar as you listen to unexpected conversations, see nice surprises and learn how ethnic people sell and buy farm produce, life’s necessities and other things. After visiting the market, which is the most fresh and unspoiled market of the region, offering a wide range of different colorful ethnic minorities such as Flower C'mon, Black Dao, Tay , Fula, Lachi, Sandui and Nung....there will be an exciting boat cruise winding you through a breathtaking, out of this-world landscape where the mountain grow from water presenting their most hidden mysteries, including caves and tiny minority ...A picnic lunch box can be prepared for your most convenience..

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Hoang Lien National Park

Hoang Lien National Park Hoang Lien National Park, just outside Sapa town, is unique for experiencing nature at close hand. The Park encompasses approximately 30 km2 of scenic mountainous landscape, including Vietnam s highest peak, Fansipan (3143m). The Park contains temperate and sub-temperate forests which cover the Hoang Lien mountain range. The forest and surrounding vegetation provides habitats for a variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and insects. Many of these are found only in north-west Vietnam and are of great biological significance. Hoang Lien National Park Hoang Lien National Park is located in the Hoang Lien mountain range belonging to Sapa and Than Uyen districts, Lao Cai Province and includes Vietnam s highest peak, Mount Fansipan (3,143 m). The park supports a wide variety of habitat types: elevations below 1,800m support lower montage evergreen forest; elevations between 1,800 and 2,500m support upper montage evergreen forest, elevations between 2,500 and 2,800m support sub-alpine forest, while the vegetation above 2,800m is dominated by stands of dwarf bamboo with scattered, stunted trees. Below 1,000m, the forest has been almost entirely cleared and replaced with anthropogenic habitats, including secondary grassland, scrub and cultivation. Secondary habitats are also found at higher elevations. The park supports a high diversity of animal groups. 347 bird species have been recorded in and around the nature reserve, including 49 species that are restricted in Viet Nam to north-west Tonkin. The park also supports approximately one third of Viet Nam s known amphibian species, the highest recorded amphibian species richness of any protected area in Viet Nam. Several amphibian species are currently known only from the site, and around 10% of the national park s amphibian species are globally threatened. Invertebrate diversity is also very high, and many species of invertebrate discovered at the site are known from nowhere else in the world

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