“An incredibly well planned tour. The guide did everything to ensure our comfort.”
Tania Andrews
Northern Vietnam 6-Day Private Tour: Sapa, Ha Giang Loop & Ban Gioc Waterfall
Six days, one circuit from Hanoi and back: two nights in Sapa with the cable car to the summit of Fansipan, then north across the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark on the Happiness Road, over the Ma Pi Leng pass, and east along the border to the Ban Gioc Waterfall. Days 3 to 5 are the mountain roads people come to Ha Giang for, with a village homestay, a boat on the Nho Que River and a bamboo raft under the falls on the way. Lunch is included every day; every evening is left free. US$1,019 per person for 2 travellers in 3-star hotels, twin share, with a private car, guide, border-zone permit and all tickets; larger groups pay less.
Price per person
Per person in US dollars, twin/double share, for one private group on the dates you choose. Group size is the number of adults travelling together; children are priced separately (see below). No flights are needed inside this tour – everything is by road – and international flights are not included.
| Adults | 3-star | 4-star |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | US$1,019 | US$1,054 |
| 3 | US$799 | US$835 |
| 4–5 | US$743 | US$779 |
| 6–7 | US$615 | US$651 |
| 8–9 | US$580 | US$615 |
| 10 or more | Ask us for a quote | |
| Single room supplement | US$91 | US$123 |
For 10 or more travellers, send us your group size and dates and we reply with your group price within 24 hours. Valid for travel in 2027, except Tet (Lunar New Year), Vietnamese public holidays and the New Year peak, when the hotels apply their own surcharges and we requote. Send us an inquiry or message us on WhatsApp +84 988 660 505 with your dates and we confirm your price in writing within 24 hours.
Hotels (5 nights)
Named properties are confirmed subject to availability when you book; if one is full, we use a property of the same class. Outside Sapa the villages on this route do not have hotels in every class, so one property is used for both columns in Nam Dam and Meo Vac, and the 3-star column at Ban Gioc is a village homestay. Rooms have private bathrooms.
| Where | 3-star | 4-star |
|---|---|---|
| Sapa (2 nights) | Azure Sapa Hotel – Superior Room (29 m²) | Sapa Highland Resort & Spa – Deluxe Room |
| Nam Dam village (1 night) | Mun Homestay – private room with private bathroom | |
| Meo Vac (1 night) | Hoa Cuong Hotel Meo Vac – Superior Room | |
| Ban Gioc (1 night) | Homestay at Khuoi Ky Stone Village – private room | Saigon Ban Gioc Resort – Superior Room |
The accommodation in Nam Dam, Meo Vac and Ban Gioc is simpler than in Sapa, as is usual in these districts. In Sapa you stay in town, a few minutes from the cable car station, the market and dinner.
Planning your trip? Read our Vietnam e-visa guide or browse all Vietnam tours.
Tour at a glance
| Tour code | WMSPHGCB27 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 6 days / 5 nights |
| Starts / ends | Your hotel in the Hanoi Old Quarter, Day 1 – back at your Hanoi hotel in the early evening of Day 6 (international flights not included) |
| Type | Private tour – any start date, your own guide and driver |
| Hotel options | 2 nights Sapa, 1 night Nam Dam homestay, 1 night Meo Vac, 1 night Ban Gioc: 3-star or 4-star |
| Price | From US$1,019 per person, 2 adults, 3-star |
| Meals | 5 breakfasts and 6 lunches; dinners free |
| Highlights | Fansipan cable car, Rong May Glass Bridge, Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, Ma Pi Leng pass, Nho Que river boat, Nguom Ngao Cave, Ban Gioc Waterfall by bamboo raft |
| Longest drive | Day 1, Hanoi to Sapa, about 5 hours; Days 3 to 6 are full days on mountain roads; no domestic flights |
| Border permit | Included – we need a passport photo-page scan for each traveller at least 10 days before Day 1 |
| Not included | International flights, visa, travel insurance, dinners, drinks, tips |
- Car
- Trekking
- Mountain
- Caves
- Historical sites
Itinerary, day by day
Your guide and driver collect you from your hotel in the Old Quarter and take the Noi Bai – Lao Cai expressway north-west out of Hanoi. It follows the Red River valley, and the journey to the northern border, which used to be an overnight affair, now takes a comfortable morning. The last part climbs steadily into the Hoang Lien Son range; the air cools noticeably as you come into Sapa at around 1,600 metres, about five hours after leaving the capital.
After lunch in town you walk down to Cat Cat, a Black H'mong village in the valley below Sapa. The path is a flight of stone steps, roughly 800 of them, past indigo-dyeing frames, weaving houses and a small waterfall. It is a working village where people still live and weave, and the climb back up is the reason your guide will tell you to take it slowly. Check in to your hotel in the late afternoon. Dinner is at leisure.
Drive: approx. 5 hours, Hanoi to Sapa · Meals: lunch · Overnight: Sapa
Breakfast, then the cable car up Fansipan, at about 3,147 metres the highest peak in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The line opened on 2 February 2016 and holds two Guinness records: the longest non-stop three-rope cable car at 6,292.5 metres, and a height difference of 1,410 metres between its stations. The ride takes about fifteen minutes and lifts you over the Muong Hoa valley with the terraces falling away beneath the cabin. A buffet lunch is served at the top and is included in your ticket.
Fansipan makes its own weather, so the summit may be in cloud while Sapa is clear; the ride is worthwhile either way. The Do Quyen funicular, which carries visitors from the upper station most of the way to the summit, is an optional extra paid on the day. Without it there is a longer stone stairway, which most of our guests find manageable at an easy pace.
In the afternoon the road runs west past the Silver Waterfall, which drops about a hundred metres down the cliff beside the road, and over the O Quy Ho Pass, the highest road pass in northern Vietnam, on the boundary between Lao Cai and Lai Chau provinces. The Rong May Glass Bridge is about 17 kilometres beyond: a glass-floored walkway on a lift-served cliff top at roughly 2,300 metres, with the pass switchbacking below. The name means Dragon in the Clouds, and on a cloudy afternoon the name is accurate. Back in Sapa you have the evening free for the market, the square and the stone church. Dinner is at leisure.
Drive: cable car and mountain road · Meals: breakfast, lunch (Fansipan summit buffet) · Overnight: Sapa
Today is mostly a driving day, with the pay-off at the end of it. After breakfast the road leaves Sapa and runs east to Ha Giang city, the provincial capital and the last sizeable town before the frontier plateau. Lunch is in the city.
From Ha Giang the road starts to climb. The Bac Sum Pass is the first of the hairpin sections, a stack of bends cut into a green slope, and above it the road reaches Quan Ba, where the Heaven Gate viewpoint looks down on a valley of rice and maize and across to the Twin Mountains, two round, symmetrical hills that locals call the Fairy's Bosom. You stop for photographs and for the view, then continue to Nam Dam, a village of the Red Dao people. Houses here are low and timber-framed, and the Dao embroider headdresses and trouser hems in red; your guide walks you through the village in the late afternoon before you settle into a village homestay for the night. Dinner is at leisure.
Drive: full day on the road · Meals: breakfast, lunch · Overnight: Nam Dam village homestay
This is the heart of the circuit, and the day follows the Happiness Road. Its construction began in 1959 and was finished in 1965, built by young volunteers and local ethnic-minority workers cutting by hand into limestone, and it was named after a visit by Ho Chi Minh in 1961. It runs from Ha Giang city to Meo Vac, and you drive its most famous section, through Yen Minh and Sung La, where the road crosses green valleys under bare grey ridges.
At Sa Phin you stop at the Vuong Family Mansion, built from 1919 and completed in 1928 for a Hmong chieftain family. It covers about 3,000 square metres, with some sixty rooms in ten timber houses round a series of courtyards, and mixes Chinese, French and Hmong building styles; it has been a National Art Architecture Relic since 1993. You continue into the Dong Van Karst Plateau, which covers 2,356.8 square kilometres and joined the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network on 3 October 2010. Lunch is in Dong Van town.
The afternoon belongs to Ma Pi Leng, the 20-odd-kilometre pass above the Nho Que River, with the road hung on the side of a canyon that drops some 800 metres to the water. A viewpoint and skywalk give you the long look down. You then drop to the river for a boat trip on the Nho Que, in the Tu San canyon, with the walls rising on either side. The day ends in Meo Vac, a market town with a small old quarter. Dinner is at leisure.
Drive: full day, mountain road · Meals: breakfast, lunch · Overnight: Meo Vac
Leaving Meo Vac the road drops out of Ha Giang province and follows Highway 34 east into Cao Bang, crossing the switchback passes of Me Pia and Na Tenh, with long views over ridges lined up one behind the other. You come out through Bao Lac to Nguyen Binh, where the road runs through stands of bamboo, and stop for lunch.
After lunch, Nguom Ngao Cave. The name means Tiger Cave in the language of the Tay, and the cave was found in 1921. A 2016 survey measured it at about 2,769.6 metres, of which 945.8 metres are open to visitors, lit along a path through large chambers of stalactites and flowstone. From there it is a short drive to Ban Gioc, where the Quay Son River drops 30 metres in three tiers over the border into China, where it is known as Detian. It is often described as the fourth-largest waterfall on a national border in the world. You take a bamboo raft out on the pool at the foot of the falls. In the rainy season in summer the river swells and the separate falls merge into one wide curtain; in the dry months they are thinner and clearer. Check in near the falls for the night. Dinner is at leisure.
Drive: full day via Highway 34 · Meals: breakfast, lunch · Overnight: Ban Gioc
After breakfast you leave the border behind and drive south through Cao Bang, the provincial town, and into Lang Son. Between the two the limestone relaxes into rounded hills and wide valleys of paddy, a quieter landscape than the last three days. Lunch is in Lang Son. The expressway from there takes you back to Hanoi, arriving in the early evening. Your driver drops you at your Hanoi hotel, and the tour ends there. Please do not book an onward flight for the evening of Day 6; choose a flight on the following day.
Drive: full day on the road · Meals: breakfast, lunch · Overnight: – (tour ends at your Hanoi hotel)
What's included
Included
Five nights' accommodation in the class selected, twin or double share, with daily breakfast (2 nights Sapa, 1 night Nam Dam, 1 night Meo Vac, 1 night Ban Gioc)
Meals as listed: 5 breakfasts at the hotels and 6 lunches, including the Fansipan summit buffet
Private air-conditioned vehicle with driver for the whole circuit, with all expressway tolls and parking
English-speaking tour guide throughout (Mandarin on request)
Fansipan cable car to the summit with buffet lunch, and Rong May Glass Bridge entrance
Cat Cat Village and Silver Waterfall entrance
Border-zone permit for the Ha Giang frontier district
Nho Que river boat trip in the Tu San canyon, including the Ta Lang landing shuttle
Vuong Family Mansion, Ban Gioc Waterfall with the bamboo raft, and Nguom Ngao Cave entrance
Two bottles of drinking water (500 ml) per person per day
Government tax, service charge and tour operator liability insurance
Not included
International and domestic airfares, airport departure taxes (no domestic flights are needed on this tour)
Vietnam visa fee and any visa-related service charges
The Hanoi night before Day 1 and the Hanoi hotel on Day 6 (your own hotel; we can book them on request)
Personal travel insurance
Personal expenses: laundry, minibar, telephone, beverages at meals
Dinners, and any meal not listed in the programme
Tips for your guide and driver – the customary rate is USD 3 per tourist per day for groups of 10 passengers and above, USD 5 per tourist per day for 4–9 passengers, and USD 9 per tourist per day for 2–3 passengers
The optional Do Quyen funicular on Fansipan, payable on the day
Single room supplement (see price table)
Peak season, festive and Tet surcharges (30 April, 1 May, 2 September, 24 December, New Year, Lunar New Year) where applicable
Good to know
Border-zone permit
The Ha Giang frontier district needs a border-zone permit for every traveller, and the permit is included in your price. To apply, we need a clear colour scan of the photo page of each passport at least 10 days before the first day of the tour; without it we cannot guarantee that the permit is ready for Day 3.
Group size and vehicles
The vehicle is sized to your group: a 7-seater up to three passengers, a 16-seater for four to seven, a 29-seater for eight to twenty-four. A 45-seat coach cannot use the Ha Giang plateau roads or Highway 34 safely. For groups of 25 passengers and over we therefore split the group across 16- and 29-seat vehicles and requote on request.
Roads and rhythm
Days 3, 4 and 5 are long days on winding mountain roads, and Day 6 is a full day of driving back to Hanoi. Travellers who are prone to motion sickness should tell us at booking so that we can plan the seating and the stops. The stretches between sights are as much of the experience as the sights themselves, and your guide paces the day around the light.
Meals, and why there are no dinners
Breakfast is at the hotel and lunches are set menus served family-style with rice, soup and shared dishes. The Day 2 lunch is the Fansipan summit buffet. Dinners are not included on this tour, so you can choose where to eat; your guide suggests places each evening. Vegetarian, halal, no-pork, no-beef and allergy requests are straightforward if you tell us at booking.
Hanoi nights
The tour starts at your Hanoi hotel on Day 1 and ends at your Hanoi hotel on Day 6. The nights in Hanoi before and after are not in the price; we can book them for you on request.
Age pricing
| Traveller | Age | Rate per person | Sleeping arrangement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infant (parents pay any entrance fees) | 0 to 2 years | No charge | No extra bed |
| Child sharing parents' bed | 3 to 10 years | $693 · 68% of the adult fare | No extra bed |
| Child in own single bed | 3 to 10 years | $876 · 86% of the adult fare | Extra bed |
| Child sharing a twin room with one adult | 3 to 10 years | $1,019 · 100% of the adult fare | Own bed in a twin room |
| Child 11 and over (adult fare) | 11 years and over | $1,019 · 100% of the adult fare | As an adult |
Frequently asked questions
From US$1,019 per person for 2 adults in 3-star hotels, twin share, with 5 nights' accommodation, 6 lunches, a private car and guide, the border-zone permit, the Fansipan cable car, the Rong May Glass Bridge, the Nho Que river boat, the Ban Gioc bamboo raft and all entrance fees listed. With 2 adults the 4-star option is US$1,054 per person. The price drops as the group grows, to US$580 (3-star) per person for 8 to 9 adults; for 10 or more, ask us for a group quote. The single room supplement is US$91 (3-star) or US$123 (4-star). International flights are not included; no domestic flights are needed. Prices are valid for travel in 2027, except Tet, Vietnamese public holidays and the New Year peak.
Yes. Every departure is private: your own guide, your own driver and vehicle, on the start date you choose. You are not joined to other travellers, so the pace, the photo stops and the lunch places can be adjusted to your group. The vehicle is sized to the group – a 7-seater up to three passengers, a 16-seater for four to seven and a 29-seater for eight to twenty-four.
No flights are needed inside this tour – Sapa, the Ha Giang plateau and Ban Gioc are all reached by road from Hanoi. International flights to and from Hanoi are not included; we can book your Hanoi hotel nights and, on request, help with domestic flights at the current fare. The tour ends at your Hanoi hotel in the early evening of Day 6, so please choose an onward flight on the following day rather than that evening.
Citizens of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Nordic countries, Japan, South Korea and a number of other European countries can enter Vietnam visa-free for up to 45 days. Most ASEAN citizens get 14 to 30 days. Everyone else, including US, Canadian, Australian and Indian passport holders, applies online for an e-visa (up to 90 days, single or multiple entry) at the official portal evisa.gov.vn, usually issued in about 3 working days. Full list in our Vietnam e-visa guide at worldmatetravel.com/guide-for-vietnam-evisa.
Send an inquiry and we confirm the price in writing within 24 hours. Nothing is charged on this website. To confirm your tour, pay a 30% deposit by bank transfer or by Visa, Mastercard or Amex through a secure OnePay payment link that we email to you. The remaining 70% is due at least 14 days before you arrive. The deposit is non-refundable. If you cancel (in writing) more than 21 days before departure, you lose only the deposit, and any amount paid above it stays valid for 12 months towards another tour. From 7 to 21 days before departure the charge is 50% of the tour price, and within 6 days or for a no-show it is 100%. Groups of more than 8 people, and tours that include flights or Mekong river cruises, have different terms. Full details are in our Terms & Conditions at worldmatetravel.com/terms-and-conditions#cancellation.
Yes. Every day can be changed – tell us what you would like to add or skip and we reprice. Hotel choice is limited to 3-star or 4-star in Sapa; in Nam Dam and Meo Vac there is one property for both classes, and at Ban Gioc the 3-star option is a village homestay while the 4-star option is the Saigon Ban Gioc Resort. We can add Hanoi nights before and after the tour, add dinners, or add the optional Do Quyen funicular on Fansipan.
Yes. Children under 3 travel free (parents settle any supplier fee on the spot). Children aged 3 to 10 pay 68% of the adult fare without an extra bed, or 86% with an extra bed; a child aged 3 to 10 sharing a room with one adult, and children aged 11 and over, pay the adult fare. Group size for the price table is the number of adults; children are not counted towards the band. Days 3 to 5 are long drives on winding mountain roads, so consider this when travelling with young children.
The Ha Giang frontier district needs a border-zone permit for every traveller. We apply for it and the cost is included in your price. We need a clear colour scan of the photo page of each passport at least 10 days before the first day of the tour; without it we cannot guarantee that the permit is ready for Day 3.
Days 3, 4 and 5 are long days on winding mountain roads (the Bac Sum Pass, Ma Pi Leng and the passes of Highway 34), and Day 6 is a full day of driving back to Hanoi. You are in a private vehicle and the guide sets the stops, so you can ask for more breaks or the front seat. Tell us at booking if anyone is prone to motion sickness so that we plan the seating and the stops. The day on Fansipan and in Sapa is the easiest of the six.
The tour carries 6 lunches and no dinners, which is deliberate and is reflected in the price. It leaves every evening free to eat where you like, and your guide suggests places each evening. Breakfast is at the hotel and lunches are set menus served family-style. If you would rather we booked dinners as well, we will quote them. Vegetarian, halal, no-pork, no-beef and allergy requests are straightforward if you tell us at booking.
Late September to November is the most popular window: clear days, golden rice terraces in Sapa in late September and October, and pink buckwheat flowers on the Dong Van plateau from October. March to May is green and mild. In the summer rainy season the Ban Gioc falls swell and merge into one wide curtain, but showers and landslides can slow the mountain roads; in the dry months the falls are thinner and clearer. December to February is cold in Sapa and on the plateau, often below 10°C with fog on Fansipan. Tet, public holidays and the New Year peak carry surcharges and need a requote.
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