NATURAL PARK MOUNTAIN BIKING

Breakfast at hotel. In the morning, pick up for a 5-hour driving to Mai Chau, the gate to the Northwest of Vietnam. After 160km with a winding road through stunning view of mountain, sugarcane farms, we will stop at Mai Chau, a hometown of White Thai hill tribe renown by their houses-on-stilts. Have a quick lunch here before taking a short walk around the village to see their daily work: embroidering and weaving Thai traditional costumes. Afterwards, we take a short ride along Ma River before off the main road and start cycling by mountain tracks, enjoying new and different images of landscape, rainforest, streams that cross over the path. After 20km cycling, we will reach Kho Muong, a peaceful village of Thai hill tribal people. We will overnight in home-stay supported by FFI (Flora and Fauna International) and have dinner there. If time permits, we can join the ordinary life of locals in their farming works, cultivation or herding buffalo. Overnight in Pu Luong.

Breakfast at homestay. We will have a long hard day for cycling by leaving beautiful Kho Muong village to get up-and-down paths with messy mixture of rocky mountains and slippery soil, as well as winding and extreme ascending routes. In response you could have wonderful view of landscape with houses-on-stilts, rice terraced fields, farming work of local people. Stop en route for lunch at Pho Doan local market, then continue an easier cycling along a calm river, with stops for pictures or refreshment at bamboo water-wheels. The escort bus will meet you in the afternoon to head to Cuc Phuong National Park for dinner and overnight.

Breakfast at the guesthouse. 130km south of Hanoi, Cuc Phuong is a typical limestone area and rainforest with an impressive collection of animals and plants. Seriously and carefully reserved by the government, Cuc Phuong maintains itself as home of some special primates and species including langurs, gibbons, macaques and fantastic birds including red-collared woodpeckers, limestone wren-babblers, fork-tailed sunbirds and many others. Full-day cycling in the Park under the umbrella of century-old trees to explore the forest and trails within the Park's karst ecosystem will give us an overall conception of the nature protection in Northern Vietnam. Have dinner and overnight at the Cuc Phuong Guesthouse.

After breakfast at guesthouse, we will leave Cuc Phuong for a short ride to Hoa Lu, the ancient capital with the old temples dedicated to King Dinh and King Le reigned in 10th century. This is an outstanding switch from three-day cycling over the mountain and rainforest to a new discovery of the low plain land with 2-hour through rural village, passing rice paddy fields and rural houses. Have lunch in Tam Coc before taking a 2- hour boat trip around an area where spectacular limestone karsts jut out from the green paddy fields reminding about Guilin (China) and Halong Bay of Vietnam, which gives this scenery the name "Halong-bay-in-land". Late afternoon back to Hanoi.  Overnight in Hanoi.

Welcome to Vietnam!

The tourguide of THREELAND TRAVEL will be welcoming you at Noi Bai airport; it takes us 35 minutes driving to the centre of Hanoi to check-in hotel. Let’s have an overall view of the capital by a “cyclo” visit, which will start around the Old Quarter of Hanoi, stop at Ngoc Son Temple located on the Hoan Kiem Lake (the “Sword” Lake), and at Quan Thanh Taoist Temple. Late afternoon we will enjoy a unique fascinating show of Water Puppetry, a traditional stage art of Northern Vietnam. Dinner and overnight in Hanoi.
Please note: Hotel check in time is from 14.00

From Hanoi, at 8AM, head East for more than 3 hours to Halong Bay, the pride of the Gulf of Tonkin, a Natural World Heritage as designated by UNESCO in 1994. The road will pass by the Red River delta with green paddyfields and rural villages, where hard-work farmers are busy with their farming jobs, ploughing buffaloes or planting seedling. Upon arrival in Halong, we’ll take a big boat to cruise the Bay to discover the magnificent beauty of this “Descending-dragon” bay, created by thousands odd-shaped limestone rocks and karst grottoes. After a lunch of fresh seafood on board, we can visit the Surprising Grotto, stop for swimming or kayaking, passing floating villages and approach islets to enjoy their beauty in close distance. Back to the boat for dinner late afternoon. Evening attend activities on the boat or relax at your own leisure. Overnight on the boat near Titov Beach.

Please note: The program may be little varied upon the cruise you choose. Only Vietnamese & International food available on the boat.

Wake up early to enjoy the dawn on the sea in the early morning. The Vietnamese call the "East Sea" by a point-oriented name "Eastern Sea", so you may guess how miraculous seeing the sunrise over the islets of the Bay. After breakfast our boat will continue to cruise in marvelous areas, where almost each islet has its own name, adopting its shape or reminiscent like Sail Island, Fisherman’s head rock, Butterfly rock or Turtle islet etc. Back to Hanoi at mid-day. Overnight at hotel in Hanoi. 

Breakfast at hotel. At your leisure until your guide comes to meet and transfer you to the airport to take the departure flight. End of services.

Please note: Checkout time is usually 12.00.