By Annie Nguyen - Travel expert

Mai Chau, only 140 kilometers away from Hanoi, is part of the mountainous North-West region of Vietnam. This destination is extremely ideal for escaping from the city's hustle and bustle. Let's find out how to get, the best time to visit, accommodations, sights and activities, and local specialties in Mai Chau with Handspan Travel Indochina!

Through this article, you will find these pieces of information below.

Mai Chau, a place worth paying a visit to

Pom Coong village in Mai Chau valley

At an average height of 900 meters above sea level (highest peak, 1,536 meters at Pa Co; lowest point, 220 meters at central Mai Chau town), Mai Chau has a highland tropical climate: high heat - hours of sunshine in the range of 3 in winter and 6 in summer; high humidity - 82% on average; a lot of rain - rainfall of 1,400 millimeters a year (rainy season from May to October versus dry season from November to April). The natural base of the area: sandstone, limestone, clay, etc, affected by the typical climate, brings Mai Chau ideal conditions for its diverse flora and fauna that, in turn, attracts human beings who come to settle down: the Muong (17%), the Thai (57%), the Mong (10%), the Kinh (12%), the Dzao (2%).

They, except for the Kinh and the Muong (both native to Vietnam), are all ethnic minorities who came from afar at different times. Growing, raising, gathering, hunting, weaving brocades, etc, have been their very ways of living since.

How to get to Mai Chau?

The journey to Mai Chau from Hanoi (road 6, as far as 140 kilometers), takes 3 to 4 hours, depending on the vehicle of choice: cars, vans, buses, or motorbikes (If by bicycle, some more time should be set aside). Mai Chau is a popular destination for an overnight tour from Hanoi so you can consider taking a private tour or joining a small group tour.  

If you would like to have an overnight trip from Hanoi to Mai Chau on your own, it is best to have a private means of transport; otherwise, being seated in a local vehicle could be a pick.

Local buses to Mai Chau are available from My Dinh bus station. Here are a few regular buses that you can consider.

• HOANG THAO: 
  • Journey to run: My Dinh (Hanoi) - Mai Chau/Mai Chau – My Dinh
  • Time to depart: 14:30 (My Dinh); 8:45 (Mai Chau)
  • Phone to contact: 0914 688533 ; 0218 386829
• HA LOAN
  • Journey to run: My Dinh – Mai Chau/Mai Chau – My Dinh
  • Time to depart: 7:50 (My Dinh); 13:30 (Mai Chau)
  • Phone to contact: 0912490679

For more detailed information about how to get to Mai Chau, please refer to our article: How to transfer from Hanoi to Mai Chau.

Where to stay in Mai Chau

Mai Chau today offers all the necessities to any expectations (local experience to stay in comfort): homestays, hotels, and lodges.

Homestays

A homestay is a house where the locals and their guests stay locally together. This service is just for those who want to have a real experience. It is available in several villages. The facilities are basic but alright for one or two nights: a clean bathroom; a neat sleeping space with pillows, a mosquito net, a cushion, etc. Homestays are available in many villages including Na Phon, Ban Lac, Ban Pom Coong; however, our favorites are in Mai Hich and Ban Buoc villages as they are off-the-beaten-path villages in Mai Chau region and the locals are practicing responsible travel. 

Resorts

A resort or a lodge brings travelers comfort with its modern facilities. All the ones in Mai Chau are newly built just to make sure that travelers can live the culture, but stay in comfort. 

Here are our recommended resorts and hotels in Mai Chau:

• Mai Chau Ecolodge

Mai Chau Lodge is a beautiful 4-star eco-resort set on a hilltop with traditional style architecture reflecting the house on stilts in the villages nearby. Rooms are with a good view of the rice fields and mountains from afar. The hotel features a nice swimming pool and good facilities for overnight guests. 

• Sol Bungalows

Sol Bungalow is a small lodge located in a secluded location with an amazing view of the rice fields and mountains. There are two blocks with bungalows and a building facing the swimming pool. 

• Mai Chau Lodge

Mai Chau Lodge is one of the first hotels in Mai Chau located on the main road of Mai Chau, hundred meters from the Mai Chau market, and has easy access to Poom Coong and Lac village. Rooms are neatly designed with either a mountain view or a valley view. The hotel features a good restaurant with local and international dishes as well as a small swimming pool. 

• Mai Chau Hideaway Resort

Not directly located in Mai Chau valley, this resort can be considered as an off-the-beaten-path accommodation, on the bank of the Da River reservoir. The architecture of the resort reflex the traditional style of the local houses on stilts. The infinity pool overlooking the lake is the travelers' favorite Instagram check-in place. 

• Ba Khan village resort

Ba Khan village resort is another off-the-beaten-path resort located in Ba Khan village on the bank of the Da River reservoir, 35km away from Mai Chau valley. This newly built resort has good villa rooms set in a big beautiful garden.  Staffs are locals from the area, they are always praised by our guests for offering very attentive service. The resort is a good base for trekking tours and cycling tours. 

• Mai Chau villa

Mai Chau Villa is a small boutique hotel with 11 bungalows, only 15 km away from Mai Chau center near Mai Hich village. This place is our favorite for our daily Mai Chau tour; offering elegant bungalow-style rooms in a nice garden, overlooking the surrounding rice fields. Mai Chau villa is a very good base to explore the less-visited villages in Mai Chau such as Mai Ha, Ban Buoc, or Mai Hich villages. 

For more detailed information about the best resorts in Mai Chau, please read our article here: The top 07 best resorts in Mai Chau recommended by Handspan Travel Indochina.

Sights and activities in Mai Chau

Mai Chau, a land formed, shaped, and painted by nature and human beings with different materials: sandstone, limestone, clay, thick layer of humus, diverse cultures, different histories, ways of leaving, etc., boasts many impressive sights that are worth joining some activities to explore, such as walking, trekking, riding, boating, etc.The names Lac, Pom Coong, Mai Hich, Pu Bin, Thung Khe, Ba khan, Hang Kia make a good list.

Lac and Pom Coong village

Lac and Pom Coong, two villages with some 170 households, are at the very heart of the area. Their friendly owners, the White Thai people, have been living here since their migration 700 years ago. Their living space, a house on stilts or a turtle house traditionally built just to fit nicely into a beautiful tranquil idyllic setting with surrounding high mountains, green forests, and paddy fields, is worth a visit. Daytime activities by the locals here are weaving brocades on a wooden loom, making ‘Can’ local rice wine, farming from dawn to dark, etc. After their dinner, the farmers become owners of their stage - nice singers and dancers as well.

To get it all, a loop on foot or by riding (bicycles or electric cars) through lush rice fields, and idyllic villages is highly recommended for any travelers, in particular those who are with kids, during the day. At night, culturally getting entertained with a warm White Thai atmosphere that features a dinner together with a family host and its member, some dances should be a “Yes”.

Thung Khe Pass

Between Tan Lac and Mai Chau, Thung Khe Pass, also called White Rock Pass, is at a height of some 700 meters in altitude, making it a good stop-over to enjoy a gorgeous typical view of karst formation settings from high above (weather permitting) and taste some local foods by the Muong. High and meandering, this pass occasionally brings those who are from lowland areas a new feel – into an ocean of mist.

Mo Luong Cave

Within walking distance from Mai Chau town, right to the left side of road 15 toward Lac and PomCoong villages, Mo Luong Cave is special, for it was used as the main source of water for the area in the past and a local clinic where wounded Vietnamese soldiers got treated during the Vietnam - France war. Historically and geologically, the cave is meaningful, so it deserves a visit

Chieu Cave

Not far from Mo Luong cave, Chieu cave is at the height of 250 meters above sea level, with its tree-covered 15-meter wide mouth. It is another choice for those who love nature-made cracks. To reach here, from Mai Chau town, head southwest to a sign that reads “To Chieu cave”. As many as 1200 steps are what travelers have to conquer. It is certainly tiring, but it is worth it because those who say “made it” get a better view of the valley from a different perspective.

Van village

This village is near Mai Chau town and impresses travelers with its less busy life and some small patches of terraced rice fields. Like their neighbors in Lac and Pom Coong, the Thai villagers here are friendly and hospitable. A nice walk around the village combined with a visit to the market nearby is recommended, particularly on Sunday mornings

The Thai Museum

It is a private collection of valuable old objects made by the White Thai: silver coins, earrings, necklaces, old looms, embroidered blankets, wooden and bamboo baskets, traps, jewelry cases, flint guns, lots of farming tools… The collector, a White Thai man, spent ten years, bringing them together. They are all now on display at the Culture House in Van village.

Go Lao cascade

Go Lao is the name that was given by the locals to a small waterfall at an unknown time. The fall is 15 kilometers away from Mai Chau town. It is not so special, though something for those travelers who love nature and be in love. To get here, head for Moc Chau for 15 kilometers, then ask the residents around the path down to the fall.

Ba Khan village

It is the name that goes with a commune on Hoa Binh lake, a big reservoir by the Vietnamese and the Russians in the late 70s to produce power. Water and high mountains are here to make this place a good sight with a different activity: boating on a river to admire wild scenery. Getting here requires travelers to repeat the first leg of the trip to the Go Lao cascade. After this 15-kilometer-long journey, another one of the same length gets travelers to the right destination of choice, Ba khan. The trip is doable from Mai Chau town by motorbike, bicycle, car, van, etc.

Hang Kia

Much higher than Mai Chau town (1,200 meters on average in altitude), Hang Kia is home to the H'Mong people. Like The White Thai, historically, the Mong came here from China in the aftermath of some civil wars over three centuries ago. Their life then was nomadic and could not have been harder. The new land has taught the H'Mong a lot of things, so their life these days has been seeing changes.

Hang Kia is so good a place for travelers to explore a different way of living. The H'Mong grow corn, an arrow shoots for both food and spirit, plum trees around their houses and on the hills; keep black pigs, and buffalos; trap wild animals in the forests. They live in a quieter community, a village that shows seemingly closed houses built right on the ground, with low roofs and doors. It is where three generations share every mood from sadness to happiness. It is where the H'Mong makes different kinds of products to sell at the market on Sundays…

To get here and to explore this part of Mai Chau, travelers need a vehicle for a 28-kilometer-long journey and good health for a strenuous long trek over hills and mountains.

Best time to go to Mai Chau

As part of the mountainous North-West region of Vietnam, Mai Chau shows a typically tropical climate, but high limestone mountains (much parted) and a thick and wide coverage make the climate here pleasantly changeable. With all these conditions times to get to Mai Chau the good: travelers can make their trip to Mai Chau any time of year, but the ideal is when the farmers are harvesting rice (May or June), for, apart from what are to be seen all year round, yellow paddy fields that bring Mai Chau a new color is so impressive. What a plus!

Mai Chau is a valley where local people cultivate wet rice. The valley is really beautiful during the rice season. There are two crops per year. The Spring- Summer crop starts in February and ends in early June. The Summer- Autumn crop starts in late June and ends in early October. The fields are lush green from March to May and from July to September. The ripening seasons when Mai Chau turns into a golden valley are May- June and September- October. 

Mai Chau valley's rice paddies in early October with all colors like a painting.

Local food in Mai Chau

With a different climate, rich in fauna and flora, and an owner who has some tricks to please all taste buds, Mai Chau offers travelers several dishes as its specials.

“Man” pork

They are a small species that are raised naturally. Their foods are mostly what they find out in nature, so they are more lean than fat. Their meat is prepared with different spices and herbs for varied dishes: boiling, grilling, frying…

Steamed sticky rice

It is popular here. The kind of sticky rice that is used to make it is called “Nep Nuong”, a species usually grown in terraced fields. After being dipped in water for some hours, the rice is steamed. The product is a dish that is soft with a good flavor.

Grilled rice in a bamboo pipe

A popular dish is made of sticky rice that is grilled in a bamboo pipe over charcoal, rather than being steamed in a pot as usual. The dish is best to be accompanied by some sesame or grilled pork 

Fried bee pupae with pickled bamboo shoots

It is a popular local dish made with fat white baby bees and pickled bamboo shoots. The dish can be accompanied by some bee spirit of corn wine.

Grilled fish

By tradition, the Thai do this dish on special occasions. The species of fish, call RAM XANH, is prepared with some spices and herbs, such as lemongrass, chili, lotus seeds, and mac khen – similar to black pepper beans, and basil leaves.

Deep-fried cicadas

The Thai are famous for being experts on insect foods. One of the dishes as their favorite is deep-fried cicadas stuffed with peanuts.

Mong Kolza

This species of plant, a kind of vegetable, is common in this part of the country. The way to cook is pretty simple; boiling. The dish is taken with some fish sauce and boiled eggs.

Smoked buffalo meat

This is a special delicacy! It is buffalo meat that is smoked, hanging over a fire in the kitchen.

Mai Ha spirit

This is a famous kind of spirit. It is distilled from a mix of sticky rice and natural yeast

Sample tour itineraries

Whether it's a family tour, a private, or a small group tour, Mai Chau offers you a great experience with its beautiful nature and the fascinating culture of the local people. Please find our suggestion for a Mai Chau tour here.

From The Mountain to Ha Long Bay: A 5-day tour that covers Mai Chau, Pu Luong, Ninh Binh, and Halong in a loop. A great trip for those who want to explore the authenticity of Vietnam, away from the crowd. This is a wonderful family experience too. 

Mai Chau Valley Vs Pu Luong Nature Reserve: This is a 3-day trip that takes you to Mai Chau and Pu Luong Nature Reserve. You will have a chance to admire a wide array of natural sceneries: jungle, terraced rice fields, forested limestone mountains, rivers, cascades, and natural pools. Besides, you can also learn about the Thai people's life and culture.

Come and discover Mai Chau with us!