Six days across the Dong Van plateau
Four and a half walking days on the bare limestone of the far north, sleeping in Dao and Hmong houses, finishing above the Nho Que gorge. Fifty-nine kilometres, one day with 900 m of ascent.
At a glance
- Duration
- 6 days, 5 nights
- Walking
- 59 km over 4.5 days
- Group
- Maximum 10
- Starts and ends
- Hanoi
- Grade
- 3 of 5
- From
- USD 860 per person
Who this route is for
This is for walkers who want the landscape to be the whole point. The Dong Van plateau is a UNESCO Global Geopark of grey karst towers with almost no topsoil, where maize is grown in pockets of earth between the rocks and every field has been cleared stone by stone. There is no forest canopy to walk under and very little shade. What there is instead is a horizon of limestone in every direction, and villages of Hmong, Dao, Tay, Giay and Lo Lo families that are still farming rather than performing.
Administratively, Ha Giang province ceased to exist in July 2025 and the area is now the northern half of Tuyen Quang province. Nobody on the ground calls it that. The permit, the road signs and every guesthouse still say Ha Giang, and so do we.
The route is graded 3 because of day four: seventeen kilometres with 900 m of ascent and 700 m of descent, on narrow paths above terraced slopes, with no road within four hours of the middle section. Days one, three and five are comfortable. If your party contains one person who is unsure about day four, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will build a vehicle alternative for that person only, which costs about USD 60.
Day by day
Hanoi to Nam Dam, and the first short leg
We leave Hanoi at 07:30 to be clear of the city before the second rush. The road runs north-west through Vinh Phuc and Tuyen Quang and takes about six and a quarter hours including two stops. Lunch is at a roadside place in Bac Quang that we have used for years, which is unremarkable and reliable.
You start walking at about 15:00, from the Quan Ba pass down into the Nam Dam valley. It is five kilometres and mostly downhill, which is the point: it lets the guide watch how everyone moves before the real days begin. You arrive at the homestay in time to wash and to see the twin hills the tourist literature is fond of.
Nam Dam to Lung Tam and the hemp fields
A full day out from the same house, so you walk with a light pack. The path climbs out of Nam Dam on stone steps, crosses two ridges and drops to Lung Tam, where a womens co-operative has been spinning and weaving hemp for about twenty-five years. You will see the retting pits and the beeswax before the shop, which is the right order.
The return is by a different line along the contour, above the Mien river, arriving back at Nam Dam at about 17:00. Fourteen kilometres and 620 m of climbing, which is a fair test of whether day four will be enjoyable or endured.
Over to Du Gia by the Mau Due road
Two and a half hours of driving east on a road that spends most of its length on a shelf cut into the hillside. We stop at Yen Minh for coffee and at the pass above Mau Due, where the karst gives way briefly to pine.
The walking is an eleven-kilometre afternoon loop from Du Gia through three Hmong hamlets to the waterfall, where the pool is cold and clear and, in October, empty. Four hundred and eighty metres of climbing, most of it in the first hour.
The long day: Du Gia to the Meo Vac road
The big one. You leave at 06:30 with a packed lunch and climb steadily for two and a half hours on a path used by families walking to market, reaching the ridge at about 1,500 m. From there the route follows the top for four kilometres with the plateau opening on both sides, then drops hard through maize terraces to a stream, and climbs again to the road above Meo Vac.
Seventeen kilometres, 900 m of ascent, 700 m of descent, about eight hours walking with stops. There is no vehicle access between hour two and hour six. The guide carries the first-aid kit and a satellite messenger, and we walk this day only when the forecast is clear, moving it to day five if it is not.
Ma Pi Leng and the Nho Que gorge
An easier day and the one most people photograph. The old porters path contours above the Nho Que river below the Ma Pi Leng pass, several hundred metres above green water in a limestone slot. Twelve kilometres and 420 m of climbing, on a path that is narrow and exposed in two places but never technical.
We take the small boat up the gorge in the early afternoon, about forty minutes each way, before the day-trip crowd from Dong Van arrives at three. Then a short drive to Dong Van and the evening in the old quarter, which on a Saturday means the market setting up around you.
Dong Van market, then Hanoi
If your trek falls on a Sunday, the Dong Van market runs from about 05:30 and is worth getting up for: it is a trading market, with livestock, hemp cloth and dye, and very little aimed at visitors. On other days we leave earlier and stop at Quan Ba instead.
The drive back to Hanoi takes seven and a half hours with a proper lunch stop. You are in the Old Quarter between 19:30 and 20:30. We do not put a flight on the evening of day six and we will argue with you if you try to.
Prices
| Party size | Private trek, per person | Set-departure group, per person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 walker | USD 2,180 | USD 890 |
| 2 walkers | USD 1,340 | USD 890 |
| 3 - 4 | USD 1,060 | USD 890 |
| 5 - 8 | USD 920 | USD 890 |
| 9 - 10 | USD 860 | USD 890 |
At nine or ten walkers the private trek is cheaper than joining our own set departure. That is not a trick, it is arithmetic: you have already filled the vehicle and the guide. The pricing page shows the supplier costs behind these numbers.
What the price includes
- Five nights: three in named village homestays, two in small guesthouses
- Private vehicle and driver, Hanoi to Ha Giang and back, and every transfer on the plateau
- An English-speaking trekking guide who walks the whole route with you
- A local village guide on the Du Gia and Meo Vac sections, paid at the day rate we publish
- All meals listed above, including packed lunches carried from the last house
- Nho Que river boat, geopark fees and the Ha Giang travel permit
- Drinking water refilled from 20-litre carboys throughout
What it does not include
- International and domestic flights
- Travel insurance, which we require and check: it must cover trekking to 2,000 m and medical evacuation by road and by air
- Drinks other than water and the tea served at the homestays
- Tips for the guide, the driver and the host families
- The vehicle alternative on day four, USD 60 per person if you want it
- Anything you choose to do alone on the Dong Van evening
Pictures
Who this trek is not for
- Walkers who cannot manage 17 km with 900 m of ascent. Day four has no road bail-out for four hours and the guide cannot shorten it once you are on the ridge.
- Anyone who needs a private bathroom every night. Three of the five nights are homestays with shared washing and a squat toilet in an outbuilding.
- Parties with children under twelve. The day lengths are set by adult pace and several sections on day five have unfenced drops.
- Travellers with only four days in total. The drive alone is thirteen and a half hours return, and cutting a day means cutting the ridge day, which is the reason to come.
- Vegans expecting choice. Homestay cooking here is pork, chicken, river fish and greens. We can arrange a vegan version with three weeks of notice and one extra vehicle run for supplies; we cannot arrange it on arrival.
Questions travellers ask most
Do we need a permit for Ha Giang?
Yes for the border communes near Lung Cu and along the Nho Que, which our route touches on day five. We apply for it in Ha Giang city on the morning of day one using your passport details, and the cost is in the price. We need those details at least seven days before you travel, which is why we will not take a Ha Giang booking inside a week.
What happens if it rains for three days?
Days one, three and five stay as written, because the paths drain onto rock. Day four does not: the descent to the stream becomes clay and the crossing can rise. If the forecast is bad we swap days four and five, and if it is bad for both we replace the ridge day with a lower route out of Du Gia of about 12 km.
We do not refund for weather, and no operator in Vietnam does. We do tell you honestly in advance which months carry the risk, which is what the when-to-go page is for.
How high does this go? Will I feel the altitude?
The highest point on the route is about 1,600 m, on the day four ridge. That is too low for altitude to be a medical issue for anyone. It is high enough to be genuinely cold from December to February, when a clear night on the plateau drops to 3 or 4 degrees and the wind makes it feel like less.
Could we do the Ha Giang loop by motorbike instead?
Many people do, and if that is what you want you should. It is a different trip: you see the same passes from a saddle, you cover four times the ground, and you never leave the tarmac. We do not sell it. Vietnam has a serious accident rate on that loop among visitors riding without a licence valid here, and we are not willing to put our name on it.
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Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.