Mu Cang Chai is still most beautiful in summer and autumn. The period from May to June is when Mu Cang Chai enters the flood season. The image of green rice fields combined with the image of people starting to go down to the fields for the season, all create a majestic and enchanting picture. Moreover, Mu Cang Chai at this time is also an ideal destination for those who want to escape the harsh sun of Hanoi.
By September and October, the terraced fields are covered with the shiny golden color of ripe rice. People from villages and hamlets will begin to gather here to harvest rice.
How to get to Mu Cang Chai?
Travel by private car
From Hanoi to Mu Cang Chai is about more than 300km. If you run straight from early in the morning, you can arrive around late in the evening. However, few people run straight like that and usually choose one of two options: stopping in Sapa or stopping in Nghia Lo.
From Hanoi, if you want to go around Sa Pa first, you just follow the Hanoi - Lao Cai highway and go straight to Sapa, stay here for 1 night and then the next day from Sapa through O Quy Ho pass to Tan Uyen, Than Uyen. and stop at Mu Cang Chai.
Accommodation
Mu Cang Chai mainly has budget hotels, motel-style homestays, stilt houses and not many high-end options. Among them, people's stilt houses and homestays are the most popular types of accommodation in Mu Cang Chai. The stilt houses have dormitory rooms for 10 to 30 people. Visitors can easily find a stilt house around famous tourist destinations such as Ban Thai, La Pan Tan terraced fields, Tu Le... All of these places have accommodation services and grocery sales right away. under the house.
Hotels are mainly concentrated in Mu Cang Chai town. Budget hotels range from one star to 3 stars, rooms have basic amenities such as bed, bathroom, TV, refrigerator...
Places to visit when you come to Mu Cang Chai
Khau Pha Pass
The pass is located on Highway 32, Mu Cang Chai district. This is an extremely dangerous pass belonging to the "four great passes" of the Northern mountains, passing through many famous places. The name of Khau Pha pass originates from the Thai ethnic language meaning horn of heaven, due to the peak. The pass rises into the sky, often covered with mist. Khau Pha Pass is also where paragliding activities take place every year.
Mam Xoi Hill
This hill with shiny terraced fields is considered a symbolic image of Mu Cang Chai. Mam Xoi Hill is located in La Pan Tan. Although the road to get there is a bit difficult, there are many services to support tourists at extremely cheap prices. You can park your car and take a local motorbike taxi here.
Tu Le commune
This Mu Cang Chai tourist destination is located on Highway 32, close to Khau Pha Pass, in Van Chan district of Yen Bai province. When mentioning Tu Le, we will remember the sweet aroma of ripe rice, where all tourists always stop and linger to enjoy the delicious sticky rice dishes of the Thai ethnic people.
The most famous specialty of Tu Le commune is sticky rice served with grilled chicken, peanuts or sesame. Besides, tourists also have the opportunity to admire the stilt houses in the smoke, images of Thai girls splashing water or herds of buffaloes grazing.
Bamboo forest in Na Han Tua village
The 60-year-old bamboo forest is located 20 km from the center of Mu Cang Chai town. This is also the place that provides bamboo shoot specialties for the region. The road here on rainy days is very muddy and steep. Tourists often have to walk or hire locals to carry motorbikes up to the attraction because the dirt road is narrow, steep and slippery, making it impossible to drive by car.
Lim Mong and Lim Thai valleys
The place where there are Thai villages is located in the valley right below Khau Pha pass - one of the four great passes of Vietnam.
Crossing the romantic suspension bridge leads to small, thread-like roads sloping up the mountain. Coming to Lim Mong in September, 10 tourists will be able to travel in the middle of the golden season with ripe rice fields laden with grain on both sides of the road.
Visitors can drive between ripe rice fields, watch peaceful villages during harvest time, meet children and the elderly, or play by cool streams.
