9 Days Ninh Binh and Hoa Binh Trekking and Homestay Tour to Cuc Phuong and Pu Luong

Day 1 : Hanoi – Cuc Phuong National Park

7:30 AM leave hustle and bustle city behind, our shuttle bus will take you over two hours out of the city,  you will enjoy pristine nature and authentic village life on the way.  We continue to Cuc Phuong, the oldest National Park of  Vietnam boasts an engaging cultural and wildlife heritage and enchanting scenery. Upon arrival, you will check in at the hotel/guest house and then have lunch in the local restaurant at the park headquarter. In the afternoon, you will visit Turtle Conservation Center, the Endangered Primate Rescue Center – one of the highlights of a visit to Cuc Phuong, where you can observe some of the rarest primate species in the world. The primate center houses specimens of langurs, loris, and gibbon species, including the critically endangered Delacour’s Langur, Golden-headed Langur, Tonkin Snub-nosed Langur, and Black Crested Gibbon. After that, you will come back to the hotel/guest house to have dinner and stay overnight in the sound of nature.

Summary:
Activities: Transferring and visiting Cuc Phuong National Park
Accommodation: Cuc Phuong Resort Guesthouse
Meals: B/L/D
Transferring 120 Km. Trekking distance: No

Day 2 : Cuc Phuong National Park – Khanh village

Waking up to the sound of gibbons, you will have breakfast and start to visit the Cave of Prehistoric Man, where human skeletons and stone tools dated some 7.500 years old have been found. Leaving the cave, the car will bring you to the park center where you start trekking through the green forest to a Khanh village, the peaceful home of the friendly Muong ethnic community. Today you will enjoy a picnic lunch en route. Tonight you will enjoy a delicious home-cooked dinner with homestay owners and stay overnight in a cozy traditional stilt house.

Summary:
Activities: Transferring and Trekking through N/P to Khanh Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 7- 8 hours: / distance 15– 18 km

Day 3 : Khanh – Thuong village – Ngoc Son Ngo Luong Nature Reserve 

Tasting traditional cake is made by the host, you will feel a distinct flavor. Following the meal, we start to do bamboo rafting on a tranquil Buoi river to experience how slowly the time goes. Disembarking on the raft, the car will bring you to Thuong village which boasts a stunning Mo waterfall and welcomes Muong ethnic people. You will enjoy lunch at the homestay located next to the waterfall. In the afternoon, you will trek through the forest, climb up to the hill, walk down to a spring and finally come to Ngoc Son Ngo Luong Nature Reserve. Tonight, you will enjoy not only a big dinner with authentic Muong food but also an exciting traditional music performance by the local woman and the famous “Can” wine.

Summary:
Activities: Bamboo rafting and Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 7- 8 hours: / distance 15km– 17 Km

Day 4 : Khuong village – Mon village

Get up early to stroll around the village to enjoy pristine nature and rustic village life. meet and talk with local people to understand their life. Or you just assist the host for breakfast. after breakfast we follow a trail to Mu village where you must be surprised at the wonderful Mu waterfall and a simple remaining water-power rice mortar. Remarkably, one of the best outdoor activities you can do today is swimming. At lunch time, you will come back to Mu Stream homestay. In the afternoon,  you will walk on a trail running through villages and rice paddy fields to pretty Mon village. You will have dinner and stay overnight at Green Forest homestay there.
Summary:

Activities: Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 5-6hours: / distance 13 –15km

Day 5 : Mon village – Hieu village

After breakfast, you will say goodbye to the homestay owners and continue to do your journey. You will walk to Coi Gao village and then enter the forest. Today you will have a chance to trek through the trail which is said to be the most beautiful one in the North of Vietnam. After walking under canopies of great trees, sometimes going through small springs, and may be lost in the sound of nature for some hours, you will reach Pu Luong Nature Reserve. A picnic lunch will be served by the spring in the forest. Getting out of the forest, at sunset time, you will walk on the village road and capture the fascinating image of the emissions of cooking smoke from various stilt houses of Thai ethnic people. Arriving at Hieu village, you will be warmly welcomed by the homestay owner and then have dinner and go to bed in the murmur of Hieu waterfall.

Summary:
Activities: Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 7- 8 hours: / distance 15km– 18 Km

Day 6 : Hieu village – Nua Village

Enjoy dream like waterfall scenery at dawn and walk around the village to interact with local people. Have a hearty breakfast with the host and we say goodbye to them. we commence trekking along the stream, through rice terrace paddy is about 13- 15km (~ 5 – 6 hours). A short pause for lunch en route than following the local path via rice paddies to get to our homestay for shower, dinner, and stay the night.

Summary:
Activities: Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 5-6hours: / distance 13 –15km

Day 7 : Nua Village – Kho Muong Village

If you are lucky enough to be here on Thursday you will be treated to be delights of the pho Doan market. We set off early, along with many of the villagers en- route to the markets. We have the opportunity to explore the market and soak up the atmosphere continuing for 4 hours uphill along the footpaths to the hidden villages of Kho Muong. This is perhaps the most remote of the village homestays. Trek to a  recently discovered and now protected cave, home to rare bats. It is a fantastic tour around the cavernous hollow interior, untouched as yet by fairy lights and concrete trails. Overnight in Ecotourism homestay

Summary:
Activities: Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 7- 8 hours: / distance 15km– 18 Km

Day 8 : Kho Muong —  Hang village

Today is hike 50% on village paths single track trail, through rice paddy terraced, cross stream and 50% on an old disused unpaved French road – the original Ho Chi Minh Trail. There are some good descents and several more streams crossings. The trekking is the remote yet one is never far from villagers tending fields..relax from the heat of the days in a local home while lunch is cooked before continuing to a village nestled between stee[p karst mountains. It is recommended to stroll around the villages and join in as the villagers go about their daily lives. Or relax in one of the three Eco homestays. Overnight homestays in the traditional stilt house of Ban Hang Villages Some tough sections through the forest on small paths.

Summary:
Activities: Trekking from Village – Village
Accommodation: Ecohomestay
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 7- 8 hours: / distance 15km– 18 Km

Day 9: Hang village –  Boat trip Ma river – Mai Chau – Hanoi.

After a leisurely breakfast, hike through the narrow valley to the junction where we hike to the fantastic Ma river. Take a boat upstream a short way ( approx 20 minutes) past the string of minority villages. Arriving at the meeting point with the driver, we take a bus to Mai Chau for lunch. After lunch, take time to walk around Mai Chau Village by some gifts for your friends. Say goodbye to Mai Chau, and transfer 3 hours back to Hanoi. we arrive in time for a big night celebration to mark the end of a great trip.

Summary:
Activities: Trekking, boat trip, and transferring back to Hanoi
Accommodation: None
Meals: B/L/D
Trekking time 2 – 3hours: / distance 9km