Deciding on Vietnam was the easy part, right? You want pagodas and paddies and to see those crazy jungle-fringed karst formations emerging from the parakeet-green waters of Ha Long Bay. If you’ve looked at a single photo from this Southeast Asian country, your heart has probably already dropped anchor alongside the colorful junk boats that pepper the surface of the Gulf of Tonkin.
If your checklist includes everything from kayaking to Tai Chi to cooking classes and a desire to learn more about the local tribes, temples and caves, Vietnam delivers more than phở noodles and spring rolls!
Wild Women Expeditions offers two tempting Vietnam-based itineraries. In this destination guide we do the nitpicky work and illustrate what activities and sites overlap on both trips and what is wholly unique to the Northern Vietnam Explorer and Northern Vietnam Hiking Adventure. We’ll point out the most tantalizing bits of each itinerary so you can make a sound and awesome decision that reflects the very best trip for you.
Let’s break it down–here’s what’s the same!
- Opt for travel dates in the favorable departure months of March, April and November.
- The budget-friendly price ($3,495 US).
- Trips launch and end in Hanoi.
- Interactive cooking classes and market visits.
- Admission to the Vietnam Women’s Museum where exhibits focus on the role of women in family, history and fashion with displays that share stories about marriage and birth customs, traditional costumes and the evolution of Vietnamese women from wartime to modern day.
- A city tour of Hanoi’s Old Quarter–it’s a bombardment of sights, sounds, smells, vendors, revving motorbikes and the fluidity of life!
- Spend three precious days and two nights on a cruise boat absorbing the sheer beauty of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay.
- In Ninh Binh, explore Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam. See the 10th-century King Dinh Tien Hoang and King Le Dai Hanh temples of the dual UNESCO World Heritage Site of Trang An Landscape Complex.
- Visit Hang Mua and tackle the challenging 486 stone steps to the tip top of Ngoa Long mountain, the twin pinnacle paradise in Ninh Binh. Gulp in the panorama of Tam Coc, the rice fields and river below. Known as the Majestic Crouching Dragon mountain, this is one of the most memorable panoramas of the Trang An Landscape Complex.
- Kayak in the Hoa Binh Reservoir, one of the largest manmade lakes in Vietnam (Vietnam Explorer) or paddle in the waters of the Cong Dam (Vietnam Hiking)–this area is referred to as an arresting outdoor geological museum.
Now, here’s what’s totally different!
Northern Vietnam Explorer
Duration: 10 days
Touchdown and takeoff: Hanoi International (Noi Bai) Airport (HAN)
Snapshot:
For women seeking meaningful community-based experiences, we have lunch with a Thai minority woman and dinner in a Buoc village home with a traditional musical performance. On this trip we also try classic Hanoian dishes with a local family and sample traditional specialities at our hosts’ lakeside home alongside a rice field. We can try to fish here, too.The Vietnam Explorer itinerary also includes built-in mindfulness with Tai Chi sessions and yoga classes. At Avana Retreat, complimentary Hatha or Yin yoga sessions are scheduled in rotation with singing bowl meditation and breathwork.
On this Wild at Heart journey, explore Vietnam through tea, cave tours and a short bike ride in Viet Hai village. There’s also a unique batik beeswax experience with the Blue H’mong!
The highlight reel:
Participate in a Vietnamese cooking class led by a female chef at a riverside house after visiting the Ngoc Thuy market outside the Old Quarter. Learn about unfamiliar vegetables, Vietnamese culinary culture and generational secrets!
Deepen and steepen your tea history knowledge in a one hour-long tea tasting experience at an artfully designed tea house near the historical Temple of Literature. A female tea master will explain the origins, field-to-cup process, customs and values of tea in Vietnam. Learn how to properly make, taste and distinguish three types of tea. We can also pick our own tea at a plantation in Pa Co village.
Cruise Control:
Visit Lan Ha Bay (a part of Ha Long Bay), one of the most startling landscapes in Vietnam with its stretch of uninhabited giant rock islets growing taller with lush vegetation on the Indochine or Orchid Trendy boat (depending on the departure date). Cruise into the less navigated area of Tra Brau and visit Bai Trai Dao (Three Peaches Islets) via a smaller boat. The isles are so-named for their appearance though some insist that the name stems from a romantic legend involving a fairy and a fisherman.
See the Trung Trang cave on Cat Ba island. This 984-foot long (300m) cave is part of an extensive system of 150 large and small caves pocketed in Trung Trang Valley, northwest of Cat Ba town. It’s also referred to as “Hospital Cave” as it served as a shelter and sanctuary during the Vietnam War. We also see the supernatural stalactites of Tam Coc (Ca, Hai and Ba Cave) by sampan (a flat-bottomed wooden boat).
In Pa Co village, meet the women of Hmong or “Blue Hmong”. This name stems from the indigo-dyed batiked head cloth, fabric and knee-length skirts women wear and we’ll join a batik workshop and learn how patterns are created using melted beeswax and coloured thread.
The sweetest sleep: In Mai Chau, the mountainside luxury villas of Avana Retreat are hugged by nature. Here, three ethnic groups live in the embrace out the tropical forest. Avana’s design is wholly inspired by the local ethnic culture and visible in the rattan ceilings, earth walls and thatched roofs that naturally blend into the stand of forest, rice fields and verdant valley below. Sleep and swim in the clouds! The Avana Cloud pool is a heated three-tier pool inspired by the surrounding terraced rice fields of Mai Chau. At the Orchid Spa, choose from a menu of services (additional fee) including Vietnamese energy work and mountain stone massage.There are koi-filled ponds, a bamboo forest, a hidden springs lagoon and a terrace to linger on.
Northern Vietnam Hiking Adventure
Duration: 11 days
Touchdown and take-off: Hanoi International (Noi Bai) Airport (HAN)
This hiking-lite trip involves three days of sweat equity but the legwork has its rewards. Inside Hoang Lien National Park, bamboo pine, cotton trees, blue cypress and azaleas are part of the marvel mix. If we are lucky, we may get to see silver langurs, hooting black gibbon, red-crested pheasants and hornbills. We will hike to the Love Waterfall which appears like a bridal veil as it cascades over the rocks. The trail from here winds and climbs to Mount Fansipan (the “Roof of Indochina”)–but we’ll keep things even keel and not climb to the roof!
Instead, we step into a curious mix of velvety jungle, blooming flora and water buffalos! From the Love Waterfall, our local Sapa guide will lead us to Sin Chai, a serene village where the welcoming Red Dao reside. The tribe has distinct rituals and a religion that combines elements of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. In My Son village, we’ll see one of the least populated and most remote villages in Sapa. On foot, we follow trails truly off the beaten track through the deep valleys with stellar mountain views and ribbons of waterfalls to the Red Dao village of Nam Nhiu where we learn more about their daily life.
The skinny on the hikes:
There are three days of challenging hiking, mostly due to the hot, humid conditions. Expect unpredictable and uneven terrain but several stops to smell the roses! (*And there are roses in Vietnam! In Sapa, there is a valley with over 300,000 rose plants of 150 varieties.)
Day 3: 9 miles (15 km) from Love Waterfall to Sin Chai Village
Day 4: 6 miles (10 km) from Ban Po to My Son Village
Day 5: 5.6 miles (9 km) from Sin Chai to Nam Cang
The highlight reel:
In Bac Ha, we visit the largest market in all of northern Vietnam where ethnic groups such as the Flower Hmong, Phu La, Black Dao, Tay and Nung minorities gather to trade.
See Hoang A Tuong Palace, a heritage site that impressively blends Western, French and Asian architecture. Construction of the palace began in 1914 and took seven years to complete.
Enjoy a cooking class at a local restaurant to learn about authentic Vietnamese cuisine–lunch will be a taste test of our cooking class efforts!
In Sin Chai village, our female Hmong guide is employed by Sapa O’Chau Travel Social Enterprise, the only tour operator in Vietnam that is officially registered as a social enterprise providing opportunities for Sapa and all ethnic minorities through guiding positions, tours, a hotel, café and the Hmong handicraft store.
Explore the 500-year-old Ninh Van Stone Village where Buddha and lion statues, pillars, tombs and dragon stone reliefs are carved by talented and industrious artists.
Celebrate with a truly feel-good farewell dinner at KOTO restaurant. KOTO’s vocational training program was created to empower at-risk young Vietnamese and equip them with skills for successful careers in the hospitality industry. KOTO stands for “know one, teach one.”
Cruise Control:
Aboard the Renea Cruise, embark on an unforgettable floating journey through the rock formations of Cong Do and Cap La Island in Bai Tu Long Bay. We visit Vung Vieng fishing village where nearly 50 households harmoniously exist, wholly dependent on the fish below.
In Ninh Binh, we visit the well-hidden Thien Canh Son Cave and linger at a biscuit-white sandy beach on Hon Co Island. Known as ‘Ha Long Bay on land’ its winding river has carved its path between two towering limestone mountains.
The sweetest sleep: Located on a hillside in the mountains of Hoang Lien National Park, the Scandi-inspired mountain bungalows of Topas Eco Lodge are designed out of local white granite in a minimalistic chalet-style. The tranquil infinity pools offer knock-out views of the rice terraces, raw peaks and valleys.
The fine print for both trips
For those who are not enthused about the natural Stairmaster of Hang Mua, there are a few coffee shops at the base to linger at instead.
On the Vietnam Explorer, for women who don’t wish to bike in Viet Hai village, an electric vehicle is available for a small fee. Kayaking is also an optional activity.
The Renea Cruise, Indochine and Trendy Orchid are not 100% Wild Women exclusive and may include co-ed passengers and staff.
The Northern Vietnam Hiking Adventure involves some legwork and butt time. Expect longer transfers (5 to 7.5 hours) to access Sapa and the remote Topas Eco Lodge.
If you’d like to combine one of these trips with our new Cambodia Explorer itinerary, you can on these dates in 2025:
- Mar 6 – Mar 12, 2025: Northern Cambodia Explorer → Mar 14 – 23, 2025: Northern Vietnam Explorer
- Apr 10 – Apr 16, 2025: Northern Cambodia Explorer → Apr 18 – 27, 2025: Northern Vietnam Explorer
- Nov 4 – Nov 13, 2025: Northern Vietnam Explorer → Nov 15 – 21, 2025: Northern Cambodia Explorer
- Nov 25 – Dec 4, 2025: Northern Vietnam Explorer → Dec 6 – Dec 12, 2025: Northern Cambodia Explorer
- Nov 25 – Dec 5, 2025: Northern Vietnam Hiking Adventure → Dec 6 – Dec 12, 2025: Northern Cambodia Explorer
If you are still torn, our Adventure Experts can help you narrow things down! Whether you opt for the Explorer or Hiking Adventure, we guarantee that Vietnam will invigorate all your senses in a powerful way.
