Tinh Hoa Binh Holiday Weather today
Date/time of update: November 22, 2024, 1:13 am, Timezone: GMT+7
Broken Clouds
Temperature: 20.54°C
Temperature feels like: 20.37°C
Minimum Temperature: 20.54°C
Maximum Temperature: 20.54°C
Atmospheric pressure: 1020hPa
Humidity:66%
Visibility: 10000m
Wind speed: 1.03m/sec
Wind Direction: 335 degrees
Cloudiness: 81%
Sunrise: 2024-11-21 11:12:47
Sunset: 2024-11-22 10:17:51
Mai Chau is the name of a lovely district of Hoa Binh Province with secret valleys, untouched forest, Thai villages… Mai Chau is also a name of the capital township of Mai Chau District and the name of the valley which encompasses Mai Chau Township. In this travel guide, we focus on the Mai Chau Valley.
Travel Guide to Mai Chau Hoa Binh, What to See, Tourist Attractions in Mai Chau Valley
1/ Mai Chau Town – Mai Chau Valley
Mai Chau Town is in a scenic valley with peaceful Thai villages. The valley is home to the White Thai People who live in houses on stilts. Traveling to Mai Chau, you can discover the untouched life of the local people and the idyllic landscape of a heavenly valley with surrounding mountains and rivers.
If you travel from Hanoi to Mai Chau via Route 6, you’ll turn into a smaller road from the Tong Dau T-Junction to Mai Chau Town which is 7-8km. Most places in the Mai Chau Valley are within 20-25km from the Tong Dau T-Junction.
2/ Mai Chau Market
The Mai Chau Market is in the center of Mai Chau Township. The gathering is every day for the daily needs of the communities around the town only. And it is quiet on weekdays. The market is busy on Sunday morning when local ethnic Thai from all of Mai Chau come and trade. The goods at the market are similar to other markets nowadays except for certain agricultural produce harvested from the mountains around Mai Chau.
3/ Lac Village and Pom Coong Village
The two villages of the Thai People are next to each other and, there was a paddy field in between. The paddy field is replaced by houses nowadays. Ban Lac first and Pom Coong second were the two pioneering villages in Mai Chau and in Vietnam to offer hometay service or community-based tourism. The two villages are 500m from Mai Chau Township and there are routes amid paddy fields as well as amid mountains that we can travel by bicycle or on foot to explore the surrounding.
Lac Village (Ban Lac) in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh, Vietnam
Mai Chau Valley from above
4/ Chieu Cave
Chieu Cave is a huge cavern on top of a limestone mountain which is in Mai Chau Township. From Mai Chau General Hospital, you travel along Route 15 for 300m then turn right and keep on for another 300m to the base of the mountain. It is quite a hike to the cave with several steep steps. Visiting the Hang Chieu Cave takes 1-2 hours. The inside of the cave is wet and quite slippery and with many hidden holes underground. Bring your own torch and exercise caution when visiting this cave.
A view of the Mai Chau Valley and Mai Chau Town from the Chieu Cave
The steep staircase to the Chieu Cave, Mai Chau
The small opening of the Chieu Cave
5/ Mai Hich Commune
Mai Hich is 15km southwest of Mai Chau Township with idyllic natural settings. As the Lac and Pom Coong Villages were getting overcrowded with tourists some travelers would like to avoid the crowds and Mai Hich started having the opportunity to access tourism only recently.
The neighborhood has fewer visitors than near Mai Chau Township and the natural landscape around the commune is just as bucolic: Long Cave, Pu Denh Mountain, Sia Stream…
6/ Xam Khoe (Sam Khoe) Commune
The Xam Khoe Commune is 25km west of Mai Chau Township. To get to Xam Khoe from Mai Chau Township we travel southward along Route 15 for 10km then turn right into the provincial route DT439 and keep on straight away. Most of the population of Xam Khoe is Thai people and staying with local families you can engage into the local life easily. There are lovely hills and mountains that we can trek for a couple of days to explore.
Rice field in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh
Tourist Attractions near the Mai Chau Valley and more Far-Flung Places in Mai Chau District
1/ Tourist Attractions near the Mai Chau Valley
Apart from those above tourist attractions in the Mai Chau Valley, you can visit other sites of interest nearby:
- The Ma River at Co Luong, 12km from Mai Chau Township with riverside villages and with different adventure boat trips;
- The Go Lao Waterfall, 12km north Mai Chau Township via a lovely back road, with lovely surrounding forest and relaxing air;
- Ba Khan Reservoir, another Halong Bay in the mountains, near the Go Lao Waterfall, 15km north of Mai Chau, with lovely boat trips or kayaking trips…
2/ Far-Flung Tourist Attractions in Mai Chau District
Mai Chau District is home to sublime mountains, secret valleys with of blossoms, untouched forests… you name it. The best way for exploring the area is on a hard trekking adventure. You’ll need to get to Pa Co which is 40km from Mai Chau Town (on Route 6). From Pa Co you trek up hill to Hang Kia Valley, home to a Hmong community and untouched forest. From Hang Kia, you’ll trek down hill through patches of forest to a valley at Cun Pheo. From here the road is quite flat through different Thai villages. This trek requires at least 2 nights at different villages on the way.
Things to Do, Adventure Travel, Family Tours
AdventureGreen.com offers series of adventure tours through Mai Chau ranging from trekking tours, motorcycle tours, homestay experiences to bicycle tours and boat tours around the area of Mai Chau. Mai Chau can be combined with an adventure tour to the Northwest of Vietnam or with a trip to the Pu Luong Nature Reserve.
A small house on stilts
Most houses on stilts have windows overlooking a garden or the rice field
A homestay amid green trees
A little pond
A house on stilts with a shop underneath
A restaurant underneath a house on stilts
The garden with a pond
The inside of a house on stilts
Underneath a house on stilts
The bamboo floor of a house-on-stilts
A spacious house on stitls
1/ Walking Tours
Most visitors make easy sightseeing trips to Mai Chau for 2 days and 1 night from Hanoi. At Mai Chau, you can explore the valley with visits to the Lac Village and Pom Coong Village, have a leisurely stroll on the endless paths in the valley taking in the fresh air as well as observing locals going about their daily life.
A road through rice fields at the Lac Village, Mai Chau, Hoa Binh
2/ Bicycle Tours
For those who love biking, then Mai Chau is a great place for either leisurely cycling or mountain biking depending on your interest. Easy cycling is done on flat village roads or amid rice fields teeming with activities.
Hard mountain biking brings you to less-seen villages of Mai Chau. The roads are all hilly and the trip requires at least 2 nights in Mai Chau.
3/ Trekking Tours, Hiking Trips
Hiking/trekking in the Mai Chau Valley is not as interesting as it once was. Small dirt paths in the past have been expanded into paved roads mostly nowadays. There are still interesting trekking tours in the far-flung villages of Mai Chau District though, and AdventureGreen can certainly work on one specifically for you.
Trekking in Hang Kia - Mai Chau
Splendid mountains on a trek at Hang Kia
4/ Caving, Spelunking Adventures
If you like caving/spelunking and if you do not mind hiking up over a thousand steps on a 45-degree mountainside, then there is the Chieu Cave on the Pu Kha Mountain located to the east of the Mai Chau Valley. The entrance to the cave is right in the center of Mai Chau Town. Visiting the cave takes about 2 hours. There is a railing inside the cave but the path is small and quite slippery; it is advisable exercise good caution then.
5/ Boat Trips, Rafting Trips
You can go on lovely boat trips on the Ma River (south of Mai Chau Township), rafting trips on the Sia River (Xam Khoe, west of Mai Chau Township) or boat trips or kayaking trips on the Ba Khan Reservoir on the Da River.
6/ Campfire, Traditional Thai Dance
In the evening, there are options of campfire or of sampling a traditional performance of local Thai tribe. The show is for one hour and you can take part in it yourself.
The site for campfires at the Pom Coong Village, Mai Chau
7/ Shopping Thai Traditional Brocade
Thai ladies have very graceful traditional attires which include a headdress, a shirts which cover the body gracefully and a skirt. Thai brocades including traditional clothes, headdresses, bags… which are manually made in the village are available for sales in several households.
8/ Tasting Local Thai Cuisine
Local food includes steamed rice in bamboo pipe, steamed sticky rice, grilled pork topped with roasted sesame seeds, grilled pork-paste wrapped in grapefruit leaves, stirred fried bamboo shoots, grilled river fish.
Food in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh: steamed snails, banana bud salad with peanuts, stir-fried shredded bamboo shoots, steamed fish...
A meal at Mai Chau: fried pork, stir-fried beef, fish, steamed spinach, bamboo shoot broth...
Steamed snails caught from the mountains
9/ Family Tours, Homestay Tours
There are several households in Chieng Chau Commune (Lac and Pom Coong Villages), Na Phon Commune... offering homestay service at their family’s houses on stilts. Also, there are few basic hotels, ecological hotels and luxury resorts available in the valley.
A window opens onto a rice field
Family with kids can stay at a Thai family and share the daily life with their hosts. You can take part in farm work, learn to work on Thai brocade or cook Thai cuisine. Besides, easy mountain hiking or leisure country road biking could be your choices in the Mai Chau Valley.
How to Get There, How to Get Around, Roads in Mai Chau District
Mai Chau District is not a spot but a vast mountainous area. You must move from one spot to another to take in the full beauty of Mai Chau.
- The road from Hanoi to Mai Chau is via Route 6 which goes up mostly at the Thung Khe Pass as you enter Mai Chau. You’ll want to stop to take in the sublime mountains below you here!
The mountain town of Mai Chau in Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam
- From Son La, Route 6 via Moc Chau Plateau to Mai Chau goes down mostly. By the roadsides, you’ll get untouched forests, sublime mountains and ethnic villages. The road is in excellent conditions but it may be flooded temporarily during the rainy season (August-October).
The scenic Route 6 from Moc Chau Plateau (Son La) to Mai Chau - Hoa Binh
- Route 15 from Pu Luong Nature Reserve (Thanh Hoa) to Mai Chau Town is flat mostly and in fairly good conditions. The road is flat mostly and it travels through the scenic Mai Chau Valley. There are lots of secret valleys and hidden villages if you are willing to stray off the main road and take the side paths...
Route 15 from Pu Luong Nature Reserve (Thanh Hoa) to Mai Chau - Hoa Binh
