Mai Chau-Pu Luong, 3 days trek in golden season

Trek_mai-chau-pu-luong

Trekking 3 Days Mai Chau - Pu Luong © Yair Palti

Charming Northwest region in the “gold season”

In the Autumn in the northwest.of Vietnam, any visitor to the region is enthralled by the area's breathtaking natural backdrop, especially the rice terraces that turn gold. The villagers of northwest Vietnam sow their rice once a year (twice, regarding Pu Luong). The best time to view golden terraced rice fields is in the autumn, when the weather is at its most pleasant with clear skies overhead and sunlight bathing the mountains. It is also the moment where many visitors also like to observe people harvesting, packing, and transporting rice from the fields. Travelers find it difficult to leave after taking in these stunning views.
Many ethnic communities in the northwest have long used terraced rice fields as a technique to raise crops on sloping terrain. They are also lovely artificial landscapes. As we enter just in the month of October, we would like to share with you a shady retreat in the midst of some of West Vietnam's most breathtaking rice terraces, situated between Mai Chau and Pu Luong. This 3 days/2 nights itinerary offers a spectacular and contemplative immersion, rich in moments shared with the locals.

Mai Chau Valley - © Mr Linh's Adventure

Mai Chau Valley

Situated 140 km from Hanoi City-center, the Mai Chau Valley is a prime vacation spot with a pleasant, temperate climate, breathtaking, lyrical scenery, welcoming locals, and a distinct cultural character.
Mai Chau is the land on which the White Thai traditionally reside. This ethnic community has preserved its unique lifestyles, with its costumes, houses on stilts, folklore, not to mention a rich culinary heritage.
Our itinerary has a stop in Pom Coong Village, well-known for its many symbolic and deep meaning. Pom Coong is often defined as a community perched on a large drum in the hills. Pom Coong, which has more than 300 residents and about 70 households, is known as a cultural hamlet, a popular tourist attraction, and a desired site for visitors from all over the world. The Pom Coong tribe still build their characteristic stilted dwellings today.

► Learn more about Mai Chau reading our Mai Chau Highlights & Travel Guide

Rice fields Pu Luong - © Mr Lin's Adventure

Pu Luong Nature Reserve

You will find Pu Luong after crossing Mai Chau, in the western part of Thanh Hoa province.
Set in a high mountain setting with pristine forests surround, Pu Luong has a comfortable climate all year round, even during the sweltering summer months. But the most picturesque months for photography are September to October : the terraced fields in Pu Luong, from outside Ban Cong Commune to the center of the nature reserve, such as Don, Hieu, and Muong, are ripe in mid-October.
Often compared to a miniature Sapa, Pu Luong allows you to see the ripe golden rice season, go sightseeing, and unrestrictedly experience unforgettable moments without having to travel very far to the highlands of the Northwest or Northeast. At Gold Season, the stunning and vibrant landscape image is produced by how the yellow-gold of the ripe rice contrasts with the blue sky and the green of the mountains.. Anyone who watch individuals cultivating rice peacefully using a manual approach and children following their mothers is "fascinated" by the scene.
During the harvest, Pu Luong's villages come alive with activity. People are rushing to areas like Kho Muong Valley to harvest and prepare for the new crop. After a trek of 12-15 km, you will reach this village at the end of the world, far from the effervescence of the capital.
This trek is also a gourmet opportunity to taste local specialties such as: grilled boar, grilled brook fish, hill chicken, bitter bamboo shoots, mountain snails, com lam (rice cooked in a bamboo),etc. Not to forget the Co Lung duck, typical of the Ba Thuoc region, with its super tender and tasty meat.