Around 160km far away from Hanoi, set in an idyllic valley surrounded by hills and soaring mountain peaks, Mai Chau is home of peaceful ethnic minority villages among paddy fields and mountains, which is a tempting indigenous community-based tourism destination nowadays. This is a great place for a short hideaway from Hanoi’s hustle which helping you have a closer touch to the NorthWest of Vietnam.
Located in a valley in the NorthWestern at an altitude of 800-1000m above sea level, with mild and pleasant weather, Mai Chau attracts tourists in almost all seasons. Moderate humidity along with fresh air in the mountainous area makes Mai Chau an ideal place to take a short trip for relaxing, especially in weekend and holidays.
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Amazing natural scenery with the rich velvety green of paddy fields, of plants, of mountain ranges along with beautiful idyllic tribal villages have turned Mai Chau into a picturesque valley. Alluring nature makes Mai Chau always attractive to those who are looking for a closer touch to nature. Anyone who ever visited Mai Chau, even if it’s a short trip, will never forget the peaceful and charming beauty here.
Northwest Vietnam is a beautiful region blessed with the breathtaking mountainous landscape, untouched remote areas and distinctive culture of many ethnic minority groups of which Mai Chau is the first stop. The beauty of this place might be the inspiration to many tourists attempting to make an exploration further in NorthWest such as Sapa, Pu Luong Nature Reserve, Mu Cang Chai, etc. If you are interested in an adventure tour in Vietnam, Mai Chau is the first destination that you should not miss.
Mai Chau Valley is home of two among the most accomplished sustainable homestay tourism villages in Vietnam. Visiting Mai Chau, tourists will have a chance to explore the daily life of ethnic minority people through staying in the traditional stilt house of locals, visiting farmstays and joining in a traditional tour or green tourism routes. Mai Chau Valley is worth the typical model for developing community-based cultural tourism of Vietnam.
If you have an interest in nature and outdoor activities, Mai Chau has all to offer you. Trekking, cycling around the valley, visiting farmstay or taking a bamboo rafting in the river would be an enjoyable experience for you to see Mai Chau’s picturesque scenery and unexplored villages as well as witness the way of local life here.
Get inspired with our Best Tailor-Made Private Mai Chau Tours below
All Mai Chau Tours can be easily customized for free to your personal wishes & needs within 24h
The 2-day Mai Chau tour was designed to bring you the authentic experience of ethnic minority and untouched nature. You will definitely be blown away by the lush terraced rice fields, mighty mountains range, dense canopy of branches and leaves flickering in the wind and the friendliness of locals....
Looking for a short trip to escape from the stress of daily life? The 3 day trip to Mai Chau & Pu Luong - A perfect hideaway from the busy life in modern city awaits you. A short drive from Hanoi and we will be absolutely blown away by the breathtaking scenery along the road, from the wide mountain...
Designed to bring travellers a short break from the busy and crowded cities, our 3 day tour to Mai Chau will definitely blow you away. Coming to Mai Chau, travelers will have a chance to participate in many authentic ethnic experiences: walking around the local ethnic villages, staying in stilt...
If you are looking for a tour with the combination of natural and cultural experiences, this 3-day Mai Chau journey is a perfect choice for you. Starting from Hanoi - the vibrant capital of Vietnam, you will have a chance to visit famous cultural attractions which is the pride if Hanoians and...
This 4-day Amazing Adventure offers you an interesting journey to impressively natural landscapes and local communities in Mai Chau valley and Pu Luong Nature Reserve. You will join a walking street food tour in Hanoi to explore this ancient city before heading out to the mountainous area. During...
Vietnam is becoming one of the most romantic destinations for couples or honeymooners. Let experience Vietnam's beautiful landscapes, stuuning beaches, fresh delicious food, exciting outdoor adventure and vibrant cities accented with a breath of colonial air on our Vietnam Memorable Honeymoon 15...
This 19-day tour package is all about exploring the history, architecture, culture and local life of both Vietnam and Cambodia at the most enchanting sites that the two countries have to offer. You will cruise the magnificent beauty of Halong Bay, relax at the retreats of Pu Luong, feel the...
This 28-day tour package is a must-take for every travel enthusiast who’s planning a holiday in Southeast Asia since it passes through the amazing destinations of Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Along with thoughtfully planned activities at each stop, the trip takes you to some of the best and...
Mai Chau Quick Facts
Location: Mai Chau is a mountainous district of Hòa Bình Province, which is located at about 160 km from Ha Noi to the NorthWestern.
Population: around 63.000, with the majority of which is Thai people.
Area: approx 520 sq.km
Weather: The average temperature here is around 24.5°C with the highest temperature is around 31°C in the summer while the lowest temperature is an average of 18°C in the winter.
Special features: temperate weather, beautiful scenery, mountainous landscape, outdoor activities and unique ethnic local culture.
Actually, you can visit Mai Chau all year round, but from March to early May and from September to November are the best times to visit Mai Chau due to amazing landscape with lush colours on beautiful rice paddies covered all around the valley this time. Spring (around January and February) is also a great time to be here as it’s bloom time of peach, plum blossom and bauhinia, a typical flower of NorthWestern in Vietnam.
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As a leading community-based tourism destination, almost families in Mai Chau’s villages offer accommodation as local homestays and restaurants in their stilt houses which let tourists have a closer approach to local life here. All stilt houses are spacious, clean and built in traditional architecture. They are fully equipped with clean blankets, pillows, which is fairly accommodated for the travel group, friends or families stay. Have a local stay, enjoy local meals with specialities, do a shopping for beautiful local handicrafts and witness how locals live their life, even you can join and learn how to work like them with farmwork or traditional manual textile manufacturing, all your experiences in Mai Chau wouldn’t be more authentic than that, would it?
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Bicycle rental for travellers is also commonly available in Mai Chau for anyone who loves new discoveries. The electric car is also a great alternative to explore Mai Chau but cycling is much more interesting indeed. Exploring Mai Chau by riding pass main paths which connect stilt houses in villages, finding your own quiet corner in the valley among rice paddies and mountains or getting away from the crowds, take your time on untouched trails and stop by for having your own photos with beautiful landscape surrounding might be the greatest pleasure you'll have in Mai Chau. It is surely a healthy outdoor activity that you can not ignore when you’re staying in this valley.
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Mai Chau attracts tourists not only by the peaceful and charming natural beauty but also by the distinctive of the local culture here, which is represented through people daily life and their passionate spiritual life with featured music and dances as well. Two among the most common traditional dancing in Mai Chau is Xoe Dancing, which is combined with colourful fans or scarves, and Sap Dancing (also called bamboo dancing), which is added with dances through bamboo poles, which harmoniously get along with melody and rhythm. Don’t hesitate to join in the fun and enjoyment of the traditional dances with locals here as it is indeed exceptional experience, which lively shows the richness of the cultural and spiritual life of residents here.
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When talking about Mai Chau, it’s surely deficient if we don’t mention the culinary culture here. The favourable natural condition has created signature Mai Chau cuisine that attracts a lot of tourists. There are numerous local dishes in Mai Chau that you must try when travelling here. They are not only simply stunning dishes but they also stand for the essence of Thai people’s cuisine. Each of them possesses different special taste, which surely brings to you unforgettable experiences with local food here.
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Bamboo rafting might be one of great experiences in Mai Chau that you should not miss. Joining a short journey on the stream and admiring the scenery from another view will bring a different feeling to you. What you need to do is take a life jacket, step on the bamboo raft, stay still on it and explore Mai Chau’s beauty with the help of locals who are paddling along the clear water stream. If you’re an adventure lover, you can definitely ask local to teach you how to control the raft and try it on your own. In general, it could be very slow and nice, just floating down the stream and not a lot of action, but somehow you will prefer it that way.
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Mai Chau is well- known as one of the best places with the best upland sticky rice. And grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice is a signature dish that every visitor must try in Mai Chau. Ingredients making this dish include sticky rice, banana leaves and bamboo tube. There could be also coconut fibre yarn and coconut milk added to the rice for the more aromatic smell. Sticky rice will be soaked around 2-3 hours, washed and let it drain before being put into a bamboo tube which has banana leaves inside already and grilled on charcoal. Fragrant upland sticky rice combined with the great smell of leaves and bamboo makes “com lam” possess a unique flavour. You can eat “com lam” with grilled pork skewers, but you’d better enjoy this dish with salted sesame and milled peanut.
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With the main ingredient is upland sticky rice as well, this is another way to create a delicious dish from sticky rice. Rice is also re-processed as grilled bamboo-tube, but it will be soaked longer for around 4-5 hours then put on the pot dropped enough water, covered and steamed until it turns soft, sticky and aromatic, which means the rice has been well-cooked. Normally you can eat white sticky rice, but according to traditional conception, they also created various colours (usually 5 different colours) for the rice before steaming with the hope of well-off life. This dish is often cooked on special events such as holidays, festivals and the new rice day.
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You can catch so many people in Mai Chau’s Villages offering grilled pork skewers, which is an attractive option to be enjoyed by many visitors. Pigs in Mai Chau are fed with food and vegetables without stimulants, which help the meat have distinctive fresh flavour. After being re-processed, the meat will be cut into pieces, marinated with a variety of different spices: salt, fish sauce, chilli, garlic, citronella, lime, ginger, turmeric, vinegar then grilled on charcoal. The meat is well-cooked slowly, melted and turned into a stunning yellow colour with a fragrant smell. Paired with grilled bamboo-tube sticky rice, it was a simple combo that was so enriching in tastes and satisfaction in enjoyment!
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Bitter bamboo shoots in Mai Chau are available all year round but its right season and easiest time to buy is in the rainy season, usually from July to September. It has become a common dish in every meal here. Bitter bamboo shoots can create many delicious dishes with many different recipes such as boiled, stir-fried, stewed, grilled, etc along with other main ingredients. At your first taste, it will be light bitter in the beginning but a very special sweetness in your throat afterwards. Bitter bamboo shoot is a favourite dish in Mai Chau, which is a very pleasant experience of this peaceful land.
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“Ruou can” is a type of local alcohol drunk out of a jar through long pipes, which is often served in holidays, special events and festivals. The alcohol is made from fermented grains such as corn, cassava, glutinous rice, local seeds and nuts. These ingredients will be fermented into the pot or jar. The longer the time the liquor is, the more delicious it is. People do not drink “Ruou can” from cups or bowls. They use one-meter-long bamboo pipes that are straightened, but elastic then pierce and bend them through the jar’s mouth to reach the liquor inside. Celebrating with “Ruou can” is an outstanding subculture of minorities in this beautiful Mai Chau Valley.
Minh Tho Homestay is located in a small village outside of the main town which is actually really idyllic, quiet and peaceful. The stilt house is very clean, well-accommodated and comfortable. The homestay also offers a clean pool which was absolutely perfect during the hot weather. The food is indeed local and tasty, plus the people here are very helpful, attentive and friendly. Everything in Minh Tho Homestay is just great value to you for sure.
Like Minh Tho, Dan Nhu Homestay is also a true Vietnamese accommodation with the traditional architecture of Thai people in Mai Chau. With beautiful scenery surrounding, delicious local food, great staff, diverse activities such as bicycle rental, bamboo rafting, traditional dancing, etc, Dan Nhu Homestay is a perfect option for your stay in Mai Chau.
With a concept as a place to get back to nature, Mai Chau Ecolodge is a luxury eco-accommodation in Mai Chau, which possesses not only the best panoramic view to the valley but also a symphony of natural style and comfort. Immersing in the local way of life, indulging peaceful stunning scenery with smiling and warm-hearted people in Mai Chau Ecolodge will surely bring to your stay an idyllic vibe which is truly out of this world.
Located in the beautiful Mai Chau Valley, Mai Chau Lodge offers the perfect basis to anyone in search of spectacular landscapes, which encounters with ethnic minorities and complete relaxation, combines with various choices of food and friendly service. Mai Chau Lodge also offers multiple outdoor activities for active visitors ranging from biking and trekking to kayaking and rock climbing.
Mai Chau Hideaway is a beautiful lake resort which is built for nature lovers and helps each traveller discover, relax and enjoy the peaceful moment away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Possessing traditional design but very well-equipped and comfortable accommodation, plus an outdoor pool overlooking to Hoa Binh Lake with breathtaking scenery, Mai Chau Hideaway is an ideal stay for anyone who is looking for a true escape from busy daily life.
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Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Stay in villages and have experiences with local life
Biking around the valley
Biking around the valley
Biking around the valley
Biking around the valley
Biking around the valley
Biking around the valley
Join traditional dancing with locals
Join traditional dancing with locals
Join traditional dancing with locals
Join traditional dancing with locals
Join traditional dancing with locals
Join traditional dancing with locals
Enjoy meals with local specialities
Enjoy meals with local specialities
Enjoy meals with local specialities
Enjoy meals with local specialities
Enjoy meals with local specialities
Bamboo Rafting
Bamboo Rafting
Bamboo Rafting
Bamboo Rafting
Grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice (Com lam)
Grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice (Com lam)
Grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice (Com lam)
Grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice (Com lam)
Grilled Bamboo-tube sticky rice (Com lam)
Steamed upland sticky rice (Xoi Nep Nuong)
Steamed upland sticky rice (Xoi Nep Nuong)
Steamed upland sticky rice (Xoi Nep Nuong)
Steamed upland sticky rice (Xoi Nep Nuong)
Grilled pork skewers
Grilled pork skewers
Grilled pork skewers
Bitter bamboo shoot
Bitter bamboo shoot
Bitter bamboo shoot
Local Alcohol (Ruou can)
Local Alcohol (Ruou can)
Local Alcohol (Ruou can)
Local Alcohol (Ruou can)
Pleasant weather all year round
Pleasant weather all year round
Pleasant weather all year round
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Pleasant weather all year round
Pleasant weather all year round
Pleasant weather all year round
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Beautiful scenery
Gateway to the NorthWest
Gateway to the NorthWest
Gateway to the NorthWest
Gateway to the NorthWest
Gateway to the NorthWest
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Well-maintained community-based tourism
Diverse outdoor activities
Diverse outdoor activities
Diverse outdoor activities
Diverse outdoor activities
Diverse outdoor activities
Diverse outdoor activities
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