Ha Giang

Located in the mountainous area of North Vietnam, Ha Giang is a majestic mountain region with rugged terrain and an average altitude of 800 m to 1,200 m above sea level. This is a region with many high mountains.

The northern highland is also called Dong Van plateau, including Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac districts. 90% of the area is covered with limestone mountains, typical for karst terrain.

In 2010, the Dong Van Karst Plateau in Dong Van District was officially recognized by UNESCO as a global karst geo-park, the first of its kind in Vietnam and the second in Southeast Asia (after the Langkawi Park in Malaysia).

The western highlands include Hoang Su Phi and Xin Man districts. In 2012, the terraced rice fields in Hoang Su Phi District were listed among Vietnam’s national relics, and later in 2015 it became a national intangible cultural heritage. With its natural resources, Ha Giang Province has many tourist sites of significant value and is a very famous region for adventurous travelers.

The low mountainous region covers the remaining districts and towns, stretching from Bac Me, Ha Giang town, through Vi Xuyen to Bac Quang. This area has strips of old forest interspersed with relatively flat valleys located along rivers and streams.

Visitors who come to Ha Giang can admire the majestic mountains, the terraced rice fields looking like paintings which are shining with a golden color during harvest time (September – October), or sparkling in water during field-watering time (April – May). Amid the up and down mountainous slopes are grounds of beautiful flowers such as peach blossom, plum blossom, yellow mustard flower (January – February). Here and there are houses-on-stilts of the local ethnic residents resting so peacefully with cooking smoke from the kitchens covering the dark green mountains in the later afternoon.