Moc Chau Essential Travel Guide - The Dreamy Plateau
Things to do in Moc Chau
1. Tea time at Moc Chau Tea Hills
It's a long established fact that you can find Vietnam's best green and black tea in Moc Chau Pleateau. Indeed, planting tea has become a big thing here with almost 3000 hectares of tea gardens. Moc Chau Tea hills lie about 15km away from Moc Chau Farm, and they will capture your eyes right away with the green rows of tea trees running hill after hill. The whole landscape become even more vivid when the sunlight cast down on the hills, therefore visit these tea hills in summer for a great photoshoot would be a wonderful experience.
2. Soak up the culture in Hua Tat Village
Come to Hua Tat, you’ll have the chance to enjoy almost everything in one trip from cultural immersion to pine forest trek to hand-on lessons of ethnic handicrafts. All these activities are set in an idyllic and peaceful atmosphere of highland’s village.
There are three workshops to visit in Hua Tat: H’mong Cooking Workshop, H’mong Embroidery Workshop, and H’mong Paper Workshop. These workshops preserve the very essential traditions and craftsmanship of H’mong culture in northern Vietnam.
3. Visit Moc Chau's best cave – Doi (Bat) Cave
4. Admire the romantic beauty of Dai Yem Waterfall
5. Ba Phach Village – the village of cauliflowers
Ba Phach Village is well-known for spectacular sights of plump and peach flowers blooming in spring time and cauliflower blooming from November to December. The village is home to two ethnic groups residing here - Thai people and H'mong people with their richness of cultural customs and traditions. Thai and Mong people have a tradition of living together for a long time. Thai people live and cultivate near water source while H’Mong people live up high and cultivate on terraced fields. It's also the reason there are Lower Ba Phach and Upper Ba Phach. The Thai takes the lower village while H'mong people reside on 3 village of upper Ba Phach (Ba Phach 1, 2, 3).
6. Get lost in the plum paradise at Na Ka Valley
Every spring, the whole 100 hectares of plum trees in Na Ka valley, located 20km away from Moc Chau town, turn into a paradise of blooming plum flowers was white as clouds. If you're seeking the chance to take some of the most dreamy Vietnam landscape pictures, go to Moc Chau in January and February. Another time to visit Na Ka valley is in May - when the plums are just ripe for harvesting. A plum festival is also held during this time to attract tourists to Moc Chau.
7. Off the bean track to On Village’s Five Caves
The Cave Number Three welcomes you with its sparkling stalactites looking like they are dripping down from the ceilings. Other karst structures with many different shapes and sizes will arouse your own imagination like a floating cloud, an animal, or a woman.
8. Picnic at Ang Village’s Pine forest
9. Hike to Pha Luong’s board peak
Nowadays, Pha Luong Mountain has become a famous trekking site with the level of difficulty has dropped significantly yet the nature beauties has still been as wild and beautiful as they were in the past.
*Tips for climbing Pha Luong Mountain:
- For foreign travelers who wish to climb Pha Luong, you'll have to attain a permit from authorities to visit the place.
- No one will be allowed to stay overnight on the mountaintop
- Take much time to rest and prepare at the border guard station which is located 10km away from the highway before going up.
- Best time to climb is between December and April which is the dry season in Vietnam
>>> Tempted to visit Moc Chau? See our tour:
What to eat in Moc Chau
1. Five-colored sticky rice
This dish is a specialty in many provinces in northwest Vietnam, including Moc Chau Plateau. The sticky rice is made from glutinous rice but the colors are made from natural ingredients. There will be five different colors including green, yellow, red, purple and white. Due to different ingredients, the fragrances of each colored sticky rice will be different, too. You can find this dish most frequently at fair markets.
2. Ca Suoi Nuong (Grilled Fish)
The fishes caught from the clean streams of Moc Chau plateau are firstly cleansed and its organs will be removed before before being grilled. The tantalizing smell when the fishes are done is absolutely irresistible and the taste won't disappoint you. If you have the chance to dine with a Thai family, this dish will appear on the table, served as the warmest welcome from the host family.
Thit trau gac bep (Dried Buffalo Meat)
This dish is the specialty of Black Thai people you can only find in North Vietnam. Made by hanging marinated buffalo meat on the wooden bars on the top of the kitchen for several months, the meat tastes sweet and chewy, best when accompanied with corn wine. A fun fact about this dish is the buffalo meat, without any preservation, will be kept from going bad for about one month.
Where to stay in Moc Chau Vietnam
As a famous tourist destination of northwest Vietnam, Moc Chau has a wide variety of accommodation services. Cheap hotels and hostels can be rented for 100,000VND – 300,000VND per night per room in Moc Chau town. In other areas, there is homestay service in ethnic village with wide price range, can be anywhere between under 100,000VND per person per night to above 1 million VND per person per night.
How to get to Moc Chau Vietnam
Moc Chau plateau is about 200km away from Hanoi by national highway 6, the distance is suitable for both motorbiking or taking bus.
You can catch buses to Moc Chau (Son La) in My Dinh and Yen Nghia bus stations with ticket price ranging from 130,000VND – 160,000VND. Reliable companies are Hai Van, Bac Son and Hung Thanh. Coaches depart from morning to late night, taking you about 4-5 hours to Moc Chau.
When is the best time to visit Moc Chau Vietnam
During spring, Moc Chau boasts a lush, poetic beauty when the plum and peach flowers bloom all over on the green hills. Come to the villages of Thai, Hmong, Dao minorities for such sights. In summer, pine forest in Ang village offers shades for picnics while Dai Yem waterfall is its finest beauty. Come to a tea plantation for a refreshing taste of the most famous Vietnamese tea. In autumn, Moc Chau changes for its most important fair market and festivals - “Love Market”, “Independence Day” and “Het Cha” festival. It would be a wonderful experience if you can join the joyous, festive and lively atmosphere of the people here.
- January – February: peach blossom and damson flower season
- March: ban flower season
- April: tea field harvesting season
- April to August: peach and damson fruit season
- September: Tet Doc Lap – the biggest holiday and cultural festival of Moc Chau people
- October to February: kale flower, da quy flower season (peak on November)
Praying-for-rain festival of Thai people: this is the most important festival of Thai people in Moc Chau. In 15th century, the festival was popular then lost until 2011 by when it was restored. The festival is held on 15th of February of Lunar Calendar annually to wish for a new bumper. Thai people prepare very carefully for this important day and one thing that can’t be missed is the Neu tree which is believed to send the messages of the people to the gods above. An altar full of fine foods and votive is made and put out in the outside. A shaman will use a bamboo leave to splash water on everyone symbolizing that the gods shall give rain to the people.
Moc Chau can be visited almost all year round, a wonderful destination of northwest Vietnam still pristine and untouched by mass tourism. Contact us now for more information about Moc Chau Vietnam and other destinations or send your request to [email protected].
