This is a beautiful place located between heaven and earth in Ha Giang. Coming here, you will enjoy wonderful scenery along with the typical traditional culture of the local people. Let’s find out with Origin Vietnam what’s interesting in Sung La valley.
1. Where is Sung La Valley?
Sung La Valley is located in Sung La commune, Dong Van district, Ha Giang province. This place is known as the most beautiful commune of the Dong Van stone plateau.
The valley is located on Highway 4C, the road connecting the center of Dong Van karst plateau with Yen Minh town. The valley is located about 20 km northwest of Dong Van town and about 127 km northeast of Ha Giang city center.
Coming here, you will be immersed in a dreamy space with attractive things from nature and people.
2. How is Sung La valley unique?
Sung La Valley is known by many nicknames. Such as “oasis”, “valley where rocks bloom” or “brilliant and charming flower of the rocky plateau”. When you come here, you will feel the harmony of poetic nature and local people, seemingly blending together to create a beautiful picture between mountains and sky.
Formed on the precarious terrain of treacherous cat-ear rocks. But with the strong vitality and unyielding will of the flower buds, they have risen, giving the valley a sweet and enchanting landscape.
Currently, Sung La valley is considered a famous tourist destination of Ha Giang not only for Vietnamese but also foreign tourists. Moreover, with the appearance of the valley in the famous movie “Pao’s Story” in Vietnam, Sung La valley becomes increasingly famous and loved by many people.
3. When is the best time to travel to Sung Valley?
You can visit Sung La valley in any season, because the valley is beautiful all year round. Each season this place has its own unique beauty. The important thing is when you are free, what season do you like to go, do you like virtual selfies or not?,… When you answer these questions, you will easily find the best time and season. and the most suitable way to go to Sung La Dong Van.
- In spring, the valley attracts large numbers of tourists. This is the season when trees sprout and flowers bloom, so the landscape here becomes greener, full of life and more colorful.
- In the weather of the first days of the new year, flower fields bloom and bloom on the harsh rocky ground, turning the coldness of the landscape into a charming love song of heaven and earth.
- This valley is still known as the valley of flowers. Therefore, you can come here in October and November to see buckwheat flowers. Let me tell you, this is considered the most beautiful place to see buckwheat flowers in Vietnam.
- You can choose this time to go to the valley to see the flowers blooming on the rocks and admire the colorful picture of buckwheat flowers. In addition to the purple, pink and white of buckwheat flowers, the natural picture also includes the yellow of mustard flowers, the white of pear flowers and plum flowers.
4. How to get to Sung La valley?
If you come from the Central and Southern provinces of Vietnam, then you will need to travel by plane to Hanoi first before you can get to Ha Giang and then visit the beautiful Sung La valley.
- From Ha Giang city, if you want to reach Sung La valley, you need about 2 hours to travel on route 4C. Although 4C is a national highway, it is still a mountain pass so it takes a lot of time to travel, especially when the weather gets bad like fog, drizzle or strong winds.
- From the Hanoi area, you can travel to Ha Giang by sleeper bus. You go to the My Dinh bus station area to catch buses to the Ha Giang city area, then from Ha Giang city you move to Sung La valley.
After arriving in Ha Giang city, to continue conquering Sung La valley, you continue to move a little further. Usually tourists will choose to travel by motorbike to easily see the view. all the scenery of this place, as well as discover the beauty of this beautiful land of Ha Giang.
5. Sightseeing & Things to do in Sung La valley
5.1. Lui Market – Pho Bang
Pho Bang – Lui market is known as a small market, not too bustling nor busy like other markets in Ha Giang. As usual, this market will meet once a week, the meeting location is right at the Sung La intersection.
The market only opens in the morning, so try to arrange your schedule to visit, buy and sell as well as learn more about the life and culture of the people here. In particular, this market is also an opportunity to meet and date couples.
5.2. Admiring the colorful flowers
When you come to Sung La valley, the first thing you feel is the extremely fresh, pleasant air, and above all, the strange peace of the valley. The most impressive thing for you may be the majesty of the steep rocky mountains that create the wildness of this place. In the distance, you will see rice fields sandwiched between mountains and honest, rustic people working in the fields.
When you come here, you will be overwhelmed by the colorful natural space of flowers and grass. Especially around October and November, you will be truly impressed with the beauty of buckwheat flowers. Known as the typical flower of Ha Giang, there are many of these flowers almost anywhere. But right in Sung La you can see the brilliant buckwheat flowers.
5.3. Experiencing the beauty of local culture
When coming to Sung La valley, you should not miss visiting Lung Cam cultural village. It’s a beautiful small village including more than 60 households of ethnic groups. Such as Lo Lo, H’Mong, Han,… living together in Sung La commune, Dong Van. The village has a history of more than 100 years and is currently a cultural tourism destination that attracts many tourists to experience.
When you come here, you will be immersed in the unique cultural features of the people here. You will be able to wear colorful national costumes and attractive patterns.
Besides, you can also experience the exciting dances and songs of the party or festival. Coming here, you can also visit and admire the beauty of H’Mong houses with wooden railings, walls and tiled roofs stained with moss over time.
5.4. Visiting to Pao’s house
That is definitely Pao’s house, which was used as the setting of the famous movie“Pao’s House” in Vietnam. This is also the check-in location that many young people love when coming to Sung La valley.
This house is built very rustically, with a front yard and fence made of stone and extremely beautiful yin and yang tiles. This place also grows plum and peach trees, so at the beginning of the year you will see brilliant flowers in front of your house.
This place will be a very suitable place for you when you come to Sung La valley, where you can transform into an ancient, rustic space like in the movie, or you can also wear colorful costumes. Create highlights for your photos.
6. Specialties when traveling to Sung La
Not only nature and people, when coming to Sung La valley, you will also experience the culinary space of the region here. With rustic and strange dishes but very delicious and attractive.
6.1. Men men
The first is Men Men dish cooked in wild bamboo baskets of the H’Mong people. This dish is made from ground corn kernels, dried and then steamed twice. Men Men’s flavor is fragrant, fleshy, flexible, and can be used with pho broth to eat with noodles.
6.2. Black chicken hotpot
It is one of Dong Van’s specialties that you should try. Black chicken hot pot is a traditional hot pot dish of Dong Van people. The main ingredient that makes this famous hot pot dish is black chicken raised in the mountains.
In order to have a delicious and flavorful hot pot, this steaming hot pot will have all the ingredients such as black chicken, white radish, mushrooms and vegetables. When eating, dip these ingredients in a pot of freshwater and eat with vermicelli or noodles.
6.3. Pho Trang Kim (Trang Kim noodle)
When talking about Vietnamese cuisine in general, almost everyone mentions the famous pho. And in this land of Dong Van Ha Giang, there is also a Pho Trang Kim dish that is most loved by tourists. Pho Trang Kim does not have the sophistication or perfect beauty like other pho dishes. But Pho Trang Kim still makes anyone who tastes it nostalgic.
The long and thick noodles of Trang Kim pho combined with the broth have a sweet taste that adds a rich flavor to the dish. When you eat Pho Trang Kim, you will have firm chicken raised in the Northeast mountains. With natural golden turmeric color and delicious broth, this Pho Trang Kim dish has created a unique and unforgettable specialty dish.
7. Accommodation when traveling to Lung Sa valley
Because it is a popular tourist destination, the accommodation facilities here are very rich and diverse. Most accommodation facilities are concentrated in the town area to create convenient conditions for tourists to move between attractions. You can refer to some of the following accommodation establishments:
7.1 Hotels:
- Hoang Ngoc Hotel. Address: Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Lam Tung Hotel. Address: Group 3, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Truong Anh hotel. Address: Group 3, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
7.2 Guesthouses:
- Binh Minh Hostel. Address: Group 2, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Ancient Town. Address: No. 29 Group 3, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Huyen Tram Guesthouse. Address: Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Dong Van B&B. Address: Lane 2, 19/5 Street, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- CND Hostel. Address: Group 1, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
7.3 Homestays:
- Song Chau Homestay. Address: 278 Group 1, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Van Chien Homestay. Address: Doan Ket, Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Uncle Tham. Address: Dong Van Town, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- Homestay Ma Le. Address: Ma Le, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
- White H’mong Homestay. Address: Highway 4C, Xa Phin, Dong Van, Ha Giang.
8. Some important notes when traveling to Sung La valley
- If you want to experience and live like a local, you can choose to stay in a local house instead of renting a homestay. The people here are very friendly and kind so they are willing to let you stay for free.
- Ha Giang is a highland area so you should wear sports shoes instead of high heels. Buckwheat flower season is from October to November, the weather is quite cold. So you need to prepare warm enough clothes. Also can bring extra towels and gloves to avoid the cold when traveling.
- Need to check your means of transportation carefully to ensure safety when you plan to explore Sung La valley by motorbike. Especially make sure you have strong driving skills on mountain passes and forests.
- Bring identification documents in necessary cases.
- Bring some cash because online payment methods can be inconvenient when the phone signal is weak.
- You should also bring drinking water and some snacks. Such as dry food, snacks, chocolate, etc. to replenish energy in deserted places with few goods trading services.
Conclusion
Sung La Valley is a masterpiece of nature surrounded and cared for by humans to create an interesting and captivating land. Although there are still many difficulties in improving their material lives, people in Sung La Valley love their homeland very much and will not give anything in exchange for the beautiful scenery that nature has given them.
Explore The Beauty of Ha Giang
The best way to explore the remote mountains of northern Vietnam is through immersive Ha Giang tours designed for adventurous travelers.
Images Source: Internet
