Mu Cang Chai

Far away in the northern corridor of Vietnam is a photographer’s dream, a land seemingly so picture-perfect one would think that the locals here designed the place just for their photographing pleasure. This is Mu Cang Chai and what makes it so unique and beautiful is that its landscape is its rice terrace-filled mountains that look like staircases that go straight to the heavens. And the locals didn’t cultivate this for one’s Instagramming pleasure. This is all for necessity as mountains aren’t natural irrigators so the locals had to rely on ingenuity to grow rice on the land, they were on for them to survive. And this practice has been its way of life for centuries. These terraces cover more than 2,200 hectares of land and are best experienced by staying in rustic local guesthouses and homestays. This is the heart of eco-living and the top-rated ones are Mu Cang Chai Ecolodge and Indigenous Homestay. These accommodations usually offer day tours that welcome you into their lives and you’ll get to experience the rural way of living such as planting, harvesting, and cooking the local cuisine. The best thing to do is simply enjoy the scenery by cycling or trekking and make sure to bring enough memory cards to store all the great photos you’ll surely be taking.

Mu Cang Chai can be reached via a 7-hour bus ride from Hanoi and the weather perfect year-round. Whether it’s planting season or harvest season, you’ll surely be treated to one of the best scenic experiences in your life.