Thanks to its pleasant climate all year round (with temperatures averaging 22-28°C), natural beauty and as home to several Hmong ethnic minority groups, Vietnam’s Moc Chau Plateau is a vibrant world of colour and culture.
Moc Chau Plateau is in Moc Chau District, Son La Province, about 200 kilometres northwest of Hanoi. Located 1,050 metres above sea level, Moc Chau is a step with green tea hills, the largest and most beautiful fields in the North’s mountainous areas. Here tourists enjoy exploring ecotourism destinations, agricultural areas such as tea plantations, dairy farms and strawberry farms, and ethnic villages known for their traditional food and festivals.
There are many ways to travel to Moc Chau plateau, however the best way is travel by car or motorbike. Take the National Highway No. 6 out of Hanoi. From Xuan Mai through Luong Son to Hoa Binh, the road is in quite good condition. International tourism routes will also be established in the next two years, such as Moc Chau to Laos via the Long Sap border gate, which is also expected to connect local tourism destinations with countries such as Thailand and Myanmar.
A tourism zone spanning Moc Chau and Van Ho districts covers 206,150 ha and encourages tourism development in the province and nearby areas. The zone is bordered to the east by Hoa Binh province, to the west and northwest by Yen Chau district in Son La, to the south by Thanh Hoa province and Laos, and to the north by Phu Yen district in Son La. The tourism zone has three keys areas, The Moc Chau Resort, the Moc Chau Ecotourism Centre and the Moc Chau Entertainment Centre, and is known for a numbers of attractions the pine forests in Ban Ang village, Dai Yem Waterfall, caves in Ban On village, the Po Cop ecotourism destination and Xuan Nha ecological forest.
Tourists also flock to the northern upland province of Son La to admire the greenery of the region’s impressive tea plantations and witness the local people picking tea leaves and buds. The plateau is also known for vibrant festivals of the local Hmong tribes. The two most important holidays of the year are the traditional New Year and Hmong Independent Tet.
Though Moc Chau is not too far from Hanoi, it needs a minimum of two days to thoroughly enjoy the plateau, especially keeping in mind the abundance of tours to choose from. Join a set departure tour to visit the Hmong Independent Tet Festival or add an adrenaline-inducing adventure rafting excursion on Ma River to your itinerary. Cycling adventures are also an excellent way to explore the hilly, scenic region.
Moc Chau offers various accommodation options for visitors these days. Hua Tat Homestay is a new homestay option in Moc Chau that is easy to access. Hua Tat is a small village of Blue H’mong, only five minutes from Road 6 but still a charming, quiet place. The homestay is authentic and beautiful, run by a happy young H’mong couple, Chu and Xu.
In addition to homestays and hotels, tourists can check in to bungalows made of old shipping containers in Moc Chau Arena Village, which is around five kilometres from the centre of Moc Chau Town. The unique bungalows lie in the middle of vast green tea farms. With big glass windows, the bungalows are perfect places for visitors to enjoy striking views of the plantations, especially in the early morning.
By 2020 Moc Chau is set to attract one or two luxury hotels of at least a 4-star standard. Muong Thanh Luxury Moc Chau is the first 4-star hotel in Moc Chau and has opened in June 2016 with 169 rooms catering to 350 guests.