A First Timer’s Guide to Pu Luong (My FAVORITE Place in Vietnam)

Seemingly endless layers of lush rice terraces cascade down valley slopes as far as the eye can see. These landscapes have been thoughtfully maintained by the Black Thai community for generations—and visiting here feels a bit like stepping back in time, exactly what I was hoping to experience in Vietnam!

Pu Luong ended up being our favorite place in Vietnam—and the $17/night homestay we booked absolutely blew us away with service and views that rival most 5-star resorts (seriously), plus the absolute best food we ate in Vietnam!

While tourism in Pu Luong is certainly on the rise, with scores of adorable homestays and charming restaurants and bars overlooking the fields, we still found it a little challenging to plan a visit. Pu Luong Nature Reserve is quite spread out, so getting around requires some logistical planning. And there are SO MANY highly rated homestays to choose from, it can feel overwhelming! What’s more, the views are completely different depending on the season—and stage of rice farming.

So, after visiting Pu Luong myself, I’m sharing everything you need to know to plan a lovely visit—including recommendations on what to do, where to stay, what to eat, how to get here from Hanoi, and how to get around once you’re here!

About Pu Luong

Pu Luong Nature Reserve was established in 1999 to protect the valley’s 43,000 acres of rice terraces, small villages, rivers, and tropical landscapes. The area is mostly populated by the Black Thai ethnic community—who moved here hundreds of years ago on bamboo boats that traversed the Cham River from other parts of Southeast Asia.

Today, most of the residents of this expansive farming community rely on subsistence farming—growing food to live on (rather than sell/trade) and many families are also starting tourism-based businesses, including homestays and restaurants.

• 📍 Where we stayed: Puluong Aroma Homestay
• 🚐 Travel time from Hanoi: Around 4 to 4.5 hours by car or limousine van
• 📆 Best time to visit: Late May to early June or September to October for rice harvest season. We visited in January and still loved Pu Luong!
• ✨ Overnight tour from Hanoi: Details here
• 🌿 Village tour in Pu Luong: Details here

Also See: The PERFECT 3 Day Hanoi Itinerary: Coffee, Culture & FUN

What made Pu Luong our FAVORITE place in Vietnam

Pu Luong was exactly what I was searching for—an expansive rice farming community that perfectly captures a slow, timeless rural lifestyle that feels so refreshing to an American like me.

Unlike the more popular Sapa, Pu Luong feels just barely touched by tourism—yes, there are plenty of homestays popping up around the region, but they’re mostly run by local families who continue to work their fields while also welcoming visitors.

As a travel blogger who really cares about responsible tourism, I absolutely loved hearing from locals about the positive impacts of tourism here. Local families feel empowered by tourism here, the fields provide food, and the tourism create income-generating work that is helping younger locals stay in the community and care for their elders rather than moving to bigger cities for work.

Staying at one of Pu Luong’s highest rated homestays was absolutely the highlight of our visit. For $17/night, we got a spacious and clean bungalow that overlooks the family’s terraced fields and surrounding mountains. And the location was perfect, walkable to a few restaurants, cafes, and even a massage studio!

Even better, our homestay offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner (for an additional cost). The whole family gathered to cook us some of the best (vegan!) food we’ve ever eaten, with ingredients almost exclusively grown on the property! Perfect papaya salad, spring rolls, tomato tofu, and fluffy white rice grown just steps away. Ooh, and we loved trying the rice wine—made from that same rice grown on the property!

Another highlight for us was visiting an 80-year-old Black Thai couple on our Pu Luong tour. The husband served in the American War (what folks from my country call the Vietnam War) and continues to work in his 80s as a bamboo furniture maker. The wife’s wide smile revealed her black teeth, stained by a herb she chews daily—the black teeth are fashionable for Black Thai women of her generation! The couple welcomed us into their traditional thatched-roof home and shared about their lives through our guide/translator.

How to get to Pu Luong

Pu Luong is relatively accessible from other parts of Northern Vietnam (and closer to Hanoi than Sapa!):

• 🚐 From Hanoi: ~4 hours
• 🚐 From Ninh Binh: ~3 hours
• 🚐 From Mai Chau: ~1.5 hours
• 🚐 From Ha Long Bay: ~6 hours

Because there is no direct public train or standard commercial bus network operating within the area, you have two primary options:

1. Book an overnight tour from Hanoi

Multi-day tours are common in Vietnam, and though I was reluctant, my husband convinced me to give it a try for our visits to Pu Luong and Ninh Binh.

By booking the overnight tour, all of the logistics were figured out for us (very helpful!), our accommodations were booked, all meals covered (with vegan options!!), and tour guides were arranged in both Pu Luong and Ninh Binh. We just had to show up!

I appreciated that the tour company allowed us to pick our accommodations—we went for homestays and absolutely LOVED the place we stayed in Pu Luong, but they also offered a variety of hotels. Here are some options:

• ✨ Pu Luong & Ninh Binh Tour from Hanoi (what we booked!)
• ✨ Pu Luong, Mai Chau & Ninh Binh Tour from Hanoi

There were a few hiccups on our specific tour, but overall, the overnight tour felt like a great option if you don’t want to have to figure out every detail on your own!

Exploring Pu Luong with our local guide!

2. Take a Limousine Van

Limousine vans are an affordable, convenient, and comfortable way to get around Vietnam. They’re basically shared taxis with comfy seats that will pick you up from your hotel in one city and take you to another.

A ride from Hanoi to Pu Luong costs anywhere from $13-20 and can be booked on 12 Go. It’s the best way to get to Pu Luong (if you’re not on a tour) since there isn’t any public transportation.

Even though we were on an overnight tour to Pu Luong from Hanoi, we still took a limousine bus—which was reserved for us by our tour guide.

While these buses can be convenient, here’s a few things to know if you’re a first timer like we were:

• Limousine vans aren’t limousines, and while the seats are usually quite comfy, they certainly aren’t luxury! To us, it felt like any long distance bus, just with comfier seating.
• And none of our drivers spoke any English—or even attempted to communicate with us. There was a 25ish minute stop along the way where we could go to the bathroom and buy some snacks and coffee.
• You can read reviews and book a seat on 12Go, there are surprisingly a lot of daily rides from Hanoi to Ninh Binh (plus Ninh Binh, Mai Chau, etc.) and comparing reviews can help you get a better driver.

View from our homestay bungalow (even better on a clear day!)

Where to stay in Pu Luong

Pu Luong is quite an expansive area home to a variety of villages both along the slopes of the valley walls, and deep within the valley. Thus, where you stay is really going to impact how accessible your whole trip is—whether you can walk to restaurants, or if you’re in the middle of nowhere.

We stayed in Don Village (Bản Đôn) and I can’t recommend this area (and our exact homestay) enough! As I mentioned earlier in this article, the homestay was booked for us as part of our multi-day tour, but whether you do the tour or not, I highly recommend it!

Don Village is less than a mile down the main road, surrounded by sloped rice terraces, with several homestays, restaurants, and cafes within walking distance. Many of the other hotels and homestays in Pu Luong are located along the main road, but Don Village is lovely because its a lot quieter and is a real local village!

We stayed at Puluong Aroma, a family-run homestay overlooking the rice fields, with a few bungalows and the family’s traditional home. The food here was the best we had in all of Vietnam, and the family was incredible sweet.

If Puluong Aroma isn’t available, some other lovely places to stay in Don Village include Lua Pu Luong and Hiếu Hương Homestay.

If you prefer a hotel rather than a homestay, check out Pu Luong Eco Garden, which has gorgeous expansive rooms, views over the valley, and a lovely pool—but keep in mind this hotel is located outside of the village on the main road!

Things to do in Pu Luong: Our Itinerary

We explored Pu Luong on a guided tour—that’s not my typical travel style, but it proved to be the best way to get around Pu Luong (given how spread out everything is), and traveling with a local guide opened doors to places we wouldn’t have been able to visit on our own.

What you can do in Pu Luong varies by season—if it’s rice harvest time, you may have the chance to help with the rice harvest! And the tours are affordable and flexible, and here’s an overview of what we are able to do in January:

1. Bamboo Boat Ride with Lunch

Besides our interactions with the locals we met and simply soaking up the views from our homestay, the bamboo boat ride has to be the highlight of our time in Pu Luong!

We walked through the countryside to the bamboo boat launch where we were served an incredible lunch while gently cruising down the river. Since my husband and I, along with the other traveler on our tour were all vegan, they made us a vegan feast of delicious traditional Vietnamese food.

These bamboo boats are the same type of boat that the Black Thai rode down the river when they moved to this part of Vietnam hundreds of years ago.

Also See: 7 EPIC Things to do in Ninh Binh, Vietnam

2. Black Thai Home Visits

The Black Thai are one of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic minorities, and they’re the most common minority group in Pu Luong. Black Thai ladies are known for their black teeth, with are intentionally stained by chewing beetle leaf.

Our Pu Luong tour enabled us to visit the traditional home of an elderly Black Thai couple that live deep in the valley. The 80 year old husband still works as a bamboo furniture maker despite his age.

Hearing about their life—including the husband serving in the American War—was really special. Our guide was able to translate since most locals in the area don’t speak any English.

3. Swim Beneath Hieu Waterfall

Even though it was a little chilly when we visited in January, we still swam at Hieu Waterfall—a lovely waterfall on a family property deep within the family.

There’s a restaurant and homestay at the waterfall where you can gaze down at the waterfall while eating, if you prefer not to get in the water like we did!

4. See the Water Wheels

Pu Luong is home to some giant water wheels that are still in use today! We stopped to take a look on one of our countryside walks with our guide.

5. Trek Through the Countryside

We did quite a bit of walking between villages, weaving through rice fields and village paths. I really enjoyed getting to see different parts of the valley slowly on foot! Our driver would drop us and our tour guide off in one village, then we’d walk for a while through the fields, arrive in another village, and he’d pick us up after—it proved to be really convenient!

6. Try Traditional Weaving in Chom Lam

Our tour took us to a traditional weaving workshop in the tiny village of Chom Lam. We got to experience the entire weaving process, from spinning the wool into yarn to weaving on the loom. Afterward, we enjoyed some tea and met a few locals from the village!

7. Walk Around Don Village

Last but certainly not least, we loved walking around Don Village! The views are absolutely breathtaking as the village is situated on the slopes of the valley with mountains peeking up from the other side of the valley. Here’s a few spots to check out in the village:

• Na Cò Nhán Ơi: Coffeeshop with lovely views—serves coffee, tea, beer, cocktails, and food.
• Coffee View: Right next to the other coffeeshop, also with excellent views!
• Nhà hàng Đặc Sản Pù Luông: Traditional food and views overlooking Don Village.
• I Nọong Spa: Small spa with soaking pools overlooking the rice fields plus massages!