Aerial view of terraced rice fields winding along a road through a mountain valley in Sapa.

Plan · Route table

The route table: every day, in numbers

One table for every route: days, kilometres per day, climb on the hardest day, village nights, the months to aim for and the months to avoid, each row with its source and the date we checked it.

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The table

Route	Days	Km per day (est.)	Hardest day climb (est.)	Village nights	Aim for	Avoid	Season source · checked
Sapa valleys	4	12 · 15 · 11 · 5	600 m	3 homestays	Mar–May, Sep–Nov	Jul–Aug	Sa Pa climate table · 3 Oct 2026
Hoang Su Phi terraces	5	4 · 13 · 14 · 12 · 6	800 m	4 homestays	late May–Jun, Sep–Oct	Jul–Aug	VnExpress harvest report, Sep 2025 · 3 Oct 2026
Pu Luong & Mai Chau	4	8 · 10 · 14 · 9	650 m	3 homestays	Mar–Apr, Sep–Nov	Jul–Aug	Regional pattern, Sa Pa table as proxy · 3 Oct 2026
Nam Ha forest	3	12 · 14 · 10	800 m	2 (village or shelter)	Nov–Feb	May–Oct, worst Jul–Aug	Luang Namtha climate, FAO 1990–2019 · 3 Oct 2026
Mondulkiri forest	3	6 · 12 · 7	300 m	0 (2 camp nights)	Nov–Feb	Jun–Oct, worst Aug	Sen Monorom climate table · 3 Oct 2026
Phongsaly (on request)	5+	planned per trip	planned per trip	village houses	Nov–Feb	summer rains	Phongsaly climate summary · 3 Oct 2026

Read the kilometres column day by day, not as a total: a five-day route with one 14-kilometre day can be easier than a three-day route with two. Every distance and climb here is a planning estimate measured on maps, not a GPS track, and a guide may reroute a section on the day. Seasons come from the climate data and reports named in the last column, read on 3 October 2026.

Sources: Sa Pa climate table (Vietnam Institute for Building Science), via Wikipedia; VnExpress, Hoang Su Phi rice season, 15 Sep 2025; Luang Namtha climate (FAO 1990–2019), via Wikipedia; Sen Monorom climate table, Wikipedia; Phongsaly, Wikipedia · checked 2026-10-03.

How we grade a route

Grade	Km per day	Climb on hard days	What it feels like
1	up to about 12	up to about 400 m	Steady walking; heat or terrain may still make it tiring
2	10 – 15	400 – 700 m	Full walking days with one or two sustained climbs
3	12 – 15 or more	700 m or more on at least two days	Hill days back to back, narrow or muddy paths

The grade follows the hardest days, not the average. Two things the numbers do not show: surface and climate. Terrace edges and forest trails after rain slow you down sharply, and heat with high humidity in Mondulkiri makes a grade 1 route harder than a cool grade 2 day in Sa Pa. Each trek page has a 'how hard it is' section that adds the surface for every day.

Checking yourself against the table

A practical test: walk your local hills for a day that matches the hardest row of the route you want. For Sa Pa, 15 kilometres with 600 metres of ascent. For Hoang Su Phi or Nam Ha, 13 to 14 kilometres with 750 to 800 metres. If you finish tired but able to do it again tomorrow, the route fits. If tomorrow would be a struggle, choose a lower grade or add a rest day; we can build one into any Vietnam trek.

Descents matter as much as climbs. The first day of the Sa Pa trek drops about 700 metres on steps; that is the day people's knees remember. Poles reduce the load considerably and are on our packing list.

Homestay nights: what the number means

A homestay night on this table means a night in a family house in the village, sharing the family's dinner. It does not mean a guesthouse run as a business, and it does not mean a private room. On the Nam Ha route one night may be in a simple forest shelter, and the Mondulkiri route uses a community forest camp; the table says so instead of counting them as homestays.

In Vietnam, every one of those houses must register you with the commune police within 12 hours of arrival, or 24 hours in remote areas. Your host does it from your passport details, which is why we collect them before the trek.

Sources: Law 47/2014/QH13 on foreigners' entry and residence, Article 33 · checked 2026-10-03.

Months to avoid, and what happens if you go anyway

July and August in northern Vietnam. Sa Pa's climate table shows 461 mm and 452 mm of rain in those months, with 23 to 26 rain days. Paths are clay, views are often cloud, and roads close for landslides. Walking is possible; plans change daily.
May to October in Luang Namtha. July and August bring about 300 mm each. Forest trails become streams of mud, and leeches are everywhere below the ridges.
June to October in Mondulkiri. August is the wettest month. Red-earth roads to the forest can become impassable, and plans may change at short notice.
March and April in northern Laos. Dry, but smoke from field burning often hides the views; the walking itself is fine.

What the table does not cover

No trekking peaks, no camping expeditions, no road loops. The table lists only routes we walk with guests, plus Phongsaly, which we plan on request. Regions are described on the regions page, seasons month by month on the trekking seasons page.

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Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Are the distances GPS-measured?

No. They are planning estimates measured on maps, marked as estimates everywhere they appear. Real distances can differ by a kilometre or two on a day, and a guide may reroute a section.

Which route is the hardest?

Hoang Su Phi, because it has three consecutive climbing days of 600 to 800 metres. Nam Ha has the same peak climb but over fewer days, on rougher paths.

Which route is the easiest?

Pu Luong and Mai Chau by climb and surface. Mondulkiri has the least climbing but the most heat.

Why is Phongsaly on the table without numbers?

Because we plan it per trip rather than running a fixed route. The access days vary with where you come from.