Recently updated on May 25th, 2021 at 05:16 pm
Referring to Lao Cai, people will immediately think of the foggy city of Sapa, Muong Hoa town, or the rustic, peaceful land of Y Ty. And Lao Than mountain is the ideal cloud hunting spot with majestic, wild, and poetic mountain scenery. Let’s experience climbing Cao Than 2 days 1 night below.
Where is Lao Than Mountain?
Location: Phin Ho village, Y Ty commune, Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province
Coordinates: 22.610420◦, 103.686535◦
Altitude: 2,862m
Difficulty: Medium
Time follows: 2 days 1 night
Lao Than Mountain is known as the roof of the Y Ty house, which is a perfect combination of the wild, majestic mountains and natural forests and the dreamy, brilliant of clouds. Although not so majestic as Fansipan, not as dangerous as climbing Ba Den mountain, but Lao Than is famous for being an ideal cloud hunting spot in the Northwestern mountains.
As the 11th highest mountain in Vietnam, this Lao Than Y Ty mountain is considered to have an average difficulty level but has a great natural experience. The foot of the mountain is mainly low grass hills; the terrain is not too complicated and near the top, there will be thorns and bushes. In addition, along the way, there will be stops to rest and explore.
Which season should you climb Lao Than mountain?
If anyone has ever come to the land of Y Ty, it is certainly impossible to forget the glorious golden terraced fields, unique village houses. All of them bring strange and peaceful features to this northwestern land. Coming to Lao Than mountain Y Ty is the same, the land where you can experience all the beauty that is unique to this land.
However, the ideal time to explore Lao Than is from October to December and March to May next year. Because at this time the weather does not rain, ensuring safety and an ideal time for you to fully explore the beauty of “Y Ty’s roof”. And each time has its own characteristics:
March – May: ideal time for cloud hunting
November – February: hunting clouds and forest of grass burning yellow.
September – November: experience the golden terraces.
How to get to Lao Than Mountain from Hanoi?
To come to Lao Than mountain, to experience the tranquility, pristine but also the poetic landscape of this northwestern land, you can choose to move from Hanoi at the My Dinh bus station or Giap Bat.
You can choose from the quality and prestigious Hanoi – Lao Cai cars; such as Ha Son bus, Sao Viet car, Green Bus, Sapa Express car with the fare of 220,000 – 350,000 VND. Travel time usually takes about 5 – 6 hours; so you can choose a bus from 10 to 11 o’clock in the morning to be able to reach Lao Cai land in the morning.
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When you arrive, you can rent a motorbike or take a motorbike taxi to get to the Y Ty commune; it will take you about 4 hours to move through Ban Xeo, Den Sang. From Y Ty center, go in the direction DT158 to Phin Ho village.
What do we need to prepare for climbing Lao Than Mountain?
Although Lao Than is considered not too difficult, the road is mainly low grassy hills, but you will have difficulty climbing. Therefore, you need to prepare the following necessary supplies:
- Travel backpack: It is recommended to use a backpack with a large capacity, with many compartments to be able to carry many necessary items.
- Trekking shoes: An indispensable item in any climbing journey. You should choose shoes that are smooth and have a good grip.
- Camping tents: Climbing Lao Than usually takes at least 2 days 1 night or 3 days 2 nights; so use a camping tent to avoid frost, rain.
- Sleeping bag: The higher the mountain, the lower the temperature will be; so prepare a sleeping bag so that you can keep your body warm and have a better sleep.
- Drinks and food: You should bring enough drinking water, food to organize a water party, and fast food (chocolates, cakes, instant sausages, … to supplement when exhausted).
- Clothing: Bring warm clothes, a sun shirt and comfortable clothes to trekking Lao Than mountain easier.
- Medicines: Be prepared with pain relievers, headache medicine, and insecticide sprays.
- Electronic devices: such as phones, cameras to ensure communication and save the best moments.
What is so attractive about Lao Than Mountain?
Not only attracts the adventurers with weed roads, bare trees on the empty hills but Lao Than, but also hunts clouds full of dreams, or “unique” experiences only in the Northwest.
Cloud hunting, sunrise watching on Lao Than
Hunting clouds, watching the sunrise on the top of Lao Than is a feature that creates a “brand” for this Northwestern land. Climb to the top of the mountain at an altitude of 2,862m at 6 am, you will experience the wild, majestic, and equally dreamy here.
It is a closed layer of clouds, densely planted on top of each other covering the whole mountain. And when the sun rises, each ray of sunlight slowly penetrates the thick clouds that shine down on each leaf that is still wet with morning mist.
All blend together to create a picture of the sunrise on the mountains of the Northwest which is both beautiful, wild, and majestic beauty but also poetic and magical. It seems that this has dispelled all the fatigue when climbing from the shack to the top with high slopes.
Ideal virtual living angles
After a tiring climbing journey, surely you cannot ignore the extremely cool and unique angles here, to contribute to your “virtual living” experience:
The path of trees is dry and bare on an empty hill
Starting your journey to conquer Lao Tham, you will immediately meet a bare tree road in the middle of an empty hill; where the afternoon sunlight shines in to create extremely beautiful; wild but also magical images of the self course. Therefore, do not forget to stop here to have beautiful photos.
Fishing rocks
Fishing cliffs are considered to be check-in places that are loved by many players. With a distant view, the sun is slowly setting at the foot of Nhiu Co San mountain; the floating clouds and the wild and majestic cliffs. All make for a beautiful frame. However, the terrain is quite slippery and dangerous, so you need to be careful when climbing.
Camp in the Lao Than Mountain
Stopping the tents and starting camping, baking food is an unforgettable experience for those who want to “refresh themselves” after hard working days.
Leaving the fatigue, immersing in nature together to enjoy the peace and wildlife; dance and watch the stars together, listen to the stories of porter experiences. Perhaps this is the experience that makes you the most unforgettable during the whole trip.
Experience Phin Ho market
After experiencing all the beauty of Lao Than mountain, when returning, do not forget to visit the Phin Ho market every Sunday. This place has bold characteristics of the ethnic people in the highlands with Lao Cai specialties and busy markets with buyers and sellers.
You can immerse yourself in the stream of market people, buy gifts and enjoy the specialties here. Therefore, you should not ignore it.
Suggested itinerary: 2 days trip to Lao Than Mountain
Day 1: Sapa – Muong Khum – Phin Ho – Lao Than stay
When you arrive in Sapa, you should choose the bus from 10 – 11 am the night before to just sleep and come to Sapa is about 4 – 5 am. Suitable for a new journey of discovery. The schedule of day 1 is as follows:
- 6 am: Starting from Sapa to Muong Khum – Phin Ho (Y Ty).
- 10h30: Present at Phin Ho, rest, have lunch.
- 12 pm: Meet Porter and send your belongings to start the journey
- 13h30: Start climbing Lao Tham mountain.
- 17h30: Arrive at the shack, start camping, prepare dinner.
Day 2: Shack – mountain top – Phin Ho
The road to move from the foot of the mountain to the top is only about 8km (both up and down, about 16km). However, to ensure your health, you should climb for 2 days 1 night to have time to rest and experience the natural space here. The second day to conquer the roof of Y Ty’s house begins:
- 5 am: Get up to do personal hygiene and have breakfast
- 6 am: Set foot to the top of Lao Tham mountain, at this time experience cloud hunting and sunrise watching during the day.
- 8 am: Start moving down the shack
- 9h30: Clean tents, equipment in the shack to move down to the foot of the mountain.
- 2 pm: Go down to the foot of Lao Tham mountain, rest, eat.
- 4 pm: Experience the bustling market of the Northwestern mountains.
- 8 pm: Move back to Hanoi
The cost of climbing Lao Than
Not as expensive as traveling to Da Lat or Da Nang, but coming to this pristine and peaceful Northwestern land, you will experience “away from the city dust”, immersing in the nature of the mountains and forests. And the cost of traveling to Lao Than is also very cheap, below are the necessary costs for the trip that you can refer to:
- Passenger car from Hanoi – Lao Cai: 500,000 / person (round-trip ticket)
- Motorbike rental: 300,000 / 2 people / motorbike
- Porter rental: 500,000 / porter
- Meals: 400,000 VND / person (including lunch, snacks, and accommodation at the shack)
- Cash arising: 100,000 VND
=> The total cost of reference is about: 1,200,000 – 1,500,000 VND depending on the number of people going
Indeed, the experience of climbing Lao Than mountain, conquering the roof of Y Ty house is an interesting experience of this dreamy, peaceful but also very wild land. Hopefully, the above climbing experiences in Lao Than will help you have a great adventure.
