Terraced fields & the Ha Giang karst plateau
Terraced fields wrap the hillsides and turn gold at harvest, inside the UNESCO Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. The same leg reaches Tu San canyon and the Nho Que river.
Ha Giang sits on the northern frontier and is the longest of the four domestic legs: the flight is only the first part, with road time after it. In exchange you get a landscape unlike anything else on this list — a karst plateau.
Terraced fields step down the hillsides around the hamlets, wooden houses set among them. The rice ripens around September and October, when whole slopes turn gold; that is the season photography groups come for.
The same leg reaches Tu San, held to be Southeast Asia’s deepest canyon and seen best from the Ma Pi Leng pass. At the bottom, boats run the jade-green Nho Que between sheer walls of rock. All of it lies inside the UNESCO Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark.
The leg needs three days at minimum and suits independent travellers or small groups rather than a large delegation.
At a glance
- Location
- The Dong Van karst plateau, Ha Giang
- Best time
- Harvest season, around September and October
- Time needed
- Three days at least
Fit it into your trip
The show runs 16 – 19 October 2026 at the Ariyana Convention Centre. Most international guests add two or three days either side of the four trading days.
Visitor registrationNearby destinations
Hoan Kiem Lake & the Old Quarter
A thousand-year capital: the Turtle Tower on the water, a car-free Old Quarter at weekends, the Temple of Literature and the museums minutes away on foot.
Saigon after dark, along the river
The country’s largest business hub. Landmark 81 mirrored in the Saigon River, the Nguyen Hue promenade, Ben Thanh market and street food that runs all night.
The Hon Thom cable car & the pearl island
The world’s longest over-sea cable car runs from the main island out to Hon Thom, with coral snorkelling around the An Thoi archipelago and white sand at Sao Beach.