Top News

In the early 2010s Ha Giang was a place off the tourist map. Poor roads, minimal services and a language barrier left the province feeling cut off from the world. For the international travelers who ventured there, those experiences remain irreplaceable.

Alex Sheal, the British founder of Vietnam in Focus, a photo tour operator, remembers his 2009 Lunar New Year trip from Hanoi to Ha Giang. The bus was overcrowded, with few trips available. The driver kept picking up passengers before reaching Tuyen Quang Province. Motorbikes were tied to the roof, and some passengers carried chickens onboard.

With the Hanoi – Lao Cai Expressway not yet built, all traffic to Ha Giang moved along the old National Highway 2. Travel times were double what they are today.

On that 10-hour journey, with passengers filling up the aisle of the bus, he had to climb out of the window when the bus stopped for people to relieve themselves.

Booking a place ahead to stay was impossible due to poor communication. Today it’s different, with guesthouses in places like Dong Van District and Lo Lo Chai Village selling out weeks before a holiday.

In Ha Giang, Sheal planned to rent a motorbike and find a place to stay. He met a local man, Johnny Nam, who rented him bikes during future trips. On the second day they rode to Dong Van on bikes. Border checks for foreigners were more relaxed back then.

“Ha Giang was different back then, the roads were terrible,” Sheal recalls.

Near Yen Minh District, his group hit a landslide and had to push their bikes through rocks and debris. The difficulties notwithstanding, the scenery was stunning. They could take photos without crowds though cliffs with no barriers made it risky.

On New Year’s Eve Sheal reached Dong Van and stayed at a friend’s home through Johnny Nam. After midnight they visited neighbors to celebrate. On the first day of Tet they watched ethnic communities arrive in colorful clothes, and then rode across Ma Pi Leng Pass to Meo Vac Commune.

In the center of Meo Vac, children still played around in the streets. At a time when there were no tourists, the foreigners drew curious looks from locals. Sheal said people were friendly and spoke to them in Vietnamese. But he did not know the language much.

Back then Ha Giang had none of the holiday traffic seen today. In cold conditions, ethnic women still walked uphill carrying heavy baskets.

Sheal returned many times and co-founded a travel company in 2012. By 2013 he was leading motorbike tours for foreign visitors. One highlight was staying with an ethnic Dao family in Nam Dam Village, drinking corn wine and joining a singing session.

Louise Murdoch, a Scottish traveler, joined one of Sheal’s tours for Tet 2014. She had visited many places in Vietnam, but chose Ha Giang for the holiday. She found it much like Alex described it in 2009, remote and without tourists. Unable to speak the language, she observed daily life and unfamiliar sounds. What stayed with her most was seeing people in new clothes celebrating along the mountain roads.

She says she was lucky to visit Ha Giang when it was still off the beaten track.

Fifteen years later Sheal says the biggest changes have been to infrastructure and tourism. Before 2018, when a dam changed the Nho Que River, the views from Ma Pi Leng Pass were wilder. In 2009 there were no viewpoints, railings or photo stops.

The route from Ha Giang to Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac districts was the only option. The road to Du Gia Village was rough until 2015. The term “Ha Giang Loop” did not exist, Sheal only started hearing it around 2022 as tourism grew.

On his latest trip in 2025, he saw big changes in places like Nam Dam. Homestays have become eco-lodges with private rooms. But development also meant karaoke noise and long lines of motorbikes.

Visitor numbers have jumped from around 48,000 in 2010 to nearly 600,000 in 2025. Social media trends like the “Ha Giang Loop” and “easy rider” tours mean the quiet atmosphere is a thing of the past. Experts warn that tourism is putting pressure on the region’s nature and local culture.

Sheal said: “I’m glad people’s livelihoods have improved, but I have to admit the place has lost much of its charm. That’s the reality of mass tourism.”