Tu Le is actually a valley located between three towering mountains: Khau Song, Khau Than, and Khau Pa. For tourists who want to vacation on the weekend, this place is an ideal suggestion for a three-day and two-night trip.
What season is Tu Le beautiful?
The pouring water season in Tu Le around May has its own beauty with terraced fields like a mirror in the mountains and forests of the Northwest. September and October every year are the most beautiful times to see the whole golden season of Tu Le.
Photo: Dao Viet Hung
Road to Tu Le
Tu Le is about 250 km from Hanoi, 6 hours by car. It is recommended to leave early in the morning to save time and have lunch on arrival.
If you take a private car, you can refer to the route: Hanoi - Lao Cai highway, enter Yen Bai city and continue in the direction of Nghia Lo. However, this arc is considered to be farther away, some sections of the road are bad. Another more popular route that can also be traveled by motorbike is Lang Hoa Lac - Son Tay - Ba Vi - Trung Ha bridge in the direction of National Highway 32 through Thanh Son, Van Chan to Nghia Lo.
From the area of Nghia Lo town, to Tu Le valley is about 50 km. If you don't have your own car, you can rent a motorbike, or a motorbike taxi to explore Tu Le. You can also go trekking to see the scenery.
Photo: VnExpress Reader
Accommodation
Often tourists come to Tu Le in combination with visiting Mu Cang Chai, Che Cu Nha... These places are not too far from each other, so you can freely choose a motel or homestay depending on your schedule. If you stay in Tu Le, we recommend Le Champ resort (with mineral bath), Suoi Tien motel, Pho Nui hotel, Nhat Thinh homestay... Except for high-end resorts that accept online bookings, you should contact homestays and motels directly - especially in the peak season in September and October.
Photo: Le Champ
Experience
Catch the sunrise
Early in the morning, visitors can get up very early to watch the sunrise. The sun rose from the hillside and spread gold down the valley, mixed with the foggy clouds gradually dissipated, giving way to the pure new sunshine. In the pouring water season or the ripe rice season, the dawn will adorn the Tu Le landscape.
Photo: Nguyen Duc Tue
Go up to Khau Pha Pass
Khau Phà, one of the four great peaks of the pass, is a winding pass, but compared to the other three passes, Khau Pha is the easiest to go. In the Thai language, Khau Pha means "Horn of the sky" because the pass is often covered with fog and the top of the mountain seems to rise above the sea of clouds.
Khau Pha Pass is about 30 km long, located in the area bordering Van Chan district and Mu Cang Chai district. The pass passes through many famous landmarks in the golden season such as Tu Le, La Pan Tan, Mu Cang Chai, Che Cu Nha... For many years, the top of Khau Pha Pass has been chosen as the location of the paragliding festival "Flying over the golden season of Mu Cang Chai".
Visit Village
Visitors can also visit Lam Thai and Lam Mong villages 3 km from Tu Le to learn more about the life and culture of the highland people. Lam Thai and Lam Mong are two villages that are rated by many tourists as having the most beautiful scenery in Yen Bai. The red dirt road to Lam Mong village on rainy days will be slippery, but it will make up for the impressive view of the rice terraces in the rainy season on both sides.
Photo: VnE
Fairy bath
One of the must-try experiences when coming to Tu Le is to take a fairy bath at the hot spring of Tu Le commune. The bath is large, flooded with warm water of about 35 degrees Celsius. This is also a place where Thai girls and people in the village relax after a hard day's work.
If you are lucky enough to admire the fairy bath, you should be careful when you want to take pictures. Be delicate, keep your distance to both have beautiful photos and not lose the naturalness of the natives. If you're afraid to bathe in the open air, you can choose a discreet but still comfortable location in a resort in the center of town.
Zipline swing
In Nuoc Rong village, Tu Le commune, there is an adventure play area for visitors to conquer thrilling games such as zipline, climbing, high rope swinging... In particular, the zipline is more than 1 km long for visitors to enjoy the scenery along the Van Chan - Mu Cang Chai Palace.
Photo: VnE
Moon Watching
Tu Le at night, especially on full moon days, the moonlight is bright, imprinting the silhouette of travelers gradually down the road along the town. Somewhere in the distance is the sound of bamboo whispering, the sound of the wind blowing softly, cool, the lights of pigs on the side of the road are enough to see the shadows of people passing by. Wandering through the small road leading to the field, standing on the suspension bridge and watching the moonlight shining down on the sparkling stream, a poetic and romantic scene that is difficult to see in the city.
Specialties
In Tu Le, there are specialties such as sticky rice, fragrant barbecue, buffalo meat in the kitchen, stream fish, black chicken and especially nuggets. Tu Le nuggets are very popular with tourists because of the sweet and flexible taste only from the rice here, if you come around September-October after the harvest is over.
Photo: Nhat Quang
According to VnE