An opportunity to post a few pretty photos from our recent visit to the fascinating, highly colourful and still very traditional hill-tribe market at Bac Ha. Every Sunday this otherwise quiet and somewhat remote little town in the mountains of northern Vietnam bursts into life as vendors from outlying villages flock into town to sell their wares; farm produce, household goods, clothing and of course some embroidered bags, scarves etc to the foreign visitors who also arrive in town on a Sunday morning to visit the photogenic and famous market.
Local girls will always wear their Sunday best for market visits The market had considerably expanded since our last visit some 2 years back, but it was good to see that, while tourist numbers and handicraft stalls had certainly increased, the market also remains predominantly local and traditional in both nature and clientele. Fruit, vegetable and household goods stalls still outnumber the Hmong-style bags, scarves and duvet covers.
Definitely a certain competitive feel at times as women check out neighbours’ embroidery skills A highlight for us is the cattle or animal section with water buffaloes, cows, horses, chickens, pigs and dogs all on sale, though don’t worry, the latter are sold as guard dogs, not potential lunch! Market-goers are overwhelmingly from the colourful Flower Hmong group who inhabit the surrounding hills, but you will also see occasional Black Dzao and Dzay as well as some Black Hmong and Red Dzao from Sapa. (Interestingly, several of the local guides we saw appeared to be enterprising and excellent English-speaking, Black Hmong from Sapa.)
Flower Hmong women in Bac Ha Market After a guided, introductory tour of the market followed by plenty of free time to explore at your own leisure, we grabbed an excellent, local style, noodle soup before it was time to head off to back down the hill to Lao Cai Town and on to the old French hill-station, and our evening’s destination, Sapa.
Noodle soup lunch in Bac Ha Bac Ha market is included in our 4-day extension or mini-tour to Sapa, and while we will do our best to time the visit for a Sunday, if it proves impossible, then there are similar markets in the region on alternative days of the week. You can also check our full range of Vietnam extensions and small group tours on our Vietnam destination page.
