Bac Ha Fair is one of the most famous fairs in the Northwest area of Vietnam. This fair is not only a place to buy and sell products but also preserves many unique cultural features of the locals. Let’s find out detailed information about the Bac Ha Fair with Handspan Travel Indochina!

Through this article, you will learn about the things below. 

General information about Bac Ha Fair

Bac Ha Fair is located in Bac Ha Town, 65 kilometers from Lao Cai City and 135 kilometers from Sapa. The market takes place every Sunday, lasting from 04.30 a.m. until 05.00 p.m. If you want to immerse yourself in the market's atmosphere, coming here in the early morning is better. 

Bac Ha Fair

This fair is one of the old markets that still retains the cultural identities of ethnic minority people. Coming here, you can catch up with various stalls where the Hmong, Dao, Thai, Tay, Muong, etc., meet and exchange with each other. There are four areas below.

• The cattle and poultry trading area
• An area for selling groceries such as plows, hoes, shovels, and knives
• An area selling brocade, jewelry, wool 
• Food area with Lao Cai specialties

Now, it’s time to find the way to reach Bac Ha Fair and explore the things to see at the fair!

How to get to Bac Ha Fair

From Hanoi, if you want to reach Bac Ha Fair, you can drive to Bac Ha Town first, then transfer to other attractions in Bac Ha. Thanks to the Hanoi - Lao Cai highway, it takes about five hours to get to Bac Ha from Hanoi by private car. After running about 200 kilometers on the road, you will exit at the IC17 intersection (Xuan Giao) and then follow Highway 4E to the Bac Ngam junction before turning onto TL153 (about 50km in total) to reach Bac Ha. If you are unfamiliar with Vietnam’s transportation system, you may want to use public transportation. You can choose Ha Son - Hai Van or Sao Mai coach to get directly to Bac Ha bus station from My Dinh.

Experiences at Bac Ha Fair

Visiting the Bac Ha Fair, you can learn about local people’s life. Let’s look at exciting experiences at the fair you may not want to miss below.

Walking around to explore the fair

Bac Ha Fair has various stalls selling different types of products. Walking around the fair, you can find from agricultural products to necessary items for the life of local ethnic people, like knives, pickaxes, and shovels. Especially, colorful brocade products are the primary selling items here. You can see many large and small stalls right from the entrance selling colorful hand-embroidered bags, purses, towels, hats, and dresses. These products are souvenirs you can buy to bring home.

Local people selling agricultural products at Bac Ha Fair 

Brocade products at the Bac Ha Fair

Trying specialties in Bac Ha.

Bac Ha Fair is an ideal place to try Bac Ha’s specialties. The cuisine of the market is exceptionally unique, among which Thang Co is the most prominent. It includes horse meat, beef, pork meat, and buffalo meat. Besides the meat's tasty flavor, the broth is a particular characteristic of this food. It is mixed from 12 different spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, etc. Besides Thang Co, do not forget to try other special dishes such as sour pho, men men, corn cakes, seven-color sticky rice, corn wine, etc. 

Food area at the Bac Ha Fair

Thang Co at the Bac Ha Fair

Visiting the cattle and poultry trading area

Located at the end of the market, the cattle and poultry trading area stands on a hill separated from other areas. Local people bring chickens, pigs, and buffaloes from home to the market to exchange and trade. Buffalo market is always the busiest area at the fair, with enough capacity for hundreds of people. You can find different kinds of buffaloes at different prices, depending on the purpose of farming or meat. Besides buffalo, Bac Ha Fair also has an area selling unique and precious dog breeds only in Bac Ha. 

Selling dogs at the Bac Ha Fair

Buffalo market at the Bac Ha Fair

Enjoying local people’s songs and dances

Singing and dancing are among the exciting activities at Bac Ha Fair. The fair held once a week is a chance for local people to meet, talk, sing, and dance. Let’s come to the fair, make friends, and join their dancing performance!

Some notes to know before visiting the Bac Ha Fair

Before visiting the Bac Ha Fair, you may want to know these notes below.

• The best time to visit the fair is from January to April. At this time, the scenery is stunning, and there are various products to find.
• If you want to take photos with local people, it will be better if you buy them something.
• Be careful with the situation of children pulling tourists.
• You should bargain if you want to buy something at a reasonable price.

Attractions to visit near the Bac Ha Fair

Besides Bac Ha Fair, you can combine visiting other attractions in Bac Ha for a memorable trip. Below are some recommended spots by Handspan Travel Indochina!

Bac Ha Flower Valley

Bac Ha Flower Valley is located in San Bay Village, Thai Giang Pho Commune, Bac Ha District, 4 kilometers from the Bac Ha Fair. Coming here, you can immerse yourself in the pleasant atmosphere of the Hmong village with cornfields, green rice fields, and colorful flowers. 

Bac Ha Flower Valley

Bac Ha Temple

Bac Ha Temple is located in the center of Bac Ha Town. It is Bac Ha's essential spiritual tourist destination. 

Hoang A Tuong Palace

Built in 1914, until now, Hoang A Tuong Palace is still an attractive spot in Bac Ha. The palace is 4000 square meters, located on a wide hill in Bac Ha town’s center. It is designed in a closed rectangular style with elaborately carved dome-shaped doors on the walls, round stairs, tiled corridors, etc. 

In conclusion, until now, Bac Ha Fair is still a place to preserve the cultural beauty of the Bac Ha local people from ancient times. Let’s visit the fair and learn about this unique Northwest culture! For more information about Bac Ha, please read our article: Bac Ha Travel Guide - Things to know before you travel to Bac Ha.