Mu Cang Chai, a mountainous district in Yen Bai province, is an attractive destination with beautiful natural landscapes, famous terraced fields and unique culture of ethnic minorities. Together with Meditourshagiang, we will help you discover the ideal time to visit Mu Cang Chai, along with memorable experiences in this land.
How many seasons does Mu Cang Chai have in a year?
Mu Cang Chai is located at the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain range, with an altitude of more than 1000m above sea level. That’s why Mu Cang Chai’s weather has unique characteristics of the Northwest climate. Before knowing which season to go to Mu Cang is the most beautiful, let’s find out how many seasons there are here in the year.
Spring in Mu Cang Chai starts from March to May, the average temperature in this season is 280C, the weather is still warm from winter so it is still quite cool. Occasionally there will be sudden drizzle.
Summer in Mu Cang Chai starts from June to August. Summer temperatures are the highest of the year, sometimes reaching up to 380 degrees Celsius. Dry Lao winds come from the Northwest, making the summer climate hotter. dry, unpleasant. However, summer is also the beginning of the rainy season in Mu Cang Chai. At this time there are often very heavy rains, sometimes flash floods occur during this time.
Mu Cang Chai autumn starts from September to November. At this time the weather becomes milder, this is the most beautiful ripe rice season of the year.
Winter in Mu Cang Chai starts from December until the end of February. The temperature drops below 180 degrees Celsius. There are years when the high mountains have white snowfall.
Mù Cang Chai has four distinct seasons, with completely different shades. Depending on your preferences and work schedule, you can choose the most suitable season to visit Mu Cang Chai.
Best Time To Visit Mu Cang Chai – When To Go For Great Pictures
To answer the question which season is best to go to Mu Cang Chai, it is indeed not an easy question to answer. Each season in Mu Cang Chai brings with it different, unique beauty.
What’s beautiful about going to Mu Cang Chai in spring?
Not as harsh as the summer sunshine, not as gentle as the autumn sunshine, the spring sunshine of Mu Cang Chai is as rosy as a girl just learning to love. Having gone through the cold winter, spring is the time when Mu Cang Chai changes into a new shirt with many fresh colors of countless fresh flowers along with unique festivals imbued with the identity of this place.
Mu Cang Chai glows in the thick pink color of roses – flowers that carry the soul of the land here. The thick toi flower is the wild peach blossom that the Mong people call Pang toi thick. Forest peach blossoms bloom from December to early January.
The mustard flower is a symbol of strong vitality despite harsh weather and wind, just like the strong life of the people here. After the end of the season around October – November, people will continue to sow and care for yellow mustard flowers in the spring. Going to Mu Cang Chai in the spring around January, February and March will see the endless fields of mustard flowers. The most beautiful spots to view mustard flowers in Mu Cang Chai are: Che Cu Nha, De Xu Phinh, Cao Pha, La Pan Tan.
Dotted somewhere are fields of buckwheat flowers. A famous flower in Ha Giang is now present in Mu Cang Chai. To add a beautiful location for tourists to take photos, a few years ago some people in Mu Cang Chai brought this famous flower variety of Ha Giang to plant. Planting locations are scattered from Khau Pha pass to the town center.
Coming to Cang Chai season in the spring, you will witness many typical activities of the people such as dancing, singing, throwing shuttlecocks, pushing sticks, shooting crossbows, walking on stilts, especially the banh giay pounding contest. . With only 1 hour and 15 minutes, the competing teams had to complete the cake making process from washing rice, blowing sticky rice, fanning, coloring the cake, pounding the cake, and then presenting about their team’s products. The banh giay pounding contest is a useful playground to celebrate spring and Tet for the people and is an activity to honor the traditional culture of the Mong people in Mu Cang Chai.
There is also a Mong Khen dance competition taking place. The teams will dance the Mong flute and scarf dance in pairs of men and women for 8 – 10 minutes. Coming to Mu Cang Chai in the spring, you will have the opportunity to witness many unique dances, imbued with the colors of the Mong people.
What’s beautiful about going to Mu Cang Chai in the summer?
Summer is the time when the first rains fall from late May to June. When water comes back to fill the terraced fields, it is also the time when Mu Cang Chai begins the pouring water season. It is called the pouring water season because, when it rains, water from the streams overflows into the fields, making the dry soil soft. This is also the time when people go to the fields to prepare for a new crop season. Mu Cang Chai is like a giant mirror of water mixed with the brown color of the land, so simple, rustic but surprisingly beautiful.
The color of terraced fields during the harvest season in Mu Cang Chai changes over time and according to the weather. At dawn, when the sunlight shines brightly, it prints images on the water surface, making the fields sparkle like beautiful shimmering crystal. When sunset falls, the afternoon rays of sunlight reflect on the water surface, creating thousands of purple ribbons across the dreamy terraced fields. Along with that is the scene of people enthusiastically going to work in the fields, buffaloes pulling plows to make the field land softest and smoothest for rice cultivation.
Around July to August is the mid-season crop, at this time the terraced fields have changed into a different color with the characteristic green color of young rice. The young rice seedlings are shy like teenage girls, enjoying the quintessence of heaven and earth, the rice plants grow, branch and bloom to help the world. Coming to Mu Cang Chai in these few seasons, you will see lush green rice fields covering the mountains, the space here also becomes unusually calm and green.
What’s beautiful about going to Mu Cang Chai in the fall?
When autumn comes, the green terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai simultaneously take on a brilliant yellow color. This is the time for the rice harvest here, the terraced fields intertwine with each other to create rice fields. The curving curves are so beautiful that it’s hard to describe.
Mid-September to early October is the most beautiful time for rice in the mountains and hills of Mu Cang Chai. No matter which corner you are in, you can see the cascading terraced fields spreading across the hills. The faint smell of ripe rice and the joy of the farmers’ harvest will make you feel very peaceful, temporarily forgetting the hustle and bustle of life out there.
If you go to Mu Cang Chai at the end of summer, most of the terraced fields begin to be harvested at this time. You can also enjoy the remaining beauty of unmown fields. In addition, you can also have fun and relax on the cut plots. Tourists call this time stubble season. The jagged bamboo roots after cutting the rice protrude, looking like giant reed mats stretching across the mountains and hills.
What’s beautiful about going to Mu Cang Chai in winter?
When winter comes, Mu Cang Chai brings within itself a beauty of resilient and strong vitality like the tough people here. Some high mountain areas of Mu Cang Chai have snow in the winter from December to January. Mu Cang Chai in winter is like a sleeping princess. All activities seemed to stop, the static mausoleum was left with only thick morning mist and cold spells that numbed people’s hearts. A little bit of wind, a little bit of dew and a little bit of numbing cold is enough to make people linger on this place forever.
At this point, many of you probably have the answer to the question of which season is the best to go to Mu Cang Chai. According to visitors’ votes, going to Mu Cang Chai in summer – the flood season and autumn – the ripe rice season is the most beautiful.
What should I buy as a gift when visiting Mu Cang Chai?
After every trip to Mu Cang Chai, everyone wants to buy meaningful gifts for relatives and family. After knowing which season is the most beautiful to go to Mu Cang Chai, many tourists are also very curious, wondering if there are any delicious specialties in Mu Cang Chai each season. Below are some outstanding specialties of each season that you can refer to.
Buffalo meat hung up in kitchen
Kitchen buffalo meat in Mu Cang Chai is loved by tourists from near and far because the ingredients used to marinate the meat are very sophisticated, and the use of spices that are only available in the Northwest mountains (wild doi seeds, mac khen seeds,…) . To get such a delicious, special piece of buffalo meat, you have to go through the process of cutting buffalo meat, marinating it with spices and smoking it on the stove for a long time, which is also very elaborate.
You can buy buffalo meat in all seasons of the year, but it is best in spring. Many tourists are so addicted to this dish that every time they visit Mu Cang Chai, they buy it in large quantities and save it to eat later.
Shan Tuyet Suoi Giang Tea
Shan Tuyet tea grows naturally in the high mountains of Mu Cang Chai. The reason it is called Shan Tuyet is because the tea leaves are dark green, the buds are large and round and are especially covered with a layer of fluff as smooth as snow. Without human influence, it grows and develops completely naturally. Therefore, it is a gift that brings together the essence of heaven and earth. Suoi Giang is home to ancient tea trees that are hundreds of years old and very rare.
Going to Mua Cang Chai in any season, you can buy Shan Tuyet tea. It is harvested in spring and lasts until fall. The tea is processed entirely by hand and does not contain any chemical preservatives. You can completely rest assured to buy Shan Tuyet tea with a mild acrid taste but after drinking it, it will have a sweet taste that lingers on the tip of your tongue.
Tam Hoa plum
Mu Cang Chai is not only famous for cat apples, Shan Tuyet tea,… but also captivates visitors with the rich, crispy flavor of Tam Hoa plum. The red Tam Hoa plum is very beautiful, the flesh inside is bright pink, and the outside is covered with a layer of fine white powder. When enjoyed, the sour, sweet taste and gentle aroma will make visitors feel the purity and freshness of nature in the attractive and promising eco-tourism area.
Usually at the beginning of the 5th lunar month, when the summer plums are about to ripen and the harvesting season begins. The plum gardens are full of fruit, many bunches are still green, and many bunches have turned purple. Suddenly, somewhere, there were Mong girls with their hands quickly picking laden bunches of plums… soon a basket was full. This will definitely be the most unique and practical gift to give to relatives when traveling to Mu Cang Chai.
Com Tu Le
Tu Le green rice in Mu Cang Chai is famous for being the most delicious green rice. Because green rice is made from the best sticky rice in the Northwest. The finished product of Tu Le green rice has a light green color, a passionate aroma and the mild sweet taste of new sticky rice.
The method of making rice is also very elaborate. When the rice is cupped and the milk is still intact, it is time to harvest it and bring it home to make green rice. Rice to make green rice is not crushed or threshed but must be threshed by hand, sifted to remove straw and small rice grains, rinsed with water and then put in a roasting pan. Stoves for roasting green rice often have to be covered with coal slag but do not burn coal but use natural firewood. Only then can the green rice retain its natural flavor. This fragrant gift with a unique mountain and forest flavor is very suitable to buy as a gift for friends and relatives after a visit to Mu Cang Chai.
See more: TOP 8+ Best Mu Cang Chai Restaurants in 2024
Apple Meo
If you travel to Mu Cang Chai in the fall from September to October, you will enjoy the rare dish with extremely delicious flavor. Meo apple is a popular fruit in Mu Cang Chai and is quite famous for its health benefits: treating stomach pain, high blood pressure and heart-related diseases, etc. Its sour and slightly bitter taste makes it Meo apples have become a particularly suitable fruit to buy as gifts during a trip to Mu Cang Chai.
Mu Cang Chai bamboo shoots
Bamboo shoots grow naturally on soil in high mountain areas, so they are always 100% clean. Bamboo shoots have the unmistakable characteristics of being soft, sweet, white and delicious when processed into dishes. Buying bamboo shoots to give to the sisters’ association means you can cook boiled, stir-fried, braised, grilled, soup, etc. dishes, all of which are delicious and rich in the flavor of the mountains and forests of Mu Cang Chai. However, bamboo shoots are not always available, they are usually abundant in the spring around March, so if you travel to Mu Cang Chai on this occasion, you can buy them as gifts for your relatives.
Which season is best to go to Mu Cang Chai? The answer depends on each tourist’s feelings. Aspiration Travel Vietnam hopes that the useful information in the above article will arouse your imagination and help you choose the best season to travel to Mu Cang Chai.
