Mai Chau is a highland district, located in the Northwest of the province, blessed by nature with many majestic landscapes. This place has a fresh climate, beautiful nature, and friendly and gentle people. Mai Chau is an ideal destination for tourists who love to experience nature and local culture.

Tourists ride bicycles in the fields in Mai Chau town

Mai Chau has a diverse culture with seven ethnic groups living together, of which the Thai ethnic group accounts for nearly 60%, followed by the Muong and Kinh people accounting for over 11%, and the Mong people accounting for about 9.6%, Dao people account for about 2.2%, the rest are people of other ethnic groups. Each ethnic group has its own unique cultural identity, creating favorable conditions for community tourism to develop.

Through the development process, Mai Chau district has built many attractive tourism products to meet the needs of many types of tourists such as cultural, ecological, community, resort, and experiential tourism. for foreign guests, cultural tourism, weekend breaks for guests in big cities, homestays for students, and family groups. Up to now, Mai Chau has built a brand and is a model of community tourism for many other localities to learn.

When mentioning Mai Chau, visitors will immediately think of Lac village, this is where the Thai ethnic people live for more than 700 years. Here, people live and preserve almost intact customs and traditions. The picturesque scenery of mountains, hills and rice fields has created a great attraction for tourists. Lac village recieved international diplomatic delegations to Vietnam in the sixties of the last century and became known as a "bright spot" on Vietnam's tourism map. Next is Pom Coong Village, which is also one of the tourist attractions because it still retains the simple, rustic beauty of a peaceful highland countryside. Pom Coong village is a name with a very good and unique meaning, the word ''Pom'' in Thai means hill, and ''Coong'' means drum. Putting both Pom Coong words together means the village has hills located above a large drum. The terrain structure here is quite special when mountains and hills are mixed with fields, creating a beautiful natural picture. Another very attractive destination is Van village, compared to Lac village, Van village is not too bustling. The rows of stilt houses are built very neatly and are places with spacious space and beautiful natural landscapes. Visitors coming here not only can admire the scenery or enjoy delicious food, but also have the opportunity to learn about the long-standing traditional culture of the indigenous people. 

      Keeng Long dance in Lac village, Chieng Chau commune, Mai Chau district

If you want to go beyond the town area to visit community tourist attractions of the Thai ethnic group, you can choose Hich village in Mai Hich commune, located about 12 km from the center of Mai Chau district. Visitors coming here will feel the peace of the countryside, the charming natural landscape beauty that changes with the seasons of the year, along with the hospitality of local people and explore cultural spaces such as craft villages. traditional weaving, brocade, wicker; Enjoy local cuisine with attractive dishes such as: green-headed duck, green vegetables, green beam fish,etc. take a boat trip to explore the romantic Xia stream. Next, visitors can visit Buoc village in Xam Khoe commune, about 25 km southwest of Mai Chau district center. Coming to Buoc village, visitors are not only overwhelmed with the green of nature, but can comfortably enjoy the feeling of relaxation, watching the palm hills and terraced fields winding around the village and each dune blue smoke drifts from the fires of the stilt roofs.

A Pao homestay in Cha Day village, Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district

Saying goodbye to the Thai tourist attractions, tourists come to the Mong community tourist attractions. Moving from Mai Chau town center about 30 km along Highway 6 towards Son La, visitors will come to Cha Day village in Pa Co highland commune with an altitude of 1,140m above sea level. People here mainly make a living from agriculture and raising cattle and poultry, and some households do Homestay tourism. Coming to Cha Day, visitors will have the opportunity to participate in night market activities held on Saturday nights, and Pa Co market held every Sunday morning. From here, visitors travel about six km further to reach the Hang village community tourism village. The village is located at an altitude of nearly 1000m above sea level, has a cool climate all year round and is home to the Mong ethnic people. Visiting here in spring, visitors will be able to admire the sight of plum and peach blossoms blooming throughout the forest. In addition, visitors have the opportunity to admire the vast sea of clouds floating in the valley, learn about the culture and customs of the Mong people, experience weaving, dyeing fabric, making costumes and enjoy rewards. Enjoy specialties with bold flavors of the Northwest mountains such as: Upland sticky rice, local pork, grilled chicken, Day cake, etc.

After more than 40 years of establishment and development. Mai Chau community tourism has become famous not only in Vietnam but also in many countries around the world and is attracting many tourists to explore and experience. In 2022, Mai Chau welcomed more than half a million visitors and brought people practical benefits. Recently, the famous booking site Booking.com announced the annual Traveler Review Award 2023 honoring Mai Chau as one of the 10 friendliest destinations in Vietnam in 2023.

 In recent times, the local government here has restored many traditional cultural festivals such as the Xen Ban and Xen Muong festivals of the Thai ethnic group, the Gau Tao festival of the Mong ethnic group, and organized regional markets. Mai Chau peak, Pa Co night market, etc. to attract tourists. Up to this point, Mai Chau has more than 200 tourist accommodation businesses in the area, including 30 resorts and hotels, more than 170 community motels with 15 hamlets and villages with possible community tourism activities, welcomes thousands of visitors every day. The appeal of Mai Chau is due to the cultural identity bearing the imprint of the indigenous people, the friendly, kind and hospitable people, the simple, poetic features and the Northwest-style space. These are important potentials for local authorities to continue to preserve and promote the cultural identities of ethnic groups, improve the service quality of tourist destinations to meet the needs of discovery and experience that increasing in domestic and international tourists.