Prices, and what makes them move
Every price we charge, what sits underneath it at supplier level, and the specific ways a quote from somewhere else gets to be twenty-five per cent cheaper.
Trip prices, per person
Per person, sharing a twin or double room, in USD. Solo travellers pay the two-guest column plus the single supplement listed underneath. Prices are the same all year — we do not run high-season surcharges, and the reason is that our costs do not change enough to justify one.
| Group size | Ha Giang, 4 days | Ha Long, 2 days | Street food night |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 guests | USD 395 | USD 285 | USD 49 |
| 3 - 4 guests | USD 320 | USD 235 | USD 44 |
| 5 - 6 guests | USD 285 | USD 210 | USD 39 |
| 7 - 12 guests | USD 265 | USD 195 | USD 39 |
| Single supplement | USD 60 | USD 75 | n/a |
Private departure for a group of any size is the price for your actual headcount plus USD 120 on Ha Giang, USD 90 on Ha Long, and nothing on the street food night. That surcharge covers the vehicle and guide day we cannot fill with anybody else.
The film package, per group
| Package | Ha Giang, 4 days | Ha Long, 2 days | Street food night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full film plus vertical cut | USD 420 | USD 240 | not offered |
| Vertical social cut only | USD 180 | USD 130 | USD 90 |
| Second full re-edit, later | USD 120 | USD 120 | USD 120 |
One price for the whole group, whether there are two of you or twelve. Raw footage, stills and one round of changes are included in every package. There is no long film on the street food night because three and a half hours in the dark does not contain one.
You do not have to decide now. Book the trip, watch the forecast, and add the film later if a filmmaker is still free. Inside seven days it is availability only.
What sits underneath the Ha Giang price
This is the four-day trip at the 5-6 guest price, USD 285, broken down at supplier level. It is approximate within about ten per cent and it moves with fuel and season, but the shape is accurate.
| Line | Per person, USD | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle, driver and fuel, 4 days | 78 | Split across the group; the biggest single lever |
| Guide, 4 days | 52 | Employed for the trip, not a per-day freelancer |
| Homestays and hotel, 3 nights | 54 | Named properties, not 'three-star equivalent' |
| Meals as listed | 38 | Nine meals; dinner on night three is not included |
| Permits and entrance fees | 17 | Ha Giang requires a border-area travel permit |
| Helmets, water, first aid, contingency | 12 | Contingency is real and is often spent |
| Operating margin | 34 | About twelve per cent |
The vehicle line is why the price falls so steeply between two guests and six. Nothing else in the table is meaningfully divisible.
What moves the price, in order of effect
- Group size. Vehicle, driver and guide are fixed costs split across you. Going from two guests to six cuts the price per person by about a quarter.
- Private or shared. A private departure buys exclusivity of the vehicle and the guide, and that is the whole of the surcharge.
- Single occupancy. Homestays in Ha Giang are dormitory-style, so the single supplement is smaller there than on the boat in Lan Ha, where a cabin is a cabin.
- Season. Not through our pricing, but through availability. Late October sells out and the rooms that remain are the expensive ones.
- The film package. Fixed per group, so its effect per person falls sharply as the group grows. On twelve guests it is USD 35 each.
How a quote gets to be twenty-five per cent cheaper
There is nothing dishonest about a cheaper trip, and some cheaper trips are excellent. But a materially lower number is always buying something with something. These are the usual trades, and you can check for every one of them in any quote you receive, including ours.
- Accommodation described by category, not by name. 'Local homestay' can be a family house with six mattresses or a forty-bed dormitory. Ask for the name.
- Guide days reduced. A driver who speaks some English is not a guide, and the difference does not appear until day two.
- The permit left out. Ha Giang is a border province and requires a travel permit. If it is not in the quote, either it is being absorbed or it is not being obtained.
- A shopping stop. Forty minutes at a silk workshop or a pearl showroom pays a commission that subsidises your price. It also costs you forty minutes.
- Bigger groups than advertised. 'Small group' with no number means the number is whatever fills the bus.
- Meals moved out of the price. Nine meals included versus five is roughly USD 25 a head, and it is easy to miss in a comparison.
What we will not put in the price
Travel insurance, because we are not licensed to sell it and a policy we chose for you would be a policy that suits us. It is compulsory on all three trips and we check the policy number before departure.
Tips, because a service charge added by us and handed on by us is not a tip. Guests generally give the guide and driver USD 5 to 10 per person per day between them, and nobody is unhappy if you give nothing.
Alcohol, because the range between a beer at dinner and a bottle of rice wine with the homestay family is too wide to average, and averaging it means the people who do not drink pay for the people who do.
What people ask before booking
Why is your Ha Giang trip three times the price of a hostel loop tour?
Because a hostel loop tour puts you on the back of a bike with an easy-rider driver in a group of twenty, with dormitory beds and no guide, and that genuinely costs a third of what we spend.
It is a real and good way to see Ha Giang, and if the price gap matters to you, take it. What you are buying from us is a private vehicle, a guide who is not also your driver, named accommodation, and a group capped at twelve.
Do you discount for longer bookings?
Combining the street food night with either of the other trips takes USD 15 off the street food night. Beyond that, no. A discount off a published price means the published price was wrong.
Are prices per person or per group?
Trip prices are per person. The film package is per group. That is the whole rule and it is why the film gets much better value with six of you than two.
When do I pay?
Thirty per cent to confirm, the balance twenty-one days before departure. Inside twenty-one days it is payable in full at booking. Methods and the cancellation ladder are on the how to pay page.
Read next
Tell us your dates and we will send a plan with a price
Dates, how many of you, and whether you want the film package. You get an itinerary and a total in writing, not a brochure.