North & Central Vietnam Photography Tour 2026 Recap: 12 Days, Full Story

Another North and Central Vietnam photography tour has just wrapped up, and what a trip it was. Twelve intense days chasing light through rice terraces, tea plantations, misty mountain valleys, fishing villages and busy markets — with a group of photographers from very different backgrounds (wildlife, landscape, documentary) who got along from day one. Here's the full day-by-day recap.

Day 1: Street Photography in Hanoi's Old Quarter

We landed right in the middle of Liberation Day celebrations, and Hanoi was an absolute mess of people — in the best possible way for street photography. Busy streets, crowds pouring out to celebrate, and endless opportunities around every corner. As everyone had arrived the day before, we decided to go and shoot on that afternoon. We ended up in front of the cathedral, though honestly, I spent more time watching how the participants were approaching and shooting their scenes — getting to know their style — than actually shooting myself.

We wrapped up the day with a welcome dinner at a nice Vietnamese restaurant close to the hotel, getting to know the participants I hadn't already met. A great mix of photography backgrounds, and everyone clicked immediately.

Day 2: Hoan Kiem Lake at Sunrise and the Drive to Mu Cang Chai

We started the morning with a short shoot along Hoan Kiem Lake, capturing people working out, dancing and walking in the early light. We spent some time with a group of ladies dressed up in local outfits with yellow stars — a great opportunity to layer some red into our images.

After breakfast, we checked out and began the drive to our first real destination: Lim Mong village. We shot inside the village for a while before moving on to the Hmong people harvesting rice and processing it through the machines. The light was incredible, and it was a fantastic introduction to the tour.

From there, we drove on to our hotel in Mu Cang Chai.

Day 3: Rice Terrace Photography in the Mu Cang Chai Valley

Regis and I had spotted a great valley last year — rice terraces and villages tucked into a spot that fills with mist early in the morning — so we went back to shoot it again. We started with a group harvesting rice in the fields, while a few participants flew their drones to capture the morning atmosphere.

We then spent time along the road photographing local life at a mechanic shop, chatting with people who were curious about what this group of tourists was doing in their village.

After a rest and lunch back at the hotel, we headed out again for one of the most fun parts of the tour: local drivers took us through an amazing valley for a mix of landscape and people photography. We drove through villages and stunning rice terraces, stopping anytime we wanted to take a picture. We also walked through a few villages until we met a group of kids playing along the road, before reaching the horseshoe rice terrace for a sunset that combined both landscape and people photography beautifully. I love this spot — there are always locals hanging around, happy to chat with visitors or sell souvenirs, which makes for great photo opportunities. At one point, a Hmong lady asked two young girls to take her photo on the rice terrace, which gave us a fun, spontaneous moment to capture.

Day 4: Tea Plantations and Red Dzao Villages in the Mountains

With limited time that morning, we visited a nearby village with more rice fields and came across a few groups harvesting in beautiful morning light. There was mist in the background and buffaloes coming out to get into the fields. Such an incredible valley!

After breakfast and checkout, we drove to what I like to call tea plantation heaven. This location delivers every single year, and this year was no exception. In the afternoon, we photographed a large group of Hmong people processing rice — whole families involved, since the kids only go to school in the mornings. It was a busy, layered scene that gave us plenty of angles to work with, a perfect warm-up for the rest of the afternoon.

Later, we spotted a group harvesting tea leaves up in the mountains, walked up to join them, and spent time photographing their work. The view was spectacular, and people were happy to chat during their breaks.

We kept driving and found a group of Red Dzao people picking tea leaves on a steep hill. After a short walk to reach them, we hung out and photographed their activity at sunset — a great moment both for photography and for the travel experience itself. As we were leaving, I decided to help carry one of the tea bags downhill. Good workout for me — I really don't know how they carry these bags all day long.

Day 5: Morning Mist, Water Buffalo, and the Road to Lao Cai

That morning, we headed back into the tea fields to capture the mist slowly lifting over the mountains — always a pleasure to shoot this area. Later, we drove to a spot where I know locals walk their water buffalo in the early morning. We chatted with a group of Red Dzao men watching over the herd, their colourful umbrellas layering beautifully in the morning light.

After a great breakfast of local noodles, we continued on to Lao Cai province. I'd been there the previous week on a private tour and knew the rice fields would mostly already be harvested — we were hoping for a bit more action outside the main village, but a light rain put a stop to that. We spent the afternoon doing our usual walk through the village, meeting people and photographing daily life, both indoors and out. We ended up spending time with a group of local ladies I meet every year, who "escort" us through the village hoping to sell a few souvenirs. They're great fun, and their English is good enough for some genuinely cool cultural exchanges.

That evening, at our lovely farmstay, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner along with some local plum rice wine made by the manager. Always a good time.

Day 6: Photo Review Day and a Change of Plans

That morning was reserved for a late sleep-in and a photo review session. These reviews are always a great learning experience — going through everyone's selections, discussing strengths and weaknesses, and helping each participant figure out what to focus on for the rest of the trip.

In the afternoon, since we knew there was no harvest happening near our village, we drove to a valley we'd scouted that morning. Unfortunately, it started raining, but we found shelter in a local house and still got some photos in. Later, we found a small group finishing up rice processing in a field and spent some time with them. I helped carry a rice bag to their motorbike on the way back — much heavier than the tea bag from a few days earlier, and honestly incredible to see people who weigh half what I do carrying these bags all day.

That evening, thanks to the flexibility of our local partner and the hotels we work with, we decided to change the itinerary — cancelling the next night there and heading instead to the valley of Y Ty, where we knew the rice harvest was still happening.

Day 7: Muong Hum Market and the Valley of Y Ty

We checked out early to reach the market of Muong Hum, and it was a fantastic morning for everyone. After the previous day's photo review, people had fresh ideas about what to capture and which mistakes to fix, whether in camera settings or composition. We came away with some excellent images, and everyone was buzzing after the session. Shooting a busy market well isn't easy, and I was genuinely proud of what the group managed to capture there.

After the market and a great salted coffee, we drove through the valley of Muong Hum, photographing kids and buffalo running through the fields, before arriving in Y Ty for check-in, lunch and a rest.

In the afternoon, we went looking for rice harvest activity through the valley. We found several groups working, though some were too difficult to reach. A few people working along the road gave us some good opportunities instead. Later, we tried to reach another group right next to the Chinese border, but too many large white bags got in the way of a clean shot. On the way back, though, I spotted a girl walking toward us who sat down on a rock under a tree — she'd found a bird's nest and was checking what was inside. We got into position fast and captured a beautiful image of her with the mountains of China in the background. Definitely worth putting our feet in the mud for that one.

Day 8: Misty Mornings in Y Ty and the Drive Back to Hanoi

A very misty morning in Y Ty, followed by the drive back to Hanoi, with a fantastic lunch and coconut coffee stop in Lao Cai along the way. Plenty of time for photo selection on the bus.

We had Italian food for dinner that night — a nice change from rice and pho for once!

Day 9: The Incense Village and the Flight to Hoi An

We left the hotel early to reach the incense village. It's become a real tourist attraction these days, but as is usually the case in Asia, tourists tend to arrive late and stick to the same Instagram spot. Early in the morning, though, the village is still full of genuine local activity — people at work, actually keeping the craft of working with bamboo alive. After a wonderful sweet water crab noodle soup, we had a fantastic morning there, shooting almost non-stop for two and a half hours as one thing after another kept happening in front of us.

We drove back to the hotel for a short break before heading to the airport for our flight to Hoi An, to begin three days of central Vietnam coastal photography. We were picked up at Danang airport and brought to the hotel, and everyone had a free evening to explore Hoi An's old town and pick their own restaurant for dinner. That evening, we saw the weather forecast calling for heavy rain over the next few days in central Vietnam, so we decided to shuffle the plan — moving the busy fish market to the following day to make sure we could capture the best of it before the weather turned.

Day 10: Sunrise at the Hoi An Fish Market and Cow Herders

We started with a very early hotel pick-up to head to what is my favourite fish market around Hoi An. We arrived well before sunrise, which gave us plenty of time for our first coffee and getting a feel for the place. Plenty of people were already waiting on the beach for the fishermen to come ashore, giving us time to get familiar with the location and chat with people around us.

Slowly, the boats appeared on the horizon and the fishermen began bringing the fish to shore. Within minutes, the whole place turned to chaos — but we'd had time to watch how things unfolded with the first boats, which made all the difference.

What followed was two hours of intense shooting — layering, anticipating, and having a lot of fun with the fishermen. After several years of coming here regularly, I know many of them personally now. They're always curious about where my students are from, which led to some fun cultural exchanges between shots.

After that intense session, we walked through the village for another coffee and breakfast — amazing Quang Nam noodles (mì Quảng) — before continuing our walk through the village. We came across people drying fish on bright green nets laid out on the ground, along with the last few people finishing up packing fish on the beach. I really love the variety of photo opportunities a location like this offers.

We drove back to Hoi An and took a well-deserved break before our afternoon shooting session.

That afternoon, we headed out to the countryside where I run my usual sunset photo tour, meeting local friends and exploring the fields. We started, as always, with the wonderfully photogenic Miss Nhi, busy making noodles the traditional way.

Later, we reached the fields and spent time with the cow herders. The sky turned dramatic as huge black clouds rolled in. It's always in these in-between moments — right before the weather turns — that the light gets truly special and the best photos happen.

Back to Hoi An for an early dinner and an early night, getting ready for one last early start.

Day 11: Fishing Nets, Local Market and Photo Review

Regis and I picked up the guests at the hotel very early, and this time I brought coffee — since we'd be getting on the boat, there was no chance to grab any near the old town at 4am. And there's no shooting without coffee!

We rode the boat for about 30 minutes to reach the stretch of river where we photographed the fishing nets. Since we only do candid photography — not the same staged net and fisherman that most photographers go and shoot — we had to keep actively looking for real action. Once again, that gave us a great variety of images.

We landed and walked to a local market, starting with breakfast (yet another delightful noodle soup) before spending about two hours shooting through the market. All the skills built up over the tour came in handy here: finding pockets of light and composing around them. We finished with a break at a great little coffee shop, where a few people bought fresh beans to bring home. You get addicted to Vietnamese coffee fast — especially the coconut and salted versions.

We took the boat back to Hoi An's old town and rested until lunch. We'd been talking all tour about how good the bread is in Hoi An, so we went for banh mi before heading to our usual photo review room. I was genuinely impressed by everyone's images — these sessions are a great learning experience for me too, seeing the best shots each participant walked away with. I have added a photo from each participant at the end of this article.

Day 12: A Last Walk Through Hoi An and Saying Goodbye

As is tradition on this tour, we took a morning stroll through Hoi An's old town. It rained more and more as the morning went on, but we managed to time our walk through the market and town well enough to dodge most of it. The wet roads were shining, and the market was still buzzing with activity.

We all sat down together for our last meal, with an excellent hotel breakfast to send us off (no, I didn't dare try the waffles with bacon and honey). I organised the airport drop-offs for everyone, and then came the sad part — saying goodbye to the group and heading back to normal life.

Interested in joining a future North Vietnam & Central Vietnam photography tour? Check out the tour page!