Brief history

Hoa Binh is a mountainous province located in the north. It is bordered by Son La in the west, Phu Tho and Ha Tay in the north, Ha Nam and Ninh Binh in the east, and Thanh Hoa in the south. The culture of Hoa Binh combines six minorities with their own languages, traditional literature, and festivals. The climate is hot and humid with high levels of precipitation during the rainy season. Several calamities such as heavy rains, floods, violent storms, and droughts occur in this area.Tourists especially enjoy the minority specialty dishes including rice cooked in bamboo and grilled meat. They also enjoy watching traditional dancing, music performances (bronze, drums, gongs), and Thai minority singing and dancing. The remote minority  villages are attractive sites for tourists.Located on Highway 6, Hoa Binh provincial is 70 km south-west of Hanoi. Hoa Binh town and the adjacent area was the cradle of the Hoa Binh culture. Archaeological finds show that this is the first place man domesticated crop plants. Hoa Binh province is inhabited by various ethnic groups, the Muong, Kinh, Thai, Tay, Dao, H’Mong and Hoa.

Highlights
The culture of Hoa Binh combines several ethnic groups with their own languages, traditional literature, and festivals. Tourists especially enjoy the ethnic specialty dishes including rice cooked in bamboo and grilled meat. At night, visitors can stay in stilt houses at Lac Village in Mai Chau Valley, enjoy watching traditional dancing, music performances (bronze drums, gongs), and Thai minority singing and dancing. The remote Muong, Dao, Tay minority villages draw visitors who like study the life of ethnic groups. Beautiful brocade and forest products are interesting souvenirs. Mountainous terrain with Thac Bo, Hoa Tien grottoes, Ret Cave, Pu Nooc Primitive forest and many clean springs are suitable for swimming, climbing, walking, and hunting. Visitors are also fascinated by superb beauty of Hoa Binh Hydroelectric Power Plant, the largest one in Vietnam. Boating on Da River is an enjoyable feeling. Apart of these, scientific tests have shown that the mineral water at Kim Boi Hot Spring is good for drinking, bathing and treatment.
About 30km drive from Hoa Binh will lead to a rest house named Kim Boi. The house was built near a large mineral water pool. Visitors sitting inside the house can hear the sound of the water, which is at a constant temperature of 36°C, continuously spouting out. Scientific tests have shown that the mineral water at Kim Boi is suitable to drink, bathe, and use in the treatment of rheumatism, intestinal diseases, stomachache, and high-blood pressure.
Kim Boi mineral water is bottled for drinking. It has almost the same composition as certain well-known foreign brands of mineral water.
From the top of Cun Pass, one can admire the superb panorama of Mai Chau surrounded by a green valley and stilt houses. Many minorities, including the Thai ethnic group, live in Lac Village. Coming to Lac Village, you will see stilt houses border both sides of the roads. The houses are quite large with palm leaf roofs and polished bamboo-slat floors. The kitchen is located in the center of the house; the cooking as well as the making of the colorful tho cam, the material used by Thai minority to make their clothes, takes place in the kitchen. The windows are large and decorated with patterns. Each house also has a pond to breed fish. The Sunday market brings a lot of people into town. People from different minorities living in the mountains come to Mai Chau market to sell their specific products: honey, bananas, corn, and tho cam made by skilled Thai women. The Sunday market is also an occasion to enjoy traditional Thai dishes and to participate in traditional dances.