Little Yen's Homestay — Hotel in Hà Giang Province

The reviews are misleading they are from 2018/ /2020 and now untrue and out of date. One expects a homestay to be a place with a personal touch where you can enjoy the hospitality of a family…| The reviews say Yen herself is there, part of a lovely family, speaks fluent English and there are lovely home cooked family meals. ..this is not the case any more.This was why we booked it but this is what we found in November 2022……| It is now one of around 26 to 30 “ buildings” in a modern rather sterile sanitised artificial “TOURIST VILLAGE" outside and cut off from Meo Vac. |No Yen and no shops of any sort, or contact with any locals.. It was very popular with Vietnamese tourists as it is modern and can cater for the large groups of bus tours that now frequent “THE LOOP” |You have to park way outside the “gates” with the multitude of buses and cars… there was A LOT of them. ( and we were in the off season.)|There is no choice other than their own restaurant, the evening meal was a mandatory set piece in a large communal dining area, expensive at 550,000 vdn for two …Beer 40,000 vdn, It looks good but was quite boring very chewy and smokey. The breakfast was either instant Pho or doughy pancakes with eggs.. no juice, bread, fruit, yoghurt or anything else.I had to pay extra for coffee !!. The beds were very hard and the room smelt very musty. The room was huge, bathroom OK, bed hard, pillow huge. English is very random.|Mercifully they stopped theTWO deafening, simultaneous Karaoke’s early... (10.30pm)….which were impossible to ignore. |I’m not a party pooper but this was a bit much..But I guess it’s a fun place to meet people and party but don’t expect peace ad quiet. |This is now nothing but a modern tourist trap, or great progress, depending on your...

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good value for the price. We paid 500,000 VND and got a very basic room – no air conditioning, no fridge, no TV, no windows with glas, and a shower with a broken head and no temperature control (the water was either freezing cold or boiling hot).

At least the room was clean.

With a homestay, the warmth and hospitality of the hosts can sometimes make up for a lack of comfort… Sadly, that wasn’t really the case here. No one was unfriendly, but we didn’t feel especially welcome either – even though we were the only guests that night. When we asked about dinner, we were first given a menu where the cheapest dish was 220,000 VND. Only after we said we’d go eat elsewhere were we told that fried noodles were also available for 50,000 VND – to be fair, they were actually quite tasty. Same goes for the pancakes at breakfast. The next day, we would’ve happily had the noodles again for lunch, but we were told the ingredients weren’t available.

The location is convenient if you’re planning to do the boat tour on the river in the morning or late afternoon.

Summary: You can definitely find better places for that price on the Ha Giang Loop – especially if you’re traveling solo like us and not part of an Easy Rider group.

To be fair, we found the entire Pavi Hmong Village a bit strange. One “homestay” next to another “homestay” – without any real distinction. No restaurants, no supermarkets. The whole place feels so obviously built for tourists that it really doesn’t deserve to be called...

Yên, thank you very much for the amazing time I spent with you, with your parents and with Phuong.

My name is Francisco and I spent one month at little Yên's homestay doing volunteering.

I was teaching English to the local children and helping to run the homestay.

If you're doing the Ha Giang loop please make a stop in Meo Vac and stay at Yên's homestay. Meo Vac is a beautiful place. The breathtaking views of the mountains within the sorroundings, the culture and way of living of these people really make you having to stop at Meo Vac.

Yên speaks fluent English which is very uncommon these days in Vietnam. She will help you by advising the best adventures around Meo Vac and by providing you a very comfortable and safe accomodation. I also recommend to stay for dinner. It's so delicious and always in abundance. I had several family dinners throughout many homestays in Vietnam and this one was definitely the best.

I wish all the success for the volunteering program that Yên is running at her homestay. I hope in the future many kids in Meo Vac can fluently speak English and thus improve their life quality by having way more opportunities than in the past. Phuong is an example of it.

I will definitely try to visit you guys in the near...