Vol. IV · No. 112 Wednesday, 12 August 2026 Travel Section · Bookings open for November

The Slow Mile

Dispatches from the road, the work, and the long way round

Highland Passage

Seven days on the red roads, twelve people maximum

We run four trips a year through Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Đắk Lắk. No coaches, no scheduled shopping stops, and no village that has not agreed in advance to have us.

Run by Mai Trần & Nguyễn Quốc Bảo | Operating since 2021 | Licence No. 64-XXX/GP

Photograph — the road out of Kon Tum

Day three. The stretch between Kon Plông and Măng Đen, which is either the best or the worst road on the trip depending on the month.

Most trips through this part of Vietnam are built backwards: pick the photogenic stops, draw a line between them, and fill the gap with driving. We build ours forwards, from the people we already know along the route — the farmer who will actually let you into a drying yard in harvest season, the family in Kon Tum who has been feeding our groups for four years, the guide in Đắk Lắk who grew up in the commune he takes you through.

That is the whole product. It is not a secret, and it is not scalable, which is why we cap every departure at twelve and why we are usually full about five months out.

12

People maximum, every departure

4

Departures a year, no more

83%

Of trip spend stays in the province

5%

Of revenue funds the foundation

The Trips

Fixed departures below — or tell us what you want and we will build it

7 days · Nov & Dec

The Coffee Harvest Route

$1,180 per person, twin share

Timed to the picking season, when the drying yards are full and the whole province smells like fermenting fruit. Two nights on a working farm outside Buôn Ma Thuột, a morning at a wet mill, and one very long conversation with a man who will change how you think about robusta.

Next: 14 Nov · 2 Dec — both have places

Ask about dates

4 days · Year round

Măng Đen Slow Weekend

$620 per person, twin share

Pine forest, cold mornings and almost nothing scheduled. Built for people who have been travelling hard for three weeks and need a place to stop. Two guided walks, one waterfall that requires a genuinely unpleasant descent, and otherwise your own time.

Runs: Any Friday, minimum four people

Ask about dates

3–14 days · By arrangement

Custom Routes

From $190 per person, per day

For families, photographers, researchers and the occasional stubborn cyclist. We have built trips around a single village, a single crop, and once a single grandmother's recipe. Tell us the thing you actually care about and we will work outwards from it.

Lead time: Six weeks, ideally more

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What the price covers

And, more usefully, what it does not

Seven-day Coffee Harvest Route, per person
ItemIncluded
Accommodation, six nights (two homestay, four guesthouse)Yes
All ground transport, including airport transfersYes
Breakfast daily, five lunches, four dinnersYes
Local guides and all site feesYes
Foundation contributionYes
Flights into Pleiku or Buôn Ma ThuộtNo
Travel insurance — required, we checkNo
Drinks, and the coffee you will inevitably buyNo
Deposit to hold a place$200

Before you book

Roads here are unsealed for long stretches and the weather decides the itinerary more often than we do. If a fixed schedule matters to you, this is honestly the wrong trip, and we would rather say so now than on day two.

From the guest book

Lightly trimmed, otherwise as written

We were the only outsiders in the village for three days and it never once felt like we were being shown something. Bảo knows everyone. That is not a marketing line, it is just true.
Hannah R. — Harvest Route, Dec 2025
I have done a lot of small-group travel and this is the first time the “small group” was actually small. Nine of us. We ate at one table.
Tomás L. — Harvest Route, Nov 2025
The road on day three was genuinely awful and they had warned us three times. I would still do it again. Bring better shoes than I did.
Priya M. — Slow Weekend, Mar 2026

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