At an altitude of 1,054 meters above sea level, Moc Chau, a northern highlands town in Son La Province, boasts a temperate climate with average temperatures ranging from 15 to 26 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to the cool climate, it's home to about 3,000 hectares of tea estates, making it the country's largest tea growing area.

Every day, farmers gather at the tea factory at about 7 a.m. and then flock to the hills to pick tea buds. In some tea hills, visitors can mingle for photoshooting or learning about the tea picking process.

All farmers here are women from ethnic minority groups like the Hmong and Thai who make a living by picking tea leaves.

Harvested tea will be cleaned, dried and packaged.

Bike and motorbike rental services allow visitors to explore tea hills and traditional stilt houses of ethnic minority communities.

Visitors can visit the Moc Suong tea factory to enjoy a tea ceremony and see how Vietnam's famous tea products are processed.

Around 200 kilometers from Hanoi, Moc Chau can be easily accessed by car or coach. The rising popularity of Moc Chau has seen rapid development of local homestays. Some homestay addresses worthy of consideration for budget-conscious travelers are MAMA's House, Le Chalet du Lac, Fairy House Moc Chau, House By Lake, The Nordic Village and Moc Chau Retreat, with prices ranging from VND300,000 to 1 million ($12.06-40.22) a night.