Sa Pa Attractions

At 3143m Mt. Fansipan is the highest peak in Vietnam and the entire Indochina peninsula. This remote trek provides plenty to see and absorb, from the scattered rocks inscribed with drawings and designs of unknown origin, to the French influenced hill retreat town of Sapa with its minority groups, beautiful villas and cherry forests. As we ascend through the lower reaches of Fansipan, we will pass terraced rice paddies and villages of the H'mong, one of Vietnam's many ethnic minorities. Giant, centuries old pine trees and expanses of yellow bamboo mark the higher reaches of our climb and we may sight mountain goats and langur monkeys along the way. Our trek to the top of Mt. Fansipan is challenging and will be fully supported every step of the way by our guides, porters and cooks who's local knowledge and understanding of the different hill-tribe cultures we pass along the way will add to the uniqueness of this exhilarating journey.

The recommendation from the locals is to come to the area around summer to late summer. Be warned that the hawkers can get really heavy but if you travel with a light heart and are willing to help the local economy, they will appreciate it.

If you're up for an endurance hike of three to five days, consider setting out to Fansipan. This is the biggest mountain in this region and the views are striking. There are villages to pass through on the first day. Guides can be hired locally in town, but shop around a bit first.

If you just want a quiet amble, then take a stroll out of Sapa to the small village of Cat Cat. It's one of the few villages you do not require a guide but you still pay 10,000 d (USD $1) entry. It's a lovely two-hour circuit through fields, across rivers, into the village and back. If you time it for sunset you get the best views and the locals will be heading home from their work in the fields. Plus there will be fewer tourists about. Families may wish to invite you into their homes, but it's usually to get you to purchase some handicrafts. Be respectful if they do invite you in, you do not need to feel obliged to purchase anything.

There are a number of villages around Sapa that you can visit both with or without a guide. Cat Cat Village has already been described. If you wish to do a day walk, there are tourist offices in town that can set you up with the necessary guides and permits to visit them. The payment for the service is done in an effort to prevent the villages being over run with camera wielding tourists. If you do want to go to other villages without a permit ask at your guesthouse or at a tourist office for a map of the region and get them to mark off villages that you can visit. You will need some form of transport to get there, a bicycle could be fun but a lot of work on the many hills in the region. More fun would be a motorbike, that way you can tour at will and jump off for photos and visit villages enroute.

Thac Bac Waterfall falls from about 70m in height and is approximately 5-10km beyond Sapa. The road is pretty bad so you will need either a good motorbike (go slowly) or a vehicle to get there. It would be a long trek on foot but doable.