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Sapa

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Bac Ha market
Can Cau market
Lao Chai, Ta Van villages
Ta Phin village
Trekking & Cycling
Fansipan climbing tour
Homestay at local houses



Sapa

Sapa

Welcome to Sapa, Laocai province !

Located 1,650 m above the sea level, Sapa lies in the Hoang Lien Son Mountains northwest of Hanoi (about 380km from Hanoi). Sapa was discovered and built by French administration in 1908 with church, villas, residences that are still intact. Fansipan Mount Summit, named as the roof of Alpes Mountains in Indochina at 3,143 m, is now covered with clouds all year round and the temperature often drops below zero, especially at high altitude. In Sapa district, the temperature is on average 15-20ºC. It is cool in summer and cold in winter.

Explorers to Sapa in summer witness the climate of four seasons in one day. In the morning and afternoon, it is cool like the weather of spring and autumn. At noon, it is as sunny and cloudless as the weather of summer. And it is cold in the evening. With no advance warning of a thunderstorm short and heavy rains may come at noon on any summer day. Subsequently, a rainbow appears, transforming Sapa into a magic land, which for years has been a constant source of poetic inspiration, lights up the whole region.

Sapa becomes a famous tourist destination with ethnic minorities such as H'mong, Red Dzao, Nungs, Dzay... They come to the weekly markets on foot or on horseback. You can meet them at their village or/and visit local weekly markets as Coc Ly (every Tuesday from 9.00am to 12.00am), Bac Ha (every Sunday from 9.00am to 1.00pm), Muong Khuong (every Sunday morning), Can Cau (every Saturday morning) etc...

Otherwise, Sapa has many natural sites such as Ham Rong Mountain, Silver Waterfall, Rattan Bridge, Bamboo Forest, Cat Cat; Ta Van; Ta Phin villages.
The first thing you notice when approaching Sapa tribe hill town are some detached wooden mansions and villas perched on a hill top or hillside, behind thick pine forests and almost invisible on this foggy morning. Old and new villas with red roofs now appear and now disappear in the green rows of pomu trees, bringing the town the beauty of European towns.

Fresh and cool air in Sapa is an idea climate condition for growing temperate vegetables such as cabbage, chayote, precious medicinal herbs, and fruit trees such as plum, pear...

Sapa is home to various families of flowers of captivating colours, which can be found nowhere else in the country. When Tet, the Lunar New Year Festival, comes, the whole township of Sapa is filled with the pink colour of peach blossom brought from the vast forests of peach just outside the town. Sapa is regarded as the kingdom of orchids. Here, orchid lovers are even amazed by the choice, when trekking in the forest filled with several hundred kinds of orchids of brilliant colours and fantastic shapes, such as Orchid Princess, Orchid of My Fair Lady's Shoe. Some orchids are named after lovely singing birds such as the canary, salangane's nest, and more.

Sapa is so beautiful in spring: Apricot, plum and cherry flowers are splendidly beautiful.

Before 2016, Sapa was popular to foreign travelers only, because of transportation means and long distance from Hanoi.
Since 1 April 2016, Sapa lures more Vietnamese visitors in Summer, thank to the new highway Hanoi - Lao Cai. Nowadays, the journey takes only 4 hours by car from Hanoi.