Sapa, Vietnam – Where to Stay ? Visit, Transport - Page 1

Sapa – Orientation – Maps

Map – The Center of Sapa :

Look at the following Map :

The “animated” streets are marked in yellow, on the map.

And the “out of town” attractions :

And look at this interactive Google Map :

Interactive Map : Tourist attractions + Transport + Center

Points in Green : Train Station (in Lao Cai) + Transport to Mountain Fansipan
Points in Red : Sapa City Center
Points in Blue : Tourist Attractions

Sapa is small in size and you just need to walk, no need for transport inside town.

The central points in town are :
The main square (no, it is not snow in the picture) :

A little church, beside the square

The funicular station in order to arrive to the peak of mountain Fansipan :

And the lake :

How is the city of Sapa ?

A beautiful small city in the mountains. It is as beautiful as Switzerland and as exciting as Vietnam.

There are tiny villages around Sapa with wonderful sceneries and it is common to make a trek or to travel by motorbike in the surroundings.

There is also a peak of a mountain called Fansipan at 3143 meters that can be reached with a funicular+cable car, of course that the view is amazing.

Some waterfalls to visit around Sapa :

There are several types of tribes who live in the villages :

and the most notorious ones are the Hmong :

You will see them everywhere, in town and during the Treks. They try to sell goods and they propose themselves as guides for the walks.

It is cold in the mountains, so be prepared. You can buy clothes in place, there are many shops with trekking equipment.

It is often foggy in Sapa, but it changes constantly. One moment you are inside a cloud and the next moment it is all clear.

The changing weather is very beautiful for the photos, the scenery is constantly changing.

Sapa is getting vey animated during the week-ends. There are a lot of Vietnamese who arrive to Sapa on Saturday and the city population is increasing drastically. Some find it interesting, other think that it is too many people. Anyway, reserve your hotel in advance for Saturday night.

Finally, meet the Buffalos, which are very notorious in the villages and sometimes they visit the city itself (in the picture, they visit a cemetery) :

How to Arrive to Sapa ?

Look at the following Map :

Sapa is situated about 250 Km (line distance) from Hanoi, towards the north-west, close to the border with China.
Before arriving to Sapa (by road), you will pass through the town of Lao-Cai. There is a climb to make from Lao-Cai to Sapa and the line distance between them is about 20 Km (more than 30 Km by road).
Usually, people are arriving to Sapa from Hanoi.

By Flight

There is no airport near Sapa, you need to land in Hanoi and continue by land (did you know that airplanes don’t like mountains ?)

You can book Flights, Trains and Buses inside Vietnam with the site Baolau or 12Go Asia. Choose the Origin city and Destination city and it will show you All the available Transports to destination.

By Bus

The bus has become the best way to arrive to Sapa. There is now a high way (sort of ) and the journey between Hanoi and Sapa takes only 6 hours (including 2 stops for rest). There are night buses and day buses, there are buses with seats and buses with beds. The bus will drop you in the center of Sapa.

In my case, on the way back to Hanoi, there was a traffic accident on the narrow road in the mountains and the traffic was paralyzed during 5 hours. It was not fun. Anyway, that’s the only way to arrive to Sapa.

You can book Flights, Trains and Buses inside Vietnam with the site Baolau or 12Go Asia. Choose the Origin city and Destination city and it will show you All the available Transports to destination.
See what I wrote about the buses in Vietnam in the page : What to Visit in Vietnam.

By Train

Arriving to Sapa by train can be good but there are several disadvantages, compared to the bus :

The train station is not in Sapa, it is in Lao Cai, which is 20 Km away (line distance).
Somehow, there are only night trains, so it may not suit everyone (you need to spend the entire day before without an hotel, usually).
The travel takes 8 hours, compared to 6 by bus.

Still, you may prefer the train over the bus, it is cool. There are different types of cabins and you may sleep well and save a night of hotel.

You can book Flights, Trains and Buses inside Vietnam with the site Baolau or 12Go Asia. Choose the Origin city and Destination city and it will show you All the available Transports to destination.
See the location of the Train station in Lao Cai, on the interactive Map, above.
See what I wrote about the trains in Vietnam in the page : What to Visit in Vietnam.

How to arrive from the train station in Lao Cai to Sapa :

There are Taxis and there is a local bus (frequency around each hour ):

Where to Stay in Sapa ? – Hotels

On the following map you can see the typical concentration of Hotels in Sapa :

The city is compact and most of the hotels are at a walking distance from the main square and from the lake.

Option 1 – (Zone 1 on the Map above) – Above and to the left of the lake

There is a hill here, so you may need to climb some stairs (or a steep road).

If it disturbs you, read the comments of the travellers for each hotel and discover if they complain about climbing to the hotel. I have stayed in a hotel in this area and the view from my room was amazing as you can see from the following picture :

This view was enough for me, I did not complain about anything in the hotel.

See Hotels in Sapa. After you click and fill the dates, you will see a Map icon. Click on the Map icon and look for hotels in the zone you want The Map is a great way to search for the right hotel (you immediately see the price and the score received by visitors).

Option 2 – (Zone 2 on the Map above) – On the southern part of the lake.

It is near the lake and it is flat here, usually there is nothing to climb. There are hotels on the first line of the lake and behind it.

Option 3 – (Zone 3 on the Map above) – The City center, the main streets of the city

A lot of small hotels here. There is a slope also on the main roads of Sapa, it is not flat. The center of Sapa is not noisy at night like Hanoi, but it may be more noisy compared to living on a hill (option 1). The noise depends on the specific location of the hotel, so read the comments of travellers.

Note : Be aware of Saturday night. There are a lot of Vietnamese arriving to Sapa and the hotels tend to be fully booked. I had to change hotels on Saturday, because of that.

Option 4 – The Villages around Sapa

Another possibility is to stay in one of the “home stay” in the villages, with the Hmong tribes, but that’s another story, you will experience something different and you will have to play cards in the evening instead of eating a Pizza in the city.

How is the Climate in Sapa ?

Sapa is located in the mountains and it is of course colder than Hanoi. There has been cases of snow, in the town (certainly on the peak of the mountains) :

There is often smog in town :

The smog arrives and disappears quickly :

Like in all Vietnam, there is a rainy and dry season in Sapa.

The rainy season in Sapa is from May to September. The warmest months are : June, July and August. The coldest months are December, January and February.
Here are the average temperatures and rain :

Month	Max (C)	Min (C)	Rain (mm)
January	12	6	63
February	14	7	81
March	18	11	106
April	21	14	213
May	22	16	346
June	23	18	410
July	23	18	465
August	22	17	449
September	19	16	313
October	16	13	215
November	13	10	112
December	19	7	64

The following picture is just artificial snow, an attraction in Sapa town center:

How to Move in Sapa ?

By Foot

The city is compact, you can walk in the center and around the lake. For the attractions outside town, it’s another story (see later on, the attractions).

By Moto-Taxi (if you are single)

There are “freelancers” with a motorbike who will propose you a ride to places (like to Cat Cat village). You need to negotiate the price.

By Taxi or Grab Taxi

Your hotel can call for a Taxi. You can also catch them in the town center, in front of the main square.
Using Grab cars is easy (see what I wrote about Grab, in the Saigon Transport page ). Even if you want to use a regular taxi, the Grab application can be useful because it can indicate the price of the ride (fill the destination in the application and it will show you the tariff). Grab cars is slightly cheaper then regular taxis (Grab moto is much cheaper).

Rent a Motorbike

It is very common to rent a motorbike in Sapa. A typical rent price is 150,000 Dong per day. There are automatic motorbikes and motorbikes with gears.
They are usually in bad conditions. See what I wrote about it, in the trek zone 1 (how to arrive). Make sure you have experience riding a motorcycle and it is better to be equipped with an international driving license for the case of an accident.

What to Eat in Sapa ?

Pizza.

There are a lot of “wood fire pizzas” in Sapa.

Unfortunately, none of the places has an Italian owner, so the “wood oven” helps, but the pizza is either too sweet or without tomato sauce or without vegetables in a “vegetarian pizza” (if you combine all the pieces of olives you get 1 olive).
After trying a few places, I found the best pizza to be in a restaurant that doesn’t have a wooded fire oven. It is called Le Gecko and they have excellent food and cakes. Everything is written in French but the owner is not French. They have 3 branches in the small town.

The cakes are the best in Sapa :

Another place that I can recommend is Fansipan Terrace Cafe, that has amazing view over the mountains. They have cappuccino and they have good food at relatively low prices. They are located on the road that leads to Cat Cat Village.

And there is a good Vegetarian Buddhist restaurant called Com Chay Hoa Tam, for lunch time. The place in located in the center. It is a very modest and cheap place with excellent Buffet.

Otherwise, if you are a carnivore, there is that animal, spinning everywhere in Sapa :

It once may have looked like this :
(Yes, she is pregnant)

I also saw this strange animal, that I could not recognise :

But then I saw a poster in one of the restaurants and then I guessed the animal :

(Yes, it is a sort of Hedgehog).
Also this kind of chestnuts are very popular in Sapa :

Where to go out at Night in Sapa ?

Sapa is not a city to party at night. There are a few bars with music in the town center, but most of the people are going to sleep relatively early after a long day of trekking. It is also cold in Sapa in the evenings.

On the week-ends (Saturday), Sapa is very active at night because of many Vietnamese who are arriving from other towns.
Anyway, the nightlife is in the town center.

Continue to Page 2 – What to Visit in Sapa ?

On Thailand :

Other Stuff :

What to Pack ? the visual list that will help you prepare the suitcase.
Visit my Vegetarian Page. Why be Vegetarian ? What to eat ?
Visit my Salsa Dance Page. Salsa main Styles. Why Dance Salsa ?
See City Information about 2 more cool cities: Barcelona and Tel-Aviv.
Listen to nice Songs with translation in French, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew.
Listen to basic Words In Spanish, French, Hebrew

If you find incorrect data on this page, like a restaurant that has closed or a big river that has moved or you want to tell me something, please write me to contact.

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Sapa, Vietnam – Where to Stay ? Visit, Transport – Page 1