The common sentiment among visitors seems to be: “This place is beautiful—it had better not lose its charm.” Once a remote colonial hill station, Sa Pa is now the premier spot for weekend package tours. In the center of town is the spectacle of Sa Pa’s famed market, which has become a fixture on standard Southeast Asian tourist itineraries. Local H’m®ng girls approach travelers with high fives and questions in English; suspicious travelers assume this to be the lead-in to a sales pitch, which it often is. To escape the capitalistic frenzy of the rest of the country, more and more visitors choose to come mid-week to see Sa Pa’s true idyllic beauty. Treks through the surrounding mountainside are an opportunity to visit picturesque villages, most notably those of the H’m®ng and Red Dao people. With the recent inundation of tourism, many of these villages have transformed into glorified shops where locals sell traditional garments and mass-produced aluminum jewelry from China. Strangely, leaving Sa Pa—through the Tram Ton Pass—might just be the best part of your visit, as the Sa Pa Valley’s magnificent mountains beckon dramatically westward to the untamed splendor of the provinces beyond.
Because the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Old Lai Chñu will render the town almost uninhabitable (see “The Fate of M™ng Lay,”), that city and several near it have changed their names. This makes traveling in the region confusing, as road signs, bus tickets, and transportation schedules all use conflicting names. The original Lai Chñu is now also called M™ng Lay, while old Tam ™ng has become the new Lai Chñu (Tœnh Lai Chñu), once known as Phong Th%. Binh Lu, between Sa Pa and new Lai Chñu, is now called Tam ™ng. Good luck.
The Sa Pa Church faces a grass field at the town’s center. From the church, it takes 10min. on foot to reach anywhere in town. One block north of the church up Thåch S£n is the GPO; the lake is one block farther north up Xuñn Viˆn. A stairway 100m southeast of the church leads down to the market and C<u May, the main street, which runs northeast-southwest. Tourist services cluster here before the road heads out of town. Phng Xi Png winds southwest down the valley toward Càt Càt Village and runs perpendicular to the main street; it originates at the fruit and vegetable end of the market, where it is called Tu_ Tinh.
Sa Pa has enough rooms to house all of Vietnam. Most hotels run on both a seasonal and a weekly price schedule. During the weekend in high season (May-Jul. for Vietnamese tourists, Jul.-Oct. for foreigners), hotels charge what they want. On the off days, however, it’s a buyer’s market, so don’t back down. As a general rule, lower prices mean lower floors and worse views. The town’s budget hotels are clustered mainly on M™øng Hoa, off C<u May. Several of the larger hotels accept Mastercard and Visa, with a 4-6% fee.
There are many culinary options in Sa Pa, varying widely in quality and price. If you head to a sit-down restaurant, be sure to check your bill carefully for mistakes. The ph stalls in the market and around town are always affordable.
At night, hotel patios fill up with travelers in search of conversation and a card game. Bars tend to remain quiet; locals congregate at the church. Mellow much of the time, this meeting place can become raucous on Saturday nights, when rice wine, musical instruments, and crowds tend to converge.
DHàm R·ng (Dragon’s Jaws) Tourist Mountain has an entrance around the corner from the church. Despite the steep entrance fee (20,000), the views are some of the best and most accessible in Sa Pa. A network of paved stone paths meander through a peach garden, a “European” garden, and a stone forest, then head past a caged ostrich for some scenic lookouts. The mountain also houses a “Cultural Village of Ethnic Minorities”—it’s only a few shops, but the name and gate are perhaps the most flagrant example of Sa Pa’s disconcerting human-zoo element.
The best reason to visit Hàm R·ng, however, is to climb the peak hidden behind the tourist paraphernalia. Walk to the back of the cactus garden and you’ll see a small dirt path leading through the brush. The zig-zagging trail branches into several smaller routes up the mountain. The most worn of these trails jogs around the left side of the peak, and a 30min. hike leads to a small ganja patch. From here, you can access one of the large boulders with views of the Sa Pa Valley. If you lose the “trail,” most of the smaller paths also make their way up toward the summit.
Sa Pa’s main attraction is its market. On Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, minority villagers (primarily H’m®ng) come to sell their goods, including colorful shirts, musical instruments, and jewelry. The Dao instituted the market as a “Love Market,” where friends from villages near and far came to meet, sing, impress, and entertain each other. Unfortunately, with tourists filming the villagers’ every move, the event ceased. Now the market is geared toward tourists, who come by the busload and leave wearing silver bracelets and packing H’m®ng embroidery. For weekday visitors, there are still plenty of trinket sellers—so many that it is now difficult to distinguish which day is the official “market day.” The second floor of Ch Sa Pa (Sa Pa Market) is the gathering spot all week.
Hikes to ethnic villages, past waterfalls, and through green rice fields offer magnificent views and an escape from Sa Pa’s commercialism. All the routes listed below charge entrance fees. Having realized that tourists enjoy being guided by H’m®ng girls, many tourist companies have weeded out Vietnamese guides. Most visitors opt for a H’m®ng guide and later report that they are the best insight into the customs and life of local minority groups. Some routes can be navigated alone; if you’re going solo, don’t be afraid to ask the way, as most villagers will be pleased to point you in the right direction. Use caution when taking overnight treks. You need a permit, which should be organized through a hotel; most will get one from the police for you. Some of the remote areas around Sa Pa are not open to visitors. Check before you head off into the unknown, as fines are steep.
While this circuit route is described from the Sa Pa-Lào Cai road trailhead to Má Cha and then T= Phìn, finding the way from the main highway to Má Cha Village can be difficult; we recommend hiring a guide, especially on days with low visibility. From Sa Pa, travel 5km north toward Lào Cai on Hwy. 4D to the major trail leading into the valley (between km markers 3 and 4). 150m down from the road, cut right onto a narrow path into a H’m®ng village, and then follow the detailed directions to Má Cha below.
You could also do the circuit in reverse by starting from T= Phìn—probably the best way to do the route alone. The T= Phìn entrance gate (15,000), is located about 8km down a paved road off Hwy. 4D. The turn-off for the paved road is between km markers 4 and 5, before the 1st bridge heading out of Sa Pa. From the T= Phìn entrance gate, walk past the school into the H’m®ng part of town. The large trail leading toward Má Cha Village is easy to pick out. There are also a series of navigable routes up the surrounding hills, all of which provide awesome views of the valley. A motorcycle taxi to T= Phìn from Sa Pa costs 50,000 round-trip. Some travelers report that by starting in Má Cha and taking a xe ®m from T= Phìn back to Sa Pa, they were able to speed through the T= Phìn entrance gate and bypass the entrance fee.
This village circuit showcases the verdant rice fields and cultural splendor of the Sa Pa area; what it lacks are vans full of tourists and clusters of trinket dealers. Once you enter the village off the road, you’ll pass small H’m®ng homes and large vats of water full of indigo, which are used to dye cloth. A 20min. walk down into the valley will bring you to a small bridge; just above it is a rice wheel. This ingenious invention is set up like a see-saw: one side of the plank lifts up as the other, dug-out side fills with water. The water then dumps out and catapults the elevated plank into a vat of rice, thereby husking it.
Climb above rice fields and hop over bamboo irrigation pipes to continue along the path. In the valley, the trail becomes a complex web; you’ll shuffle along terrace walls deeper into the hollow. Just past a hemp patch, there is a looming limestone outcrop from where Má Cha Village is visible. Near the outcrop is a lone tree on the horizon. If you ever get lost on your way to Má Cha, aim for this tree (or follow the powerlines that point to it). Má Cha is a small collection of tin-roofed H’m®ng homes with a modern school and a few water buffalo. Follow the wide trail to the left of the school as it continues through town and into the valley.
An hour beyond Má Cha is the H’m®ng side of T= Phìn village. Bails of hemp lie in the front yards of well-maintained homes. On the other side of the rice paddies, there are larger buildings where T= Phìn’s Red Dao people live. The Red Dao are easily identifiable by the large red headdresses worn by many of the women. Babies wear small red-and-blue beanies with metal beads. Their pants are resplendent with intricate geometrical embroidery atop dyed cloth.
From the H’m®ng side of T= Phìn, walk past the school to the main road and turn left. Follow the paved path straight through the Red Dao side of town to Hang T= Phìn (T= Phìn Cave). The Dao children out front will rent you a torch (2000), which is made by stuffing a piece of gasoline-soaked cloth in one end of a bamboo stick. The cave is damp, dark, and somewhat treacherous, but following the path makes for a good, Indiana Jones-like time. Back outside, take a look at the makeshift pool table dug in the dirt; with improvised cues and miniature balls, local children will beat you with embarrassing speed. Smile politely and defer to their terrifying superiority. The balls, which resemble a small squash, are called chö, and their seeds are mixed into a hot drink to fight particularly nasty colds.
From T= Phìn, most visitors choose to drive the 30min. back to Sa Pa. Off the road near the admission gate, there is an old French monastery, which deserves more than a glance from the road. The three-story shell remains fully intact. Orange lichen adorns the structure and fireplaces float on the wall, the floors below them long gone. Be careful when visiting the church—watch for barbed wire, thorny plants, and treacherous footing.
The waterfall and pass are both northwest of Sa Pa on the road to Lai Chñu. To visit Thác Bac Waterfall, take ™£ng Thc Bac out of town, passing Baguette & Chocolat on the way. The trek will take you half a day on foot or 30min. on a motorbike. At a few points the road gets difficult to drive on—most notably during the 6th km—use caution driving after rain. After reaching the falls, it’s best to buy an overpriced pork skewer from one of the stands near the entrance so that the salesperson will look after your bike. It’s not unheard of for visitors to return from the falls only to encounter a motorbike “malfunction.” Tram Ton Pass is 3km beyond the falls on the same road.
Thác Bac Waterfall is located 11km from Sa Pa on the road to Lai Chñu. The 100m tumbling falls are impressive and peaceful, if you can ignore the photo-hungry hordes. Climbing the staircase halfway up the falls costs 5000. At the top, a bridge connects both banks, and it is possible to continue down the other side. We recommend against climbing up onto the falls for photos, though you’ll see many people doing it; it’s worth taking note of one of Vietnam’s few warning signs, which urges travelers to stay on the established route.
Three kilometers farther toward Lai Chñu is Tram Ton Pass, where the views are spectacular, weather permitting. Often the Sa Pa side of the pass has low visibility, but heading down into Lai Chñu, the surroundings are usually visible. The journey beyond the pass into Lai Chñu province is highly recommended.
On the way back into Sa Pa, you will pass a small sign pointing 50m to èn Th™£ng. The temple is unspectacular but makes a fine stop on the return journey.
Guided tours of Càt Càt and Sin Chai (US$10-12) last half a day. Most tourists choose to make the trip on their own; the road (5000 entrance fee) is paved and easily navigable. Walking round-trip to both villages takes 4-5hr.
Approach Sa Pa’s most accessible village circuit from Phng Xi Png, which runs downhill past the appropriately named Càt Càt Hotel. Follow the path northwest along the valley and you’ll see a French villa built in the 1930s, which is now a center for wildlife protection. About 15min. later, a set of steps splits off to the left. This path leads down to the small H’m®ng village of Càt Càt. While it’s comforting to leave Sa Pa’s concrete jungle behind, Càt Càt has adapted a little too eagerly to the tourist trade. Many homes, particularly those along the well-maintained path, now sell goods and beverages. Continuing deeper into the valley, the stairs lead to an old hydroelectric power station and the small but attractive Càt Càt Waterfall.
After snapping a photo, most tourists opt to retrace their steps back to the road. From there you can hike back to Sa Pa or take one of the xe ®ms, which are strategically placed for exhausted tourists. From the bottom of the gorge, however, the path continues over the river and up onto the other side of the valley, providing even more impressive views of both the waterfall and the surrounding countryside. This short addition to the trek circles back to the main road over a suspension bridge, which revisits the original turn-off to Càt Càt village after 1km. It’s likely that a motorcycle driver will spot you coming off this amended route, come meet you, and try to bring you back to Sa Pa. If you’re enjoying yourself, refuse the ride and walk 100m up the paved road to a smaller paved road on the left. This turn-off travels 4km to the H’m®ng village of Sin Chai. After 45min., Sa Pa is out of sight, the pavement ends, and you enter town. Sin Chai sees its share of tourists, mostly on their descent from Fan Si Pan; nonetheless, it remains beautiful and remote. Young boys chase their dogs and locals wave calmly before continuing about their business. Water buffalo stand in pools of muggy water, their heads tilted proudly upward for air. The town is peaceful and generally free of visitors.
From Sin Chai, you must retrace your steps in order to return to Sa Pa (4km). It is possible a local will come out of the woodwork and offer to shuttle you back to Sa Pa on his motorcycle (15,000), but don’t count on it. If not, you’ll have to walk the 5km back to the original turn-off to Càt Càt village.
The most popular trips in Sa Pa are accessed from M™øng Hoa, which heads southeast out of town, past the Auberge Hotel. This road (15,000 entrance fee) is so treacherous that tourists on motorbikes often turn around, and xe ®ms should but don’t. Before making the trek, be sure to ask at your hotel about the condition of the road. If it’s being widened, head down on foot or by jeep.
If you choose to start the trek on your own, it’s possible to hire a H’m®ng girl en route to be your guide. Many speak English. It will be less expensive than a tour company, and she may bring you to meet and visit with her family. Motorcycle taxis are also available from the turn-off to L=o Chai for 15,000.
About 7km down into the valley, a bridge appears far below and a trail leads downhill toward the river and across a footbridge to L=o Chai. There is also a scenic and less-traveled route to L=o Chai: from the entrance gate, walk downhill for 40min. to the first convenience store. Nearby, there is a trail into the valley that slowly makes its way toward L=o Chai. This “route” is actually a series of small local trails that slowly weave down toward and then along the river. Five minutes past the convenience store, just 30m beyond the first small hut you come to, there is another clay path that meets the bridge to L=o Chai. It’s a beautiful walk through rice paddies and farmers’ fields down into the valley.
The Black H’m®ng village of L=o Chai experiences about as much traffic as Times Square, so it can be hard to enjoy the surroundings while being constantly bombarded by hawkers. By the bridge there are some wonderful spots where people swim. From L=o Chai, the river leads 4km to the Giáy village of T= Van. For a light day, backtrack across the bridge from T= Van and return to the main road. It’s about 2hr. back to town. Otherwise, you can stay on the far side of the river and continue through rice paddies and bamboo forests to Giàng T= Ch=i. The trail between these two villages take 1hr. and is steep at points. While at times the route can be difficult to follow, the steady stream of tourists and guides are not. Giàng T= Ch=i is home to several minority groups, most notably the Red Dao and H’m®ng. There is a very nice waterfall on the path through the village. Two trails leave town: one small path along the river and a more established route clinging onto the mountainside. After 15min. they converge at a bridge onto the main road. Near a sharp bend on the western side of the main road are fascinating stones inscribed with pictures of stilt homes, people, and symbols.
An hour and a half farther down the main (dirt) road is the H’m®ng town of S¸ Pan. The small shops along the road attract nearby Red Dao traders. There is a small, beautiful, and rarely used path that leads to S¸ Pan from Giàng T= Ch=i, but you will need a guide. To ensure that you have enough time for this trail, start in Tã Van as opposed to Sa Pa. S¸ Pan is the launching point for many multi-day treks into the region; it’s also a good place to turn around for Sa Pa. Motorcycle taxis will take you to Sa Pa for 40,000-50,000.
Provisions and a competent guide are necessary for the 2- to 4-day trip to the summit and back. Rain often renders the route impassable. Though weather is impossible to predict at any time of the year, Nov. and Dec. are the best months to attempt the summit. Headlamp, bug spray, and snacks are all worth bringing. All guesthouses can arrange tours complete with sleeping bags, tents, rain gear, guide, porter, and 3 meals per day. Most guides, however, do not bring medical kits. Prices depend on the number of people in the group and the number of days, but generally run US$50-100 per person.
Fan Si Pan Mountain, across the valley from Sa Pa, is Vietnam’s highest peak and a popular expedition for those willing to brave its deceptively steep slopes. The trail starts at the pink building just 1km before Tram Ton Pass. From that permit checkpoint, it’s a 3-4hr. hike up to base camp (2200m). Everyone sleeps in the small hut at base camp, and you will be provided with a sleeping bag, but you might want to bring your own sleeping bag or at least a liner. The base camp has a makeshift bar and a river, where you can take a cold bath. Typically, trekkers reach the summit and return to base camp on the second day. The steep, muddy trail travels through jungle and bamboo forest, and ropes have been set up on the larger rock faces. The round-trip from base camp to the summit takes roughly 8hr., and there are great vantage points along the way. On top, you can take a picture holding the Vietnamese flag or a photograph of H· Chí Minh. On the third day, hikers generally leave base camp on a different route, heading down to Sin Chai, where a jeep or motorbike will pick you up and bring you back to Sa Pa.
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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