Sa Pa Favorites

Favorite thing: If your schedule is possible, try to visit Sapa on weekdays when there are fewer tourists. On weekends, you will run into tourists who may outnumber the locals.

I went on a weekday and got all the attention of the local trying to sell me something.

It is nice to share the mountain air with less people.

Favorite thing: Most of the villages around Sapa is primarily villages of Black Hmong. You can go by guided tours to further villages of Red Hmong, Dao and other tribes. As security permission are required to be applied by the tour agents, try to arrange as soon upon arrival in Sapa or while in Hanoi. If you are travelling alone or in a small group, getting other fellow travellers to join will make it financially more viable for these longer trips to be arranged. An overnight stay in a traditional home may be a wonderful option.

Favorite thing: I bought my Sapa train+van+hotel+tour package in Hanoi. I was shown pictures of a nice new hotel overlooking the valley. When I arrived at my hotel in Sapa, the only room left was a windowless room. I decided to protest and finally upgraded my room by paying more and got a fantastic large room with a balcony and wonderful valley view.

So be sure that when you pay for your package to specify that you want room with a balcony and a valley view. It is worth it.

Favorite thing: If you want to take photographs of green lush rice fields, it is important you come at the right season. I was there in August, it was green and wonderful. Another friend went on a different time of the year and saw brown empty fields after harvest instead.

So check on the rice planting season if you have a choice of which month to go to Sapa.

Favorite thing: Booking your trekking or market tours is much cheaper when you do it in Sapa itself rather than arrange it through a travel agent. You also have the luxury of comparing the various packages from the different operators. We did our day trek with the Mountain View hotel and we would highly recommend it - good value and excellent english-speaking guides.

You'll also have the advantage to look at the weather before deciding what package to take up.

Favorite thing: The train station in Lao Cai is quite small. As such, it gets very crowded just before the train departs, especially if there is more than one train departing. We were scheduled to depart on the 9:15pm train, and there was another one departing 15 minutes earlier. As such, there was a massive crowd and long queue of people jostling to get through the gate. If you are on the later train and have reserved seats, you can afford to wait and let the crowd clear first before making your way to the train station.