Spend 3 full days in the dramatic mountain ranges of Sapa on the Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days tour. This tour from Hanoi shows you Sapa and its beautiful surroundings by foot, where the majesty of its quaint walking paths, wide-ranging valley vistas, rice paddies, cascading waterfalls, bamboo forests and humble villages will unravel from beneath your boots. Sapa is a stunning time capsule of ancient agricultural practices, where water buffalo plough steeped terraces of rice beneath the shadows of spiraling mountaintops.
Along the trekking routes of the Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days tour, we meet many members of different ethnic minorities who have lived in Sapa for generations. The distinct and unique cultures developed by these hill tribes remains largely intact today and can be seen best at Bac Ha Market. This is a weekly place of business and revelry for members of at least 8 different hill tribes, as they meet in a colourful spectacle to sell their wares and enjoy the company of distant friends and relatives.
The perfect marriage of nature and unique hill tribe culture awaits on the Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days tour.
Download this tour’s PDF brochure and start tour planning offline
Activities: Taking the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai.
Await the guide in your hotel lobby. They will arrive at 20.30 and take you via taxi to Hanoi train station, where they will provide you with your tickets and all the information you need for your overnight journey to Lao Cai.
Activities: Arriving in Sapa and trekking through villages, stopping in one for lunch before heading back for a free afternoon in Sapa.
Once you have stepped off the night train in Lao Cai, your new local guide will collect you and take you to Sapa on the hour-long bus ride through the already-stunning scenery of the region.
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and drop your bags off at your hotel. We will begin our trek with a 6km hike down into the stunning Muong Hoa Valley, where many lush rice paddies are stacked up against the side. We will visit the villages of Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai, two small communities of the Black H’mong ethnic minority.
Continuing past idyllic scenes of perennially ancient Vietnam, we arrive at Ta Van village, home to the Giay minority. We have lunch with a family here and take the opportunity to advance our learning about this humble and friendly hill tribe and the unique architecture of their houses.
After lunch, we have a small walk to the pick-up point, where we will climb into the car and head back to Sapa via road. You will have the rest of the day to spend in Sapa at your leisure. Perhaps you would like to continue your walking up Ham Rong Mountain and around its magnificent gardens.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Notes: Make your own arrangements for dinner and sleep overnight in Sapa town.
Activities: Trekking to Cat Cat village and having lunch at its nearby waterfall before heading to the foothills of Fansipan Mountain before returning to Sapa.
After breakfast in your hotel, we head 4km southwest of Sapa to Cat Cat village, a colourful locale courtesy of the Black H’mong, who live here in their traditional multicoloured dress. We continue to a waterfall nearby and watch the power of nature in this naturally beautiful land. We will stop here for a wonderful picnic lunch with a magnificent backdrop.
Trekking 6km further, we will reach Sin Chai at the foothills of the soaring Fansipan Mountain. Even from the bottom of Indochina’s tallest mountain, you can see gloriously sweeping views of the valley, protected on all sides by soaring rock cliffs. We explore the area around Sin Chai village and head back to Sapa by car, where you will have another afternoon to explore however you see fit. Maybe this time you would prefer to check out some of Sapa’s interesting religious buildings, like Notre Dame Cathedral and Mau Son Temple, or alternatively, just relax with a coffee and watch the town in motion.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Notes: Make your own arrangements for dinner and sleep overnight in Sapa town.
Activities: Exploring Bac Ha Market and the H’mong King’s Palace before we discover the local trades of Ban Pho and head back to Lao Cai in time for your night train.
Take an early breakfast at your hotel; we will be driving for 110km to Bac Ha Market at 07:00.
About 2.5 hours later, we arrive in the colorful whirlwind of activity that is Bac Ha Market. We will see examples of different hill tribes dressed in their Sunday best, the fantastically vibrant traditional clothing that sets tribes apart and is often used for courting at the market between young men and women. We will shop around the market finding equally colourful and exotic foods, animals, clothes and many other items sold here.
We will visit the stunning H’mong King’s Palace in Bac Ha town, built by the French in 1921 and still standing as a stunning example of their architectural style that developed in Vietnam.
After lunch in Bac Ha, we take the short trek to Ban Pho, a village of the beautiful Flower H’mong tribe. We will explore the local trades here by seeing examples of green tea and corn wine production, listening to our welcoming hosts explain the process and letting us try some fine products at the end.
We head back to Bac Ha and take the transfer to Lao Cai, leaving time for you to comfortably catch your night train back to Hanoi. This is where the Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days tour will end. We thank you sincerely for joining us on this tour and we hope to have the pleasure of your company again at some point in the future!
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Notes: + Make your own arrangements for dinner in Lao Cai before catching your night train back to Hanoi.
+ The Sapa Trekking & Bac Ha Market 4 Days is available as either a private or group tour.
Download this tour’s PDF brochure and start tour planning offline
As a European-style mountain chalet, the Sapa Dragon Hotel pays homage to the French colonial past of Sapa, along with its ancient Vietnamese origins and their continuation today. Situated about 1,650 metres above sea level, your stay at the Sapa Dragon Hotel will be draped in a natural grandeur bestowed by the Hoang Lien Mountains, with soaring peaks creating an excellent backdrop to a wonderful stay.Throughout our range of rooms, you will be presented with very pleasant options for your stay in Sapa. Warm lighting and highly comfortable bedding are universal from the Superior Room to the Suite, with quaint wooden bathrooms and viewing balconies offering a chalet-like retreat for our guests. Modern amenities abound in the air conditioning, wall-mounted TV and shower.The location of the Sapa Dragon Hotel in a more secluded corner of Sapa town means that you can find peace amongst the energy on show here. Still, the convenience to its attractions is some of the best in Sapa; the Notre Dame Cathedral is just 400m away and Sapa Lake just 700m.
The extensive and gorgeous exterior of the Sapa Legend Hotel & Spa suggests just some of the opulence and comfort to be found within. This immaculately adorned hotel has grand marble and burnished wood running throughout, extending to the many rooms spanning four accommodation options. Along with warm decoration, each room is fitted with comfortable bedding, modern amenities such as air conditioning and TV, large windows and a very well appointed bathroom, ensuring an extremely pleasant stay in beautiful Sapa.In further pursuit of this aim, our restaurant and café encapsulate a luxurious atmosphere for your enjoyment of international and Vietnamese food and beverages. In addition, the Legend Spa provides an excellent means of relaxation and a space for tranquility in the bustling town. With one of the most central locations in all of Sapa town, you will find travelling around the area to be of the utmost ease and cafes and restaurants just beyond arms’ reach. Just to the left of the front doorstep is Sapa Lake and community garden, with Sapa Park just 300m away and Ham Rong Mountain 400m beyond that.
Set outside of the general bustle of Sapa town, Pao’s Sapa Leisure Hotel takes up an advantageous position atop the Muong Hoa Valley, offering stunning views to one of Vietnam’s most majestic natural scenes. Throughout our range of rooms, we ensure that your view of Sapa’s forest-clad limestone mountains, as well as the golden rice paddies that descend through the valley, is at the forefront of each well-appointed room’s design.From the Deluxe Room to Sapa’s most luxurious offering, Red Dao Suite, you will find comfortable furnishings in a modern room, with a focus through the wall-length windows and universal balconies to the scenery outside. 223 rooms in Pao’s Sapa Leisure Hotel are some of the most comfortable accommodation options throughout the town, and here you can discover the Sapa that suits you, through TVs, working desks, large bathrooms and palatial seating arrangements.The convenience of Sapa town lies just under 2km away and contains attractions such as Sapa Lake, Ham Rong Mountain and Notre Dame Cathedral. Stock up for your trek here before returning to Pao’s Sapa Leisure Hotel to ease into Sapa’s most magisterial accommodation.