Trek Fansipan Sapa

Climbing Fansipan is great fun and a nice accomplishment. While you should not take it lightly, if you are prepared it can be very satisfying.

We paid $40 per person and did the climb in one day – a minibus picked us up from our Sapa hotel at 0600 or so, we started climbing at 0700, and we were done the climb by 1630 on a day with rather poor weather (nearly continuous rain and, closer to the top, hail). Our relatively fast trip is probably not typical – most people do it in 2 or 3 days, which has the advantage of allowing you to take a different route down than up, but the disadvantage of that you get to sleep in the mountain huts there, which, while if the weather is nice might be ok, when it’s cold and raining as it was on our day, is pretty unappealing – our group basically didn’t want to stop (we had to only because the guide was tired) in order to preserve warmth.

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Travelers to Sapa in summer can feel 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.

The terraced fields in Sa Pa

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. [...Read more]

Imaginative travellers looking to head to south-east Asia might want to make Vietnam a priority stop-off, as a website has provided tips on how to survive a stay in the country.

Ha Giang Province Vietnam

Suite101 has reported that following the culmination of war in recent years, the nation’s economy has started to “boom” and visitor numbers are on the increase.
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The mountainous town offers a glimpse into a world of mysterious minority cultures and luscious landscapes. The Red Dao, named for their colorful headdresses, take a break during the long trek to the market.

The Queen of the Mountains in Vietnam, Sapa, overlooks a beautiful valley with lofty mountains towering over the town on all sides. The spectacular scenery surrounding Sapa includes cascading rice terraces which spill down the mountains like a patchwork quilt. The mountains are often shrouded in mist that rolls back and forth along the peaks, offering tantalizing glimpses of what lies in wait on a clear day. The valleys and villages around Sapa are home to a host of hill-tribe people who wander around town buying, selling and trading.

Trekking in Sapa, Vietnam

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Temperatures in Sapa, the most famous tourist site of northern Vietnam, are less than 4oC, but the town is very crowded with foreign and local visitors who come to celebrate Christmas. VietNamNet reports in photos:

Despite the cold spell, ethnic minority girls still travel to town from their far-away villages.

The cold doesn’t stop visitors.

All hotels decorate their entrances to welcome Christmas.

Hoang Manh Dung, Director of the Sapa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told VietNamNet that the number of foreign visitors for Christmas has risen sharply in 2009.

The town’s church in fog.

Source: PV/VNN

Recommendation for Trekking Fansipan , Vietnam:
Sapa Travel Guide
Trekking Travel Guide
Trek Fansipan Tours

Bac Ha fair opens every Sunday in Bac Ha district, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai. The fair is known for its cultural identity of ethnic minority people.

The fair attracts not only domestic tourists but also many foreigners who come to look for colourful brocade, skirts of Mong ethnic minority people and specialities of the mountain region.

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Editor’s Note: This is the second installment focusing of Cheryn’s travels in Vietnam. Be sure to read Cheryn’s other blog post about Hanoi’s old quarter.

Sapa field, Vietnam

We arrived at the train station in the city of Lao Cai and boarded a bus to Sapa. An hour later, the landscape changed from flat to mountainous and the views became dramatic, with terraced rice paddies trickling water from one to another and colorful hill tribe people on the side of the road, carrying baskets of leaves on their backs or selling veggies and fruit from roadside stalls.

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Guide for traveling around Sapa. You can trek Mt. Fansipan – the highest peak in Vietnam, trek to Cat Cat, Ta Phin, Ta Van, Sin Chai villages,  or visit the incredible Tram Ton Pass. Check the article out for more details.

The easiest trek in town is to follow the steps up to the Sapa radio tower (admission 15,000) for killer views of the valley.

Montagnards from surrounding villages don their best clothes and go to the Sapa market  most days. Saturday is the busiest day, and town is choking with tourists as the evening “love market” is a big magnet for organized tour groups from Hanoi, lf you’d rather enjoy Sapa at a more sedate pace, avoid the Sat market.

The love market is speed dating minority style. Tribal teenagers trek into town to find a mate. It’s all very coy, but unlike many of the more remote love markets in the region, it has become very commercial in recent. These days there are more camera – toting tourists than love-sick Montagnards, as a smattering of opportunist prostitutes on the scene.

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