What to Do: Sa Pa

First off, Sa Pa is this city/town, with surrounding towns that make up a northwestern part of Vietnam. Laying very close to the Chinese border, this place takes a bit to get to from Hanoi, but it’s well worth it to escape the city and be immersed in a bit of culture.

Getting to Sa Pa takes a bit of time. There are many ways of getting here. Bus from Hanoi to Sa Pa and takes about 6 hours, or train from Hanoi to a nearby town and then bus to Sa Pa, or take your motorbikes up here and get around from there. We chose to arrange a bus through 123goasia.com and we got on a sleeper bus leaving at 7 AM and arriving after 1 PM. First off, sleeper buses are hilarious, and we were able to get 3 ‘beds’ together at the end of the bus for the 3 of us that were traveling. Keep in mind we’d only known each other a solid 72 hours, but we were crammed in like sardines together and took off on the long journey.

The bus stops at a tourist trap on the way there, and keep small bills for bathroom entrances or coffees, depending on what you need. I made the mistake of needing to use a bathroom, but not having small bills, and the ladies having “no small change”. Learned my lesson pretty fast there.

After arriving to Sa Pa, we got off the bus and were bombarded by these ladies that have small wares and want you to have them, They are both helpful and aggressive, so beware that talking to them and befriending them will usually end in them trying their best to sell you something. However we did use their help in finding the place we were staying once we were dropped off by the taxi.

I recommend staying at a homestay rather than at a hostel. You get a more genuine experience and I quite love how homey it feels. The homestays are often quite far from the main city, so be prepared to pay 200-250,000 VND for the ride, but it’s well worth it to get out of the inner city area. You will also be asked to pay entrance to the rice fields when you leave the city center, and it’s okay to pay the 75,000 VND, however we managed to get away without it. The money goes towards the building of new roads and keeping up the roads that are there. After a 30 min taxi ride, you’ll see how they do need the money. The roads are brutal, but it all adds to the charm.

Once arriving at the homestay, our host Die (who was awesome) at the Hmoung House Homestay, welcomed us into his home with his very pregnant wife who ran around for us, and they invited us to join them for a long table dinner with the rest of the inhabitants. It was so lovely to have them cooking something for us, especially after such a long travel day. We were invited to the supermarket to pick up the ingredients and then were encouraged to be a part of setting the table, bringing the food to the table, and helping around the house.

Homestays provide the authentic experience you lack in the big cities, and if you have a place with a beautiful view, you are in luck!

We were exhausted on our first night, but stayed up for dinner and then a smoky fire with the guests. It was so lovely, and so nice to get the opportunity to relax after being in the busy city and rushing around for days trying to get here there and everywhere.

On our first real day, we had a homemade breakfast of Pho Ga and coffee and joined up with a few people to go on a trek up the mountain side. We had two people with bad knees, me included, a sprained foot and cracked rib (me also) and then sore hips, so we decided to make our own tour and see what happens.

There is a ridge behind our homestay that tourists started walking along at the early hours of 6:30/7:00 AM, and so we took that path mid-morning to find the Cau May waterfall along the rice terraces. I wish I’d brought shoes with a bit more grip, the rain from the night before made us slip and slide everywhere. I will recommend that whatever you bring, you bring a walking stick. That thing saved my neck multiple times throughout the walk. We traversed the terraces and saw quite a few water buffalo which was quite cool. We even had one hot on our trail on the way down a ridge which made me a little nervous, but the beast just wanted to say hi.

Once we reached the falls, the view was amazing, but the best part was the peace and tranquility that you felt just listening to the water run down the cliff face and ultimately splash into the rocks below. The view was beautiful and there were quite a few ladies there ready and waiting to sell you their textiles. It felt a little commercialized, but the walk there made it all okay.

After descending down the slippery path beside the falls, we decided to cross the pathway and navigate through the valley to find our way home. I would recommend knowing what paths lead to where because we ended up wandering for an extra couple hours trying to find our way back. Anything but those slippery rocks, roots and piles of mud in my mind.

We reached our home and promptly needed a nap. The weather is beautiful and can come and go. I recommend bringing a raincoat just in case, but also making sure that you have a tank and shorts so that you can keep cool. Do NOT forget bug spray and sunscreen, you need these and you need to reapply once you sweat it all off.

There are longer tours that you can take and the best option is to get one of these ladies to take you on that tour. She will take you to her house, and show you around to all the good places. We had friends that did that, and they said they got a good tour around and through landscapes to places where there weren't as many tourists. It depends on your physical capability, how much time you want, and the type of hike you are looking for. If we were to do this again, I’d get one of the ladies to arrange an early morning hike up and go to the top of the mountain.

We finished off the afternoon with a late lunch and drink at the DaZy Bar where we got to sit at the balcony and look out onto the rice terraces sipping an egg coffee (I cannot get over how amazing these are).

Traveler Tip: Make sure to book your way home in enough time! We didn’t know quite when we were leaving and ran into problems trying to get out of the area since we didn’t have anything booked until two days before.

We ended up leaving the following day, but if we had more time, I would have gone back and explored the bars near our homestay, spent some time in town exploring around and just getting a chance to relax at our homestay a bit longer.

There’s a lot of pressure to fit in as much as possible, especially when you go to Sa Pa to trek, however, make sure that you get a chance to absorb a bit of culture while you’re there. The area is nice to wander around and explore yourself, and depending on how busy it is, you could find yourself in an area where its just you and nature.

If tours are more your style, I recommend going on a 3 day, 2 night tour, give yourself a bit of time to trek, but also to enjoy your surroundings. Having transport sorted is some type of travellers cup of tea, and I respect that. Sometimes you just want someone to pick you and tell you where to go!

Hopefully this article was helpful to anyone going to Sa Pa, Vietnam. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

-E