Sapa

Sapa is a mountain town in Vietnam's far north-west, at about 1,500 metres, founded by the French as a hill station in the early 20th century. It is much cooler than Hanoi, and cold in winter.

Rice terraces carved into the mountainsides surround it, most beautifully in the Muong Hoa valley, home to Black Hmong and Red Dao villages. The terraces are green from June to August and golden before the September harvest.

Above Sapa rises Fansipan, the highest peak in Indochina at 3,143 metres. A mountain railway and cable car turn what was once a two-day climb into a ride of about twenty minutes.

Sapa is five to six hours from Hanoi by expressway, and we arrange a comfortable private car with stops along the way.