Visit Sa Pa

In my opinion, Sapa is now an extremely bad place to stay for more than a day or two. Crowded with people and traffic, a very noisy city full of smog and garbage. On the other hand, it is an ideal base for short scooter trips to the surrounding areas. But if you can, look elsewhere for cheaper accommodation. We found good food only with great difficulty and very far from the center, basically unreachable without a motorbike. Today, Sapa is a classic tourist attraction with all the classic ills of the tourism industry.

Jiří Czech Republic

The city of Sapa has turned into a super touristic city, with crowding, bustle and traffic jams on the streets. Everything is very expensive with very low value for money. Unfortunately we encountered many children in local costumes dancing or taking photos with tourists for a few baht. Local organizations advise tourists not to give money or candy to children so as not to encourage them to drop out of school. However, the surrounding villages are very beautiful to enjoy the nature, the wonderful view, peace and quiet, The transportation from Sapa to the villages is relatively cheap for citizens who trade with Euro or Dollar. In the surrounding villages there are many good options for accommodation and food with wonderful nature, good services and reasonable prices. There are many hiking trails and all hoteliers can arrange to have a guide at a low price. You can thus meet people from some local tribes and discuss their way of life. Prefer the surrounding villages, anyway no attractions are inside Sapa. Currency exchange is not very easy. ATMs only spoke Vietnamese, the bank only opened in the morning, and the currency exchange shop gave a much lower rate. For credit or debit card transactions they charged an additional 5%. Many attractions only accepted cash for the ticket. In summary I recommend staying outside of Sapa and carrying enough cash.

ASPASIA Greece

Sapa is a well known tourist destination. The Cable Car to Fansipan was really awesome. The Cable Cars are a bit expensive for Vietnam standards, but it's completely understandable considering the engineering used to build it. They are still much cheaper than ones I've been on other places in the world(Hong Kong, Gatlinburg USA, others). The Glass Elevator/Bridge about 30 minutes drive from the city was an amazing experience and highly recommended. Around the Sapa station area, we tried to sit and relax from walking around all day. Some street sellers dressed in ethnic outfits stood right next to us even after we said no several times. Even after we bought something, 2 more of them showed up and wanted us to buy more. After 10 minutes we had to leave, because we couldn't relax due to their aggressive selling.

Phillip Australia

Most local people can't speak English, need to use a google translator. From Hanoi to Sa Pa is quite a distance away, travel by train around 7 to 8 hours, travel by bus also around 5 to 6 hours.

Jeffrey Tew Singapore

Fansipan summit is a breath taking view from suspension cable cab. Buy the tickets one way to the summit, then walking down to visit all the pagodas. Bring along a warm coat, ears cover because the summit weather is unpredictable. The day we visited Fansipan, lowland temperature was 19 degree Celsius with clear sky and fully sunny, by the time we reached the summit around 11am. the temperature was dropped down to 2 degree Celsius with high wind and partial cloudy. Most Sapa villages have unpaved trail, be sure to purchase knee high waterproof boots at the Sapa main market if you plan to visit those villages during rainy season. Bring small Vietnamese currency such as 1000VND or 2000VND if you want to give out to the little kids beggar or for a chance to take a picture with them

XUAN QUANG United States

Sapa is a bit overhyped thanks to Social Media. I would stay 4 days in total. Two for hiking, once north, once south (or taking motorbike tours), one for a traditional ethnic workshop like batik or embroidery and one to go up Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indochina. Sapa is a small city that has become increasingly touristic and you will encounter several places that operate with fake google ratings.

Kaya