Anyone been to Sapa Vietnam.
Discussion
At the start of September Mrs DG and I are off to Vietnam for a month, Sapa, Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh, not necessarily in that order. Main purpose of the trip, sightseeing and cuisine.
For some irrational reason, I’m not sure about Sapa, I’ve read up about it online, very mountainous and picturesque, just get the feeling it’s developed too fast and may have lost its identity. Anyone got any experience?
Some of this trip will be done by train, Sapa to Hanoi then onto Hue, for no other reason than I haven’t done a train holiday since my youth (now mid 60’s). Vietnam railways are a bit antiquated, so not the best, I just like the idea of rolling through the countryside or am I being a sentimental old fool who should just take flight and get the job done? Financially there is little difference.
For some irrational reason, I’m not sure about Sapa, I’ve read up about it online, very mountainous and picturesque, just get the feeling it’s developed too fast and may have lost its identity. Anyone got any experience?
Some of this trip will be done by train, Sapa to Hanoi then onto Hue, for no other reason than I haven’t done a train holiday since my youth (now mid 60’s). Vietnam railways are a bit antiquated, so not the best, I just like the idea of rolling through the countryside or am I being a sentimental old fool who should just take flight and get the job done? Financially there is little difference.
Cant help on the details about the place but I love trains and even in countries where the infrastructure is beyond its best I still love taking train journeys where I can. You see some great sights and often meet some very good people both locals and travellers. Every holiday I take I always try and plan it at least one or two train trips.
If time is not a worry then train for sure.
If time is not a worry then train for sure.
We were in Sapa a few years ago, quite enjoyed it. We stayed with a local guide and were out in the countryside for the majority of our stay. Their home certainly wasn't overdeveloped 
so if you want rustic, think about doing a homestay.
If you want stay in town, there's any number of guides hanging about the town square, or if you book a guide they will meet you at your hotel.
We stayed at a hotel in town (Sapa Dragon, cheap and cheerful) the first night, who were happy to keep our bags while we were away with the guide for a few days, then gave us a room for a couple of hours on our return to get cleaned up ready for the trip back.
so if you want rustic, think about doing a homestay.If you want stay in town, there's any number of guides hanging about the town square, or if you book a guide they will meet you at your hotel.
We stayed at a hotel in town (Sapa Dragon, cheap and cheerful) the first night, who were happy to keep our bags while we were away with the guide for a few days, then gave us a room for a couple of hours on our return to get cleaned up ready for the trip back.
Was there in 202. SaPa was a truly fantastic experience, and I've "done" most of the rest of vietnam twice.
We got the "sleeping bus" up from Hanoi. Everything was arranged by our hotelier in Hanoi. Stayed one night in a fine hotel in Sapa then set off with a group of about 6 of us and three guides. Walked to some touristy but beautiful spot with lots of photo ops, then set off on the trek. Thought it was a con at first as we walked up a grass hill behind our hotel but it didn't take long until we're were in the middle of nowhere walking through tiered rice fields and local farmers. Stunning.
Had a great lunch then carried on all afternoon.
Stayed in a bamboo hut / room at a local farmers place. MAde spring rolls with his family in the kitchen, then the farmer, Mun, got out his " fire water" and a massive kareoke machine and we all got t
tted and had a great laugh. Mun was crying as he sung (badly). They take their kareoko very seriously.
Was an unforgettable 2 days.
We got the "sleeping bus" up from Hanoi. Everything was arranged by our hotelier in Hanoi. Stayed one night in a fine hotel in Sapa then set off with a group of about 6 of us and three guides. Walked to some touristy but beautiful spot with lots of photo ops, then set off on the trek. Thought it was a con at first as we walked up a grass hill behind our hotel but it didn't take long until we're were in the middle of nowhere walking through tiered rice fields and local farmers. Stunning.
Had a great lunch then carried on all afternoon.
Stayed in a bamboo hut / room at a local farmers place. MAde spring rolls with his family in the kitchen, then the farmer, Mun, got out his " fire water" and a massive kareoke machine and we all got t
tted and had a great laugh. Mun was crying as he sung (badly). They take their kareoko very seriously.Was an unforgettable 2 days.
I really enjoyed Sapa, stunning scenery. I got the sleeper bus from Hanoi which gets into Sapa town around 6am, with trekking on organised tours starting around 8 after you’ve hung around in a cafe for a bit (this dragged a bit after not much sleep on the bus..) I probably wouldn’t want to do that again as I didn’t sleep great on the way up.. might be best to have a night in Sapa town before any trekking so you have a good night’s sleep.
I stayed at Mamma Mao’s homestay arranged through Lily’s travel agency in Hanoi - good service from the agency and I would recommend them. All of the home stays will be quite rustic but it was quite a memorable day/night getting to know your host on the trek and then having dinner and drinking ‘happy water’ (rice wine) all evening ?? you get to know the others staying in your homestay pretty well. the average age where I stayed was in the 20s-30s but there was one couple in their 60s.
The trekking is quite steep in parts but it was unseasonably hot when I was there which made it tougher than normal. You’d probably want a layer for the evening/morning in September but the weather should be ok overall.
The region is quite developed now - I think I got lucky with my tour as we visited more remote villages and barely saw another group on the first day. The second day of trekking we went to some more popular spots and it was quite busy with other tourists and people trying to sell you stuff- we had a woman in her 70s walk with us for maybe 3 hours in 30 degree heat just to try and sell a few gifts, you see local woman tagging onto tour groups quite often, it can be annoying but the region is really poor and they’re just trying to make a living.
Certain villages are more developed/touristy than others (E.g. Cat Cat) so you can try and avoid those if you care about that. If you go through an agency you can tell them you want to visit more local villages and they can try and accommodate that. I wouldn’t recommend trying to sort the trekking yourself because of the hassle factor but it is possible
I stayed at Mamma Mao’s homestay arranged through Lily’s travel agency in Hanoi - good service from the agency and I would recommend them. All of the home stays will be quite rustic but it was quite a memorable day/night getting to know your host on the trek and then having dinner and drinking ‘happy water’ (rice wine) all evening ?? you get to know the others staying in your homestay pretty well. the average age where I stayed was in the 20s-30s but there was one couple in their 60s.
The trekking is quite steep in parts but it was unseasonably hot when I was there which made it tougher than normal. You’d probably want a layer for the evening/morning in September but the weather should be ok overall.
The region is quite developed now - I think I got lucky with my tour as we visited more remote villages and barely saw another group on the first day. The second day of trekking we went to some more popular spots and it was quite busy with other tourists and people trying to sell you stuff- we had a woman in her 70s walk with us for maybe 3 hours in 30 degree heat just to try and sell a few gifts, you see local woman tagging onto tour groups quite often, it can be annoying but the region is really poor and they’re just trying to make a living.
Certain villages are more developed/touristy than others (E.g. Cat Cat) so you can try and avoid those if you care about that. If you go through an agency you can tell them you want to visit more local villages and they can try and accommodate that. I wouldn’t recommend trying to sort the trekking yourself because of the hassle factor but it is possible
Edited by jfis89 on Sunday 20th August 11:50
Edited by jfis89 on Sunday 20th August 11:51
jfis89]and people trying to sell you stuff- [/footnote said:
Mun, our homestay host
Do check the weather forecast. We got dead lucky - it was aweful either side of our visit and glorious in between
What happens when you relent and saym "ok! show me what you got!" - I'm smiling in that photo - was good humoured and a lot of money for them
Being based in China, we will be taking an unusual route flying to Kunming, then taking the high speed train to Henkou and crossing the border to Lao Cai; from there we will take a bus to Sapa. For the onward leg to Hanoi we plan to take luxury coach doing this for a number of reasons.
Goes direct from Sapa.
Faster than the train.
Arrives in Hanoi, at a more sociable hour.
For the train fix, we going use one from Hanoi to Hue 12 hrs 45 mins, should be fun, not done this kind of journey since my inter-railing days over 40 years ago.
Then we go to Hoi An, this will be mainly lounging around the pool and trying the local nosh, having visited several times before.
Finally we will fly to Ho Chi Minh, having never been before, I’m really looking forward to comparing it with Hanoi.
Thank you everyone for the valuable advice, it certainly seems Sapa is worth a visit, scenery seems outstanding and with a flexible itinerary, it would be a shame to miss it.
Goes direct from Sapa.
Faster than the train.
Arrives in Hanoi, at a more sociable hour.
For the train fix, we going use one from Hanoi to Hue 12 hrs 45 mins, should be fun, not done this kind of journey since my inter-railing days over 40 years ago.
Then we go to Hoi An, this will be mainly lounging around the pool and trying the local nosh, having visited several times before.
Finally we will fly to Ho Chi Minh, having never been before, I’m really looking forward to comparing it with Hanoi.
Thank you everyone for the valuable advice, it certainly seems Sapa is worth a visit, scenery seems outstanding and with a flexible itinerary, it would be a shame to miss it.
daqinggregg said:
Being based in China, we will be taking an unusual route flying to Kunming, then taking the high speed train to Henkou and crossing the border to Lao Cai; from there we will take a bus to Sapa. For the onward leg to Hanoi we plan to take luxury coach doing this for a number of reasons.
Goes direct from Sapa.
Faster than the train.
Arrives in Hanoi, at a more sociable hour.
For the train fix, we going use one from Hanoi to Hue 12 hrs 45 mins, should be fun, not done this kind of journey since my inter-railing days over 40 years ago.
Then we go to Hoi An, this will be mainly lounging around the pool and trying the local nosh, having visited several times before.
Finally we will fly to Ho Chi Minh, having never been before, I’m really looking forward to comparing it with Hanoi.
Thank you everyone for the valuable advice, it certainly seems Sapa is worth a visit, scenery seems outstanding and with a flexible itinerary, it would be a shame to miss it.
Ho Chi Minh/Saigon is incomparable to Hanoi. HCM is a modern city, Hanoi is partly stuck back in time. I MUCH prefer Hanoi, but, if you want a swish hotel then HCM wins, and, last time I was in Hanoi is was raining and grey but it was 33 degrees and blue skies in HCM :-)Goes direct from Sapa.
Faster than the train.
Arrives in Hanoi, at a more sociable hour.
For the train fix, we going use one from Hanoi to Hue 12 hrs 45 mins, should be fun, not done this kind of journey since my inter-railing days over 40 years ago.
Then we go to Hoi An, this will be mainly lounging around the pool and trying the local nosh, having visited several times before.
Finally we will fly to Ho Chi Minh, having never been before, I’m really looking forward to comparing it with Hanoi.
Thank you everyone for the valuable advice, it certainly seems Sapa is worth a visit, scenery seems outstanding and with a flexible itinerary, it would be a shame to miss it.
HCM is the base for the Cu Chi tunnels etc - so really a must do part of 'nam :-)
Have fun and report back here! (p.s. if you like train journies I recommend Bangkok to Poipet if you find yourself heading to Cambodia)
p.s. I assume you've been to a water puppet show in Hanoi? if not, you absolutely must :-)
If you like mountainous regions and scenery then you’ll enjoy Sapa.
I hiked the nearby Fansipan Mountain, (highest mountain in indochina) over 2 days, which was amazing.
Although all the Vietnamese we spoke to were very confused why we would do this when there is a cable car to the top. And we looked a bit out of place at the top being the only ones not wearing our finest and best designer labels. But it was fun.
I hiked the nearby Fansipan Mountain, (highest mountain in indochina) over 2 days, which was amazing.
Although all the Vietnamese we spoke to were very confused why we would do this when there is a cable car to the top. And we looked a bit out of place at the top being the only ones not wearing our finest and best designer labels. But it was fun.
Griffith4ever said:
Ho Chi Minh/Saigon is incomparable to Hanoi. HCM is a modern city, Hanoi is partly stuck back in time. I MUCH prefer Hanoi, but, if you want a swish hotel then HCM wins, and, last time I was in Hanoi is was raining and grey but it was 33 degrees and blue skies in HCM :-)
HCM is the base for the Cu Chi tunnels etc - so really a must do part of 'nam :-)
Have fun and report back here! (p.s. if you like train journies I recommend Bangkok to Poipet if you find yourself heading to Cambodia)
p.s. I assume you've been to a water puppet show in Hanoi? if not, you absolutely must :-)
My favourite hotel in the world is in Hanoi; Sofitel Legend MetropoleHCM is the base for the Cu Chi tunnels etc - so really a must do part of 'nam :-)
Have fun and report back here! (p.s. if you like train journies I recommend Bangkok to Poipet if you find yourself heading to Cambodia)
p.s. I assume you've been to a water puppet show in Hanoi? if not, you absolutely must :-)
Griffith4ever said:
Ho Chi Minh/Saigon is incomparable to Hanoi. HCM is a modern city, Hanoi is partly stuck back in time. I MUCH prefer Hanoi, but, if you want a swish hotel then HCM wins, and, last time I was in Hanoi is was raining and grey but it was 33 degrees and blue skies in HCM :-)
Totally agree with this, love Hanoi so much we're currently in the process of buying a place there, but if you want to to the swish hotel bit in HCM you've got to do the Riverie 
Thank you to everyone for all your suggestions, certainly some food for thought.
As for swish hotels, there will be none of that malarkey; otherwise we would be away for a week, not a month. Our requirements are;
Clean and comfortable.
Good location
WiFI
A pool is a bonus
Preferring to spend on sight-seeing and food, the latter being one of the big draws of Vietnam.
Plans are very fluid; we leave on 05/09 and then take it from there. Will update as things progress.
As for swish hotels, there will be none of that malarkey; otherwise we would be away for a week, not a month. Our requirements are;
Clean and comfortable.
Good location
WiFI
A pool is a bonus
Preferring to spend on sight-seeing and food, the latter being one of the big draws of Vietnam.
Plans are very fluid; we leave on 05/09 and then take it from there. Will update as things progress.
Time for an update, we crossed the border at Lao Cai 08/09 it was immediately obvious; we were indeed somewhere very special. Couple of days in Lao Cai, we then caught the public bus to Sapa, my fears were realized it is very touristy, but not in a bad way it is very much geared to the Vietnamese which made it interesting.
Geographically it’s like Keswick on steroids, the hill are a alive to the sound of people killing a good song (the locals love karaoke) and there is plenty of plenty of food choices. Our hotel “would you like a lake view” “No” We had to make do with the mountain view, oh well you can’t win them all. Excuse the random pictures, camera phone.
Now in Hanoi, enjoyed it a lot. Tomorrow we take the train to Vinh, going south in stages so we travel during daylight hours.
Geographically it’s like Keswick on steroids, the hill are a alive to the sound of people killing a good song (the locals love karaoke) and there is plenty of plenty of food choices. Our hotel “would you like a lake view” “No” We had to make do with the mountain view, oh well you can’t win them all. Excuse the random pictures, camera phone.
Now in Hanoi, enjoyed it a lot. Tomorrow we take the train to Vinh, going south in stages so we travel during daylight hours.
To round this off, I will try to keep as brief as possible
Route: Harbin → Kunming → Lao Cai →Sapa → Hanoi→ Vin→ Hue →Danang→Hoi an→ Hanoi→Naning →Harbin
Due to last minute visa difficulties we had to restrict travel to these countries.
Transport:
I’ve not really traveled any long distance by train, since I inter-railed in my late teens early 20’s, got to say I absolutely loved it. The above route may seem a little convoluted, but we tried to travel only in daylight hours.
One thing that baffled me, is no one seemed to be looking out of the windows, OK, I can understand that for locals, but all the foreigners were glued to their mobile devices “honestly what is the point of traveling if you’re not going to see it?”
All other travel was by luxury minibus/coach and also air (oddly the return from Danang to Hanoi was actually cheaper by air than train).
Normally we are just beach and pool people but this time we decided see more, museums, open top bus tours, sight seeing etc.
While we stayed in budget hotels they were all good, most even had a pool. The food was sublime, Vietnam really does excel at this, regardless of price.
Griffith4 ever
Hanoi - water puppets - go, now! :-)
We planned to see something similar in Hoi an, unfortunately it was closed.
One thing I didn’t point out in my initial post ‘as the result of an accident, I have somewhat limited mobility’ but this was, can I still do it journey, yes I can.
Route: Harbin → Kunming → Lao Cai →Sapa → Hanoi→ Vin→ Hue →Danang→Hoi an→ Hanoi→Naning →Harbin
Due to last minute visa difficulties we had to restrict travel to these countries.
Transport:
I’ve not really traveled any long distance by train, since I inter-railed in my late teens early 20’s, got to say I absolutely loved it. The above route may seem a little convoluted, but we tried to travel only in daylight hours.
One thing that baffled me, is no one seemed to be looking out of the windows, OK, I can understand that for locals, but all the foreigners were glued to their mobile devices “honestly what is the point of traveling if you’re not going to see it?”
All other travel was by luxury minibus/coach and also air (oddly the return from Danang to Hanoi was actually cheaper by air than train).
Normally we are just beach and pool people but this time we decided see more, museums, open top bus tours, sight seeing etc.
While we stayed in budget hotels they were all good, most even had a pool. The food was sublime, Vietnam really does excel at this, regardless of price.
Griffith4 ever
Hanoi - water puppets - go, now! :-)
We planned to see something similar in Hoi an, unfortunately it was closed.
One thing I didn’t point out in my initial post ‘as the result of an accident, I have somewhat limited mobility’ but this was, can I still do it journey, yes I can.
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