- The standard pathSa Pa 1,600 m → Y Linh Ho 1,200 → Lao Chai 1,000 → Ta Van 950 (night) → Giang Ta Chai → Su Pan 800 · 12–17 km · 2 days
- Three days from HanoiDay 1 Cat Cat (3–4 km, hotel night) · day 2 standard path to Ta Van · day 3 Giang Ta Chai–Su Pan · Sapa May, Vietnam Travel Top, Travel New Land, Best Vietnam
- Three days from Sa PaDay 1 to Ta Van 15 km · day 2 Giang Ta Chai–Su Pan–Ban Ho 18 km · day 3 Nam Toong 3 km · Trekking Tour Sapa, David Tran
- Getting thereHanoi–Sa Pa 6 hours: sleeper bus from 6 am, limousine, night bus 9–10 pm, or night train to Lao Cai plus 1 hour by bus
- The mountainFansipan 3,143 m: cable car from Sa Pa in 20 minutes (Sapa May) or on foot from Tram Ton 1,900 m with a night at 2,800 (Vietnam Nomad Trails)
Two or three days: what the number means
Two days from Hanoi means: on the bus at six, in Sa Pa at one, on the trail at half past two, in Ta Van around half past five; on day two three hours to Giang Ta Chai or Su Pan, the car at half past one, the bus at half past three, Hanoi at ten. The trek is an afternoon and a morning – twelve kilometres with Vietnam Travel Top, thirteen with Sapa May. Two days from Sa Pa starts at eight or nine and has the whole first day: 15 km with Trekking Tour Sapa, 16 with Bau, 10 over Dragon Mountain with LaLa. The night bus (Vietnam Travel Top, Sapa May Fansipan) gives you the whole first day, but costs you the night on the bus.
Three days from Hanoi is not a longer trek but a calmer one: Cat Cat on the first afternoon (a village with entrance fee, waterfall, water wheels and souvenirs, 3 to 4 km), night at a hotel in Sa Pa, then the standard path on days two and three. If you do not want Ta Van as a night, take Vietnam Travel Top with two hotel nights and have the third morning free. Three days from Sa Pa is the other trek: 36 km to Ban Ho, deep down by the river where the Tay live and the groups no longer come.
What you should not cut: the second day. If you walk only to Ta Van and then drive, you have seen the terraces but not the bamboo forest and the Red Dao – that is the part that is not on the road.
The stages
Six sections as they appear in the itineraries – five for the valley, one for the mountain. Altitudes from the operator data (LaLa: Dragon Mountain 1,900 m, Fansipan 3,143 m, camp 2,800 m) and from the usual map figures for the villages, rounded.
The trek starts at the church and goes downhill – first tarmac, then clay, then the first terrace.
If you come from Hanoi, you are in Sa Pa at 1 pm, eat and set off at half past two; if you are already there, you start at eight. From the town at 1,600 m the trail leads south-east down out of the mist, past vegetable fields and shops, until the valley opens: Muong Hoa, a stream in the middle, terraces to the horizon, the wall of Hoang Lien Son opposite. Y Linh Ho is the first Black Hmong village, a few houses above the water. From Hanoi it is 5 km to Ta Van here (Sapa May), from Sa Pa with time 12 to 15 (Vietnam Travel Top, Trekking Tour Sapa).
Along the stream to Lao Chai, the largest Hmong village in the valley – and the place where the sellers walk with you.
The trail crosses the stream over a small bridge and follows the terraces to the village of Lao Chai, 6 km from Sa Pa, between Hoang Lien Son and Ham Rong mountain. Many groups have lunch here (Saparis by the river, Sapa May at a restaurant). The Hmong women who have accompanied you since town now sell – that is part of it, and if you do not want to buy, say so early and kindly. Crossing Vietnam explicitly warns about it in its notes.
Ta Van is the Giay village, the end of day one and the place where almost every package sleeps.
Two more kilometres along the stream, then Ta Van, 8 km from Sa Pa: Giay, Hmong and Red Dao, wooden houses, the stone beach with the ancient rock carvings, the Cau May bridge. The homestays are here – from the dorm in the stilt house (Vietnam Travel Top from USD 59) via the private room at Goong House (Sapa May, Travel New Land) to the bungalow with its own bathroom. In the evening many families cook with the guests (Sapa May, Travel New Land: spring rolls), there is rice wine, and by ten it is quiet. If you booked a hotel, you are driven back to Sa Pa from here.
Through the bamboo forest to the Red Dao, past the waterfall, to the road – the car waits there.
After breakfast with the family the trail continues down the valley: over the suspension bridge, through bamboo, to Giang Ta Chai, the Red Dao village with the waterfall, then up to Su Pan, four hamlets of Hmong and Dao on the slopes of Na Trong. Lunch in Su Pan or with a Dao family (Saparis), then the car collects the group at the road, 1:30 pm, and takes it to Sa Pa – shower at the hotel, an hour in town, the bus at 3:30 pm, Hanoi at 10 pm. If you walk from Sa Pa, you are done at 2 pm.
The third day goes where the groups no longer are: Ban Ho, warm, low, with a river to swim in.
Only three packages go on: Trekking Tour Sapa (18 km from Ta Van via Giang Ta Chai and Su Pan to Ban Ho, on day three Nam Toong), David Tran (the same route, “hard trekking”, two nights in village houses) and Bau's Sapa Trekking with 16 km on day one. Ban Ho at a good 500 m is a Tay village with stilt houses by the river, 1,000 m lower than Sa Pa and noticeably warmer; Nam Toong is a Dao village an hour further. The three-day tours from Hanoi (Sapa May, Vietnam Travel Top, Travel New Land, Best Vietnam) do not go this far – their third day is Cat Cat or Giang Ta Chai, with a hotel night in between.
Fansipan is a morning by cable car and two days on foot. Both are in the range, and neither is a village trek.
The highest mountain in Indochina stands directly above Sa Pa. Sapa May combines the cable car (6,292 m, then 600 steps) with the Ta Van trek in two days from Hanoi; Vietnam Nomad Trails walks it: from the Tram Ton pass at 1,900 m through bamboo and rhododendrons to the camp at 2,800, on the second morning to the summit and back, with national park permit, guide, sleeping bag – USD 137, minimum two people. Since the cable car, the summit itself is a structure of pagodas, stairs and a sea of clouds; those who reach it on foot share it with those who rode up.
The route in stages: altitudes and itineraries from the operator data, photos illustrate the places. The boxes show where the four compared offers differ at the same spot.
Day-by-day itineraries of the products
Four itineraries from the Viator data: three days from Hanoi with hotel and homestay (Sapa May), two days from Hanoi in the village (Vietnam Travel Top), three days from Sa Pa to Ban Ho (Trekking Tour Sapa) and two days over Dragon Mountain (LaLa).
Sapa May · 3 days from Hanoi, hotel and private room 3 days · 2 nights
Pickup 6 am in the Old Quarter, sleeper bus, 1 pm Sa Pa, lunch at the hotel; at 2 pm to the Hmong village of Cat Cat with waterfall and water wheels, in the evening stone church and night market.
☾ Sapa Retreat Condotel, 3 SterneBreakfast buffet, large luggage at the hotel; from 8 am through the Muong Hoa valley to Y Linh Ho, Lao Chai (11 am) and Ta Van (11:30), lunch at the homestay, afternoon free, cooking class, dinner.
☾ Privatzimmer im Homestay, Ta Van9 am to the Red Dao in Giang Ta Chai and on to Su Pan, lunch at a restaurant, 1:30 pm bus to Sa Pa, foot massage or souvenirs, 3:30 pm bus, 10 pm Hanoi.
Vietnam Travel Top · 2 days, night in Ta Van, nine transfer options 2 days · 1 nights
Bus 6:20 from the Old Quarter, two stops, 1 pm Sa Pa, lunch; 2:30 pm long trek through Y Linh Ho and the terraces along the Muong Hoa stream to Lao Chai and Ta Van, dinner with the family.
☾ Bungalow oder Stelzenhaus, Ta Van8 am breakfast, photos in the rice fields, through the bamboo forest to the view of Giang Ta Chai, 1:30 pm car to the bus station, free time in Sa Pa, 3:30 pm bus, 9 pm Hanoi.
Trekking Tour Sapa · 3 days from Sa Pa to Ban Ho, 36 km 3 days · 2 nights
9 am at the church, two kilometres down the Cat Cat road, then through Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai to Ta Van and the host family – 6.5 hours.
☾ Homestay, Ta VanUphill to the waterfalls of Giang Ta Chai, lunch, on to Su Pan and down to Ban Ho, where Red Dao, Tay and Black Hmong live together – 6.5 hours.
☾ Homestay, Ban HoTraditional Tay houses, trail to Nam Tong, three hours; drive back to Sa Pa.
LaLa Sapa Trekking · 2 days over Dragon Mountain, night with the family 2 days · 1 nights
Two kilometres up Dragon Mountain with views of Sa Pa, the cable car and the fields of Y Linh Ho; lunch in Hang Da, on through Hau Chu Ngai to Hau Thao, cooking with the family.
☾ Haus der Familie La La, Hau ThaoVia Ban Pho and Ta Van along the river to Giang Ta Chai with waterfall (depending on season), lunch, car or motorbike to Sa Pa, 2 pm.
Stops and walking times from the operator's Viator product data, edited for length. Maps and figures illustrate the route and are not for navigation.
Getting there: sleeper bus, limousine, night bus, train
From Hanoi to Sa Pa it is 320 km on the motorway to Lao Cai, five to six hours. The packages offer four ways: sleeper bus (reclining seats, departure 6 am, included in the package) – the standard with Vietnam Travel Top, Sapa May, Travel New Land; limousine (minibus with nine individual seats, morning departure, USD 20 to 40 more) – with Vietnam Travel Top, Crossing, Best Vietnam, Green 5-star; night bus (departure 9 to 10 pm, arrival 4:30 to 5:30 am, sleep on the bus until 6) – with Vietnam Travel Top and Sapa May Fansipan; night train to Lao Cai (evening departure, morning arrival, then an hour by bus to Sa Pa) out and bus back – with Vietnam Travel Top 2 days village, 2 days hotel, 3 days hotel, USD 30 to 50 more. The return is the bus at 3:30 or 4 pm with all, arriving in Hanoi 9 to 10:30 pm at the bus station – from there to your hotel on your own.
If you book from Sa Pa, you get there yourself: sleeper bus from Hanoi (My Dinh or Old Quarter) USD 15 to 25, night train 30 to 60 by class, or from Ha Giang by bus via Lao Cai. Guide values, not booked ourselves. Vietnam Nomad Trails also picks up at Lao Cai station.
