🇻🇳 Vietnam – Sa Pa: Travel and Backpacking Nov 2019

Disclaimer

The information in this blog is accurate as of November 2019.

CONTENTS

• 🤔 – What to Expect
• 🌅 – Activities
• 🍛 – Food
• 🚇 – Transport
• 🛌 – Accomodation

🤔 What to Expect

• A gorgeous mountinus valley town.
• Colder than most places.
• A town seeped in French Colonial connections and architecture. Just beautiful!
• Great place for hikes.
• Views. Views. Views.
• The weather can be a little unpredictable. This is especially common in November season.

🌅 Activities

Fansipan including Cable Car (Sun World)

• The highest mountain in Vietnam.
• Trek for 2 days or take a 15 minute cable car and quite a few steps.
• Transport via the cable car takes two separate sections. 1) A tram takes you to and from the cable car for 50,000 VND per person. 2) The cable car cost a massive 700,000 VND (£23) per person!

• There is also another tram that can take you to the top…70,000 VND per person…another 80,000 VND per person to get down. However, you do not need to do this and instead you can walk to the top.
• If you don’t decide to take the second tram there are pagodas, temples and Buddha’s to see.

• The scenes are beautiful! Even if it is foggy…it was foggy for us…not going to lie we were a little gutted.
• Wonderful experience for us despite the expensive cost.
• The other option of a hike varied depending on duration etc but cheapest rate seemed to be $50.

Easy Trek

• 440,000 VND (£15) per person.
• A nice way to see the local villages, tribes and rice fields.
• The tour felt rushed and we did not have much opportunity to interact with the locals apart from them trying to peddle items.
• Lunch was a shared affair, there was a tufo dish, a chicken dish, vegetables and rice. Okay, nothing special.
• The trek was muddy! For us the weather was cold and wet. Expect footwear to get dirty but at the start you have the option to borrow wellies for a mere 80p.
• Some local tribes women join you on the trek to sell goods and offer help during the tricky parts of the trek.
• If they help you they expect a tip at the end.

Other Things To Do

🍛 Food

Family Restaurant

• Quiet.
• Cheap – a set menu was 115,000 VND (£4.00) per person.
• Set menu was great! It included pumpkin soup, chicken or duck curry or chicken in cashews, garlic bread, vegetables, a banana desert and a free drink!
• The food was wonderful and everything from the set menu was super tasty. It was some of best we have had in Vietnam.
• The owners were lovely and friendly.
• During the cold seasons it was a little chilly so you might need a jumper.

24 Restaurant

• Decent inexpensive food.
• We ate here twice.
• There is a range of cuisine to suit a majority of people.
• Even the pasta and burger were tasty!
• Staff speak a little English and google translator will help to ensure orders are correct.

Good Morning Vietnam

• This was the first restaurant we visited when arriving in Sa Pa.
• Relatively cheap…
• The chicken curry is a must! Super tasty and large portion.
• Take in the beautiful views whilst you dine.

🚇 Transport

Scooter Hire

• I would have happily done this if we had spent another day.
• Cost is 150,000 VND (£5) from our accomodation. It is possible to get cheaper but quality could be comprised. This is what our host told us.
• The roads are not the best! Muddy and slippy as a word of caution.

Public Buses

• Bus to Lao Cai (not sure if this is the village or town) from the centre of Sapa, we think it was 30,000 VND per person.

Local Sleeper Buses

• Sapa to Ha Long Bay – 370,000 VND (approx £12.36) per person. Bought online at https://vietnambustravel.com/bus-tickets-phuc-xuyen-from-sapa-to-ha-long
• Extremely rude staff. Never experienced anything quite like it.
• Staff don’t speak English – although they should have learnt some at school.
• Fewer break stops (only stopped twice).
• Be quick on the toilet break as they would have left us if it wasn’t for some kind Netherlanders who stopped them driving off.

🛌 Accommodation

The Hill Sa Pa Homestay

• £11.65 per night for family room with shared bathroom and breakfast included.
• Beautiful views of the mountains from your bed.

• Cute little homestay tucked away from the main street. Not easy to find though as it’s not well sign posted.
• Feels like you’re camping in a big metal tent.
• Very cold when we visited in November so take extra layers.
• Bed on the floor – not the comfiest but the quilt is warm.
• The staff are lovely although they do not speak much English.
• Trips, Motorbike and Laundry (30,000 VND per kg or pair of shoes) services available.