Location

SaPa District is located in Lao Cai Province, north-west Vietnam, and 350km north-west of Hanoi, close to the border with China. Sapa is famousboth for its fine, rugged scenery and for its rich cultural diversity.French used to consider Sapa as Summer Capital of Northern Vietnam inthe early decades of the 20^th century. Its naturally giftedbeauty keeps attracting more and more people to spend their vacationthere since then. Particularly, the place is the foremost choice forhoneymoon couples!

Geographically,Sapa is exactly a mountainous area of Northwest Vietnam. The whole SapaDistrict is dominated by the Hoang Lien Son mountain range which is at the Eastern extremity of the Himalayas, being famous with the Vietnam’s highest mountain of Fa si pan ata height of 3,142 m above sea level. The town of Sa Pa lies at analtitude of about 1,600 m, bringing in a cool and foggy site of Sa Pa.

Let’s join a fancy trip to this romantic town!

Takinga night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, and then 45 minutes more from LaoCai City by bus, Sapa appears in fanciful fog. Thanks to the height of1,600 m above the sea level, the average temperature of the area isalways 15-18°C, cool in summer, but a bit cold in winter.

Sapatakes its pride in its unique climate in Vietnam. It is highlyseasonal, with a subtropical climate in the summer and a temperateclimate during the winter. Mean annual temperature for Sa Pa town is15.4°C, with a maximum of 29.4°C and a minimum of 1°C. The warmestmonths are July and August, and the coldest months are December andJanuary. Snow falls in some years on the highest peaks. In the morningand afternoon, it is as cool as in spring and autumn. Yet, at noon, itis as sunny and cloudless as in summer. In the evening, it drasticallychanges into coldness just as in winter. This is actually a uniqueadvantage, making Sapa different from anywhere else in the nation.However, travelers should be noticed that there might be suddenthunderstorm and heavy rains at noon in summer. Yet, subsequently, arainbow appears turning Sapa into a beautifully magic land with sevencolors! So, remember to bring your best camera so as not to miss thismagnificent view!

April and Mayare the best time for tourists to watch the most scenic beauties ofSapa, or else it might be cold and foggy before that and rainy afterthat. During these two peak months, the town is blossoming with pinkand white flowers, and green pastures in valleys. The clouds thatsettle in the valley in early morning would quickly disappear.

Beauty Spots and Resorts

Thescenery of the Sapa region in large part reflects the relationshipbetween the ethnic minority people and nature. This is seen especiallyin the paddy fields carpeting the rolling lower slopes of the HoangLien Mountains. The impressive physical landscape, which underliesthis, has resulted from the work of the elements over thousands ofyears, wearing away the underlying rock.

Mosttourists agree that it would be regretful if the leisure and relaxationtime in cool and fresh weather is not accompanied by visiting trips toSapa’s prideful natural beauty spots, such as Ham Rong Mountain, SilverWaterfall, Rattan Bridge, Bamboo Forest and Ta Phin Cave. The town isalso the starting point for many mountain climbers and scientists whowould like to discover the Fansipan Mount, the highest mountain inVietnam with 3,143 m height. Can you imagine that Hoang Lien MountainRange is called “the Alps of the North Sea area” since Fansipan Mountalso marks its greatest height among others in the Indochina Peninsulaas well. The pyramid-shaped mountain is covered with clouds all theyear round. On top of the mountain is filled with frequent below zerotemperature, especially at high altitudes.

Onapproaching the town, the very first thing tourists may find is thedetached wooden mansions and villas perched on top or side of thehills, behind thick pine forests, hided by fog in the morning. Old andnew villas with red roofs now appear and then disappear in the greenrows of pomu trees, bringing in the beauty of European towns.

Flowers

Sapa-the land of love

Sapais home to various families of flowers of captivating colours, uniquein the vast country. When Tet, the Lunar New Year Festival, comes, thewhole township of Sapa is filled with the pink colour of peach blossombrought from the vast forests of peach just outside the town. Sapa isregarded as the kingdom of orchids. Here, orchid lovers are even amazedby the choice, when trekking in the forest filled with several hundredkinds of orchids of brilliant colours and fantastic shapes, such asOrchid Princess, Orchid of My Fair Lady's Shoe. Some orchids are namedafter lovely singing birds such as the canary, salangane's nest, andmore.

Specialties

Foreigntourists are actually fond of scarce and precious specialties of Sapa,such as forest’s product, handicrafts, delicacies (smoked meat, “thangco”, “cai meo”, san lung wine, corn wine, etc.), typical of ethnicminority people.

Mosttravellers do like to bring some of the local fresh vegetables backhome for presents. Thanks to the fresh and cool air, Sapa is the idealland for fresh temperate vegetables such as cabbage, chayote, preciousmedical herbs, fruit trees (plum, pear), and so on.

Cultural diversity

Sapais famous for its special cultural diversity in a combination of ethnicminority groups’ culture. Visitors to Sapa will have opportunities todiscover the unique customs of the local residents. Local markets arethe town’s typically cultural element, which are always crowded andjoyful, attracting hundreds of visitors. This is the common place forminority groups to gather and exchange goods. Market sessions are alsoa chance for local people to promenade. No foreign visitor could helpjoining such a market session, a typical cultural element of Sapa. Whatis more, tourists coming to Sapa at weekends have the great chance tolearn about local ethnic people's courtship and martial life, throughthe Sapa love market and wife kidnapping ceremony of the H’Mong group.The ceremony will begin on April 29^th. This is part of afive-day festival, titled Festival on the Cloud, to mark the beginningof the Sapa 2006 tourism year, in the northern mountain township ofSapa, in Lao Cai Province.

Ifever asked to drop a quick comment, even the toughest person must admitthe romance and peace of a magnificently cool and beautiful Sapa! Ihope you should spend a short summer here, and you will soon share theidea!