Sapa may well be called the #1 trekking place in Vietnam. It’s the place where a large number of tourists goes to from Hanoi for some trekking through the beautiful scenery of North Vietnam’s mountains. While the town itself is not without charm, most people are drawn to the landscape surrounding it – high mountains, numerous rice paddies, bamboo forests, wild rivers and of course the large number of ethnic minority people inhabiting this area. Most of them belong to the Hmong people, but Dzao and other minorities are found as well.
Sapa is quite high in the mountains – thus the climate is much cooler than in the lowlands. In winter, Sapa is one of the only places in Vietnam where it actually snows from time to time. Also, the weather can be quite unpredictable – a clear and warm day may well be followed by a foggy and damp day.