Trekking in Sapa

Highlights

• Spending a night with a local family, sharing in their usual food and drink.
• Challenging your body, hiking up and down the terrace-lined mountainside.
• The chance to take part in teaching at a local school.
• Enjoying a peaceful lunch overlooking the Muong Hoa Valley.

Why trek in Sapa

Trekking in Sapa is a great way to moderately challenge you physically, and at the same time to calm you mentally by getting away from the hustle and bustle of the tightly packed cities in Vietnam. The slow-paced lifestyle found here is the perfect escape for all travelers.

In order to genuinely learn about the lifestyle found in Sapa, we encourage travelers to meet and interact with the locals. Our tour guides at Asia Highlights are a great resource for people wanting to learn about the area. They can help translate for our guests, which allows them to talk to virtually anyone whose path they cross.

While participating in a trekking experience in Sapa, travelers have the option to have a home stay in a remote village. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity brings you into the home of a local family who happily feed you their best dishes and who are more than willing to exchange life stories.

There are also many chances for travelers to give back to the local Sapa community. Some of the most common ways are by teaching at local schools, helping build homes, and even trying your hand at farming. If you are interested in participating in any one of these activities, all you need to do is contact us or talk to your tour guide.

What to expect

When preparing for your trek, we want all of our travelers to have realistic expectations. The first major difference is that your accommodation will be simpler than accommodation found in larger cities in Vietnam. However, the hospitality that these home stays bring are often far better than in other places within Vietnam.

The weather in Sapa can change rapidly, depending on the time of year and the time of day. We recommend March and April as the best time to visit if you are looking for warm and dryer weather. Otherwise October and November can be a great time to visit, in slightly cooler daytime temperatures.

The most rainfall in Vietnam comes during the summer, making trekking and even seeing the gorgeous views difficult. October - April is the driest time of the year, but you will also find the most tourists. We do caution that from January to March freezing temperatures, in combination with light rain, can make traveling and trekking more difficult.

How to choose a route

Depending on how much time you have in Sapa, is a large factor for what route to choose when trekking. We can design a route for any length of stay in Sapa if you are interested in trekking. Our average traveler stays 2 - 3 nights and gets a full experience of the area.

Tips and tricks

The most important tip we have is to plan your trekking route based on the weather. Since there is often a lot of rain, this can make trekking nearly impossible at the wrong time of year. Our professional travel advisors will help you with planning once in Sapa.

We highly recommend getting a private tour guide. With a private tour guide you will have a trek that is designed just for you, and takes into account the specific needs and interests of your group. This will also give you time to pick the brain of your tour guide to learn about the area.

Packing is sometimes the hardest thing about trekking, but the only way to do it is to pack light and pack right. This means bringing layers for the changing temperatures, bringing suitable shoes, and plenty of water (probably more water than you think).

Be a responsible traveler and good representative of your home country. Help the locals and the environment by bringing your own plastic bags for waste. Also, be courteous at your home stay as the customs may be different, and we want everyone to have a good time.

To optimize your travel time you can combine your trekking with a visit to a local market. Your tour guide will be able to help you pick the liveliest market based on the trekking route you want to take.