A whole different world
The Sapa Valley is, without a doubt, my favorite place in Vietnam. After spending nearly a month touring the East Coast and experiencing its nerve-wracking motorcycle-taxis and marketplaces, arriving at Sapa was to finally be at peace. Sapa is a small town located at 1600 meters above sea level in the green mountains close to the Chinese border.
The town itself is nothing special: it’s a colonial city founded by the French, but the truth is that today it has been ravaged by tourism, restaurants, pubs, and souvenir stands. In short, it has become almost unrecognizable. However, Sapa is ideal for excursions and hiking to see the local ethnic-minority Hmong, Tay, Dao, and Nung tribes. These people cultivate immense rice fields that stretch as far as the eye can see and form an incredibly beautiful landscape of terraces.