Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 857

some French and Spanish) - offer guided day treks, longer
treks with overnight stays in surrounding villages and
the trek up Fansipan ( W sapasisters.webs.com); email
them in advance. Sa Pa-based Topas Travel at 24 Muong
Hoa ( T 091 387 1331, W topastravel.vn) offer hiking,
biking and homestays, as well as sojourns at their highly
regarded Topas Eco Lodge .
Motorbike rental Can be arranged through most hotels
for around US$10/day. Keep in mind that roads around
Sa Pa are narrow and winding, landslides are common, fog
can make visibility extremely poor and alcohol-induced
accidents are also common.
Services The Agribank at 1 Cau May can exchange cash
and travellers' cheques. There are a few ATMs in town.
There are several pharmacies on Cau May and the Post
O ce is at 6 Ham Rang (daily 7am-9pm).

SAPA O'CHAU
The brainchild of local Hmong girl, Shu
Tan, Sapa O'Chau (8 Thac Bac, T 091
5351479, W sapaochau.com) was created
to empower and educate the local
Hmong youth, an endeavour in which
Shu is ably assisted by expat Yorkshireman
Peter Gilbert. Shu Tan herself started out
by selling handicrafts to tourists as a child
- many local children are kept out of
school so that they can earn a living that
way, or as tour guides. Alcoholism,
domestic violence, marriage at a very
young age and virtual illiteracy are also
commonplace. Sapa O'Chau aims to
educate the young Hmong generation to
reduce the prevalence of such practices,
providing education at the Sapa O'Chau
Learning Centre - a live-in school where
children learn English and Vietnamese to
improve employment opportunities. Sapa
O'Chau welcome volunteers and do some
of the best trek-and-homestay combos in
the region.

11

ACCOMMODATION
Sa Pa is generally busy all year round, especially at
weekends. Rooms can be in short supply in high season
(March, April & Sept-Nov).
Cat Cat Hotel 46 Fansipan T 020 3502681. A popular
terraced guesthouse just below the market, offering
budget and mid-range rooms with fireplaces and panora-
mic views of Fansipan from the spaci ous balconies. There's
also a decent restaurant. Double $25
Green Valley Hotel 45 Muong Hoa T 020 3871449.
Somewhat grungy dorm rooms that have electric blankets
and good showers in spite of being the cheapest beds in
town, plus decent priv ate rooms with stunning views of
the valley below. Dorm $6 , double $14
Sa Pa Backpackers Ham Rong T 016 44225438. Part
hostel, part community centre for homeless children, run
by a friendly family. Rooms could be a tad cleaner, and
there's a 10pm cu rfew, b ut it' s one of the cheapest spots
in town. Dorm $6 , double $15
Sa Pa Elite Hotel 12 Hoang Dieu T 020 3888368, W sapa
elitehotel.com. Great central location, spacious rooms with

range of northwest Vietnam, south to
Son La province, and north to the peaks
of Yunnan in China.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus Minibuses from Lao Cai (connecting from the
Hanoi train) drop you along the main street, Cau May. To
return to Lao Cai, minibuses congregate all day from near
the church on the main square; your hotel can also arrange
for you to be picked up from your lodgings. Tickets for the
night trains from Lao Cai to Hanoi are in short supply,
so book as far ahead as possible, either at the Lao Cai
Railway Station O ce in Sa Pa across from the bus
station off Ngu Chi Son (daily 7am-4pm; T 020 3871480),
or (more expensively) through your guesthouse. Vietbus
( T 04 36272727) runs two daily sleeper buses directly to
Hanoi (7.30am and 5.30pm; 10hr) from the Sa Pa bus
station, a 30,000VND xe om ride from the centre.
Minibuses also run from Sa Pa to Dien Bien Phu (7.30am;
9hr; from 190,000VND).

TREAT YOURSELF
Sa Pa View Hotel Muong Hoa 41,
T 020 3872388, W sapaview-hotel.com.
Overlooking the valley below at the
southern end of Muong Hoa, Sa Pa View
Hotel offers more than just spectacular
views: each of the five floors has a local
minority tribe theme and the luxurious
rooms have timber floors, old-style
fireplaces and rain showers. The dining
room serves delicious meals prepared
from locally sourced ingredients and the
hotel supports th e lo cal school for
orphans. Double $30

★

INFORMATION AND TOURS
Information The Tourism Information Centre of Sa Pa,
2 Fansipan (daily 7.30am-7.30pm; T 020 3871975,
W SaPa-tourism.com), is unusually helpful, with good
maps for sale (20,000VND), and free internet.
Tours Sapa O'Chau (see box above) are one of the best
tour operators in and around Sa Pa. The Sapa Sisters - four
Hmong girls who speak excellent English (as well as