Sapa villages are the indispensable part of Sapa Town. The unique highland of Lao Cai province belonging to the North of Vietnam. Sapa is so famous for the natural scenery as well the culture of the tribe that attract a lot of tourists every year.
Visiting Sapa, you can not visit the Sapa villages. There are so many tribe villages in Sapa. Some of them are so famous and remarkable.
Cat Cat Village
Lying on the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, Cat Cat village is away from Sapa town about 2 km. This is the old place of H’Mong tribe. Nowadays it is the most attracting touristic village in Sapa. It is also the nearest village from Sapa center. Visitors can easily reach there by many ways. Visiting Cat Cat village, you will have the chance to explore the beauty of nature scenery. In addition, you will discover the normal life of the local and find out many interesting things.
Wandering around Cat Cat village, you can see the beautiful little houses on the mountain side, the men who work in the fields, the woman weaving the looms and the naughty little kids playing around.
There are two popular ways to reach Cat Cat village. Firstly, you can take 20 minutes by walking from the Sapa town to Cat Cat village. Secondly, you can catch “xe om” or taxi to go there.
On the road in Cat Cat village
Cat Cat village is the most touristic village in Sapa.
Sin Chai Village
Located on the North of Sapa district, Sin Chai village is away 4 km from Sapa town. It is so quite and wild. Sin Chai village is covered by the green of the Sapa mountains.
In Sin Chai village, visitors not only admire the rice fields, corn fields, but also watch the fresh fruit and vegetable beds. They will be covering up the unique colors adorn the scenery of this place. This is the non-touristic village, so it still retains its inherent wildness. The local people are the Black H’mong tribe.
Walking through Sin Chai village
Sin Chai village is non-touristic village.
Lao Chai Village
From the town of Sapa to the southwest about 9 km, you will reach Lao Chai village. This is a village of H’Mong people. Lao Chai village is one of the most-visited Sapa villages. It is near Ta Van village. Leaning against the majestic Hoang Lien Son mountain range, along the Muong Hoa stream flowing through and the vast terrace fields, Lao Chai is the most beautiful and charming landscape in Sapa.
Terrace fields in Lao Chai village
Lao Chai village is one of the best for travelers to discover local culture and people life in Sapa.
Ta Van Village
Along the highway 4D to the southeast, about 8 km from Sapa town is Ta Van village. It is also one of the most-visited Sapa villages along with Lao Chai village. This village is located at the foot of the mountain in Muong Hoa valley. Mainly concentrated in Giay and some other ethnic minorities. It is near the Lao Chai village.
On the way to Ta Van village, you will go through Lao Chai – a place with a very beautiful nature of the mountains and forests. Moreover, there is the famous ancient stone beach in Sapa there. After leaving the two busiest streets in Sapa, Cau May Street and Muong Hoa Street. You just need to follow the Muong Hoa stream to reach Ta Van. For your convenience to reach Ta Van village, you should go by motorbike or car. However, to be able to feel and enjoy the scenery of this land, you should go by motorbike or on foot. The road to Ta Van village is quite small and narrow. But the scenery on both sides of the road is so charming. You can not capture enough all the beauty of the fertile terraced fields or green corn fields.
Terrace fields from high in Ta Van village
Ta Van is one of the most visited village in Sapa or tourists.
Ta Phin Village
This is home to the Dao and H’mong ethnic people, about 12 km away from the center of Sa Pa town. As the result, Ta Phin village is one of the Northwest highland villages attracting a lot of tourists. Photographers and visitors always love to explore and enjoy the wild beauty. Ta Phin village not only has a green nature, a cool atmosphere. But also a place with many natural caves with many mysterious cliffs in strange shapes.
In addition, visitors can learn unique traditional culture through many festivals, rituals, customs and daily life of the people here. Guests will admire the colorful costumes, enjoy the specialties of the highlands, bathe medicinal leaves. And they also immerse in the rustic life with the indigenous people of Ta Phin.
Overview of Ta Phin village
Ta Phin Village is one of the less touristic Sapa villages
Ho Village
Ho Village (Ban Ho) is 30 km from Sapa town center to the southwest – when coming to Ho village you can feel the weather here is much warmer than Ta Van and Ta Phin villages, the average temperature is about 18-25 degrees C. Today, Ban Ho village to be one of the great villages, visitors can’t miss in the journey to explore villages around Sapa town. In particular, Ho village is known for its zigzag roads, undulating hills, soft streams, majestic waterfalls and rich vegetation. The more you look at the lake, the more ecstatic you will be at the picturesque nature here.
Ho village is also quite famous for home stay tourism, suitable for visitors who want to experience the days of living in a wooden stilt house, enjoy rustic dishes, take part in the warm community activities with local people and blend in nature.
The place of Ho village between mountains
Ho Village is one of the less touristic Sapa villages.
Y Linh Ho Village
(Ban Ho) Y Linh Ho Village still reserve its wild and poetic beauty despite of touristic route in Sapa. The village is near to Hoang Lien Son mountain range. In addition to the mountain, the village also has streams, terraced fields, corn fields. People said that, in the past the area around the village of Y Linh Ho was reclaimed by some Dao people, headed by Mr. Ly Linh Ho. After a long time of living and building, Dao people setup a new village, Y Linh Ho Village. A period of time later, the Dao in Y Linh Ho leaf and the H’mong came. But the name of this village is no change to commemorate the person who built the village. Visiting Y Linh Ho village, you will be surprised by the peaceful beauty of the place.
Terrace fields in Y Linh Ho village
The atmosphere in the village is very quiet, noiseless, non-bustling like other tourist places inside Sapa town. The location of the Y Linh Ho village is now expanded more than before but still far from the main road. Therefore, tourists participating in tours Sapa visit the village of Y Linh Ho must pass a long and long, hard and hard road to reach the village. Because the location is far from the main road, the village is quite quiet and peaceful.From Sapa town. If you like to reach Y Linh Ho village, you can follow the direction of Lao Chai village. Going through Lao Chai village for about 3 km along the mountainside. Then you will see a glimpse of the pristine, beautiful image of Y Linh Ho village on the mountainside, surrounded by beautiful terraced fields that have existed for a long time.
Experience in traveling and visiting Sapa villages
Knowledge
Trekking in Sapa villages is a kind of experience and discovering the unique cultural space of ethnic minorities living here, so to have a fun and impressive trekking. You should learn about the village, that is customs, culture, things to do and should not do when visiting villages. Besides measuring, you have to study the cadastral and topographical map of the area to come to plan the trip, calculate the distance to move in a way that is reasonable with humanity and prevent from falling into situations of danger. Preview weather forecasts to prepare some options. Prepare a referral paper if the trekking area is a border area or protected area with the management of specialized authorities.
Costume
Because the trip is mostly walking, you need to prepare clean, sweaty and cool clothes. (One suggestion is: Clothes should have multiple compartments – bags for storage).
Firstly, you should prepare 01 pair of flat shoes, sport shoes, this is a very necessary tool and it makes convenient for your trip.
Absolutely not: high heel shoes, new shoes bought for this walk because it will be very uncomfortable) the material of the shoes also ensures airy, cool, waterproof and fast drying.
You will have to carry your luggage yourself during your trekking journey so please choose for yourself a backpack that is suitable for storage.
You should prepare backpack with belts to tighten on the back, backpack must have a foam mattress to create a smooth feeling and comfort for the whole backpack to wear.
Food
A walk makes you consume a lot of energy and sweat so much that you lose water so you need to prepare enough food and drink to supplement your body when you need it. Some food to bring: Bread, canned meat, sausage, snack, confectionery (note that you should bring a few more candy packages to share with the children in the village during the visit.)
Medicine
Medications for colds, fever, diarrhea, antipyretics, antibiotics, bandages, red pills, vitamins, tonic and Snicker candy (a kind of candy that provides very high energy) are indispensable. Vaselin is also necessary to prevent cracking.
