DAY TRIPS - Muong Hoa Valley

Return to DAY TRIPS home; also see TOURS vs DIY SAPA? to weigh the options of arranging trips after you arrive.

The bulk of Sapa visits head south of town into the long MUONG HOA VALLEY (entrance 15,000D, or US$0.95). The mountain-hugging road parallels a river below, with dirt tracks connecting villages of Dai, Tay, Giay and Hmong villages. Most visitors go on organized treks – either arranged from Hanoi, or locally. Options are everywhere. If time is short, just a self-made drive down the road – say 18km to Supan town and back is worth it; the mountain scenery and glimpses of farmers in the terraced rice fields is Vietnam at its most gorgeous.

There are two main trekking areas.

The closest, where the bulk of visitors goes, is around the Giay/Dao village of TA VAN, reached by foot on a suspension bridge 9km south of Sapa. Many homestays are arranged here (but Ban Ho is better; see below). If you want to trek on your own, you could motorbike here, walk over to Ta Van, then north to the Black Hmong village LAO CHAI, and back up to the main road and down on the road to your bike. A more entertaining – and rough – walk is south from Ta Van to the Dao village GIANG TA CHAI, which requires a guide. It ends with a walk over a bridge – lined with elevated, hollowed-out bamboo-pole ‘pipes’ used to carry irrigation water across the river – back to the main road.

The other main trekking area is farther south, reached by a dirt road forking right (under construction now) or trails from SU PAN (where there are a few restaurants and shops if you need a poncho or hat). The destination is the far more attractive Tay village of BAN HO, with a hot springs alongside the river, and lovely wood homes you can sleep in. (It’s possible to show up on your own and find a cheap homestay, with loft rooms on bamboo floors; the family prepare big wines and offer from their stash of rice wine.) The hot springs are reached upriver from across the town bridge. Also across the bridge is a path that goes a few west a couple kilometers to the LA VIE FALLS and the very traditional village NAM TOONG. It’ll take mucho questions or a guide to trek this area. (A hydroelectric plant is under construction, just north of town, which could impact the number of visitors or beauty of the place.)

→ Note: Trekking in this area, particularly that walk down to Ban Ho, is very tough during or after rains, when the dirt tracks become muddy slip-n-slides. Sturdy hikers have abandoned treks, and I personally wouldn’t want to walk down to Ban Ho in the rain again.

Some tours (such as Topas’) include overnights in SIN CHAI, reached on a dirt road or hiking via MY SON village, farther down the valley.

See TOURS vs DIY SAPA? for a list of agents in Hanoi and Sapa