By bus the journey from Dien Bien to Sapa is scheduled to take around 9 hours.
Bus Times from Dien Bien to Sapa
There is currently 1 direct service a day from Dien Bien to Sapa available to book online.
Dien Bien | Sapa | Cost | Company |
17:00 | 02:00 | $ 21 | Grouptour |
- Grouptour passengers from Dien Bien to Sapa travel in a bus with reclined seats.
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Dien Bien Bus Stop
Grouptour services from Dien Bien to Sapa depart from Dien Phu Bus Station.
Sapa Bus Stop
Grouptour services from Dien Bien to Sapa terminate at 582 Đường Điện Biên Phủ, TT. Sa Pa, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam.
About Travel to Sapa
Sapa itself is a large town with a permanent populations of around 80,000 living alongside an even larger group of ever changing temporary visitors coming on holiday to the town for a few days at a time. The majority of the tourists who come to Sapa are Vietnamese. However, enough foreign visitors come to support a very wide of restaurants and hotels catering specifically to the needs of foreign visitors.
Sapa Town
Sapa town itself is very pleasant. The town has a picturesque lake and some buildings dating back to the period when Vietnam was a French colony, most the notably the Stone Church in the town centre. The big attraction in Sapa, however, is the surrounding countryside and the cooler temperatures. Sapa is located at 1,500 metres above sea level which is high enough for it to snow occasionally in the winter time, and it’s far cooler in Sapa than it is at sea level in Vietnam.

Hill Tribe Communities
The countryside around Sapa is very hilly, and heavily forested. Outside of Sapa itself a large proportion of the local population are members of what are typically termed ‘hill tribe’. The most numerous of which are the Hmong people. People from these ethnic minorty groups tend to live in small village making a meagre lving from the farming steep sided hills. Of particular note is this respect are areas of terracing rice fields covering entire hillsides. It’s fairly straight forward and not that far to reach small villages and see the famois rice fields. The most famous short local is the Walk to Cat Cat Village which starts and ends at checkpoint about 3 km by road from Sapa town centre.
Fansipan Mountain
On a clear day from Sapa Town you get good views of Fansipan Mountain, which at 3,143 metres above sea level is the tallest mountain in South East Asia. In 2015 the top of Fansipan Mountain was turned into an amusement park called Sunworld Fansipan Legend. As part of this development a cable car to the top of the mountain was constructed. The cable car departs from close to Sapa Town and travels 6.3 km to nearly the summit of Fansipan. You can trek to the top as part of an organised group (walking with a local guide is currently compulsory) instead, but bear in mind that it’s a long walk that you need to be fit and determined to complete in a single day. Most trekkers stay overnight in basic lodgings before completing the last part of the walk to the top of Fansipan Mountain to coincide with the sunrise.