Phong Nha to Sapa

By bus the journey from Phong Nha to Sapa is scheduled to take 14 hours.

Bus Times from Phong Nha to Sapa

There are currently 9 services a day with G8 Sapa Open Tour from Phong Nha to Sapa available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Phong Nha to Sapa

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Phong Nha to Sapa.

There are two ways to travel by public transport from Phong Nha to Sapa:

• Take a bus from Phong Nha to Sapa.
• Take a bus to Dong Hoi, then a train to Hanoi, and then a bus to Sapa.

Phong Nha Bus Stop

G8 Sapa Open Tour bus services from Phong Nha to Sapa depart from Thành Phát Hotel.

Sapa Bus Stop

G8 Sapa Open Tour bus services from Phong Nha to Sapa terminate at G8 – Sapa Open Tour, Đường Nguyễn Đăng Khuê, Phường Hàm Rồng TT. Sa Pa, Đường N2, phường, Sa Pa, Lào Cai 330000, Vietnam.

About Travel to Sapa

Sapa is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, including for Vietnamese tourists. Sapa’s relative inaccessibility 315 km by road to the north of Hanoi and only 35 km from border with China doesn’t put off the large number of tourists who come to Sapa every year, particularly during the main tourist seasons from March to May and September to November.

Climate in Sapa

Sapa is located high up in the Hoàng Liên Sơn range at an altitude of 1,500 metres above sea level, and the weather is a lot cooler than at sea level in Vietnam. It sometimes snows in Sapa and during the cold season the town can become very cold both day and night with only a few of the hotels providing heated rooms. During the coldest months of the year, December to February, visibility can also be very poor with fog often obscuring any views.

During the tourist seasons a warm sweater or a jacket for the evening time is generally enough even for visitors who live in tropical climates.

Sapa Town

Sapa is a compact town with around 80,000 permanent residents. The town has a lake, an old Stone Church built in 1902, and plenty of hotels, bars, restaurants and shops. The centre of the town is highly developed for tourism and space in some areas is at a premium.

Hill Tribes

One of the more unusual features of the town, other than the spectacular mountain views, is that the local population predominantly consists of people from what is collectively referred to as the ‘hill tribes’. The majority of these are from Hmong or Dao ethnic groups. Nearly all of the larger businesses in Sapa are owned and operated by people from the main ethnic group in Vietnam and large numbers of local people you see in the town wearing traditional costumes are engaged in smaller scale business activities such as offering guide services, selling handcrafts, or simply begging.

Love Market

One of the weekly highlights in Sapa town is the Saturday Night Love Market which takes place in the main town square near the Stone Church. Traditionally young men and women would visit a once a week ‘love market’ in Sapa to meet a potential marriage partner from a different village. The tradition is that the young men would play flutes and the young women would signal their interest, or lack of it, by how long they spent listening. In modern times love markets play less of an important role in terms of local courtships, however, lots of young men and women in traditional costume do still attend every week in the hope of receiving donations from visitors.

Fansipani Mountain

Sapa is located near the base of Fansipan Mountain, which rises to 3,143 metres above sea level. Fansipan Mountain is the highest mountain in South East Asia and is widely considered to be the last significant peak at the eastern end of the Himalayan mountain range. On a clear day you can easily see the peak from Sapa Town.

There are two ways to ascend Fansipan Mountain. The hard way is to walk up. For fit walkers it’s possible to go up and down in a single day. Most visitors, however, choose to climb over 2 days staying overnight in a basic lodge near the top so they can summit Fansipan at dawn when generally the visibility is at its best. A licensed guide is required if you wish to trek to the top of Fansipan Mountain.

The easier alternative is to take a cable car to the top. The cable car station is close to Sapa Town and the journey up takes about 20 minutes. The top of the mountain has been developed into Sunworld Fansipan Legend, which includes an observation deck, restaurants, toilet and 11 purpose built attractions including temples and large statues of the Lord Buddha and the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy.

Cat Cat Village

An easier option than climbing Fansipan Mountain is to go on the short but very pleasant walk to Cat Cat Village. The walk starts from a checkpoint about 1.7 km walking distance from Sapa Town where a small entrance fee needs to be paid. The walk itself is a loop that takes no more than 2 hours at a gentle pace that passes through some pleasant countryside and small villages and either starts or ends at Cat Cat Village depending on which direction you walk the loop.

Cat Cat Village was established in the 19th Century and its inhabitants come from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, with people of Hmong heritage making up the majority. The village has lots of old stone houses and narrow streets, however, the highlight for visitors is the stretch of fast flowing river in the centre of the village with large wooden waterwheels. Waterwheels were traditionally used to grind the husks off rice. There is also a small waterfall at the edge of the village.