The Sa Pa City Guides answer the questions everyone asks in these hills: how to get up from Hanoi, which villages are worth the clay paths and which are only ticketed loops past souvenir stalls, when to ride the cable car up Fansipan so you see more than fog, and where a salmon hotpot comes at a fair price. Each guide is a short, honest list that tells you why a place is worth it, what to order or look for and one useful tip, and it opens in your browser as soon as you have paid.
About the Sa Pa City Guides
- 91 places
- 4 guides
- 6 languages
- Works offline
- Print or PDF
- Instant access
- Free updates
The four Sa Pa guides
Food guide
24 places
Early-morning pho and the market stalls, salmon and sturgeon hotpot, Hmong thắng cố, lunches in the villages and on the Bac Ha trip, then coffee and cake.
Things to do guide
23 places
Fansipan, the stone church and the town, the trekking villages with their guides and homestays, waterfalls on the O Quy Ho pass and the Sunday market at Bac Ha.
Day trips guide
22 places
Night train or sleeper bus from Hanoi, villages you can reach on foot, Fansipan, waterfalls and the high pass, the Bac Ha and Can Cau markets and valley homestays.
Budget guide
22 places
Free viewpoints and villages, valley treks without a tour, meals under 150,000 VND, the cheap way up from Hanoi and Fansipan for less.
Why an interactive guide beats a list
Tick places off
Mark each place as done and watch your progress, so you always know what is left.
Your own notes
Write notes on any place and add your own finds. They stay on your phone.
One tap to Maps
Every place opens in Google Maps, and the day route puts your picks in a sensible order.
Open now, near me
Filter by what is open right now or what is closest to you.
Works offline
Open the guide once with a connection and it keeps working without data.
Print it or save as PDF
On a computer, print any guide or save it as a PDF to take with you.
Three places from the guides
Thắng Cố A Quỳnh
Thạch Sơn street, by the square
Order the dish the place is named after: the Hmong stew of horse meat and offal, scented with cardamom and mountain herbs. Salmon and sturgeon hotpots bubble on the other tables, and the Vietnamese families filling the room are a good sign for the bill. From the food guide.
Red Dao Authentic Herbal Bath
Ta Phin village, 25 minutes north of town
A wooden tub of hot water steeped with dozens of forest plants, heated over a wood fire the way Red Dao families have always done it. You get a private room, nobody watches the clock, and it costs about 150,000 VND, roughly half what the spas in town ask. From the things to do guide.
Love Waterfall
Tram Ton, Hoang Lien National Park, 14 km west
A forest path of about half an hour follows the Golden Stream to a 100 m waterfall, with a pool at its foot where you can swim. It sees far fewer visitors than Silver Waterfall on the main road. From the mountains and day trips guide.
Plan your days in Sa Pa
Day one: eat pho at the market, then walk the Muong Hoa valley down to Lao Chai and on to Ta Van, stop at the carved stones along the way and take a Grab back for a hotpot dinner. Day two: save the clearest morning for the mountain railway from Sun Plaza and the cable car up Fansipan, then drive the O Quy Ho pass, past Silver Waterfall and Love Waterfall, for sunset at the top. For a misty or slow day, see the culture museum and the stone church, walk round the lake, climb Ham Rong and finish with a Red Dao herbal bath in Ta Phin. If you are there at the weekend, add the Sunday market in Bac Ha or the Saturday one in Can Cau.
Questions about the Sa Pa guides
What do the Sa Pa City Guides include?
Four guides covering 91 places: food, things to do, mountains and day trips, and budget. Each entry explains why it is worth going, where it is, practical notes and one tip you can use.
How do I receive the guides once I have paid?
The links show up on your order confirmation page and in the email that follows. They open in the browser of any phone, tablet or laptop, with no app to install and no account to create.
Can I use the Sa Pa guides without internet?
Yes. Load each guide once in town while connected and it will work offline from then on, ticks and notes included, which helps in the valley where the signal is patchy. Opening a place in maps needs mobile data.
Which languages are the Sa Pa guides available in?
The guides open in English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese and Korean. You can switch the language inside the guide at any time.
How much do the guides cost?
One guide is €4.99, two are €8.99 and all four together are €15.99.
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