Luang Namtha to Sapa

By bus the journey from Luang Namtha to Sapa is scheduled to take 22 hours.

Bus Times from Luang Namtha to Sapa

There is currently 1 bus service a day from Luang Namtha to Sapa available to book online.

• Passengers on this service will change vehicles on arrival in Dien Bien in Vietnam.

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Luang Namtha Bus Stop

Laos Luxury Travel services from Luang Namtha to Sapa depart from Luang Namtha Bus Station.

Sapa Bus Stop

Laos Luxury Travel services from Luang Namtha to Sapa terminate at Sapa Bus Station.

About Travel to Sapa

Sapa is a massively popular tourist destination located in the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range. The town receives around 6 million leisure visitors a year, about 90% of whom are Vietnamese citizens. The main attraction in Sapa is the fantastic scenery, along with cooler weather. At 1,500 metres above sea level, Sapa is considerably colder than lowland areas of Vietnam.

Fansipan Mountain

The highest point in the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range is Fansipan Mountain, which on a good day is clearly visible from Sapa Town. Rising to 3,143 metres above sea level, Fansipan Mountain is generally considered to be the last significant peak on the south eastern edge of the Himalayan mountain range.

It is possible to walk up Fansipan Mountain, staying close to the top overnight in a lodge before ascending at dawn for the best views, however, a guide and a permit is mandatory. An easier way to reach the peak is to travel on the 6.3 km long cable system which starts from near to Sapa Town. Parts of Fansipan Mountain, directly below the summit, have been developed into an amusement park style facility called Sunworld Fansipan Legend featuring large religious statues and buildings, along with indoor facilities for visitors.

Sapa Town

Sapa is, by Vietnamese standards, a medium sized town with around 80,000 permanent residents. The centre of Sapa Town is picturesque with a boating lake, and a town square with a church built in 1902 using local stone. Away from the centre the busy tourist area of the town is characterised by narrow winding streets lined with hotels, bars, and restaurants.

Sapa is very much a tourist town, and most local people make a living from tourism, including the large numbers of colourfully dressed members of a range of different ethnic minority groups. Leisure visitors will be approached and offered services, as well as receive requests for donations, but not constantly as happens in some of the world’s other tourist hot spots.

Cat Cat Village

There are hundreds of different walks you can take in the area around Sapa. Some require guides and overnight stays in mountain villages. One very popular local walk which doesn’t require a guide or staying overnight in basic accommodation is the walk to Cat Cat Village. Including the journey from Sapa Town to the start of the walk, and the return journey, the walk to Cat Cat Village can be completed in about 3 hours making it an ideal half day activity for visitors.

The walk starts at a check point about 2 km by road to the south east of Sapa Town, and from there you walk anti-clockwise along a path which loops back to the same checkpoint via Cat Cat Village. Cat Cat Village is a small settlement of people from several different ethnic groups established in the 19th Century. The most striking features of the village are its large wooden water wheels which were traditionally used to grind rice.

Places to Visit in Sapa Town

Sapa Town is fairly small and doesn’t have the same range of attractions located in the town as Vietnam’s other very popular elevated leisure destination, Dalat. Two places that are worth visiting in Sapa Town are its Stone Church and Mau Son Temple.

Located a short distance from the south east corner of Sa Pa Lake, Mau Son Temple is dedicated to what is often termed the ‘folk religions of the Red River delta’. The term ‘Red River delta’ refers to the large areas of Northern Vietnam including Hanoi which the Red River passes through near the end of its long journey from the Himalayas in China. The temple is dedicated to Mother Lieu Hanh who is one of the ‘Four Immortals’ and similar in concept to other ‘Mother Earth’ type deities worshipped in ancient religions across Asia and the Middle East.

The Stone Church was built during the period of French colonisation of Vietnam as a Catholic place of worship. Sapa has noticeably few French era buildings compared to other lowland towns and cities in Vietnam and this is largely because of its remote location, 315 km by road from Hanoi in a mountainous area. At the time poor transport infrastructure made it hard to bring modern building materials to Sapa and for this reason the church was constructed using large blocks of local stone, hence the name. The interior of the church, however, is more ornately decorated.

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