Travel from Luang Prabang to Sapa

By bus or minivan the journey from Luang Prabang to Sapa is scheduled to take from 17 to 20 hours depending upon which service you take.

Bus Times from Luang Prabang to Sapa

There are currently 8 services a day from Luang Prabang to Sapa available to book online.

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Luang Prabang Bus Station

Family Services services from Luang Prabang to Sapa depart from Ban Lakkham River View in Luang Prabang City.

Sapa Bus Stop

Family Services services from Luang Prabang to Sapa terminate at Sapa Bus Station.

About Travel to Sapa

Sapa is a popular holiday destination located around 315 km by road to the north west of Hanoi, only 35 km from the border with China. The main attraction in Sapa is the picturesque landscape of the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range.

When to Visit Sapa

The main tourist seasons in Sapa are from March to May and September to November.

Sapa is located at 1,500 above sea level and because of the altitude it’s a lot cooler there than it is in Hanoi or other low lying areas in Vietnam. During the winter, which is typically from November to February, the temperature at night drops as low as 10°C and during December and January it sometimes snows. Visibility also reduces significantly during the winter which obscures the mountain views and makes visiting Sapa a lot less interesting. 

If you do plan to visit Sapa during the winter months bring warm clothing and check whether the hotel you plan to stay in has any heating. Many in Sapa do not, despite the cold weather, because relatively few leisure travellers visit at that time.

Sapa Town Centre

Sapa is an attractive small town with around 80,000 permanent residents. It’s a very tourist oriented destination with nearly 400 hotels, guesthouses, and hostels for tourists and several hundred restaurants and bars.

One of the most striking features of the town centre is its 400 metre long boating lake and pleasant lakeside park area.

To the south west of the lake is a public plaza which is used for events such as the start and finish of the Vietnam Mountain Marathon and the Saturday Night Love Market. This weekly market features colourfully dressed younger members of local hill-tribe groups recreating a traditional courtship ritual where young men would try to impress young ladies with their musical skills. Adjacent to the plaza is Sapa’s Stone Church which is a French style Catholic church built in 1902 using mostly local materials.

The other major tourist attraction in Sapa town centre, Mau Son Temple, is located to the south east of the boating lake. Mau Son Temple is a small Chinese influenced temple dedicated to the worship of deities associated with the folk religions of the Red River Delta and it bears some similarities to the more famous Bach Ma Temple in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

Fansipan Mountain

Vietnam’s tallest mountain, Fansipan Mountain, is located about 8 km in a straight line from Sapa town centre. On a clear day you can see the top of Fansipan Mountain from Sapa Town, and many visitors choose to pay a premium for a hotel room with direct views of the mountain.

There are 2 ways to reach the top of Fansipan Mountain. You can walk up the mountain, however, a guide is a required and a permit, and also a stay in bunkhouse near the top so you can reach the summit in the morning when the visibility tends to be at it’s best. The other much less energetic way to visit Fansipan Mountain is to take the cable car. The cable station is close to the town centre and it takes visitors to 100 metres below the summit of the mountain.

The area just below the summit has, since 2015, been opened as an amusement park type attraction called Sunworld Fansipan Legend. Sunworld Fansipan Legend features a series of shrines and statues and an artificial waterfall, and is very much designed to appeal to Vietnamese tourists.

Trekking in Sapa

The walk up Fansipan Mountain is fairly hard work. Trekkers need to ascend slightly over 1,500 metres to reach the summit and the higher altitude bunkhouses on the trail are very basic. There are, however, lots of other much easier walks with more comfortable overnight accommodation that you can do in the area. Seeking the assistance of a local guide is advisable particularly for overnight stays as these often need to be organised in advance with the people who live in remote mountainous areas and speak little or no English.

The easiest walk you can do from Sapa Town is the walk to Cat Cat Village. This walk starts and finishes from a checkpoint slightly less than a 2 km walk downhill from the town centre. Walking the whole loop the entire trek takes 2 to 3 hours at a slow to moderate pace stopping regularly to enjoy the scenery along the way. We recommend walking the trail anti-clockwise so that you end the walk in Cat Cat Village itself. Established in the 19th Century, Cat Cat Village is home to people from several different hill-tribe groups and features picturesque water wheels which were traditionally used to grind rice.

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