Nong Khiaw to Sapa

By bus or minivan the journey from Nong Khiaw to Sapa in Vietnam is scheduled to take 20 hours.

Bus Times from Nong Khiaw to Sapa

There are currently 2 services a day from Nong Khiaw to Sapa available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Nong Khiaw to Sapa

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Nong Khiaw to Sapa.

Nong Khiaw Bus Stop

Laos Group Tour services from Nong Khiaw to Sapa commence with a pick up from any hotel in Nong Khiaw.

Sapa Bus Stop

Laos Group Tour services from Nong Khiaw to Sapa terminate at Sapa Bus Station.

About Travel to Sapa

Sapa is a very popular tourist destination located near Vietnam’s tallest mountain, 315 km by road from Hanoi and about 35 km from the border with China. The long journey times do not, however, stop people visiting in large numbers. In 2024 Sapa attracted around 6 million leisure visitors, over 90% of whom are Vietnamese tourists.

Sapa Town

Sapa is a small town, with around 80,000 permanent residents that’s unusual in a number of respects.

The first and most striking thing about Sapa, other than the spectacular mountain views, is the weather. The town is located at 1,500 metres above sea level and this makes it a lot cooler than the parts of Vietnam at sea level. In the coldest 4 months of year (November to February), at night the temperature generally drops below 10°C and it sometimes snows. The visibility is also often poor during this period. In the warmest months (May to August) the temperature at night is typical around 17°C to 18°C.

Another striking feature of Sapa is that there is a picturesque lake in the centre of the town. The lake is approximately 400 metres long and 150 metres wide, with a small pleasant park on the south side.

A third notable characteristic of Sapa Town is the large number of people in traditional costumes attempting to sell locally made products and guide services to visitors. About 85% of the local population are from what is collectively termed as ‘hill tribes’, with Hmong ethnic groups comprising over 50% of the overall population. Local people from the hill tribes are not typically the owners of the hotels, restaurants and other formal businesses that thrive in Sapa Town and they struggle to make a living from farming and low value transactions with tourists.

Fansipan Mountain

Fansipan Mountain is generally considered to be the last significant mountain at the south eastern edge of Himalayas. It rises to 3,143 metres above sea level and can be seen from Sapa Town on most days of the year, except in the winter months.

In 2015 a cable car to the top of the mountain, and an amusement park on the peak itself, were completed. By cable car the journey to the top takes around 20 minutes to travel 6.3 km and ascend 1,410 metres. At the top are amenities like toilets and an indoor restaurant, and 11 man made features such as large statues, temple buildings and even an artificial waterfall.

It is possible to walk up Fansipan mountain, however, the requirement for a guide and the relevant licences is strictly enforced. Most guided tours involve a trek up to a lodge near the summit on the first day, and then a pre-dawn start the following morning to reach the highest point for sunrise when the visibility is generally at it’s best.

Cat Cat Village

There are lots of different walks you can do from Sapa, they vary a lot in duration, difficulty, and the need for a guide. The easiest walk you can do is the walk Cat-Cat Village.

The walk starts at a checkpoint about 1.7 km by road to the south west of the town centre. If you walk the whole loop anti-clockwise the distance is just under 2 km, with Cat Cat Village near the end of the walk. Cat Cat Village is a hill tribe village on a river with large wooden waterwheels originally built to mill rice. If you do walk the whole loop, rather than just the shorter walk clockwise straight to Cat Cat Village, the mountain views are spectacular and there is a second smaller and less tourist oriented village you can visit on the way.

Attractions in Sapa Town

There are a small number places of interest to visit in Sapa Town itself. Three of which are particularly interesting:

• Stone Church: In the central square in Sapa Town there is Catholic church built in 1902, during the period of French colonial control. The structure is built from locally sourced materials, most notably large blocks of stone bound together by a mortar made from sand. lime and molasses. The inside of the church, however, is more delicate with wooden panelling and attractive stained glass windows.
• Saturday Night Love Market: Every Saturday night local people gather in the square in front of the Stone Church to perform the traditional flute playing that was once of a central part of local courtship traditions. The traditional ‘love market’ was a place young people from the local hill tribes came to meet potential partners. The courtship ritual involved young men playing flutes, and the young ladies indiciating whether they were interested by how long they listened to the performance.
• Mau Son Temple: Mau Son Temple is a traditional Vietnamese temple dedicated to the folk religions of the Red River delta area of Northern Vietnam. The temple is located on the south side of Sapa Lake, to the east of the Stone Church. Mau Son Temple is dedicated to Mother Lieu Hanh, who is one of the ‘four immortals’ and the goddess of fertility.

How useful was this page?