Sa Pa terraced fields in the flooding season. (Photo: Quoc Khanh/VNA)
The famous American travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler has just announced a list of the 50 most beautiful small towns in the world, including the "town in the mist" Sa Pa of Vietnam.
In its introduction, Condé Nast Traveler writes that Sa Pa is known for its majestic mountain scenery, vast terraced fields, spectacular waterfalls, winding trails and wonderful climate...
Let's find out if Condé Nast Traveler is exaggerating or not?
Sa Pa is a famous tourist destination in the mountainous town of Lao Cai, located in the Northwest of Vietnam on a flat surface at an altitude of 1,500 to 1,650m along the slopes of Lo Suay Tong mountain.
At the western boundary junction of Sa Pa is Fansipan mountain - the roof of Indochina, with an altitude of nearly 3,143m.
Nature has favored this highland area by giving Sa Pa a magnificent landscape with white clouds covering the mountains on all sides like a scarf and terraced rice fields, depending on the season, sometimes golden, sometimes green... stretching to infinity...
With a cool climate all year round, an average temperature of 15 to 18 degrees Celsius, and four seasons in a day, Sa Pa is always covered with flowers and leaves, each season blooming in competition with each other...
In winter, sometimes it snows in Sa Pa, the white flakes gently fly endlessly and then settle on the ground and the old pine trees with clear patches of ice.
Sa Pa is small and pretty with winding mountain paths, with white clouds playing around and coming down every now and then, making visitors suddenly get lost in a game of hide and seek. When the clouds clear, they are suddenly surprised because the clouds and mist have taken them to another space, another season and time.
The gentle sunlight suddenly flared up, turning the cheeks of the ethnic girls red… and the wind blew, carrying the scent of blue smoke in the afternoon, mixed with the thatched roofs of the houses… leading visitors to the center of Sa Pa, where there is the Stone Church - an ancient Roman Gothic architectural work, built by the French in the early 20th century.
Right outside the Stone Church is Sa Pa Square, where every Saturday night there is a Love Market…
In the dim darkness mixed with the mist are couples swaying…which can only be felt through the sound of the leaf flute or sometimes the clear laughter like spring water.
If you take the Stone Church as a landmark, no matter which direction you go, you will encounter natural landscapes and villages with their own unique identities... creating the absolute appeal of Sa Pa - these are scenes that you can visit a thousand times and still be fascinated by, because each time you visit, you will have a different emotional experience.
8km southeast of Sa Pa town is Muong Hoa Valley where there is an ancient sandstone beach - ranked as a National Monument.
The strange shapes on the stone slabs contain a mystery of the vast universe - it is unclear whether they are the legacy of the ancient Vietnamese or traces left by a world outside our planet.
A corner of Sa Pa town in cold fog. (Photo: Quoc Khanh/VNA)
From the Stone Church, 12km away, visitors will encounter Silver Waterfall, the highest waterfall in the Northwest mountains.
Amidst the wild beauty of the mountains and forests, a waterfall suddenly appeared, it was unclear whether it was separated from the rocks or from the clouds, pouring down from a height of over 100m. The water rushed against the cliff, creating white foam, creating silver rain... perhaps this is the reason why people named the waterfall Silver Waterfall.
Standing at the foot of the waterfall, listening to the majestic sounds of the mountains and forests, one feels as if one is in a vast space… the melody of the water rises and falls from far away to very close, then rustles and glides into the stream flowing to the O Quy Ho valley below…
Following the flow of the stream, visitors will come to one of the "Four Great Passes" of Vietnam, which possesses a breathtakingly beautiful landscape, O Quy Ho Pass.
Tourists climb Fansipan Mountain, Lao Cai. (Photo: Quoc Khanh/VNA)
O Quy Ho Pass is located on the road connecting Sa Pa town with Lai Chau province, both sides are covered by green hills. On clear days, standing from the top of the pass, visitors can fully admire the Fansipan peak.
This is also an ideal place chosen by many people to watch the sunset. And anyone who has ever waited for the afternoon to fall, the thin mist lingering in the air and the sunset falling down, covering the mountainside with a glorious golden color… here will never be able to forget.
Sa Pa town is home to 6 ethnic groups: Kinh, H'Mong, Red Dao, Tay, Giay, Xa Pho, of which H'Mong people account for 51.65%.
Each ethnic group in Sa Pa has its own unique culture, distinguished from its costumes, to its customs and traditional festivals. This is also the point that attracts tourists.
Located about 2km from Sa Pa town, is Cat Cat village - considered the capital of the H'Mong people. You can rent a motorbike to get here if you are lazy to walk.
If you want to go by motorbike, to enter Cat Cat village you will have to buy an entrance ticket which costs 70,000/person.
Cat Cat village is surrounded by mountains and forests, in the middle of the village is a stream winding through beautiful terraced fields, houses looming among rice, flowers and clouds... and by the door, H'Mong girls are sitting weaving, embroidering, sewing... the scene is peaceful and poetic like in a fairy tale.
If you want to experience the slopes of Sa Pa, you cannot miss Ta Van Village - home to the Red Dao people and a small number of H'Mong people.
The road from Sa Pa to Ta Van Village is a winding dirt road between mountains on one side and rice fields in the valley on the other, sometimes going up, sometimes going down.
Going deep into Ta Van Village, is a very different Sa Pa, quiet, deserted... not as good at tourism as Cat Cat (collecting entrance fee of 70,000 VND), the life of Ta Van people is so real it hurts.
The children here do not run after the tourists… they sit next to their grandmothers or mothers by the fire with indifferent, wandering looks…
Sometimes, some children follow tourists by jumping on the rocks, their small bare feet, soon calloused, quickly moving from one rock to another in the cold of the mountainous region... making many people feel sad and sorry.
That is another highlight of Sa Pa, to vibrate, to live slower... and to create a Sa Pa that "enchants" tourists - a small Sa Pa that is so charming and captivating...
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