a place to visit many times in a lifetime

(Fatherland) - People call Fansipan a destination of a lifetime, a place to visit many times in a lifetime, because each time they reach the "sacred peak" - where people, myths and mountains coexist, visitors will feel a different emotion, a different experience.

Vietnam does not have a mountain that is a symbol of the whole country like Japan's Fuji, Switzerland's Matterhorn... But if we were to choose a mountain that Vietnamese people can be proud of and talk about forever, it would definitely be Fansipan - the highest peak of the three former Indochina countries (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). It is no coincidence that Vietnamese people have a saying "Everyone has their own Fansipan peak", to compare it to the biggest dream in each person's life.

Fansipan is always an attractive destination for tourists - Photo: Minh Tu

Fansipan, in the local language, is also known as Hua Xi Pan, meaning "giant precarious rock". According to the Vietnam Institute of Geology, the entire mountain is a majestic block of granite that emerged from deep within the earth more than 250 million years ago.

The Northwest of Vietnam is famous for its rugged terrain, one of the most rugged in Southeast Asia, but Fansipan is also part of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, the most complex in the Northwest. According to many documents, the Hoang Lien Son range is also the southeasternmost section of the majestic Himalayas.

The four seasons of clouds and the rugged terrain have always made Fansipan enveloped in a mesmerizing and surreal beauty. The strange thing is that to each person, that beauty appears in a different way. When the French first set foot to explore this place 120 years ago, they compared the land of Sa Pa to the famous Alps of Europe.

A Vietnamese who grew up on folk tales believes that Fansipan is the gate connecting the sky and the earth. An adventurous traveler believes that the beauty of Fansipan is a bit reminiscent of the majestic Himalayas. Whatever the association, Fansipan, besides its greatness, also has a close connection and creates a sense of familiarity for everyone.

The ruggedness of the journey to conquer Fansipan peak used to be reserved for those who were passionate about conquering, brave and strong enough to cross the jungle, taking from 2 to 5 days and nights of climbing the forest and sleeping in the mountains to get there.

When mentioning Fansipan, many tourists used to think of it as a dream that was hard to reach. Fansipan was like a sleeping paradise, a promised land of many tourists who came and fell in love with Sa Pa, but could not set foot there because it took too much time to travel.

In 2016, the cable car route created by Sun Group and implemented by the world's most famous cable car manufacturer Doppelmayr Garaventa opened up the opportunity to conquer the highest mountain in Indochina for visitors of all ages. From a journey of 2-5 days and nights, it was shortened to only 15-20 minutes flying among the clouds.

Rolling sea of ​​clouds seen from Fansipan cable car cabin - Photo: Minh Tu

When the Fansipan cable car cabin door opens, visitors will see the sky and earth blending into one, the sea of ​​clouds rolling, the sunlight brighter than anywhere else in Vietnam. And if you come to Fansipan on a cloudy day, visitors will feel like they are traveling back in time, half real and half dream, amidst the mist and clouds, spiritual structures with the appearance of ancient Vietnamese pagodas from the 15th-16th century appear.

Not only because nature has favored this place with breathtaking scenery, what makes Fansipan honored is also because this place has 4 shifting seasons, 12 months of brilliant flowers. And many of those flowers are brought back by the tourism workers here, painstakingly bred, cultivated, and cared for.

Spring in Fansipan, flowers bloom in the clouds, leading to the Gate of Heaven. The forests of peach blossoms and Himalayan cherry blossoms weave a beautiful spring color, simple or bewildered among the majestic hills, where the early morning dew gently calls the birds home. Spring is also the time when the 300-400 year old rhododendrons bloom brilliantly and awaken, embroidering delicate color patches on the hundred-year-old sediments of the mountains.

Summer on the sky is a harmony of flowers and wind, when the largest rose valley in Vietnam, located in the Sun World Fansipan Legend tourist area, puts on a new red coat of climbing roses, a specialty only found in Sa Pa. The fields of primrose flowers on the hillsides are also in full bloom, as beautiful as purple clouds floating in the mist and sunlight.

Autumn in Fansipan is the season of "cloud hunting". At an altitude of 3,143 m, the clouds roll like a river surrounding the sacred peak. The terraced fields cling to the mountainside like a golden waterfall pouring from the clouds. In any area at Sun World Fansipan Legend, visitors can see the fields of rice flowers dyeing the entire mountain range red, full of enchantment. It is also autumn, also red, but this red is very different from that of temperate countries.

In winter, the temperature on the top of Fansipan can drop to -9 degrees Celsius, making this one of the rare places in Southeast Asia where you can see snow and ice. Sometimes, the snow carpet is more than half a meter thick, creating a beautiful scene that seems to come straight out of a fairy tale in the beautiful Nordic region.

Every moment, every season, Fansipan and Sa Pa have a very different, very strange beauty - Photo: Minh Tu

Choosing Fansipan as a destination is also choosing to explore Sa Pa - a place where the diversity of ethnic groups in the Northwest of Vietnam converges.

There is a beautiful song describing the people of Sa Pa: "The sun rises from your cheeks" to indicate the brilliance in the smiles of the children of the Northwest and their red cheeks from sunburn. Only when meeting the ethnic minorities of the highlands of H'Mong, Giay, Tay, Dao, Xa Pho, in the peaceful Northwest cultural space like a small village at the foot of Fansipan mountain, can visitors imagine the brilliance like embracing the sun in their colorful brocade skirts.

The sounds of the vibrant dances and the soulful sounds of the flute also create the very Sa Pa sounds. These are the things that make tourists forever nostalgic about this land.

Coming to Sa Pa is also a unique culinary experience with wild vegetables, thang co and drinking wine with the locals, participating in typical festivals such as the rose festival, the golden harvest festival, the winter festival and watching horse racing in the race with the poetic name: "Horse hooves in the clouds".

Every time you come to Fansipan or Sa Pa, you will never have the same experience. Because every moment, every season, Fansipan and Sa Pa have a very different and strange beauty. That is why people call Fansipan a destination of a lifetime, a place that must be visited many times in life, because every time you reach the sacred peak - where people, myths and mountains coexist, you will feel a different emotion, a different experience./.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/fansipan-noi-phai-den-nhieu-lan-trong-doi-20241118170208346.htm