Trekking in Sapa with kids

Sapa has been on my radar for a long time for its location in the mountains of Northern Vietnam and the treks through terraced rice fields. Our family trip trekking in Sapa was with kids aged 12 and 9.

Is Sapa touristy?

Yes, Sapa town is very touristy. I had seen people talk about how busy Sapa was with tourists, and I wasn’t sure we should bother visiting because it didn’t seem like our vibe. Sapa town was very busy with tourists and was much bigger than I was expecting. It feels like a built-up city with large resort-style hotels and golf buggies to shuttle tourists around.

We arrived in Sapa town, walked into the centre, had dinner, bought some water and snacks and then left to stay in the countryside.

Getting from Hanoi to Sapa

We booked a bus from Hanoi to Sapa on the G8 Open Tours website. I emailed to ask if there was a discount for booking a return trip, and they booked our ticket via email for slightly less. They were very responsive, and I was also able to change our original pick-up location.

We booked 10 am, and earlier in the morning, we received an email from the company saying that the driver would be at the location by 9:30 am and to be on time. We were the last ones to arrive with minutes to spare, and they were waiting for us. The bus left at 9:35 am.

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Knowing that we probably wouldn’t enjoy staying in Sapa town, I looked at staying elsewhere in the area. The reason for a family trip to Sapa was to go trekking through the hills and rice fields, so it made sense to stay in the countryside.

Ta Van is located about 10km from Sapa town. It is a small village where the local ethnic groups make their living by farming rather than relying on tourists.

Ta van accommodation

We stayed at Ấp Retreat, a small hotel with only 4 rooms. The place looked exactly as pictured, with a lovely outdoor space overlooking small farms and out to the mountains. The included breakfast was basic but fine. We paid for one dinner here, and I should have known it wouldn’t be great, as there was no actual kitchen.

Unfortunately, we had trouble sleeping due to noise. The wooden floorboards of the room above were also the ceiling of our room. It was so noisy, every time people in the room above moved, we heard it. The building was also extremely creaky with every movement above. I’m not sure if these problems only apply to the bottom level.

The managers are two young local girls doing their best with what they have. When the property had a power outage, they seemed unprepared for the situation, but it was handled and came back on within an hour.

Staying in Ta Van, Sapa

When driving back through Sapa town and seeing large resort-style hotels and so many buggies, I was glad we stayed in Ta Van instead.

Our reason for travelling to the Sapa area was to go trekking and experience the farmland and nature, so staying amongst it made sense. It also provided us the opportunity to see the daily life in the villages, small roadside shops, kids walking to school, etc.

All of the accommodation in Ta Van has mixed reviews. Looking back on our experience, I think we needed to lower our expectations. This is a small mountain village where there may be problems with water and power outages and, in our case, the building structure.

There are several homestay options on booking.com, and maybe that is a better approach to accommodation in Ta Van. We hope the area doesn’t also become overdeveloped and lose its charm. The construction of large resorts is creeping further and further out as Sapa becomes larger.

Getting to Ta Van from Sapa

When we got off the bus just outside the centre of Sapa, G8 Open Tours said their driver could take us to our location for 250,000 VND. We declined as we wanted to go into the centre first to look around, have dinner and buy water and snacks. We asked a taxi driver who was parked on the side of the road, and he charged us 300,000 VND. The road was rough in places, and we thought that we should have perhaps chosen one of the 4-wheel drive cars we had seen. In about 30 minutes, we arrived at our Ta Van accommodation.

On our return trip from Ta Van to Sapa, I asked the manager of Ấp Retreat to book us a taxi, which she did by yelling downhill to the locals. This was a better car and only cost us 200,000VND.

Trekking in Sapa in November

Our family Sapa trip was in late November. The weather was perfect for trekking, cool but not cold enough to need layers. We wore one light outer layer, but for most of our trekking, we were in T-shirts. I packed raincoats for everyone, but we only ever experienced some drizzle. I wouldn’t like to trek in Sapa during rain, as the clay-like paths would be very slippery. The low clouds and foggy weather meant we didn’t see much of the surrounding mountains during our stay. We caught glimpses of them when the clouds cleared.

The common images of Sapa are with vibrant green rice fields. This is during the rainy season, which obviously can come with problems. Trekking in Sapa in November meant we didn’t see the rice fields in their peak growing season. The rice had already been harvested. The terraced rice fields are still a spectacular sight, especially when they are cut into the mountains.

During our November Sapa trip, some rice fields were full of water, which made a picturesque scene. Other rice fields had turned to grass, which meant we saw lots of buffalo eating in the fields.

Trekking in Sapa with kids

We went trekking in Sapa with our kids. They were 12 and 9 years old. We do regular nature walks and short hikes with them at home. When planning our Vietnam trip, we told them from the start that it would include some hiking. We learnt about the area’s farming practices and they were excited to experience a new place. There was a small amount of complaining from our youngest, mostly about being bored while we walked along the roads.

On the first day, we walked 13 km, the longest hike the kids had ever done. There were steep areas that they handled better than I did. There was always something fascinating to see, and they each bought a fabric chicken from a little shop to remember their trip. Our youngest said he enjoyed trekking in Sapa because the scenery was so different from anywhere else we had hiked.

During our family stay in Sapa, we did two separate days of trekking. We had a rest day in between due to my husband feeling unwell with a migraine. Both treks started from our accommodation in Ta Van. We didn’t use a guide, you can trek Sapa on your own and for free. We used the AllTrails app to find routes and walked to the starting points. I will title our treks as the names on AllTrails so you can find them there.

Other blogs mentioned being followed by women who acted as guides and then asked for money. We did not have anything like that happen to us. There were a few women along the way who asked us to buy something from them, but a simple no thank you was enough. At one point, a lady did chat with us and walked along just in front, but then she went her own way. We wanted to give back to the locals as we were free trekking in Sapa, so we purchased items from the little shops along the way. Hopefully, this money does go to the locals.

Day 1 Trek: Sapa Bamboo Trail

This is a circular trail listed on AllTrails as 6km with an average time of 2 hours. From our accommodation to the starting point, it was a 2.5km walk. At the end of the trek, we had walked a total of 13km. The paths are clay-like and become very slippery when wet, especially on downhill sections. Parts of the path had become wet from leaking pipes. I don’t think it would be as enjoyable after rain with all the paths being slippery.

We walked along the river and then up the other side. The view was down into the valleys, with the mountains in the background. At one point, we had to walk through a construction zone as a new bridge was being built. The area suffers from landslides due to heavy rainfall. I purchased a hanging fabric and bead ornament (see cafe photo at end) from a friendly lady in a little shop. After paying, she handed me two fabric bracelets for the boys.

We again came to the river and crossed a rusty little bridge before a steep uphill walk took us to the top of a waterfall. There was a little viewpoint spot to look down over the waterfall, but it wasn’t a great vantage point. The uphill hike was worth it for the fantastic view from the top. We stopped here to fly the drone and take in the amazing scene. Some buffalo were eating the grass in the rice fields, and the clouds were moving over the mountains.

We continued walking up and felt like we were very high. This spot had an incredible view down over the valley. After taking in the view, we got a little confused about where the trail was because it was hidden by bushes. Taking the wrong turn allowed us to see some goats eating the plants and a man walking downhill carrying a large bundle of bamboo.

The end of the trail went through the bamboo forest, which was a fun change of scenery. We then continued walking back to our accommodation. This Sapa trek was great for the varied scenery. The river area was lovely, the bamboo forest was fun and climbing uphill gave us such a magnificent view over the valley.

Day 2 Trek: King Kong House Loop

This trail loop is listed on AllTrails at 7.1km with an average time of 2 hours 33 minutes. We walked about 11km in total, with 1.8km from our accommodation to the start of the trail. There was a section near the start that we couldn’t find, it may have been impacted by a landslide. We just had to backtrack a little and take a different path that joined onto the trail.

The views around the start of the trail were incredible. We were looking out over water-filled rice terraces and little wooden houses. At one point, the trail went straight through the terraced fields. Trekking in Sapa on this November morning, the weather was foggy. On a clear day, you can get views of all the surrounding mountains.

This day was filled with animal sightings, including lots of baby animals. We passed dogs, puppies, ducks and ducklings and dodged chickens and chicks running around near the path. There were also buffalo eating the grass in the rice fields, and some cows resting along the path. When we came to a small souvenir hut, the boys each bought an adorable fabric chicken with chicks in pockets.

Lao Chai Village

The trail led us through Lao Chai village. At first, it is an authentic local village with shops selling fruit, vegetables and lots of live chickens in cages (and also not live chickens ready to cook). At the end of this little village area, we visited the window of a pharmacy to buy paracetamol as Tim used all of our supply with his intense migraine the day before. I typed paracetamol into Google Translate and showed her (it said paracetamol – she probably didn’t understand my accent).

The next part of the village felt like it had been built for tourists. There were some souvenir shops and restaurants, and this was where we first came across tour groups. After the village, we crossed the river via a bridge and then a steep uphill walk brought us to a lookout spot. The view of the river, houses and farms around Lao Chai was beautiful. Again, it was cloudy, and there may be mountains behind those clouds.

We crossed another bridge and noticed that all of the tourists were heading in the opposite direction. There were small groups and larger tour groups. I think they may have walked from Sapa Centre to Lao Chai Village because we didn’t see any other tourists after the next location.

Suspension bridge & hydroelectric power plant

Walking alongside the river, we could see a long suspension bridge ahead. An uphill winding path brought us to the bridge, and we looked down on the dam of the hydroelectric power plant. Next to the dam were large dome-shaped hills that were terraced all the way around. After a very steep walk up the road after the bridge, we stopped at the top to fly the drone. The perspective from the air is always cool. We could see that this whole area was hills, all completely terraced.

Sapa Views & Schools

We passed a small shop where kids were buying candy, and continuing on the path, we found it was littered with colourful wrappers. After coming around a bend, we were now on the other side of the river, looking towards where we had previously walked. We could see the bridge where tourists were walking the opposite way, the trail below the mountains and several landslides.

We passed many kids along the way and then came across a building under construction. Walking past, we realised it was a school and we could hear what we guessed were kids clearing up after lunch. Further along the trail, in another part of the village, we saw a primary school with a group of young children outside. Travelling with our kids, it’s always interesting to see schools and the everyday lives of other kids.

We changed our route from the one on AllTrails and walked to Lúa cafe for lunch before returning to our accommodation.

READ: our 3-day Ninh Binh itinerary

Where to eat in Ta Van, Sapa

Our accommodation included a basic breakfast, which was either toast with reheated eggs or instant noodles. We ordered dinner for our second night before realising there was no kitchen. The pork, rice and greens had all been pre-cooked and reheated, so it wasn’t the best. Thankfully, we found some great places to eat during our stay in Ta Van.

cà phê view was a 600m walk up the hill from our accommodation. We first visited here for smoothies and coffees before starting our day 1 Sapa trek. The owner was lovely and offered the kids candy when we left. After our trek, we returned for lunch.

Our youngest had been saying he wanted French fries, so we gave in, and these were super crunchy. The veg spring rolls were also great, and our favourite was the tomato tofu dish. We went again the next day for lunch, as it was close by. When we finished our meal, the owner gave us a plate of fruit.

The service was slow because I think only one lady was working. We didn’t mind because the view is spectacular and we were happy to have time to sit and take soak it in. There was also a friendly fluffy dog.

HU GẦU

HU GẦU restaurant is part of an accommodation and only serves one dish, stewed beef noodle. It was delicious. A thick, spiced broth with soft beef and chewy noodles.

Lúa cafe

After our second day trekking in Ta Van, we went to Lúa cafe for lunch. We ordered two plates of veg spring rolls, which were deliciously crispy. The boys had fruit juices, and Tim and I shared an iced coffee.

The cafe has a terraced area with walkways and a bridge. The boys enjoyed running around here while waiting for our food to arrive. They decided we should come back here for dinner that night for a pizza, so we did. It was a lovely night with the clearest views of the mountains during our stay.