"Trekking in Sapa" a Sapa Travel Page by King_Golo

Sapa may well be called Vietnam's trekking capital. It's the place where a large number of tourists goes to from Hanoi if they are in the mood for some trekking through the incredibly beautiful scenery of North Vietnam's mountains. While the town itself is not without charm, most people are drawn to the landscape surrounding it - high mountains, numerous rice paddies, bamboo forests, wild rivers and of course the large number of ethnic minority people inhabiting this area. Most of them belong to the Hmong people, but Dzao and other minorities are found as well.

Be aware that Sapa is

a) quite high in the mountains - thus the climate is much cooler than in the lowlands. In winter, Sapa is one of the only places in Vietnam where it actually snows from time to time. Also, the weather can be quite unpredictable - a clear and warm day may well be followed by a foggy and damp day.
b) full of tourists. It's by no means off the beaten path anymore, and it is unlikely to become that once again. Tourism is simultaneously good and bad for the locals - the Vietnamese profit from it (hotels, organized treks etc.), the minorities only marginally. Although many of them make a living by selling handicrafts to tourists, this quick way of making money usually means that their children don't go to school anymore and are "forced" to sell things. Apparently, this is sort of a Hmong mentality thing - a Vietnamese teacher from an elementary school near Sapa told me that Hmong children hardly stay in school for longer than one or two years. After that, the idea of making money through the children seems much more attractive to the families.