Homestay in Sapa

Popular for trekking, Sapa is a place where you can be surrounded by green rice paddies and mountains. The Hmong, Tay and Dao hill tribes populate most of this small town and offer homestays to show off their hometown and with good reason. 

There's many trekking options where a local tour guide will walk you around the hills of Sapa and walk you through the settlements of each tribe. A great thing about the local tour guides is that even though they speak broken English (really great and understandable), they are more than happy to teach you about their values and way of life.

There's plenty of waterfalls in Sapa and you're bound to cross them when trekking. To trek, all you need is a local guide who will take you through the tribe settlements and the mountains. They're quite easy to find as you walk through Sapa and easy to spot as they usually wear tradition tribe clothing.

If you decide to go trekking, be prepared to get your mountain goat climbing skills on. The paths aren't really paths and when it's muddy, you need suitable shoes or you'll definitely slip. Wellies/gum boots are probably the most recommended shoes as I struggled in trainers and the mud can come up quite high!

The homestays in Sapa are quite basic so expect a mattress on the floor and a mosquito net. The families are more accomodating, offering a family meal followed by a night of rice wine and sometimes even karaoke.