1. Overview
SaPa and Halong are both the largest tourist centers in the country, welcoming a very high number of visitors every year. Halong Bay and SaPa tours are always chosen by many people. This will be a special tour from the forest to the sea. Tour Halong Bay and Sapa will take you on a breathtaking adventure through the stunning landscapes of Northern Vietnam. Sapa, famous for its terraced fields and ethnic minority villages, offers a unique cultural experience. The emerald waters and limestone mountains of Halong Bay create a picturesque setting that contributes to a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.
2. What will you experience in Halong Bay and Sapa
2.1. Halong Bay – a world natural heritage has never stopped being hot
On the Halong Bay and SaPa tours, the destination of Halong Bay is a world natural heritage recognized by UNESCO. Halong Bay attracts more than 2.6 million tourists each year, both domestic and foreign. This place has nearly 2,000 large and small limestone islands and extremely special emerald-green sea water.
Halong Bay is currently exploiting its tourism potential very well with many special experience services. That includes traveling on a 5-star luxury yacht in Halong, visiting Sung Sot cave, swimming at Titop Island, trekking to the top of Titop Mountain, kayaking,etc. You will have wonderful, relaxing moments on the deck, admiring the most beautiful bays and caves and immersing yourself in the nature of Halong sea and sky.
2.2. Sa Pa – Foggy town
Choosing the tour to Halong Bay and SaPa, at the destination SaPa, you will also experience many unique and interesting Northwest cultural features. SaPa is inhabited by the H’mong people; they have their own unique characteristics with exquisite handmade costumes, dishes such as thang co, men men, stitch humiliation, five-color sticky rice,etc.
The land of SaPa has an extremely poetic natural beauty of majestic mountains and forests. The villages of Cat Cat and Ta Van; colorful terraced rice fields; Tam Giac Mach flower fields; and especially conquering Fansipan Peak, you can experience almost all four seasons in one day in SaPa. SaPa, with its beautiful mountainous characteristics, is a destination that attracts millions of visitors each year to travel, rest, and relax.
3. Distance from Halong Bay to Sapa. How long does it take to go from Halong Bay to Sapa?
The distance from Halong Bay to Sapa is about 480 km. But the actual travel distance may vary depending on the chosen mode of transport and specific routes. Travel time from Halong Bay to Sapa depends on the mode of transportation you choose. The bus journey usually lasts between 8 and 10 hours. By train, including the Hanoi route, it takes about 11 to 13 hours. By private car or taxi, the journey usually takes about 6 to 7 hours.
4. Hanoi – an exciting transit destination
There are many different means of transportation from Halong Bay to Sapa, including traveling directly by bus, taking a train route through Hanoi, or choosing a private taxi service. However, if you go on the Halong Bay and Sapa Tour, the travel agencies will already take care of transportation for you, and Hanoi will be an interesting transit destination between the two destinations on the tour.
During the Halong Bay and Sa Pa tour, you will have to stop by the Hanoi transfer point. And you can also stop in Hanoi. If you request, you can tell the travel company to arrange a Hanoi itinerary for you to learn many interesting things about the city. A city tour of Ha Noi will take you to the most prominent landmarks in the city, such as Sword Lake, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum, the Museum of Ethnology, the Temple of Literature, Hoa Lo Prison, etc. You can also freely walk around the streets, explore 36 old streets, experience cyclo riding, go see water puppet shows, etc.
5. Which season is most suitable for a trip to Halong Bay and Sapa?
You can go to Halong Bay and Sapa at any time of the year, but summer is probably the most ideal time for you to make an attractive Sapa-Halong trip. All year round, Sapa is always cool and pleasant, like the land of a temperate region. Summer is also the season when tourists like to come to Halong the most, to immerse themselves in the blue sea and white sand and explore mysterious and cool caves in the underground veins of limestone mountains. You can see more travel guides about:
6. Tour Halong Bay and SaPa schedule for reference
6.1. Day 1: Day tour in Halong Bay
The tour guide picks you up at hotels in the Hanoi Old Quarter area and departs for the tour from Hanoi to Tuan Chau International Cruise Port, Halong City. After receiving your ticket, you will board the cruise ship and begin your journey through the bays. You will discover many famous islands, such as Hon Trong Mai, Hon Cho Da, Hon Ga Choi, etc.
Dine on a luxury yacht, listen to music performances, and admire the beautiful scenery of Halong Bay. After that, you will visit Bo Hon Island, where Sung Sot Cave is located. This is the most beautiful cave in Halong Bay and will definitely surprise you.
Next, you can experience kayaking or bamboo boating to explore Luon Cave. The time should not exceed 30 minutes.
The group will move to Titop Island to swim and walk on the smooth white sand beach. Participate in some experiential activities on the island, such as trekking, boating,etc.
After swimming, you will return to the yacht and return to Tuan Chau International Port. You will rest on the yacht and watch the sunset on Halong Bay.
See more in this video:
Then you will get on the bus to return to Hanoi. Upon arrival in Hanoi, you will be free to have dinner in Hanoi Old Quarter.
The car will pick you up to depart for Sapa along the Noi Bai-Lao Cai highway. You will spend the night on the tourist sleeper bus.
5.2. Day 2: Explore Sapa
Go to SaPa and have breakfast. The Halong Bay and SaPa tours will continue to take you to explore the scenery of Cat Cat and Ta Van villages. You will discover the daily life of the H’mong ethnic community, which has many unique cultural programs and visit Cat Cat waterfall, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Lao Cai.
On the way back, you can visit O Quy Ho pass, admire the beautiful mountain scenery, and go down the pass on the most beautiful and experienced roads in SaPa.
In addition, you will be able to take photos in the most beautiful flower fields in Cat Cat village, with many gardens of Chrysanthemum, Buckwheat Flower, and thousands of other flower species in each season. After visiting Cat Cat Village, You return to the hotel for lunch. Then check in and rest. You will have lunch at the hotel.
The next schedule is to take you to conquer the 3,143-meter-high Fansipan Peak, the roof of Indochina. First, you will enter Sun Plaza right in the town square to take the Muong Hoa train to the Fansipan cable car. This is a cable car route that has achieved two world records: the Guinness World Record for being a three-wire cable car route with the largest difference between departure and arrival stations in the world at 1410m and the longest three-wire cable car route in the world at 6292.5m.
In the evening, you return to the hotel for dinner and overnight in Sa Pa. Walk around, visit Sapa Lake, Stone Church, or attend the market of the Red Dao people or enjoy unique and typical dishes of Sa Pa on “Pho Nuong.” This is one of the interesting and unique things to do when traveling to Sa Pa. In addition, visitors can participate in the ethnic love market, which takes place on Saturday nights right in the town.
5.3. Day 3: Sapa – Hanoi
In the morning, you can wake up early to watch the beautiful sunrise of the Northwest mountains and forests. After breakfast, the tour guide will take you to visit the extremely charming Sapa with its cool climate, unique cultural landscape, poetic features, and magnificent scenery of Ham Rong Mountain. Here, you can see beautiful orchid gardens. Next is the San May Heaven Gate. From the top of San May, you can contemplate and witness with your own eyes a SaPa town amidst floating white clouds.
After lunch, you will check out of the hotel. Leave your luggage at the hotel’s luggage counter. After that, you are free to shop for souvenirs and some precious medicinal herbs at the love market in Sa Pa town. Or you can visit Silver Waterfall, Love Waterfall, Heaven’s Gate, and O Quy Ho Pass. After that, you board the sleeper bus to return to Hanoi around 10:00 p.m. and end the tour program.
You can experience our other northern tours, such as:
7. Conclusion
Above is The most basic travel guide about Halong Bay and the Sapa tour that Metta Voyage shares with you in the hope that you will have the most attractive trip at these 2 locations. And don’t forget to visit our blog to see many other interesting travel experiences.
8. Contact us
Website: www.mettavoyage.com
Email: [email protected]
Hotline 24/7: + 84 989 383 572
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