The Sa Pa winter festival 2018 is underway in Sa Pa town, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai with a wide range of splendid activities.

A view of Sa Pa

Giant sparkling Christmas trees in Sun World Fansipan Legend and a 50-metre winter path are expected to lure thousands of visitors to the town.

Furthermore, a festival to discover snow in Sa Pa from December 24-31 will give visitors a slew of impressive check-in points. Also, they will be indulged in local cultural space with various staples and fascinating tradition of ethnic minority groups in the town.

This is the third year the event has been held, becoming a new impressive and attractive tourism product of Sa Pa.

Located 350km northwest of Hanoi capital city, Sa Pa is 1,600m high above sea level, with the average temperature of 15-18°C. The whole town is dominated by the Hoang Lien Son mountain range which is famous with the Indochina’s highest mountain of Fansipan at a height of 3,142 m above sea level. 

Discovered in 1903 by the French, Sa Pa has many natural scenic sites such as Ham Rong Mountain, Thac Bac (Silver Waterfall), Cau May (Rattan Bridge), Bamboo Forest and Ta Phin Cave. The hill town is home to six main ethnic minority groups, including Kinh, Hmong, Dao, Tay, Day and Xa Pho with various traditional festivals and unique cultural practices, especially the Bac Ha market and Sa Pa love market.

As of October 2018, Sa Pa welcomed more than 2.1 million visitors and earned more than 3.2 trillion VND (136.6 million USD) in tourism revenue. The town targets over 2.5 million tourists and 4 trillion VND in tourism revenue this year.-VNA