Sa Pa winter festival 2017 kicked off in Sa Pa resort town, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on December 23 as part of activities to promote tourism potential of the locality in the framework of the 2017 National Tourism Year.

Tourists make selfie in Sa Pa

The festival is taking place in the temperature of 3 Celsius degrees and fog. The town’s central area and Sa Pa Church have been decorated splendidly with multi-colour LED lights.

An art performance featured songs welcoming the New Year, while booths introducing traditional products of the locality were arranged along streets in the town. 

Especially, an artificial snow space covering nearly 10,000 square metres opened with a slew of impressive check-in points. Sa Pa is one of few places in Vietnam where snow sometimes falls.

Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Sa Pa district Le Manh Hao said the town is expected to welcome 40,000-50,000 tourists during the festival which will last until December 31.

The festival is one of the most famous cultural-tourism events in winter in Vietnam. This is the second year the event has been held. Last year, the festival drew the participation of over 20,000 visitors.

Located 350km northwest of Hanoi capital city, Sa Pa is 1,600m high above sea level, with the average temperature of 15-18 Celsius degrees. 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.

Sa Pa has been recognised as a national tourism site.-VNA