The North Vietnam part is very famous for the spectacular mountain scenery among which are Sapa and Pu Luong Nature Reserve. This is the reason why tourists are usually undecided in choosing to visit Sapa or Pu Luong Nature Reserve when they come to Vietnam.
Sapa is one of the most traditionally famous mountain resorts in Vietnam, located at an elevation of 1,600m above sea level and offering spectacular views of breathtaking rice terraces that always attracts many international tourists. With tourism development, Sapa nowadays is becoming crowded and commercialized, so tourists tend to look for new places that are less touristy and still wild. A good alternative is the Pu Luong Nature Reserve in Thanh Hoa Province, located to the southwest of Hanoi. Though not far from Hanoi urban city, the reserve is quite authentic and especially suitable for those who do not have much time available in their trip but still want to put their feet up in the mountainous area in northern Vietnam.
Pu Luong Nature Reserve offers a beautiful variety of landscapes such as karst mountains, rice terraces, wild forests, majestic waterfalls, and steep valleys.
So choose Sapa or Pu Luong nature reserve? Here is some information to help you make the right choice.
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1. The features in common between Sapa - Bac Ha and Pu Luong
Diversity of the culture of the minor ethnic groups
A special feature of life in the mountains of Vietnam is the opportunity to get close with other ethnic cultures. Travellers can meet ethnic people everywhere in Sapa and Pu Luong Nature Reserve. Sapa is populated mainly by the black Hmong, Dzay and red Dzao, while the Pu Luong Nature Reserve is home to the Thai and Muong people.
Thai people in Pu Luong
Now, Sapa's ethnic minorities still wear their traditional clothes recognized by their typical colours on a daily basis and preserve their costumes quite well. At the centre of Sapa, it gives us an impression of a town full of the concrete hotels to exhaust all the needs of tourists while in the surrounding villages, we still see the simple houses typically of the tribes although due to the rising standard of living, the locals are beginning to use the more modern materials.
Hmong people in weekend market
In contrast, at Pu Luong Nature Reserve, Thai and Muong people dress in their traditional costumes only in special events. Living very close to the ethnic Kinh - the majority in Vietnam, over time, the Thai and Muong in Pu Luong tend to change their clothing style but that does not stop them from being very attached to their culture and respecting their ancestral traditions. They still live in the beautiful wooden houses on stilts covered with straw. Being a nature reserve, all accommodations in Pu Luong must respect the regional culture.
The unique ethnic markets
The Sapa - Bac Ha area totally conquers us with numerous colourful ethnic markets. The most beautiful and famous now are the Coc Ly market on Tuesdays, the Can Cau market on Saturdays, and the Bac Ha market on Sundays. They are all very distinctive and it would be a great pity if we go to this area without visiting these markets.
Also in Pu Luong Nature Reserve there is the Pho Doan market which is held from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Thursday and Sunday. Being held on the weekend, Pho Doan market on Sunday is more lively with lots of people, from the old to the children.
Rice terraces and natural beauty
There is no doubt that Sapa presents some of the most spectacular rice terraces in northern Vietnam thanks to the high mountains. One note is that if you come to Sapa for the purpose of admiring these rice terraces, you have to judge the time well because Sapa has only one rice harvest per year. The times of the year for rice cultivation are as follows.
- May - June: the paddy fields are flooded and the terraces are covered with water like glittering mirrors reflecting the summer sky.
- July - August: rice growth creates bright green paint but the rice is still small and quite thin.
- September: yellowing paddy fields fascinate everyone with the breathtaking view.
Sapa rice field
Being an area in the southwest of Hanoi, the climate in Pu Luong favours growing two rice harvests per year
- The first harvest is from mid-May to early June.
- The second harvest is at the end of September to the first week of October depending on each year.
Pu Luong rice field
So in Pu Luong, you can see farming activity almost every month except during the Lunar New Year period (around January-February) when local people have to complete their work to prepare for Tet.
Both Sapa and Pu Luong possess impressive sceneries with poetic waterfalls, peculiar and peaceful ethnic villages, rice terraces in the middle of the mountain and each has its own beauty
In Sapa, the mountains are higher and scorse so the terraced rice fields and scenery would be more majestic while in Pu Luong, although the mountains are lower, but being at the very vast valleys, one feels that the rice fields are extended more immensely than Sapa.
Local cuisine
In Sapa, you find the typical dishes of the ethnic groups living in the mountains such as smoked buffalo meat, dry corn,... dishes that you can keep for a long time because they only have one harvest a year with the fairly cold weather. In Pu Luong, however, there are many typical good rice dishes such as bamboo-filled rice, roast chicken, fried fish, especially short-necked duck.
2. Quick appreciation of Sapa and Pu Luong
It is never easy to give a statement of which destination is more beautiful than another. Each region has its own distinct particularity that fascinates visitors. If you have time on your trip to Vietnam, we recommend that you make both stops to enjoy all the best of Vietnam. However, if you have little time and have to choose between one of these two destinations, then we make an abbreviated comparison table so that you can have fair choices:
With the above shares, we hope you already have an idea of what your destination will be for your next trip to Vietnam.
Kho Muong Village in Pu Luong
3. Vietnam travel tips: Pu Luong or Sapa?
If you intend to visit Vietnam more than once, then choose Pu Luong for your first time to be more flexible to combine with other tourist destinations such as Ninh Binh, Mai Chau, Hanoi.
>> You can find the routes designed by our experts here: Pu Luong Tours
Then we leave Sapa-Bac Ha for the second time for a complete adventure to Northern Vietnam that combines with other wonderful places such as Mu Cang Chai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, and Ba Be,...
>> Some suggested itineraries for the North Vietnam trip: Sapa - Bac Ha Tours
Vietnam offers you so many things to see and experiences to experience wholeheartedly.
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