The road above Ta Van climbs away from Sapa’s familiar valley walks. Rice terraces give way to steeper hillsides, scattered Hmong homes and, finally, the still water of Seo My Ty Lake. On this two-day journey, you will walk at a comfortable pace, share meals in the village and spend the night at a local homestay near the lake.
Among Sapa Tours, this trip suits travellers who want their overnight stay to be part of the experience. There is time to notice how people tend their gardens, ask your guide about life in the highlands and watch the light change over the water. The route combines a vehicle transfer with guided walks, leaving more time to explore Seo My Ty on foot without turning the first day into an endurance trek. The village lies roughly 20 km from central Sapa via Ta Van, and road conditions can affect travel time.
Meals: Lunch, Dinner | Overnight: Seo My Ty homestay
08:00 – Meet our tour guide in Sapa. After a short briefing, drive toward Ta Van through Muong Hoa Valley. This transfer lets you begin walking closer to the quieter mountain route. Before leaving the vehicle, move the things you need during the hike into a small daypack. Such as water, a rain layer and any personal medication.
09:30 – Begin the guided trek. You will follow local paths past cultivated slopes and small settlements as the route rises toward Seo My Ty. Moreover, our tour guide will set a steady pace and choose suitable footing at muddy or rocky sections. In addition, the views change with the weather here; mist may briefly hide the mountains, then open to reveal the terraces below.
12:00 – Lunch and a rest stop. You will enjoy a simple local meal before continuing toward the lake. If you are new to trekking in Sapa, you will take short steps on descents and leave space between walkers. Note, paths used by residents may also be used by livestock, so give them room to pass.
13:30 – Walk into Seo My Ty village. This is a good time to slow down. Notice the homes, gardens and fields around the village while your guide explains what you are seeing. Note, please ask before photographing residents or entering a family’s yard.
15:30 – Arrive at the homestay near Seo My Ty Lake. You will settle in, then take a gentle guided walk by the water if conditions allow. Especially, the lake and surrounding Hmong village are the focus of the stay, so there is no need to rush off to another attraction. Note, local accommodation and services are limited, so room facilities may be simpler than those in Sapa town.
18:30 – Dinner at the homestay. You will have a home-cooked meal with locally available ingredients. Tell your host or guide about dietary restrictions in advance, as shopping options near the lake are limited. After having dinner, you will enjoy the quiet evening and prepare a warm layer for the cooler morning air.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
07:00 – Breakfast at the homestay. You will start the day with breakfast and tea or coffee before setting out. Morning light can be lovely over the lake, though clear views depend on the weather.
08:00 – Explore on foot with your guide. Then, you will take a different village or hillside path for closer views of the water, forested slopes and terraced farmland. In addition, the guide will select a walk that fits the group and the day’s conditions. Note, after raining, shaded ground and streamside sections can be slippery; shoes with good grip make a real difference.
10:30 – Return to the homestay area. There is time to rest, collect your belongings and say goodbye to your hosts. A visit to a lived-in village works best when guests follow their guide’s advice on private spaces and local customs.
12:00 – Lunch. Next, you will enjoy a final local meal before the journey back.
13:30 – Drive to Sapa. You will follow the mountain road back through the Ta Van area, with an expected arrival in Sapa in the mid-afternoon. The return time may change with road and weather conditions.
Choose your season with the walk-in mind. Terrace colours and lake views change throughout the year. Rain can make the trails slippery, while mist can reduce visibility even when it is dry in Sapa town. Check the local forecast shortly before departure and let the guide adapt the walk when needed.
Pack for a village overnight. Bring broken-in walking shoes, a light waterproof jacket, a warm layer, sun protection, a refillable water bottle and a small overnight bag. Carry some cash for personal purchases. The route beyond Ta Van has limited services, and mountain road travel is best planned in daylight.
Keep the lake visit gentle. Stay on the route advised by your guide, take litter back with you and avoid entering the water unless your guide confirms that a specific activity has been arranged and is safe. This tour is designed around walking, local meals and the homestay experience.
|
Item |
Details |
|
Duration: |
2 days, 1 night |
|
Start and finish: |
Sapa town |
|
Route: |
Sapa → Ta Van area → Seo My Ty village and lake → Sapa |
|
Accommodation: |
1 night at a local homestay near Seo My Ty Lake |
|
Meals: |
Day 1: lunch, dinner; Day 2: breakfast, lunch |
|
Activity level: |
Moderate; uneven paths and some uphill walking |
|
Walking time: |
Approximately 3–4 hours on Day 1 and 2–3 hours on Day 2, adjusted to weather and group ability |
|
Best suited to: |
Travelers comfortable walking on rural trails and staying in simple village accommodation |
The times and walking durations below are a proposed operating schedule. Your guide may adjust the route if rain, fog or trail conditions make a section unsuitable.
I first traveled with Impress a few years ago when i visited Sapa and naturally it had to be Impress when i decide to visit Vietnam again.
They are very professional and have good English speaking guides which makes our tour so much convenient and comfortable.
Their local guides are very knowledgeable and gives excellent service.
I will gladly recommend to Impress Travel to my family and friends if they are visiting Vietnam.
Impress travel were amazing. Did my bookings with Daniel for our tour of Vietnam and I must say Daniel was very professional and prompt with his services. All the arrangement, plans, pick-up & drop-off services, hotels, vehicles, sightseeing tours and guides were spot on and excellent. Did 4 nights Hanoi, 1 night Hà Long Bay cruise, 3 nights Hoian, 4 nights Saigon and 1 night in Can Tho. It was totally awesome. Every part of the journey was superbly arranged and planned. I will highly recommend Impress Travel for anyone interested in visiting Vietnam. Very organized and reliable!
I first traveled with Impress a few years ago when i visited Sapa and naturally it had to be Impress when i decide to visit Vietnam again.
They are very professional and have good English speaking guides which makes our tour so much convenient and comfortable.
Their local guides are very knowledgeable and gives excellent service.
I will gladly recommend to Impress Travel to my family and friends if they are visiting Vietnam.
This was my 2nd visit to Vietnam in the last 3 years and i decided to come back again with Impress Travel with my friends beacause you have been very professional in order to organizer my first trip with my Family.
My sincere thanks to you Mr Tommy and extended the same to Mr Truong , our guide in SA PA.
My Friends and me are very happy withs this trip to Vietnam and we find very satisfactory your services all.
Spanish Guide in SAPA, Hotel, Meals , Organization and all was perfect.
Marcos
Great value for money with 4 stars hotel accommodation for 4 couples. The tour guide has been very helpful and brought us to amazing places in Sapa. We want to thanks Thuy the tour guide and especially Mark from Impress Travel for his great service and assurance throughout our trip. We’ll definitely use his service for other tour packages in other parts of Vietnam.
I booked with Impress Travel in July. My contact person was Tommy Thang. He is an amazing person. He was very helpful. He changed my program twice for me. Very accommodating!
We started our holiday in the north (Sapa)of Vietnam and travelled down to HCMC.
The tour was fantastic, Tommy's arrangements were to the"T".
I will always use them if I have to visit the area again and recommend them to one and all.
Thank you once again Mr.Tommy and the Impress Team.
Sulaiman Pochee
South Africa
Impress travel were amazing. Did my bookings with Daniel for our tour of Vietnam and I must say Daniel was very professional and prompt with his services. All the arrangement, plans, pick-up & drop-off services, hotels, vehicles, sightseeing tours and guides were spot on and excellent. Did 4 nights Hanoi, 1 night Hà Long Bay cruise, 3 nights Hoian, 4 nights Saigon and 1 night in Can Tho. It was totally awesome. Every part of the journey was superbly arranged and planned. I will highly recommend Impress Travel for anyone interested in visiting Vietnam. Very organized and reliable!
At first, I was just planning a trip to Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Ninh Binh for my small family.
Some close friends heard about our plans and wanted to join the trip. Eventually the group grew to be 7 families, with 25 adults and children of varying interests and expectations.
While I was excited at the prospect of touring Vietnam with good friends, I felt anxiously responsible to ascertain that everything must be well organized and everyone satisfied. This is why I am so very, very glad to have found Impress Travel. Mr. Mark responded quickly to all my inquiries, customized a wonderful trip according to the group's preferences, tirelessly worked out every detail for our 7-day trip, all at a reasonable price. Our guide, Trung, is knowledgeable, helpful, quick to respond to any need, and well-loved by everyone in the group. All my friends found this a marvelous trip, filled with beautiful memories, very much to my delight and relief!
Mr Tommy, on behalf of our group, we thank you for your efforts in putting together such a memorable vacation and experience of Sapa, overnight train, Halong Bay, Hanoi + Bai Dinh, your tour guides are so knowledgeable, passionate + helpful. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we will certainly recommend your tour agency to our friends and share our experiences in social media.
Thumbs up, best regards,
David
It was amazing place to visit in the north of vietnam , we really enjoy all the trip especially their foods , culture, beautiful view and so on.
Accommodations were good especially Thang Long Espana Hotel (the Hotel Management automated upgraded us to VIP rooms.Is really unexpected). Overalled tours n places visited very well but only local guides r not good organizing the itineraries. Especially at Sapa Lao Cai and Cat Cat Villages walking tours push to the same day about 8hours for 7km (which is on 1st&2nd days arrival) so tiring. Lunch not good enough 4 so many hours of walking. In Danang Bana Hill the local guide shd arrange 2 visit Bana Hill 1st n not last coz' spend a short time n not nice photos taken due to rain (went in morning time no rain).
Overall tours, hotels, transportation, prices are strongly recommended. Especially Daniel Dang Impress Travel for welcoming and bye-bye wishes.
Daniel Dang tks from 8 of us having a wonderful time n memorable trip for 8D7N Sapa, Hanoi, Danang with Impress Travel. Meet u all again.
We are family of 6 from Singapore and Malaysia joining Hanoi Impress Travel on 30 October-04 November 2019. We are really impressed with the company and tour guides with their professionalism and well organised arrangement. Lily is our guide for Hanoi, Tam Coc and Ninh Binh. She is excellent and very informative. She even taking care of us until late night. We walk us from Old Quarters to the hotel and brought us to try the famous road side foods. She even helped us to pay for our order to avoid overcharge by the stall. Another guide, David BK (Swan Cruise) brought us to Halong Bay cruise. He is excellent and humorous. He handles everything throughout the trip. He served meals for guests on the cruise, organised happy hour, guiding us for Kayaking, teaching Taiji and cooking class on cruise. The cruise ship is ok and the hotel in Hanoi-Adamas Hotel is small but new and clean with reasonable ok breakfast. Anyway thank you for the wonderful arrangement.
We booked a 8 day private tour package for 9 persons for Northern and Central Vietnam . We experienced great and very professional service from the Impress travel team. Tommy was very easy to contact and accommodated our requests.
All the tour guides were very good, spoke good English, friendly and patient. All the vehicles were very clean , spacious enough for our group of 6 adults and 3 children. The drivers were extremely safe and ontime.
Meals were served in clean restaurants.
Overall we had a good holiday .Thank you Tommy and Impress travel for a great experience.
We booked package for 9 persons in Hanoi and i was experienced great service during my stay! the PIC (Mr. Mark) was very pleasant and so easily to contact, i was communicated so easily for trip preparation..the tour guide for Trang An was good, Mr Hiep was helped us very well, and he was so patient on witing us shopping! Thank you Hiep!!
during in Hanoi we were stayed in great hotel with nice service also, and during in Halong Bay, they also choosen the best cruise for us! Swan cruise and also the Mr Cong was great!! thank you!!
for transporation, the car was good and driver are pleasant, but only a little bit communication since the driver less good in english. but overall great!!
all the choosen food for lunch and dinner was delicious
Thank you so much Impress travel
Impress Travels has been very helpful in making our vietnam travel amazing. We were a bunch of 7 friends wanting to go on a budget trip covering most locations. Hence, this subjected to a lot of changes during our discussion with the tour guide Daniel.
However, he has been patient enough in hearing out our needs - be it itienary , hotel bookings or even the mode of payment.
They really understand your needs. And needless to say our experience was amazing. All of this support and help has really made our vietnam trip the most memorable as far ❤️
I was searching for a reliable travel agent and come across Impress Travel and the many reviews of them. I booked 5D/4N, Hanoi-Trang An-Halong Bay private trip for a party of 6. I communicated with Mr Daniel Dang throughout the time until the day we arrived. Mr Daniel is very patient, helpful, and accommodating to our requirements despite many changes made to the itinerary. The price is very reasonable unlike other travel agents.
Our tour guide, Lily was very friendly and efficientknowledgeable and speak good English.
Highly recommend “Trang An Boat Tour”. The caves was spectacular and beautifully.
2D/1N Halong Bay – Swan Cruise was awesome with amazing view of the cave. Our guide Mr David was hilarious, helpful, accommodating, and everything was well organized. Beside the normal
activities of kayaking, swimming, Tai Chi, culinary lesson, we are indeed very very fortunate to have
the chance to celebrate the “Mooncake Festival” while cruising and admiring the full moon.
Spread of mooncake, dessert, sweet snack, fruits, cocktail, beer and mini dragon dance complete the celebration. Tourists from all over the world party all night long.
Although we paid for a 3-star package, the hotel (Thang Long Espana Hotel), meals and transport provided were also above average. Our gang have a very enjoyable and memorable trip in Hanoi.
Impress Travel really impressed us with their service and will engage their service in future.
P/S:- Don’t worry, Impress Travel CAN be trusted.
Hanoi – Duong Lam - Halong Bay – Hue – Danang – Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh city – Mekong Delta – Cai Be – Vinh Long – Can Tho – Phu Quoc Island - Ho Chi Minh city.
It is worth talking about details, say what you want to see, watch the hotels, indicate which rooms you want, the office will organize everything for you. I highly recommend!
The whole trip was arranged with the active help of Mr. Daniel Dang.
Thanks to Mr Tommy and staff for putting together an active and interesting tour in all 3 countries. In every city or town we had we met by very nice, friendly and knowledgeable guides. We went in June which was HOT HOT HOT and were always so happy to have an air conditioned vehicle with cold water waiting for us. We traveled by planes, trains, automobiles and boats and all were fabulously coordinated by Mr Tommy without fail. The selection of sites helped us enjoy so many aspects of all 3 countries!
