Victoria Sapa Resort & Spa

Rooms

Guest rooms - a total of 73 rooms, 2 suites and 2 family studios - are in a separate block from the main wing, set around an immaculately manicured garden. All radiate a cosy mountain-chalet feel, with warm, earthy tones and varnished wood floors and panelling. Colonial touches - ceiling fans, rattan chairs, brass fixtures - blend with ethnic décor of bright embroidered hemp wall hangings and bedspreads. You'll find a sitting area with sofa and writing desk, plus tea and coffee making facilities, as well as radiators in both bedroom and bathroom. Beds are firm, with soft pillows.

Ensuite bathrooms come with bathtubs and oodles of hot water, though some fittings could do with updating. Private wooden balconies or terraces, featuring sofas and quaint window boxes of geraniums, look out over the garden, mountains or town.

Garden View Rooms, with queensize or twin beds, come in 'Superior' or higher-priced 'Deluxe' guises, the former on garden level with a terrace, the latter on the upper floors with a balcony. The Family Garden View Studios are spacious with queensize and 3 single beds and large balcony ideal for families of 4-5. The same-sized Garden View Suites feature a kingsize four-poster bed draped with mosquito nets, a large living room and a balcony. Up to an additional 2 small children are welcome in all rooms, free of charge, if sharing a bed with their parents.

Features include:

• Minibar/fridge
• WiFi

Eating

This is one of the highlights of the resort, especially if you feel like a change from classic Vietnamese coastal fare. With its lofty beamed ceiling, old hunting implements on the walls and grand, centrepiece fireplace, the Ta Van restaurant feels almost like a hunting lodge. In the summer months, you can dine out on the terrace overlooking the pristine lawns.

An all-day a la carte menu offers local and international dishes using fresh seasonal produce, but with some distinctly European dishes thrown in. Among the spring rolls and grilled beef in bamboo, you'll find Alpine specialities like cheese fondues and raclette; and a fine wine list including the Victoria group’s own collection. It's certainly the closest you'll come to fine dining in Sapa; come on a Saturday evening and you'll coincide with one of the weekly dances performed by hill people. The bar, Ta Fin has a large fireplace and is perfect to cosy up in, with a glass of mulled wine, at the end of a long day exploring.

If you prefer to eat out, options in town include ,Camellia (unpretentious local food including grilled deer and apple wine), La Petite Bouffe in The Gecko hotel on Ham Rong Street (passable French-style food, including duck breast and boeuf bourguignon) and the English-owned Red Dragon Pub at 21 Muong Hoa Street (warming Western-style dishes and cold beers).

The European-style buffet breakfast is exceptional - a veritable smorgasbord of homemade jams, breads and pastries, plus yoghurts, mueslis, freshly squeezed exotic juices, cheeses and cold cuts, as well as cooked western and Asian dishes. Whatever your plans for the day, it will keep you fuelled up.

Features include:

• Children's meals
• Minibar/fridge
• Restaurant
• Restaurants nearby

Activities

• Sapa’s main attraction, besides astonishingly terraced rice fields, sweeping valleys and lush mountainscapes, are the diverse hill tribe villages and markets, courtesy of more than 30 ethnic groups living in and around Sapa. The front desk can organize a la carte or tailor-made tours
  
• Sapa’s weekend market is easily walkable, but the more remote weekly markets - such as Muong Hum, Coc Ly and Can Cau markets, all up near the Chinese border - are far more interesting and ethnically diverse. Bac Ha Market, 80km (50 miles) from Sapa, convenes on Sunday mornings and is the largest, most colourful market of the region; it’s also the most crowded, with many tourists converging. These markets are reached along jaw-dropping mountain roads by Russian jeep, as one-day excursions (Coc Ly is reached part way by boat ride upstream); some can be coordinated with small treks and train transfers to/from Lao Cai
  
• Several hill-tribe villages in the surrounding valleys, such as Ta Van, Ta Phin and Lao Chai, involve gentle hikes of a few hours. Further afield, more authentic villages can be experienced in full-day or multi-day treks, including “live like a local” overnight stays in stilt houses (albeit with some of Victoria's comforts thrown in). Transport is usually by jeep
  
• Staff can arrange mountain bikes or jeep hire (with driver) if you feel like taking off independently
  
• The more adventurous can climb Mount Fansipan. Just 5km (3 miles) as the crow flies from Sapa, this challenging climb takes 2-3 days up steep overgrown trails, very much dependant on variable weather conditions - heavy rains make it treacherous, and it should only be undertaken with experienced guides. If you do get to the summit, you are rewarded with mind-blowing panoramas
  
• In-resort activities include billiards, gym, tennis, spa and swimming in the pool
  
• Finish your trip with a ride on the Victoria Express Train

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Cycling
• Hiking
• Shopping / markets

Kids

This is a great hotel for families - as long as you can cope with a long overnight train transfer after your international flight. With wide lawns to play on, a kids club and babysitting, not to mention plenty of things to do both nearby and in the hotel, it has got a lot to recommend it to an intrepid travelling family.

No additional charge for one or two children under 12 sharing the same room and the existing bedding

Best for:

All ages

Family friendly accommodation:

The pick of the bunch is the Family Garden View Studio, a spacious set of rooms with a double bed and 3 singles, sleeping a family of 4-5 comfortably.

Cots Available, Family Rooms

Distances:

• Airport: 165km (Hanoi), reached via train and taxi
• Hospital: 5 minutes

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Victoria Sapa Resort & Spa is located in the town of Sapa, 380km (236 miles) northwest of Hanoi, in Lao Cai Province.

By Air into Hanoi:
Hanoi Airport (165km). Several international airlines fly into Hanoi. Please click on the links below for further information.

By Train from Hanoi:
From Hanoi, the only way to get to Sapa is by overnight train. Victoria has its own carriages on one of the overnight trains (6 departures/week), which are reserved for hotel guests. They are more comfortable than the standard carriages, and with their varnished wood interiors and plush red dining carriage, they resemble something from an Agatha Christie film, but without the danger. Although tickets costs a lot more than the standard train fare, the journey is an experience in itself and highly recommended.

Each sleeping carriage has 6 superior cabins (4 berths) and 1 deluxe cabins (2 berths), all with air con, individual reading lights, and freshly laundered cotton bedlinen. Bathrooms are communal - bear in mind there are only 2 per carriage - and quite simple, with basin and handtowels but no shower.

The evocative dining carriage (selected days only) offers a la carte or set dinner menus of Vietnamese and Western cuisine prepared by the on-board chef, with wines from the bar.

Transfer from Lao Cai
You arrive into Lao Cai Train Station, near the Chinese border, around 6am and cars or shuttle buses ferry you the 45km / 28 miles from there up to Sapa (40 mins). You can arrive on the public section of the same train and still use the resort transfers.

More on getting to Vietnam and getting around