This trip was the one I appreciated the most during my time in Vietnam. We were lucky with the weather, which makes a lot when you hike 11 km. Women from the village came up and joined us for lunch and helped us walk the first bit as it was a bit muddy. Then they wanted you to buy something from them at the lunch counter and it was worth it. The food at lunch is the best I ate in Vietnam during the three weeks I was there. We were a group of 10/12 people and all from different nationalities, which also made it fun. We had gloves and a hat with us, but it is not necessary. We went in February. Recommend this tour. In and of itself, we had to call the tour operator when we got to SaPa because no one picked us up at the bus first. So make sure you have contact details for the organizer in case something like that happens. We didn't know which hotel we were going to stay at, because then we could only take a taxi there.

The tour guide was helpful and spoke good english, it was cloudy so not the best time of year to go, really beautiful though, make sure you bring good shoes with grip as it is slippery, the sleeper bus was comfortable however drivers were a little rushed. Hotel was great and the best 3 star I've stayed in.

The journey on the coaches was long but comfortable. Day 1 in the first village Cat Cat was fine but very many tourists, the village seemed to be built up only for the tourists. Day 2 with a 5h long hike was good. Narrow and slippery trails along the mountain down to the real villages with guide. Something challenging but fun for us who like this. The inhabitants of the villages try to sell a lot of crafts to tourists.