[Hanoi & Sapa #7] Walking to Cat Cat Village with the Kids

9:46am, Cat Cat Village from the path down to the stream.

Direct Answer & TL;DR

From our Sapa hotel to Cat Cat Village, Google Maps says 1.6km, a 22-minute walk. On October 2 we walked it with our two kids. Taxis full of tourists kept passing us, and the kids were worn out by the heat. If you go with kids, take a taxi. By my standards the village is not worth the entrance fee. Our younger one still got really excited on the slide.

Won amounts use the rate in my Travlog (Hana Money) exchange record for that day (100 VND ≈ ₩5.22); Travlog is a Korean travel card and wallet service. The Grab ride and Highlands Coffee are the amounts actually exchanged. USD figures are approximate, at roughly ₩1,390 = $1.

On our last morning in Sapa, I had smoked salmon and beef curry at the hotel breakfast. Both were good, but I couldn’t eat much. I usually eat a big breakfast, yet in Sapa a little food filled me up. It felt more like bloating than fullness. I wondered if it was the altitude. A staff member came to our table and asked whether we wanted coffee, and I asked for two hot Americanos.

We left the hotel around 9. On the map it was 1.6km to Cat Cat Village, 22 minutes on foot. There was only 5m of climbing and 155m of descent. I figured we could walk it with two kids.

Before long, taxis started overtaking us. They were carrying tourists to Cat Cat Village. One would pass, then another would come, and the four of us seemed to be the only tourists on foot. The sun was hot, and the kids were worn out by the heat and struggling.

The kids asked for a taxi after we had passed the halfway point. That was an awkward spot, both for turning back and for calling a car. We decided to keep walking.

9:17am, the village entrance. Taxis and motorbikes kept coming in along this road.

On paper it was close. But walking 22 minutes under that sun with the kids was a different matter. If I went again, I would take a taxi.

📍 Khu Du Lịch Cát Cát - Sapa (Cat Cat Tourist Village) · Thôn Cát Cát, Tả Van, Lào Cai, Vietnam

At the ticket office, our elder one paid the adult price because they are over 130cm tall. That made three adults and one child. A tour operator’s guide also splits adult and child at 1.3m, but child prices differed from source to source. The amount we paid is in the schedule above.

The ticket says it includes a traditional H’Mong performance. We didn’t see one, and I couldn’t find a performance schedule in any official source. The village map marks an open-air stage, so if you want to see a performance, ask at the ticket office for the time first.

The guide map next to the ticket office. We went in through ticket office 1 and came out near 2.

The stream, two juices and a slide

We went a long way down the path on the opposite side of the ticket office and reached a stream. People in traditional costumes were lined up next to a model horse, taking photos.

Right after crossing a bridge there was a café, and we went in to get out of the heat. We ordered watermelon juice and avocado juice. Neither tasted good. In front of the café hung a scene from the Korean variety show Pung-hyang-go (풍향고). We had gone out of our way to find the Hanoi cheesecake (#4) and the Sapa breakfast place (#5). This café we hadn’t come looking for. We just walked down and that was the café.

A little further down, a long slide ran along the slope. My wife and our younger one rode it. The lane didn’t run straight down. It rose and dropped three times, and our younger one said it was fun every time they cleared a section. At the bottom our younger one was thoroughly excited, and my wife said it was fun too.

10:35am. The lanes are laid with a traditional textile pattern.

Honestly, to my eyes there was nothing to see. I don’t really understand why they charge an entrance fee. As I walked I kept wondering what counts as sightseeing. I was left with an uncomfortable feeling, as if I had paid to walk a country road in Korea. If someone told me they were going to Cat Cat Village, I would want to talk them out of it.

We came out near ticket office 2 and called a Grab from there back to the hotel. At the Highlands Coffee near the hotel, I had a cold drink and cooled off.

An afternoon in front of the hotel

For lunch I bought two banh mi (traditional and pork) at Sộp Bánh Mì, right in front of the hotel, and we ate them in the room. They tasted fine, and were enough for a light lunch.

📍 Sộp Bánh Mì & Vegetarian · No. 10 Hoàng Liên, Sa Pa

From the hotel to Sộp Bánh Mì is 7m, right next door. (Map: Google Maps)

In the afternoon we went to the 7th-floor pool with the kids.

We had dinner right in front of the hotel too, at A Béo Restaurant. We had bún chả, fried rice and fried tofu, with a Hanoi beer and two other drinks, and paid in cash. I went in only because it was easy to get to, and the food was good too.

Fried rice on the left, bún chả on the right. A plate of herbs came with it.

📍 A Beo Sapa Restaurants · 11 Hoàng Liên, Sa Pa

From the hotel to A Béo is a 1-minute walk, 79m. (Map: Google Maps)

At 7:30pm we passed Sun Plaza. The ‘SAPA STATION’ clock tower I had seen on the morning we arrived in Sapa (#5) was lit up. The night view was great. On the way back to the hotel we walked through the inner garden.

7:48pm, the inner garden of Hôtel de la Coupole.

Banh mi on the last night

On our last night in Sapa, we decided to have banh mi once more. The place was Banh Mi & Breakfast, known as one of the best banh mi shops in Sapa. It was within walking distance, but the kids didn’t want to go out, so I ordered through Grab.

To my taste, the banh mi that arrived wasn’t good. It was expensive, too. Looking at the order history again, I saw ‘LOCAL’ in front of the shop name. The address was No. 2 on the same Nguyễn Chí Thanh street. The shop we meant to order from is No. 13.

The shop we ordered from on Grab. Its address was No. 2.

If you look for ‘Banh Mi & Breakfast’ on Grab, check the shop address first. There is another shop with a similar name on the same street.

📍 Banh Mi & Breakfast · 13 Nguyễn Chí Thanh, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam

It was our last night in Sapa, and something felt a little off.

🔗 References

• Sun Paradise Land - Cat Cat Village: Explore a fairy-tale village in the heart of Sa Pa — About 2–3km from central Sapa, a village with a large H’Mong population, traditional costume rental photos, evening folk performance (no schedule given)
• Oxalis Adventure - Visit Cat Cat Village Sapa — Adult and child fares split at 1.3m in height (as of March 2024; its child fare differs from what we paid), opening hours, performances at festival times near the waterfall
• Wikitree - The Vietnam destination Hwang Jung-min and Yoo Jae-suk recently visited — Korean-language article. The first stop of the Korean variety show Pung-hyang-go (Yoo Jae-suk, Hwang Jung-min, Yang Se-chan, Ji Suk-jin) was Sapa
• Fansipan’s 3,143m Summit with a WOW Pass (#6)
• Lao Cai at 6am, Early Check-in at 11am (#5)