[Hanoi & Sapa #6] Fansipan's 3,143m Summit with a WOW Pass

6:38pm, Sapa from the 10th-floor terrace of the hotel.

Direct Answer & TL;DR

On October 1 we went up Fansipan with our two kids. The VIP ticket I had bought in advance through our hotel, Hôtel de la Coupole, came with a WOW Pass, and with it we never stood in a long line: not for the Muong Hoa funicular, not for the cable car, not for the summit train. The summit train (section 3) is not included in the VIP ticket. You can add it through the hotel or buy it separately at the ticket booth on the mountain. The summit was covered in cloud, and on the way down we walked the stairs and looked at the Buddha statue and the scenery.

Won amounts use the rate in my Travlog (Hana Money) exchange record for that day (100 VND ≈ ₩5.24); Travlog is a Korean travel card and wallet service. The summit train and coffee are the amounts actually exchanged. USD figures are approximate, at roughly ₩1,390 = $1.

Everyone in the family has to be there for the WOW Pass

We started with the buffet at Chic on the 10th floor, the same restaurant where we had the early dinner the day before (#5). At 8:25am the kitchen was already steaming.

The bakery corner with croissants was good, and so were the pho and the bibimbap. If I had to pick one thing, it would be the smoked salmon. The lamb curry also stayed with me, with large pieces of tender lamb. A staff member came to the table to take our coffee orders. The food and the service were both good that morning.

I had bought the Fansipan tickets in advance, by exchanging emails with the hotel from Korea. It is a VIP ticket that covers the Muong Hoa funicular and the cable car round trip, plus a WOW Pass (#1).

Around 9am I went to the front desk and said we wanted to go up Fansipan today. They told me they had to scan faces, so the whole family had to come. I went back with the kids. The staff member who had helped us check in the day before looked up the booking and scanned all four of our faces in turn. Another staff member took over and led us to the Sapa Station funicular platform, which connects directly to the hotel, and then told us to wait a moment and left.

About five minutes later the staff member came back with four lanyards, one per person. They were WOW Pass cards, and we were told to just wear them around our necks. When we got them, I thought it was a ticket that moved us up the line a little.

One neck-hung WOW Pass card per person.

A separate lane beside the queue, all the way to the summit

The Sapa Station waiting hall was already full of people in line. The staff led us along a WOW Pass lane beside it. We went through what looked like a side door and came out right on the funicular platform, and we boarded the train first.

The ‘WOW PASS LANE’ sign on the pillar at right.

The regular line at Sapa Station, same time.

According to the official guide, the red Muong Hoa funicular takes about 6 minutes to reach Hoang Lien Station, where the cable car starts.

At 9:44am at Hoang Lien Station, people stood packed in line behind an easel with a Fansipan photo on it. We skipped the line, went into the WOW Pass VIP lounge to rest for a bit, and then got straight into a cable car.

The cable car is 6.3km long. I read that it holds the Guinness record as the world’s longest non-stop three-rope cable car, and the official guide gives about 15 minutes for the ride. Staff held the door for each cabin at the platform. Right after departure there were terraced rice fields below us, and a little higher the window turned white.

10am, just after departure. The sky was still blue.

Ten minutes later, the cabin ahead of us goes into the clouds.

Getting off the cable car puts you at Fansipan Station. To reach the summit train you have to climb stairs, and my wife had a really hard time on them. She was out of breath and said her shoulders felt heavy. She said she thought it was altitude sickness.

The last stretch, section 3, is the Fansipan summit train. This ticket is not included in the VIP ticket. You can buy it through the hotel or separately at the ticket booth on the mountain. I wanted to buy it through the hotel, but when I asked on the day they said I could buy it up on the mountain, so I bought 4 one-way tickets (up) only at the Fansipan Station ticket booth. I planned to walk down. At the booth, a staff member noticed the WOW Pass and guided us separately, so we boarded the summit train without a line as well.

That is how we reached the top of Fansipan with the kids. It stands at 3,143m, the highest point in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The marker says ‘TOP OF INDOCHINA’, and behind it we could see only cloud. We didn’t get a good view. The rain that had been in the forecast before we left (#1) did not come, though. I was glad about that much.

10:58am, the summit marker.

Walking down, and a day with the WOW Pass

On the way down we took the stairs to the cable car station instead of the train. The official guide puts the stone steps between the summit and the station at around 20 minutes of walking. The stairs were steep, but going down they were manageable. Walking let us take our time looking at the Buddha statue and the scenery. The Great Buddha in the fog only came into clear outline when we got close.

Near the cable car station we tried Starbucks first for coffee, but there were no free seats. We moved to the coffee shop next door and had one cup each, my wife and I. The WOW Pass board lists a free drink at the Do Quyen restaurant as a benefit. We did not know where that restaurant was, so we never got it. We paid for the coffee.

The kids picked Fansipan ice cream from a stall right above the cafe, a triangular ice cream molded in the shape of the summit marker. I think we sat in that cafe talking for about an hour before heading to the cable car.

On the way down, the WOW Pass again meant the cable car and funicular came one right after another with no line. By then the sky had cleared. The cloud that covered the summit had lifted, and in the sunlight we could see the valley all the way to Sapa town.

1:03pm, out the window on the way down.

Then our younger one started crying. Their ears hurt a lot. According to the official guide, this one cable car section changes altitude by nearly 1,400m. I think the difference was a lot for a child’s ears.

The WOW Pass board listed two tiers.

Below the board it says the pass is valid only on the day and does not include funicular or cable car tickets. Our cards just said ‘CARD 2S’, so I could not tell which tier we had. What we actually received was priority boarding both up and down, and the VIP lounge at Hoang Lien Station.

By the end of the day, I saw it differently. We rode three sections up and down with two kids and never stood in a long line. It was a really good perk.

The 7th-floor pool in the afternoon, coconut curry at night

Back at the hotel we caught our breath in the room with fruit and snacks, but not for long. The kids started pushing to get to the pool, and they played in the 7th-floor pool for a good while and had fun.

We picked Good Morning Vietnam for dinner. I had heard the coconut curry was good there. We walked from the hotel. We ordered the coconut chicken curry and the seafood fried rice, with vegetable spring rolls, garlic spinach and two drinks on the side. The curry came in a halved coconut shell.

Good Morning Vietnam, photographed in passing the next morning.

📍 Good Morning Vietnam · 63B Fansipan, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam

After dinner we went back and up to the hotel’s open-air terrace on the 10th floor, where we had eaten breakfast. The mountain that had been inside the clouds during the day was now dark, and below it the lights of Sapa town were on. A few stars were out.

6:38pm, the 10th-floor terrace.

🔗 References

• Sun Paradise Land Sa Pa - How to get to Fansipan: a complete 2026 travel guide — Summit 3,143m, Muong Hoa funicular about 6 minutes, cable car about 15 minutes and about 1,410m of climb, stone steps between the summit and the station about 20 minutes
• Headout - Sun World Fansipan Legend Tickets + Cable Car — Cable car 6.3km, Guinness record for the world’s longest non-stop three-rope cable car, route layout from Sapa Station to Hoang Lien Station to Fansipan Station to the summit
• Trip.com - Good Morning Vietnam, Sa Pa — 63B Fansipan, reviews recommend the coconut chicken curry
• Lao Cai at 6am, Early Check-in at 11am (#5)
• 4-Person Hanoi–Sapa 7N8D Booking Breakdown (#1)