7am, on the road up to Sapa. The window seat in the back of the van.
Direct Answer & TL;DR
On September 30 at 6am, our sleeper train pulled into Lao Cai station. We had a private van booked on Klook, and about an hour later we were at Hôtel de la Coupole in Sapa. There is a shuttle ticket desk in the station lobby. Worth a look before you start haggling with the touts. Check-in is officially 2pm. We left the bags, walked around town, and got into the room at 11am. Then an indoor warm-water pool in the afternoon and an early dinner at Chic, the restaurant on the 10th floor.
| Time (local) | Place | What we did | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05:30 | Damitrans SP3 | Alarm, got ready to get off | |
| 06:05 | Lao Cai station lobby | Met the Klook driver, checked the station shuttle desk | (For reference) station shuttle 60,000 VND per person (~₩3,140, ~$2), not used |
| Around 07:20 | 13-seat van | Lao Cai to Sapa, kids asleep | ₩40,000 (~$29), Klook, prepaid together with the train |
| 07:24 | Hôtel de la Coupole | Left the suitcases, 11am early check-in promised | |
| Around 09:00 | Hotel Sapa Square, BB restaurant | Pizza and a burger for breakfast | 622,000 VND (₩32,530, ~$23) |
| 09:07–09:30 | Coóng Coffee | Salt coffee, egg coffee, mango smoothie | 170,000 VND (~₩8,900, ~$6) |
| 11:13 | Xuân Trường Supermarket | Banh mi, cup noodles, drinks | 193,000 VND (~₩10,100, ~$7) |
| 11:17 | Grab | Supermarket to hotel | 37,440 VND (₩1,954, ~$1) |
| Just after 11 | Hotel room | Checked in, lunch | |
| Afternoon | Indoor pool | Two hours in the warm-water pool | |
| Around 16:40 | Chic restaurant, 10th floor | Early dinner | About 2,000,000 VND: 1,000,000 VND paid with credit, the remaining |
| Local spending | About 2,022,000 VND (~₩105,800, ~$76), Klook van not included |
Won amounts use the rate in my Travlog payment records (100 VND ≈ ₩5.23). Travlog is a Korean travel debit card app. USD figures use roughly ₩1,400 = $1. All are reference values.
Table of contents
From Lao Cai station to Sapa
We were due at 6am. I set an alarm for 5:30 and lay down. We had spent the whole previous day walking around Hanoi (#4), and my body felt heavy. Both kids ate their banh mi on the train and went out cold. They slept soundly all the way to Lao Cai. I slept pretty well too, but I woke up a few times as we got closer. The train seemed to stop at small stations along the way. There was a toilet and a sink at the end of the carriage, which made getting ready easy.
Around 6am we stepped onto the platform at Lao Cai, and touts crowded in offering rides to Sapa. I had booked a private car on Klook, so I had nothing to haggle over. I went straight to the lobby.
One side of the lobby sells tickets for the Sapa shuttle. The price is handwritten on the sign, so stop by before you talk to the touts and you’ll have a baseline.
Our Klook driver was standing in the lobby with a board with our name on it. The van was an option on the same Klook page where I booked the sleeper train (Damitrans Express). I thought it was a bit pricey. But I didn’t want to research and book a ride separately, so I bundled it.
The shuttle only leaves when it fills up and drops you in central Sapa. The usual wait is said to be 5 to 20 minutes. The private van goes straight to the hotel. At 6am with two kids and the suitcases, I think that difference would feel big.
The driver led us to a 13-seat van. The four of us were the only passengers. The road wound up the mountain, and terraced rice fields and cloud-capped hills slid past the back-seat window. The cover photo is from that ride. The kids fell asleep again in the van.
7:06am, Sapa town. The area in front of the market was already full of motorbikes.
About an hour later we reached Hôtel de la Coupole. Red lanterns hung in rows from the lobby ceiling.
7:24am, Hôtel de la Coupole lobby.
📍 Hôtel de la Coupole Sapa - MGallery · 1 Hoang Lien Street, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam
From Lao Cai station to Hôtel de la Coupole. Klook lists it as about 33km, roughly 50 minutes by private car.Walking Sapa while we waited for early check-in
We left the suitcases first. The front desk said the room wasn’t ready. Check-in is officially 2pm, but they could have a room for us at 11, so they would do an early check-in. We said fine and headed into town. That gave us three and a half hours to walk around Sapa.
8am, in front of Sun Plaza.
The day before in Hanoi, we had gone for the cheesecake from Pung-hyang-go (a Korean travel show on YouTube). For Sapa, too, I picked the breakfast place from the show: the BB restaurant on the ground floor of Hotel Sapa Square. On the show they ate on the terrace, but when we got there the sun was too strong. We sat inside.
It was morning, so the place was packed with guests eating the hotel breakfast. We skipped that and ordered one pizza, one burger and two drinks. The seasoning was mild. It seemed to be made to order, and I found it edible.
Taken after breakfast. The sun pours down on the terrace seats.
📍 Hotel Sapa Square, Affiliated by Meliá (BB Restaurant) · 08 Cầu Mây, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam
Next was a cafe known for egg coffee. The sign says Coóng Coffee, and we called it “Koong Cafe”. It is not the Cộng Cà Phê we went to in Hanoi. The real Cộng Cà Phê is right across the street. The names differ by one letter.
We ordered one egg coffee and one salt coffee. My wife didn’t like the egg coffee. She tried the salt coffee and said that one was good. Our younger one wanted a mango smoothie, so we ordered one more.
Egg coffee. The top of the foam is lightly torched before it comes out.
📍 Coóng Coffee & fastfood · 6 Đ. Thạch Sơn, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam
Sapa has plenty of small shops, but Xuân Trường Supermarket looked like the only fairly large one. It seemed like a place where locals shop rather than tourists. We bought banh mi baguettes, cup noodles, snacks and drinks.
📍 Xuân Trường Supermarket · 046 Ngũ Chỉ Sơn, Sa Pa, Lào Cai, Vietnam
Hotel, BB restaurant, Coóng Coffee, supermarket. 16 minutes and 1.1km on foot according to Google. A rough route. (Map: Google Maps)
The hotel was an easy walk. The kids disagreed. They said walking was hard, so we called a Grab.
Deluxe room, warm indoor pool, Chic on the 10th floor
We got back a little after 11, and the room was ready, as promised that morning. A Deluxe Room that sleeps two adults and two kids.
The Deluxe Room in the Accor app. Up to 4 guests, 33㎡, balcony. (Image source: Accor app)
Our bathroom.
We handled lunch with the supermarket bag. Banh mi, cup noodles, snacks. The warm banh mi baguette was really good.
After a breather in the room to get our energy back, we went down to the pool. It’s indoors and the water is lukewarm, which made it great for playing with the kids. Diving games, swimming. Two hours went by.
Dinner was at 4:40pm, a bit early, at Chic on the 10th floor. At check-in we got a promotional restaurant credit. I booked three nights through the Accor app (#1), and the rate description in the app lists this perk. Early check-in is in the same description, but it is ‘subject to availability’.
(Image source: Accor app)
10th floor, open 11am to 10pm.
We ordered the pumpkin soup, Sapa fried rice, Braised Black Pork Clay Pot and the Wagyu beef pho, plus two drinks, and shared everything in the middle of the table. Every dish was good, and the pumpkin soup was the best of them. The braised black pork seemed similar to Korean galbi-jjim, braised short ribs.
Wagyu beef pho. It comes with herbs and fried dough sticks.
Half the bill went on the credit, and the rest was charged to the room. We paid it together at checkout three days later (#8).
🔗 References
- Klook - Hanoi - Sapa Deluxe Sleeper train by Damitrans Express — The listing where we booked the train and the Sapa van together. About 33km from Lao Cai station to Sapa, about 50 minutes by private car
- LocalVietnam - From Lao Cai to Sapa — Station shuttle 40,000–60,000 VND per person, leaves when full, usually a 5 to 20 minute wait, drops off in central Sapa
- Distinction Vietnam - Hotel de la Coupole MGallery — Check-in 14:00, check-out 12:00, heated indoor pool
- Exotic Voyages - Hotel Sapa Square Affiliated by Meliá (BB Hotel Sapa) — Formerly BB Hotel Sapa, address 08 Cầu Mây, Sa Pa
- Wanderlog - Coóng Coffee — A cafe with a homestay, reviews mention egg coffee
- Landed 12:11, on the Sleeper Train at 10pm (#4)
- 4-Person Hanoi–Sapa 7N8D Booking Breakdown (#1)