The town of Sapa was established as a hill station by the French during colonial times to escape the heat of Hanoi. Sapa lies in the heart of the Hoang Lien Son Mountains close to the Chinese border. It is an area of immense natural beauty with rugged mountain peaks, lush forests, cascading waterfalls, traditional hut villages and terraced rice paddies. Eight different minority groups inhabit the Sapa region with most living in traditional ways in small villages that dot the valleys.
