Sapa, Sapa Tours, tours to Sapa, Hotel tours in Sapa, Griswalds Sapa homestay tours

Since 1994, our Genuine, small group tours to Sapa have made Griswald's Vietnamese Vacations Ž & our REAL Kangaroo Café Ž, names you can trust.

* Note Doing business with companies over the internet still makes some people, understandably, nervous. Only Licensed Australian Travel Agents, like us, are eligible to be members of the Travel Compensation Fund. It's run by the NSW Government, Dept of Fair Trading & is something only real travel agents can offer.

Check to see if who you're thinking of dealing with is actually licensed & if they're not .... ask them why not ???

This really is the view from all the rooms in Sa Pa on your tour with us. We're sure you'll like it !!!

A couple of years ago we wrote this on our sites - These days with the self promotion & paid for, so called independent reviews (???) on the various travel forums it's very difficult to work out just who's who in the zoo !

(Click on this link) Travel website Trip Advisor probed amid claims that millions of reviews are fake !!! (4/09/2011)

Our response to the personal attacks we've had over the years on the Thorn Tree, Travel Advisor, The New Hanoian etc web sites was way overdue. Rather than post about our food &/or tours, some very nasty people most of whom were either our competitors or directly involved with them, chose to attack us personally or write that they'd heard this or that about us. All sites like these expressly say that any hear say or personal attacks are strictly against their posting rules but, they don't bother to enforce them & the reasons are very clear.

Meaningless &/or fictitious posts help enormously in keeping the total number of posts to these failing web sites up. They give the punters & pay for advertisers the impression that the sites are somewhat popular when in real terms it's far from that. Most, but not all, of the alleged travel sites are just being rorted & for normal travellers it really is, as we say .......

Its very difficult if not impossible, to work out just who's who in the zoo !

Travel Fish (Click) - have banned a number of Ha Long Bay companies for continually trolling & spamming

(Click Here) to see our side to some of the stupid stuff we've seen on Trip Advisor, the Thorn Tree etc, etc !

Over the last 16 or so years we've had literally thousands of people choose us to go with for their trip to Sa Pa. Time & again our customers & some for their 2nd, 3rd & 4th trip have said they chose us because they wanted to go with the tour operator & not just another ticket seller.

We're not like everybody else !

It makes all the difference in price, quality, service & Safety !

Beware of the many, nasty crooks that continue to copy us !

This just might be the page you've been looking for !

Unlike 95% of our competitors, we're the actual tour operator & not someone who buys a ticket around the corner, adds 50 to 200% onto it & then flogs it to you with a stupid grin on their face.

The hotels will charge (but forget to mention it) $50 + USD just to phone a tour operator for you !!!

The important tour details like group size, what's included, what's not included, accomm details, drink prices & forced tipping amounts aren't forthcoming with the hotel touts & other ticket sellers because they don't really know or care ! It's just about commissions, not you or your trip.

Check out ... Handspam, Phoenix, every Hotel in Viet Nam, Ocean tours, the many Backpacker hostel mobs, A-Z Queen, the 300 Sinh cafes in Ha Noi, TNK, Exotissimo etc & in terms of quality & price, our tours are way ahead.

With a REAL Kangaroo Café tour, you won't get - way over the top (warm) drink prices, the never ending buy our tee shirts, postcards, thongs & junk jewellery show/scam or a tour guide with all kinds of sad stories about 3 legged buffalos or ailing family members with gout, arse burgers &/or the clap !!!

That's the sort of thing that goes on all the time in Viet Nam and if you deal with the actual tour operator, you'll see all the difference in price, quality, service & Safety !!!

When in Ha Noi don't forget to hop over to one of our REAL Kangaroo Cafés Ž. You'll find great Vietnamese, vegetarian & western food (at local prices), the coldest beer in Viet Nam as well as the latest information for travellers. Find out what to buy, where to buy it & better still, what the fair price for it really is.

Our Air Conditioned Cafés at 18 (soon at No 22) Bao Khanh St & 17 Hang Bac St, Ha Noi, are a great place to stop off & the KC staff are always keen to help with all your questions.

While you're in the cafe you can pick up a Free local map & of course the important - Free Stubby Holder too !!!

18 (soon to move to No 22) Bao Khanh St Ha Noi

17 Hang Bac St Ha Noi

Some General info about Sapa

Sa Pa is in the far north west corner of Vietnam and very close to China. At about 1600 meters above sea level, the climate is cooler than in other parts of the country. We've got lots of great photos of Sa Pa and to see them please click on one of the thumbnails at the bottom of the page. There's a number of misconceptions about this wonderful area in the northwest of Vietnam. Many people talk about and refer to the "week end" markets at Sa Pa. It often gives the impression that they're in the same place & the markets are only on the "week end". Neither is entirely accurate. The following is an attempt to give some detail to the "markets", their location & the alternatives available to visitors of this magnificent area of Vietnam.

The biggest advantage of the "week end" activities would be for the backpacker tour operators. They can maximise the attendance (& profit) by herding the backpackers onto busses & driving them up to the area en masse. The biggest problem with this, of course, is that the tourists, because of their large numbers, are unable to see & take advantage of a lot that's on offer. In the past these tours were really the only way to gain access to this wonderful area. However, time waits for no one & in recent times we've been going mid week to avoid the crowds & the feed back we get from our guests is that it's really spectacular.

Our Alternative tours - a nice change from the same old ......

We've got 2 & 3 Day Sapa Hotel Stays and 3 & 4 Day Sapa Home stays too.

(please email us for a comprehensive itinerary)

The differences start from the word go. Our 2, 3 or 4 day tour is exactly that 2, 3 or 4 days up there on the mountain & we don't pad out the trip by including the train up there & back.

We can't - there's no option to it.

We take the night train from Ha Noi & we always book the best available, 4 berth, soft bed, A/con, cabins & they're really quite nice. Most people comment that they're very pleasantly surprised by the standard. We meet at the cafe & 1 of our staff takes you to the train & doesn't leave until you're settled in your cabin.

The strange things is that we often find tourists who try to steal someone else's cabin & it's just a nasty & stupid thing to do. NASTY because they try to steal someone else's bed & STUPID because they think they'll get away with it. Maxie seems to be good at "imbecile removal" but the girls are just as tough too.

The main point of this is that we don't leave our guests stranded in Ha Noi or up in Lao Cai either. On your way home, one of our staff will again, take you to your cabin & ensure that everything's OK before saying goodbye.

On arrival at the border town of Lao Cai you won't have to fight for a seat on the bus either. You'll simply walk across the road & have a tea or coffee while you wait for the bus to leave. Again, no hassling, no arguments & no uncertainty - we take care of all the hassles for you.

Griswalds were the first company to hire the local H'mong people as guides. We felt that it was time they had an opportunity to do something else besides just making & selling Handi-crafts. It's their villages we go to so who better to introduce you to their neighbours than the H'mong people themselves. Our partner in Sa Pa has a lovely hotel run by her & her wonderful family & who'll take great care of you. The standard of the hotel is really good & its got loads of charm & the pictures will show you just how nice it is. The fire places are a real treat when it's cold & our staff will even come in to light them for you while you're in town having dinner at one of the lovely restaurants if you wish.

We've never been interested in the very large groups. It's not fair on the tourists, the Vietnamese & especially on the minority groups. The backpacker tours are still going strong if that's what you want, but it's not what we do. When you go for your trek, the largest group we take is 6 but more often than not it's 2 or 3 & in that way everyone gains.

It's quite impossible to take groups of 20-30 people into the areas we go & we simply don't want to. Doing things the way we do ensures that we come & go when & where we/you want & that we don't harm or disturb the area or people involved. We're always welcomed back to the villages & often stop for a chat along the way with hill tribe people we know. We're very well known & liked in the area for a number of reasons but mostly because we genuinely care about the people.

Max's Vietnamese isn't too bad & because he's such a garrulous sort of bloke the locals really like him. Our guests are often surprised when, half way up a mountain, some H'mong or Dao kid comes up & in perfect English says "Hi Max". He'll of course rattle on with them in English & Vietnamese. This is great for travellers because they get a genuine opportunity to meet & interact with some remarkable people. Because of the small groups we take, our treks are loosely structured so that you can take full advantage of each new situation as it unfolds. It's your holiday and we think it should be a real adventure.

So what's this big surprise at the hotel ?

Well apart from being sweet & lovely, our partner in Sa Pa, Miss Loan has shown again that she's not just a pretty face but she's the smartest girl in town too.

She's installed an elevator at the hotel so even though the best view in Sa Pa was worth the 170 odd steps to your room, the steps are now a thing of the past !

The Sa Pa Markets

In Sa Pa, as in every town in Vietnam, there's a market every day. Vietnamese people hate food that's not fresh & simply won't put up with it (makes you wonder why we do ?). They go to the market every day & in Sa Pa it's no different. Except that on Saturday nights they have a thing called the Cho Tinh (Love Market) & the various hill tribe people go there to try & win a heart. It's very charming & not to be confused with the Australian tradition of getting blind drunk on a Saturday night a going the grope on some poor unsuspecting member of the opposite sex. Saturday night's alright (Elton) for lots of people & for lots of reasons. In Sa Pa, Saturday night's alright too & all who go there say they'll never forget it.

Bac Ha & other week end or minority market places

Normally people go to see the Sunday market at Bac Ha which is very good. However these days there are lots of western tourists there which is understandable. Youll have a choice to visit either Bac Ha or another one. The other market is your fair dinkum hill tribe market. Smaller than Bac Ha but much more authentic & without all the backpackers.

Its an early start for the drive to either place & both are a bit wild with people riding on horses & buffalo. The markets are packed full of interesting things to buy, like the famous Viet Cong black pyjamas as well as lots of beautiful handicrafts by the various groups. Youll see lots of groups including Lo Lo, Giay, Flower Hmong, Nung, Tay as well as Hmong. In the afternoon youll drive back to Lao Cai to board the train to Ha Noi.