Eating in Sapa
Most of the busier hotels have reasonably priced cafes, which get more popular as the weather worsens! There's a string of popular restaurants worth checking out below the market as you head in the direction of Cat Cat village.

Auberge Hotel
Add: Cau May street
Meals 10,000-30,000d
The hotel's popular terrace restaurant has affordable prices and some vegetarian dishes.

Mimosa Restaurant
Tel: 871 377
Add: Cau May street
Mains: 15,000-30,000d
Above the main drag, this family-run eatery has a terrace and serves good and reasonably-priced barbecue beef, wild boar and venison, as well as pasta, salad and a variety of Vietnamese dishes.

Gerbera Restaurant
Tel: 871 064
Add: Cau May street
Mains: from 20,000d
Located close to Mimosa, this restaurant has a similar range of dishes and amenities. There are some great views over town from the upstairs panorama room.

Chapa Restaurant
Tel: 871 045
Add: 40 Cau May street
Mains: around 20,000d
A true travellers' cafe, this small spot serves up a steady diet of banana pancakes and spring rolls. Peek in the front door and the place may appear full, but there are more tables upstairs.

Gecko
Tel: 871 504
Add: Ham Rong street
Mains: around US$5
A fine French-run restaurant where you can sip espressos, pick up picnic lunches or treat yourself to a sumptuous set menu. The bar is a good gathering place if you've had enough of the main strip.

Delta Restaurant
Tel: 871 799
Add: Cau May street
Mains US$5
This was Sapa's first (and still the town's only) predominantly Italian restaurant. It turns out good pizzas and pastas, but at higher, Hanoi, prices.

Baguette & Chocolat
Add: Thac Bac street
Cakes: 6000-15,000d
Definitely a very blissful retreat on a chilly day; tuck into a hot chocolate and the finest pastries in town. Picnics and light meals are also available.

Drinking in Sapa

Considering the number of travellers to Sapa, organised entertainment is relatively scarce and the bar scene slow. For most, an evening out is the guesthouse balcony, particularly if the fog rolls in.

Bamboo Bar (Green Bamboo Hotel; Cau May street)
The first Western-style watering hole to open in Sapa and it's still going strong in the basement of a grand building.

Bamboo Sapa (Cau May street)
Next door to the Bamboo Bar, there's a free traditional hill-tribe music-and-dance show here from 8.30pm Friday and Saturday.

Red Dragon Pub (Tel: 872 085; 23 Muong Hoa street)
Downstairs is a tiny little tearoom; upstairs a British pub. They knock out a serious range of beers, as any good pub should, including ginseng flavour.

Tau Bar (Tel: 871 322; 42 Cau May street)
Claiming to be 'slightly lounge', Tau brings a different kind of cool to the mountains of the north. A lengthy bar to lean on, great tunes and a pool table suggest this place will prosper.

Victoria Sapa Hotel (Tel: 871 522)
Offers two bars or a terrace for a sundowner in style. Drinks cost more than elsewhere in town, but the ambience is alluring on a cold night.