Sa Pa Market
Chợ Sa Pa
The town's everyday market, selling mountain produce, herbs, and Hmong and Dao handcrafted textiles on the ground floor, with snack stalls serving Sa Pa salmon and grilled meat on the upper floor. On weekends you can also visit the large ethnic market at Bac Ha.
Sa Pa Market is a two-storey market building northwest of the town centre, next to the bus station. It moved here from beside the stone church in 2015. It opens every morning and serves as the shopping spot for locals and mountain villagers from nearby hamlets. The ground floor holds produce, meat, mountain goods, and herbs. Here you can see the herbs used in Red Dao herbal baths, Black H'mong batik cloth and handmade silver jewellery, and a variety of wild mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The market is busiest on weekends, when villagers come down from the hills to trade, and women in ethnic dress set up stalls on the open ground outside. The upper floor is a food and snack area. Here you can try Sa Pa specialties such as grilled meat skewers, grilled bamboo-tube rice, and thắng cố, a sour and spicy horse-offal soup that is a traditional dish of the Hmong. You can also get good-value salmon hotpot and sturgeon. Admission is free, and the market is open roughly 06:00–18:00. A visit takes about an hour. This is also the place to buy Hmong embroidery, Dao cloth bags, and other handicrafts. Prices are lower than at the scenic spots, but you should bargain. If you have more time, a better trip is the Bac Ha Sunday Market, 100 km northeast of Sa Pa in Lao Cai Province. Every Sunday morning, Flower H'mong and other mountain people in brightly coloured clothing gather to trade buffalo, horses, textiles, and food. It is the most spectacular ethnic market in northwestern Vietnam. A shared day trip from Sa Pa takes about 4 hours by car, costing about VND 400,000–600,000 per person. The Can Cau Saturday market northwest of Sa Pa is similar. Notes: Watch your belongings in the market. The raw meat section has a strong smell. Ask the vendor's permission before taking photos.
Opening hours
06:00–18:00 (Beihe Market Sundays 06:00–13:00)
Nearby sights
- Sa Pa Lake
- Sa Pa Stone Church
- Ham Rong Mountain
- Cat Cat Village
- Y Linh Ho Village
- Muong Hoa Valley Rice Terraces
- Sa Pa Ancient Rock Field
- Lao Chai – Ta Van Trek