Sapa Mid-Autumn Festival set to open

September 02, 2017 | 08:00

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The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has announced a week-long Mid-Autumn Festival starting on September 2 in the northern hill town of Sapa.

Lantern parade in Sa Pa Mid-Autumn Festival (photo: baolaocai)

A wide variety of activities are planned, including art, handicraft and photo exhibitions, food and beverage events, concerts, dance and theater performances, and sporting competitions, among others.

Capping off the sporting competitions is a mountain marathon and cycling race. Other featured events include a lantern parade, Mong ethnic minority dancing, and artistic performances.

Sapa was voted as one of the Top 10 most attractive destinations in Asia in 2017 by popular travel website TripAdvisor, based on millions of travelers’ reviews. The hill town is known for its terraced rice fields and trekking trails. The harvest season in October is amazing for both sightseeing and trekking, with beautiful yellow rice paddy fields, according to the site. Tourists can also visit the Saturday night “Love Market”, the Gothic stone church in the town center that is a reminder of the French missionary influence, and many Vietnamese and European restaurants downtown.

The Prime Minister has approved the general master plan for the development of the Sapa National Tourism Area to 2030, with a goal of developing unique and high-quality tourism products and attracting 5.2 million visitors annually.

Sapa welcomed over 2.7 million tourists last year, up 37 per cent against 2015 and including more than 750,000 international visitors.

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