answered about 5 months ago by grubby
Definitely cheaper to DIY but be careful about the permits and guides.
I would recommend getting yourself to Sapa then hiring a guide and porters from one of the reputable hotels (Royal, Ninh Hong, Cat Cat). The hotel will take care of all the paperwork and make sure you get up and down in one piece..
answered about 5 months ago by VietSam
I went to Fansipan a couple of months ago. We went with Vega Travel and the general consensus of my group was that we wouldn;t go with them again.
a) numerous miscommunications.
b)travel agents vega went through in sapa were not very helpful and blatantly rude at points.
c) not enough porters on the way up and therefore we hired another.
d)lots of white bread and pork spread.
On the good side our guide was amazing. Just the companies description of what we were to get, and what we got were very different.
On the first night day we got to campsite 1 at 1pm in the afternoon. The guide and porters wanted to stay there. The rest of us wanted to go to the next camp. We ended up going. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE GO TO SECOND CAMP! I believe if we didn;t do this in the first day there would have been some of us who wouldn;t have made it to the top.
It was definitly good having some guidance there. Know Buffalo have decent trips... may be a bit on the pricy side i think but worth it. I stayed at Mountian View Hotel on a different trip and trips were all well organised and nice guides as well.
It's hard, but definitly worth it, and the better company you go with the better time you will have.
