Towering above Sapa are the Hoang Lien Mountains, once known to the French as the Tonkinese Alps and now a national park. These mountains include the often-cloud-obscured Fansipan (3143m), Vietnam’s highest peak, regularly dubbed 'The Roof of Indochina'. Fansipan's wild, lonesome beauty has been somewhat shattered with the opening of a 6292m-long cable car, taking people across the Muong Hoa Valley and up to near the summit in 15 minutes.
Buy tickets at the ticket office in Sapa's main square, from where a funicular train (50,000d return) shuttles passengers to the lower cable-car station. After the cable-car ride you still face 600 steps to the summit, or you can take another funicular (70,000d one way) from Do Quyen, passing a series of pagodas and Buddhas to the summit. Expect crowds or clouds, depending on the weather.