Today we are going to take a look at the last in my Sapa series of hotels, the Aira Boutique
Sapa.
Join me for the full tour, coming up.
Sapa is an idyllic mountain town in the far northwest of the country.
Accessed only by bus, sprinter or train, the town keeps itself hidden and hosts Vietnam’s
highest mountain, Fansipan.
The Aira is well situated to be what I call a transition hotel, which I’ll explain in
a bit.
First off though, a quick look at where we are.
If you’d like more detailed info about traveling to Sapa, please check out one of my other
videos.
This map is just to show one thing, that the Aira is a bit outside of town.
The white area is where most of the tourist attractions and hotels are.
Here at the Aira we’re right on the edge.
From the outside, the hotel’s facade is a striking taxi cab yellow that I actually
think works quite well in the setting.
Inside the main door to the left is the main restaurant and to the right, the reception
area.
This may sound a bit harsh, but I was pleased that there was a distinct lack of tackiness.
Sometimes small hotels like this in more remote areas of Vietnam are way way way over designed.
Here, the color palate was calming and the materials felt premium and appropriate for
the setting.
As we pass through reception, we are going to take a look outside at the small outdoor
pool.
Now, back to what I said about a transition hotel.
I like this hotel, truly- and for some it will make a great home base for their trip
to Sapa.
For me, I enjoy moving hotels and so I typically choose a cheaper property for my last night
in a location if my departure is early the next morning.
The next morning I’d be leaving at 6:00 for the five hour drive down to Hanoi- so
for me there’s no reason to spend more than double the price on another night at the MGallery,
for example.
I also use this rationale in reverse, if I’m arriving into a new location after dark.
The pool is nice and refreshing but honestly I doubt it’s used that often.
Sapa is around 6000 feet above elevation and it’s rarely that hot here during the day.
The restaurant, decorated in a variety of Hmoung minority group patterns served up food
throughout the day and was actually really good- which we’ll see in a bit.
For now though we are going to look up and then head up to my room.
Up on the 4th floor, I reserved an Executive Suite with Terrace.
At around $95 this was their most expensive category of room and with it’s massive balcony
and large living space felt it was well worth the price.
The room was dark and cozy with a decent sized closet and well stocked- relatively speaking-
mini bar.
For days like this, I never leave home without my UCC Single Brew pour over sachets.
Oddly enough the bathroom went the length of the room and featured a window into the
bedroom.
The bathroom also had a heat lamp which is quite common in hotels up here.
The real reason to get this room though is the view.
Being on the edge of town does have it’s benefits I suppose.
Generally, you’ll find the best weather in April and May with the most beautiful paddys
in August and September.
Hazy days and foggy nights are common year round though.
The train running from Sun Plaza to the Fansipan Cable Car runs just in front of the hotel.
The balcony has a table and chairs and a couple of loungers and is the perfect spot to set
up all of your cameras to catch
a spectacular sunset.
Dinner was downstairs in the restaurant and a step above what I’d expect from this category
of hotel, for very reasonable prices too.
Their bottles of wine happened to be 50% off.
I asked if I could buy one for my room instead dinner- they said sure and insisted on setting
it up in my room for me before I finished dinner which was a thoughtful touch.
Overall I really enjoyed my short stay here and soon enough followed the Red River back
to Hanoi.
Now for the Flip Flop Score.
For the nightly rate I think it was a decent value and the hotel presented really well
with great service to boot.
The only place I’d knock it a bit is for the location and convenience as it would be
a 10-15 minute walk to get into the well known part of town.
Overall score was a great 88/100.
I’d be happy to stay here again for another transition night if needed.
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