Private Tour
Number one top rated ethical cultural trekking and homestay by ETHOS
Overview
Available languages
2 days
Mobile ticket
We are an award winning Social impact organisation with a long track record of supporting ethnic minority communities by empowerment through sustainable, ethical tourism. We are proud to feature in the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame after maintaining our position as the top tour provider in our region for over five years. Our aims and objectives are to provide experiential, cultural opportunities for visitors to Sapa, but we also care for the natural environment, our growing guide team, and the local communities in which we work. ETHOS constantly strive to improve our operations and services through self-evaluation, innovation & creativity. As well as tours, our community leadership team run regular human trafficking awareness and prevention workshops. Our guides are also pivotal in a wide range of dynamic community education, healthcare, hygiene & sanitation projects. Our tours are now supporting 49 families across 19 villages in four provinces. We also have 26 ongoing development projects
Additional Info
Public transportation options are available nearby
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Minimum group size of two required for this booking
Cancellation Policy
If you cancel at least 3 full day(s) before the scheduled departure time, you will receive a full refund.<br>If you cancel within 3 day(s) of the scheduled departure, you will receive a 0% refund.
What To Expect
The Spirit Tree
Accommodations
Homestays offer access to real village life. Hmong homes are set within the rice paddies & have incredible views.
Food and Drinks
LUNCH
Lunch
Share a feast with your Hmong host family. Share stories and learn about culture over fresh, local food.
DINNER
Dinner
Dinner is together with your host family in your homestay.
Sapa
The first day trek is approximately 14km, with the first six kilometres over relatively easy, but undulating terrain. This route passes through rice terraces and traditional villages. There is a steep climb of around 2km before stopping to cook lunch and share together with your host family. There is then a downhill walk down to your homestay.
Rice terraces and bamboo forests
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Try a local breakfast with your homestay host family.
LUNCH
Lunch
Sapa
Continue your trek with lots of flexibility in both distance and challenge. Taxi pick up in the afternoon will bring you back to Sapa.
What‘s Included
Private transportation
Homestay accomodation
Water and refreshments
Dinner
Breakfast
Travel insurance
Options
ETHOS trekking & homestay 3
ETHOS trekking & homestay 3
ETHOS trekking & homestay 4
ETHOS trekking & homestay 4
ETHOS trekking & homestay 2
ETHOS trekking & homestay 2
ETHOS trekking & homestay
ETHOS trekking & homestay
ETHOS trekking & homestay 5
ETHOS trekking & homestay 5
Tailor to your requirements
Multiple routes available
Walk distance: Distances can be arranged to suit your requirements
Reviews
471 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Authentic, homestay and trek with the Red Dao community
G5170JQlisab,Apr 20, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Ethos is a fantastic, genuine organisation, helping tourists have authentic experiences that put money directly into the community. Our guide, Maysieu, was wonderful and very knowledgeable about all aspects of local life, and had us at her house for lunch. She organised for us to join her at her friend's house for a special celebration, which we were very grateful to be part of. We highly recommend Ethos to anyone looking to embrace sustainable tourism.
Spirit Tree Trekking Experience-highlight of our trip to Vietnam!
Amanda A,Apr 19, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Pam was an excellent guide who was knowledgeable, kind, and led us through amazing scenery. While trekking through amazing scenery, we learned lots about the Hamong culture, farming and life in Vietnam.
This activity is a...
Astrid K,Apr 16, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00This activity is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Hmong and the Dai and have an realy authentic and enriching experience with lovely guides.
Fantastic community driven, ethical company
Karen A,Apr 14, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We had two fantastic experiences with Ethos. 1. Wonderful food tour with Do at the night market. Do was the perfect guide, bubbly personality and very knowledgeable in terms of Vietnam’s culture, history, politics, and food. We feasted on squid, grasshoppers, crickets, chicken hearts, rice paddy frog legs and ant egg omelette, to name a few. We very much enjoyed her company as a guide. She was so easy to talk to and put us at ease from the start. This was one of the greatest highlights of our trip. 2. A 2-day trek with local Guide May in the mountains, jungle and rice fields. We stayed overnight at a village homestay which was a real cultural eye-opener into real people’s lives, meeting with Mammai, Foo and MyLyn who made us feel very welcome. We helped our local Guide May to collect wild herbs to put into our herbal bath at the homestay. Our homestay family cooked up the herbs and heated hot water for our barrel baths over an open fire. We’ve fed piglets and chickens and Guide May and her husband very kindly fixed the zipper on my rucksack. We helped prepare the bamboo for food, sucked on sugar cane and drank ‘Happy Water’. We loved our experiences with Ethos Spirit. Such a grounded, community driven, ethical company who offer a culturally sensitive range of experiences. All the staff were fantastic, and we appreciated the knowledge from Phil’s pre-trek briefing to Hoa’s calm and communicative manner. We can’t recommend this company enough and wouldn’t hesitate at all to engage their services again.
Strong family experience
Climber33439969304,Apr 12, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00AMAZING!! I recommend 100% to live this experience offered by Ethos. Everything is absolutely perfect
Purely with locals
H3032UZnathalieb,Mar 30, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Very nice experience with the locals. Very pure & real. Guide May lai was very good and the trekking with 2 children was adjusted according to what they could. They got to cook with us and we went into a hot tub. Very nice experience
This is your reason to go to SaPa.
Canadiantraveller027,Mar 29, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00My wife and I just completed staying four days in Sa Pa town and 3 days tours with Ethos - Spirit of the Community. When planning a trip to Vietnam, we almost have Sa Pa a miss because of what sounded like a place that was too touristic for our liking. Then I stumbled across a link to Ethos on the Vietnam tourism website. It appears to be exactly what we were looking for. One of the owners, Hoa made sure we were selecting the right days trek excursions that suited our comfort levels. When we arrived in SaPa, we were provided a safety briefing and also an overview of the Black Hmong and Red Dao ethnicities who live in the area. We listened to some experienced observations and stores from Phil, the other half of the company as well as Cha and her experiences of life and school in the area. Our guides, Pang and May were respectively Hmong and Dao women who had been guiding with the company for a number of years. Both were very responsive to our needs and concerns, as well as engaging and fun to trek with. Our half day trek provided us an intro to the beautiful surroundings and the next two days involved a meal with Hmong and Dao families as well as trekking. The treks and experiences can be as long and challenging as you like. Pickup from the Ethos office or alternative location and again at the end of a trek was via a local taxi (included in our fees). All in all, Ethos made our time in Sa Pa in the province of Lau Caí both enjoyable, meaningful and memorable. I highly recommend engaging this company if you are serious about supporting the local community, supporting women who are the backbone of this company and learning more about Vietnam than just what a website or promoter / influencer will tell you to do. I’ve also shared this review on Google.
Unforgettable
benoitd642,Mar 28, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Thank you to our guide May Linh for making us discover the life of these local ethnic groups. A superb welcome in every family we met during our trek. Thank you to Phil and Hoa for this warm welcome and timeless moments.
Genuinely Authentic Experience
LKB76,Mar 25, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Ethos is an amazing tour company if you want a truly authentic experience. From start to finish, they were professional, responsive, helpful, knowledgeable and (most importantly) ethical in the way they work with the local community so that they actually benefit from genuinely sustainable tourism. Our tour guides were fantastic, the hiking was stunning and the homestays were the real deal. I highly recommend Ethos and their work.
Brilliant experience
oliverc855,Mar 25, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Absolutely brilliant day with our local guide on the herbal trail trek . Can’t fault Ethos or anything about the experience. So much better that a large organised trip. We did not see any other tourists!
Related Experiences
Operated by Ethos - Spirit of the Community