Ta Phin Village

Ta Phin is a Red Dao village - named for the women's red headdress - in a valley north of Sapa, and what it is known for is the bath: a preparation of somewhere between ten and over a hundred herbs and barks gathered from the forest, boiled and poured into a wooden tub, taken hot and used by Dao households after childbirth, illness and hard work. Several families now offer it to visitors and it has become a small industry. In the fields below the village stand the walls of a stone monastery built by French nuns in the 1940s and abandoned within a few years, now roofless.

What to look for

• A Red Dao village - named for the women's headdress.
• The Dao herbal bath - many herbs and barks, taken hot in a wooden tub.
• A ruined French monastery - built in the 1940s and abandoned.
• Terraces and forest - the valley north of Sapa.

When to go

September to November and March to May. A full day.

Things to know

Selling pressure from village women is persistent and can be wearing. Bath quality varies widely between operators and the cheap versions are not the real preparation. The road in is rough in places. Rain is frequent.

Nearby

Sapa is south; Ta Van and the Muong Hoa valley are beyond it.