The Link farmstay

I LOVED this place. It’s a short Grab journey outside of Sapa centre (30,000 Dong so about a quid if your British) and the views from it are beautiful. You look down over a valley. It’s also got a real honest, rustic charm to it and the staff and owner are fantastic. There are chickens wandering everywhere as you walk in too which is great. The room I had felt a bit more ‘upmarket’ in hotel terms than what you expect from the rustic feel when you walk in. I’m not picky with accommodation but it was clean, tidy, and really stylish. Loads of wood panelling. The price I paid was ridiculous - something like £12 a night and it’s worth double that for sure (by Vietnam pricing). Huge fan of this hotel!

Nothing at all. I had a slight quirk with my air conditioner but the host got it fixed really quickly.

The room was a perfect size for the two of us. The bed was massive and comfortable, the balcony had an incredible view, and it was so peaceful. It was just what we wanted after staying in the busy Hanoi. The staff were very friendly despite the language barrier, and the food was tasty and cheap.

There was nothing we didn’t like. The property is quite far from Sa Pa centre, but it was always easy to catch a Grab.

big spacious room, comfy mattress and duvet, sapa is usually cold but we went when it was and couldn’t appreciate the duvet as much as we wanted, beautiful views from room and when having breakfast

is a touch out of town but that makes it nice and quiet and you can rent scooters so it’s all good

Beautiful view of mountains and neighboring farms, good air conditioning, good hot water and water pressure in the shower, firm and clean mattress. Having the option to order meals for an additional charge helped because the location was remote. Clean spacious and well maintained room. The 2 ladies that cleaned the rooms were wonderful and kind human beings.

1. Staff was mixed in their service quality: some were welcoming and helpful like the 2 ladies that cleaned the rooms, others were not. An example is we were told to use the WhatsApp number for any requests we had. But when we sent a WhatsApp message or called the number to order meals, we got no response, a delayed reply or were then told that we should go find the staff on the property instead. The staff on the property had no phones and worked limited hours. So telling us that we could reach management at “any time” was not helpful and came across as fake niceness. It meant management offered services that they couldn’t actually provide. Another example was the night before checking out, no staff was available at 8pm. We needed to collect our laundry and wanted to pay for all the meals and drinks we had consumed as we were catching a bus at 6am the next day. This created anxiety and rush the next morning as we had to do all of that last minute. A final example is the complimentary breakfast: they refused to give us an extra portion of food for our kids. Who does this?! We would have even paid for the extra food if that was necessary. To say “no” without explaining or understanding was unprofessional. 2. You had to climb 2 steep hills to reach the main road whenever you needed to take a taxi or bus because drivers refused to drive the narrow steep road to the homestay. So it was very difficult with luggage and during rainy slippery conditions. 3. Since there were no screens on the bedroom windows or door, the room would get filled with flies whenever you opened them.