As a tropical country, Vietnam locates in Southeast Asia with a high annual average temperature. However, you can find snow in Vietnam for a few days in some months.
Snow places in Vietnam
With high mountains, North Vietnam is the coldest region in the country.
During the winter, from December to Feb, you may see snow at Fansipan peak, which has a height of 3,143 m, close to the mountainous tourist city Sapa.
Besides, snow can fall at Mau Son Peak in Lang Son Province, which is on the list of the most famous mountains in Vietnam. Travel from Hanoi to Mau Son mountain in Lang Son is 185km.
Although you can see snow in these two regions, it just falls in a couple of days during the winter. Thus, finding snow in Vietnam is very difficult.
Typical features of Vietnamese snow
The snow in a tropical country seems different from the other areas in the world. How is it different?
- Snow does not come often during the winter (Dec to Feb). It is a short duration when snow falls, just a few days.
- The snow level is thin, just enough for white color.
- Typically, snow comes with a little bit of rain in a few cases. And, it’s hard to see the sun during snow falling.
- Although the temperature is not very low, usually from -5 to -1 Celsius degree, you will feel freezing because of the high humidity in the air.
How do tourist activities change during snow time?
During snow time, most tourist services and indoor destinations open as normal, such as hotels, restaurants, and local markets. Thus, you do not worry about finding out if the food is available.
Just a small number of outdoor activities are closed, such as roller coasters, swimming pools, and adventurous climbing with robs. Almost schools will close when snow falls.
How do the Vietnamese react to snow?
Many Vietnamese people like to see and touch snow. Typically, the young are very eager to play with it, so many of them organize a trip from Hanoi to Sapa and reach Fansipan to watch the snow and take pictures.
The reason is that snow rarely falls in Vietnam and only comes in a short time while people have intended to find differences or scarceness.
Many locals are confused between icing and snowfall. It is as if more places have icing phenomena in the country, such as Tam Dao Mountain close to Hanoi, and Yen Tu Mountain in Quang Ninh. The temperature is not low enough to cause snowfall.
Thus, many websites tell you plenty of places to see snow, but most of them are just icing, not snowfall.
Activities to do in snow in Vietnam
As mentioned above, not much snow and a short duration of snowfall cause fewer activities with it: no skiing in Vietnam or no ice house.
The popular activities to do in Vietnamese snow is to take pictures and watch the different beauty of nature that covers white color.
In short, getting the best time to travel to Vietnam to see snow is difficult if you live in another country.