Is Cat Cat Village a Tourist Trap?
The Quick Verdict
Rating: 2/5 (How do Charlenie ratings work?)
Yes, Cat Cat Village is a tourist trap, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a visit.
My mother-in-law wanted to visit Cat Cat Village because she kept seeing it on her Facebook and Instagram feed (thank you, algorithm!). We arrived in the afternoon because it rained the night before.
The thing you have to remember in Cat Cat Village is that getting to and from can be difficult. It requires a lot of walking steep steps (I am NOT joking, you will walk a lot of steps, we had to take several breaks) and even before getting there, you’d have to walk a fair bit.
We decided to bite the bullet and get transport from motorcycle riders at 100,000 dong each. It was my first motorcycle ride in since I was a kid and I was scared stiff, but it was so much fun after I got over my initial fear.
Cat Cat Village isn’t that big, but it will take you a couple of hours to explore the area. There were tourists everywhere, but it wasn’t too crowded.
What I loved were seeing the tourists wear the traditional clothing and get photoshoots around the area. They all looked so beautiful and elegant, and it gave me much more of an appreciation of Hmong ethnic clothing. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to do this as we only had 2 days in Sapa, so we couldn’t allocate more than 3 hours here.
Cat Cat Village was also the place I first tried salt coffee! An unforgettable moment – as a non-coffee drinker, salt coffee got me hooked!
I think visiting Cat Cat Village is good for a first timer. There’s a reason why it’s popular, but I can also see why some people wouldn’t like it. It is very much a tourist trap – but hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a tourist and doing tourist-y things! Just be aware about all the walking and all the steps 😭
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