Arista Homestay

The host was exceptionally helpful, and easygoing. For example, I needed a Vietnamese SIM card, and he offered to take me to Sa Pa to a shop where I could buy one. I asked him about traditional local music, and he sang a traditional song (nicely :)).

I only wanted to add to my previous opinion that my room had a fabulous pine (?) scent, and bathroom was very characterful (stones and wood). The decoration on the room's wall was a traditional Hmong's patchwork. I appreciate when being in a different country I can have accommodation which respects and resembles the local tradition, and Arista is such accommodation.

Location is perfect, in a tiny, quiet village, about 10-min on a scooter (motorbike) from Sa Pa. So, basic food products can be bought locally in the village. Scooters (motorbikes) are available for rent in Arista. Beautiful rice terraces are visible from rooms' windows, and there is more of them very close to the homestay on the way towards another village - Ta Van (about 20-30-min walk), and on the way to Sa Pa (also close to Arista). A beautiful restaurant with a local atmosphere is a 5-min walk from Arista (Laxsik Ecolodge), and another one 10-min walk (Eco Palms Hause). The swimming pool in Arist is nice, with a shallow section for kids. The owner is very kind and helpful, I felt a welcome guest.

Happy vacation! This is one of my happy and meaningful holidays when traveling and relaxing in Vietnam. It is very comfortable to bathe in a swimming pool with cool, clean water; It's fun to see the scenery of mountains, terraced fields, Hmong villages with fresh air and the sound of flowing streams. Rooms are beautifully wood-paneled, fragrant. Friendly staff, friendly with guests. I think value for money staying here. If I have a chance I will come back here.

For starters, do not believe any 5 star reviews of this place. This has been our worse stay in the 2 weeks we've been in Vietnam. We booked 2 nights at $80aud per night expecting reasonable service and a comfortable room for this cost and based on previous reviews. If we wanted cold showers and poor service there are countless cheaper options. So we begin... After a day of travelling we were looking forward to the fresh mountain air and a warm shower. Neither was possible; we were in the standard room, which is more a kin to a concrete cell, with water marks condensating on the walls due to the lack of air circulation in the room. The one window is high up and unable to be opened, there are no curtains and it peers onto the street. Perfect for exhibitionists, but not so great if you like your privacy. The hot water in the shower lasted all of 30s. I thought there must've been a problem, so I informed the staff at reception. After being met with blank looks (I assumed they spoke English, based on previous reviews), I asked the man to follow me, and asked him to feel the water coming out of the tap. He flicked the circuit breakers a few times and asked us to wait a couple minutes. I told him to wait with me and after some minutes he tried again to no avail. He left and the lady that runs the hotel came down. Her magic powers of flicking circuit breakers could also not resolve the situation and she offered us the public shower that the workers use. I told her that this is not what we paid for and to her credit we struck a deal for a discount and a room upgrade for tomorrow night. We had our hot shower in the workers area and went to bed, thinking this was just a small issue in an otherwise highly rated hotel... I'm not sure who has written the previous reviews, but if that was the best breaky they have had in Vietnam, then they have been sorely missing out. Expect either a salty omelet or scrambled eggs after a 30min wait.

For the breakfast, the pho and coffee made by the staff were really nice.

Nil.

Environmental conscious design; felt like a hidden gem. Bathroom was lovely size. Beds were huge (but very firm - that said, we slept really well!). Balcony was a lovely size, and overlooked the pool. Quality of the furnishings really surprised us - for what we paid, it’s been a lot less when we’ve paid that on this holiday. Food: it was off season, weather was peculiar but both of them did their very best to make sure we were not left wanting - delicious, and large portions. We also liked that it wasn’t in the main tourist villages but well worth the walk up the hill.

Internet/wifi was a bit temperamental, but mostly recoverable if you switched. In the winter (we went early April) do wonder how warm you might be - room was warm though!

The outing in Sapa was amazing. Luckily the weather was very nice. I am very satisfied with the service, price of Arista Homestay, parking, free wifi. Host and staff are enthusiastic and friendly; Nice room, view of terraced fields, valley, mountains. I like the aroma of pine wood in the room and the hot pot of salmon, salmon salad, grilled chicken and sticky rice. If I have a chance to go to Sapa, I will come back to Home.

Best homestay ever. If you like a quiter location to recover from hiking and exploring Sapa, this is the place where you wanna be. Clean rooms, a nice Pool and a beautiful view for a good price. We probably met the kindest and best chef ever, Dinh. He did everything possible to make our stay as good as it was. Our Highlight was that he invited us to eat and to have some drinks fun at dinner.