The tea hills are currently awash in pale pink cherry blossoms, drawing crowds of tourists and photographers eager to capture what is widely seen as a final chance.
Sapa’s iconic Oolong tea hills are at their most vibrant cherry blossom season (Photo: Hoang Trung Hieu)
The site is slated for clearance to make way for an eco-urban and cultural tourism complex along the Muong Hoa Valley, a plan approved by Lao Cai provincial authorities in late October.
In recent weeks, the Oolong tea hills waived entrance fees. Visitors often bought locally produced tea to support garden owners, whose main source of income has long come from tea cultivation.
The tea hills to be cleared for an eco-tourism project (Photo: Hoang Trung Hieu)
According to Hoang Trung Hieu, a Sapa native and well-known local photographer, the tea hills have been popular for years, but interest has surged over the past five years as images of cherry blossoms blooming among tea rows and drifting seas of cloud spread on social media.
“Cherry trees were initially brought from China’s Yunnan Province and planted to help stabilise the soil. They adapted well to the local climate and flourished, creating a landscape unlike anywhere else,” Hieu said.
The cherry blossoms usually peak from early December to late January (Photo: Hoang Trung Hieu)
The cherry blossoms usually peak from early December to late January. In favourable weather, the area can attract thousands of visitors in a single day, sometimes causing congestion along the narrow road leading up the hills.
During winter, the Oolong tea hills feel like a playground for photography enthusiasts, Hieu added. “Vietnam has many beautiful tea hills, but finding a place in December where cherry blossoms bloom amid tea fields and seas of cloud like this is rare.”
This year, emotions among visitors have been markedly different, as news spread that it would be the final blossom season before redevelopment begins. Clearance is taking place as thousands of cherry trees reach peak bloom, heightening the sense of loss.
Tourists express regret as Sapa’s Oolong tea hills are cleared for urban development (Photo: Hoang Trung Hieu)
Nguyen Long, a photographer from Ho Chi Minh City, said he felt empty and regretful when he saw cherry trees being uprooted during his visit in early December. “Knowing this was the last chance to capture these moments, I could not miss it,” he shared.
The site stopped officially receiving visitors earlier this month, meaning those wishing to take photographs often access the area through neighbouring gardens.
Photographers say the best times for shooting are mid-morning and late afternoon, when mist, soft light and colour combine to create striking images.
Located at an altitude of more than 1,500 metres, Sapa offers ideal conditions for cherry blossoms, with around 1,800 trees planted in the O Quy Ho area and interspersed among the neatly lined tea bushes of the Oolong hills.