(Photo: Duong Quoc Hieu)

In August, Sa Pa is as beautiful as a painting, with golden terraced rice fields winding around the hillsides. This is also when the Golden Season Festival in Ban May, Sun World Fansipan Legend officially opens, attracting thousands of visitors to visit, experience the unique cultural space and immerse themselves in the traditional harvest festival of Sa Pa.

(Photo: Bao Long)

The Ban May Golden Season Festival recreates the traditional ceremonies and activities of the seven ethnic groups in Sa Pa: Hmong Sa Pa, Hmong Dien Bien, Xa Pho, Tay, Giay, Dao Do, Thai and Ha Nhi, celebrating a year of favorable weather and welcoming a bountiful harvest. These days, peaceful Ban May nestled at the foot of Fansipan Mountain is bustling with a festive atmosphere, offering visitors unique cultural experiences rich in local colors.

Especially, joining in the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2nd, right from the gate of Ban May, red flags are cleverly arranged like winding terraced fields, fluttering brightly. Throughout the village, every scene is carefully taken care of: full barns, stacked rice baskets, golden corn stalks… all exude a feeling of abundance, creating a prosperous scene, both peaceful and bustling, like a welcome to the rice harvest season.

The New Rice Offering Ceremony, also known as the New Rice Festival, a custom of the Tay ethnic people, is authentically and vividly recreated by this ethnic community in Sa Pa. The ceremony is an opportunity for the Tay people to express their gratitude to the gods and ancestors for giving them a bountiful harvest, and at the same time pray for good harvests in the future. The fragrant glutinous rice from the first harvest is cooked into new rice, offered to the altar to thank heaven and earth and ancestors.

After the ceremony, bowls of sticky white rice are given to tourists. Each bowl of rice is like a wish for a bountiful harvest, good luck, and prosperity, so that those who travel far away can take with them the aftertaste of the golden season in the mountains.

If the ceremony brings solemnity and sacredness, the festival explodes in cheers. Tourists eagerly gather around the bonfires, watching and trying their hand at competitions related to the rhythm of highland farming life, such as rice cooking and pounding glutinous rice, where the skillful hands of the locals and the cheers of encouragement blend into a lively melody. The participation of local artisans makes each action, each story by the pestle and mortar, the bonfire more vivid and "authentic" Sapa.

Not only are there festival activities, tourists to Ban May can also immerse themselves in the melodies of Mong khen (mouth organ), Tay Then singing, Thai xoè dance, or the sound of drums and gongs echoing through the mountains. Each performance carries the breath of daily life, from production work to simple aspirations for a life of abundance and happiness.

From Ban May, the journey will be extended on the Guinness-record-breaking three-rope cable car line up to Fansipan - the "roof of Indochina". A cable car trip this season is perhaps the most beautiful time of the year, when visitors have the opportunity to admire Muong Hoa Valley dyed yellow by the terraced rice fields winding to the horizon, dotted with simple houses.

This year, the program celebrating the 2/9 National Day, Sun World Fansipan Legend carries the message "Beloved Vietnam 02/09 - Our country's flag is glorious", encapsulating national pride and love for the country in a series of art, culture, and entertainment activities during the holiday.

At Fansipan summit – the roof of Indochina, the flag-raising ceremony is an unmissable experience. Watching the red and gold flag flutter on the flagpole, singing the Vietnamese national anthem amidst the majestic mountains and nature, is a magical moment, full of pride in Vietnam's beautiful landscape. During this time, the tourist area is also decorated with tens of thousands of red and gold flags from the station to the Fansipan summit, creating proud photo spots.

From August 19th to September 20th, 2025, the tourist area is applying a special promotion for Vietnamese tourists. When purchasing cable car tickets after 1 PM, tourists will receive a complimentary evening buffet featuring special highland cuisine at Van Sam and Hoa Hong restaurants between 4 PM and 6:30 PM.

Anyone visiting Ban May in August will surely not forget the festival's aftertaste: the warmth, hospitality, and simple joy of the golden season in the middle of the mountains.