Terms & Conditions

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of the website sapanomad.com and all services we provide — booking buses, trains, tours, accommodation, and any related travel services (the “Service”).

By accessing our website, completing a booking, or contacting us via email, WhatsApp, or phone, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms together with our Privacy Policy and Cancellation & Refund Policy.

If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, please stop using the Service.

You must be at least 18 years old to make a booking. If you are booking on behalf of others (family, friends, group), you confirm that you have the authority to accept these Terms on their behalf.

“Sapa Nomad” is the trading name under which LIM Travel Company Limited operates its travel and tour services in Sa Pa, Vietnam.

In these Terms, “we”, “us”, “our”, “Sapa Nomad”, and “the Company” all refer to LIM Travel Company Limited. “You”, “your”, and “Customer” refer to the person making the booking and any travellers in your party.

Sapa Nomad operates as a licensed booking agent for transport operators (bus, train, private car), tour operators, accommodation providers, and other travel service providers in Sapa and northern Vietnam.

This means:

• For tours and trekking we organise directly (operated by our own LIM Travel team and guides), we are the principal service provider.
• For transport tickets and partner tours (Chapa Express trains, sleeper buses by Sao Việt / HK Bus / G8 / Strip VN / Eco Limousine, third-party tour partners), we book and confirm the service on your behalf. The transport company or operator is the actual service provider.

Bookings can be made through our website (sapanomad.com), via email ([email protected]), or via WhatsApp (+84 964 900 120).

Accepted payment methods:

• Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, UnionPay) via OnePay
• Local Asia payment methods via Tazapay (QRIS, PayNow, PromptPay, GCash, FPX, regional bank transfer)
• PayPal (including PayPal Pay Later where available)
• Cash in VND or USD for in-person bookings at our Sapa office

Full details on our Payment Methods page.

Booking confirmation:

• An automated confirmation email is sent within 5 minutes of successful payment.
• A personal confirmation from our team follows within 30 minutes during support hours (8 AM – 10 PM GMT+7).
• Your e-ticket or voucher is sent via email and WhatsApp the same day.
• If we cannot confirm your booking (operator full, unexpected issue), we will refund you in full within 7 business days.

Pricing:

• All prices on our website are displayed in USD and include applicable Vietnamese taxes (VAT 10% where applicable) and service charges.
• Bank fees, currency-conversion fees charged by your card issuer, and tips for guides or drivers are not included.
• We reserve the right to correct pricing errors. If a price was clearly listed in error (e.g., a $200 tour shown for $20), we will contact you to confirm the correct price before processing your booking.

Cancellation and refund terms vary by product type (bus, train, tour) and timing. Full details, schedules, and force-majeure rules are set out in our Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Summary:

• Bus, limousine, private car: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure (minus a USD 3 handling fee per booking).
• Train tickets: Operator-dependent; free cancellation typically requires 30+ days notice.
• Tours: Free cancellation up to 48 hours before departure (minus a USD 5 handling fee per booking).
• Date changes: Generally free if requested within the cancellation window, subject to availability and operator rules.
• Force majeure (weather, road closures, operator cancellation): Full refund with no handling fee, or alternative service at no extra cost.

To cancel or change a booking, email [email protected] or WhatsApp +84 964 900 120. We respond within 2 hours during support hours.

Travel documents. You are responsible for ensuring you have a valid passport, visa (or visa exemption), and any health certificates required to enter Vietnam and to travel within the country. We do not provide visa services and are not liable for denied entry, missed connections, or refused boarding caused by missing or incorrect documentation. Check the latest rules on the official Vietnam e-visa website before your trip.

Travel insurance. We strongly recommend that all travellers purchase comprehensive travel insurance covering cancellation, medical emergencies, lost luggage, and trip interruption — especially for trekking tours and train bookings, which carry stricter operator cancellation terms. We are not liable for losses that would normally be covered by reasonable travel insurance.

Health and fitness. Some of our tours (multi-day trekking, mountain biking, Fansipan ascent) involve physical exertion at altitude. By booking such tours, you confirm that you are in suitable physical condition. If you have a medical condition that may affect your ability to participate, please tell us before booking — we will advise on suitability or suggest a more appropriate tour.

Behaviour and conduct. You agree to behave respectfully toward our staff, guides, drivers, fellow travellers, local communities, and the environment. We reserve the right to refuse service, terminate a tour, or remove you from a group booking, without refund, if your conduct:

• Endangers your own safety or the safety of others
• Causes significant distress to other travellers or staff
• Involves use of illegal drugs
• Includes harassment of any kind (verbal, physical, sexual)
• Violates local laws or customs (including offensive behaviour toward ethnic minority communities)
• Involves wilful damage to vehicles, accommodation, or natural sites

Damages caused. If you cause damage to vehicles, accommodation, equipment, or third-party property during a service we have arranged, you are responsible for the cost of repair or replacement. We may charge this to your payment method on file or invoice you separately.

Personal valuables. You are responsible for your own personal belongings during your trip. We recommend that you do not bring valuables you cannot afford to lose, and that you use the safes provided in hotels and homestays. Our liability for lost or stolen items is limited to cases of provable negligence by our staff.

Photos and media during tours. Our guides may occasionally take photos or videos during tours for use on our website, social media, or marketing materials. If you do not wish to appear in our content, please tell your guide at the start of the tour. We respect your choice without question.

Service descriptions. We make reasonable efforts to ensure that descriptions of buses, trains, tours, hotels, and other services on our website are accurate. However, operators may occasionally upgrade, downgrade, or modify their vehicles, schedules, or facilities. We will inform you of any material change as soon as we are aware.

Alternative arrangements. If a confirmed service becomes unavailable (operator over-booked, vehicle breakdown, last-minute schedule change), we will offer the closest available alternative at the same or higher quality at no extra cost to you. If no acceptable alternative is available or you decline the alternative, we will refund you in full within 7 business days.

Quality guarantee. Every partner operator and tour guide on our roster is vetted by our local team. We perform regular service audits. If the actual service falls materially below the advertised standard for reasons within the operator’s control, we will investigate and offer fair compensation (partial refund, credit toward a future booking, or service replacement).

Our content. All content on sapanomad.com — text, photos, videos, design, logos, the “Sapa Nomad” name and trademark — is the property of LIM Travel Company Limited or used under licence. You may view, download, and share content for personal, non-commercial purposes. You may not copy, republish, modify, or distribute our content for commercial purposes without our written permission.

Permitted use. You agree to use our website and Service for lawful purposes only. You agree not to:

• Use automated tools (scrapers, bots, crawlers) to harvest content or booking data
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of our systems
• Submit false or misleading booking information
• Use the website to send spam or unsolicited messages
• Reproduce our content on another website without attribution and permission

User reviews and content. If you submit a review, comment, photo, or other content to our website or social media (collectively, “User Content”), you grant Sapa Nomad a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, edit, display, and republish the content on our website, marketing materials, and social media. You confirm that the content is yours to share and does not infringe any third party’s rights. We may remove User Content that violates our standards or applicable law, without notice.

Copyright concerns. If you believe content on our website infringes your copyright, please email [email protected] with details and we will review and respond within 7 business days.

How we collect, use, share, and protect your personal data is set out in detail in our Privacy Policy. By using the Service, you confirm that you have read and understood that Policy.

Key points:

• We collect only what is needed to deliver your booking and run our business legally.
• We never sell your personal data to third parties.
• You have the right to access, correct, delete, and port your data. Email [email protected] to exercise any of these rights.
• We comply with the EU GDPR, the California CCPA, and Vietnamese Decree 13/2023/NĐ-CP on Personal Data Protection.

Our liability. Where we act as the principal service provider (our own tours and team-operated services), we accept liability for direct losses caused by our own negligence, up to the amount you paid for the affected service. We do not accept liability for:

• Loss, injury, damage, or delay caused by third-party operators (bus companies, rail operators, hotels) where we acted only as your booking agent
• Indirect, consequential, or special damages (lost business, missed connections to other trips, emotional distress)
• Personal injury or property damage that is covered by reasonable travel insurance
• Acts or omissions of independent third parties (taxi drivers, restaurant staff, other travellers)

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for any liability that cannot be limited by Vietnamese law.

Force majeure. Neither party is responsible for failure to perform under these Terms where the failure is caused by events outside reasonable control, including but not limited to: weather (heavy fog, storms, typhoons), landslides, road closures, earthquakes, floods, pandemics, government restrictions, civil unrest, strikes, terrorism, or actions of operators beyond our control. In these cases, we will offer alternative arrangements or a full refund with no handling fee, as set out in our force majeure clause.

Talk to us first. If you have a complaint or dispute, please contact us at [email protected] with the subject “Formal Complaint”. We treat all complaints seriously and aim to resolve them within 14 days. The vast majority of issues are settled this way.

Governing law. These Terms and any non-contractual obligations arising from them are governed by the laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Jurisdiction. If a dispute cannot be resolved amicably, it will be settled by the competent court in Hanoi, Vietnam, which has exclusive jurisdiction. Travellers based in the European Union, United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions retain any non-waivable consumer rights granted by their local law.

Chargebacks. If you have a payment concern, please contact us first — most issues are resolved within 24 hours. Initiating a credit-card chargeback before contacting us may delay resolution and forfeit any refund eligibility under our Cancellation Policy.

Updates to these Terms. We may update these Terms from time to time — for example, when we add a new payment method, change suppliers, or respond to a change in law. When we make a material change, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and notify customers with an active booking by email.

Severability. If any part of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the rest of the Terms remain in full force and effect.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cancellation & Refund Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Sapa Nomad in relation to your use of the Service, and supersede any prior agreements or representations.

No waiver. If we do not enforce a particular clause of these Terms on a given occasion, that does not mean we waive the right to enforce it in the future.

Language. These Terms are written in English. We may provide translations for convenience, but the English version is the official, binding version.