Vietnam 
In numbers.
1.5m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Sep
Best months
1,235m
Elevation
The water at Cát Cát waterfall, month by month
It roars from July to September.
The fullest months: from July to September. The thinnest: from November to April.
- 0.3 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 1.5 m³/sMay
- 2.2 m³/sJun
- 3.2 m³/sJul
- 4.0 m³/sAug
- 3.1 m³/sSep
- 1.7 m³/sOct
- 0.8 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.23 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.0 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cát Cát waterfall is a waterfall in Vietnam.
Getting there.
- Sa Panearest town · 1.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 80 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Dien Bien Phu Airport (DIN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 134 km in a straight line
- From June to Septemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 144 m in 3.3 km. Here the river runs about 68 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 15viewpointsHeaven Sapa, Muong hoa valley, Tran Ton Pass and 12 more
- —waymarked walking routes
- 4car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 6toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmTiên Sa Waterfall
- 2caves
- 4campsitesGlamper Sapa Campground, Phansi and 2 more
- 226hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmNorth Star Hotel, Cha Pa Garden, Sapa Horizon Hotel and 223 more
- 178restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Sa Pa1.9 km in a straight line
- Lao Chải4.3 km in a straight line
- Tam Đường21 km in a straight line
- Lào Cai23 km in a straight line
- Bát Xát25 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 16 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 16 |
| Night °C | 5 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 41 | 23 | 53 | 110 | 173 | 214 | 287 | 330 | 190 | 96 | 50 | 33 |
| Wet days | 6 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 5 |
| Sun h/day | 3.2 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 3.5 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,235 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 42% | 153% | 222% | 178% | 78% | 93% | 107% | 129% | 170% | 215% | 46% | 18% |
| 2021 | 53% | 474% | 91% | 141% | 77% | 105% | 108% | 74% | 96% | 274% | 207% | 196% |
| 2022 | 190% | 586% | 216% | 88% | 174% | 131% | 48% | 99% | 137% | 42% | 172% | 169% |
| 2023 | 22% | 197% | 91% | 33% | 71% | 111% | 87% | 97% | 133% | 73% | 103% | 36% |
| 2024 | 242% | 33% | 93% | 25% | 186% | 175% | 119% | 87% | 227% | 122% | 25% | 62% |
| 2025 | 54% | 211% | 70% | 91% | 175% | 150% | 148% | 92% | 252% | 160% | 251% | 45% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q10825640) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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