Lao Cai borders Ha Giang province in the East, Yen Bai province in the South, Lai Chau province in the West, and Yunnan province (China) in the North with 203km-borderline.

Topography: Lao Cai’s topography is very complex, with a high level of stratification and division. The two major mountain ranges are Hoang Lien Son Range and Elephant Range along the Northwest - Southeast to the East and the West, creating the lowland and middleland between the two ranges and an area to the West of Hoang Lien Son. In addition, there are many smaller mountains that are diversified and fragmented to create the different sub-climates.

Due to the topography is divided, the high area and the low one are clearly distributed, of which the height of 300m - 1,000m makes up the majority of the province. The highest point is the peak of Fansipan in Hoang Lien Son Range with an altitude of 3,143m, another high point is Ta Giang Phinh with an altitude of 3,090m.

The strip of land along the Red River and Chay River including Lao Cai city, Cam Duong town, Bao Thang district, Bao Yen district and the Eastern part of Van Ban district are at lower altitude (the lowest point is 80m in Bao Thang district). The terrain is less rugged, with more sloping hills and valleys. It is a favorable location for agro-forestry production or infrastructure development.

Climate: Lao Cai’s climate is classified in a tropical monsoon, however, due to being located deeply in the continent and divided by the complex terrain, the weather is changing to different time and space. Temperature fluctuation often occurs in the form of high or low temperature during a day (Often times in Sa Pa town, the temperature drops below 0°C or even with the present of ice or snow).

Lao Cai climate is divided into two seasons in which the rainy one starts from April to October, the dry one starts from October of the previous year to March of the following year. In the highland, the average temperature is from 15°C to 20°C (Sa Pa’s temperature is from 14°C to 16°C and is never over 20°C), the average rainfall is from 1800mm to over 2000mm. In the lowland, the average temperature is from 23°C to 29°C, the average rainfall is between 1,400mm and 1,700mm

Fog: Fog is commonly found throughout the province, it may be very thick in some places. In cold weather, in high mountains and valleys without windy, there is frost frog lasting 2 to 3 days.

Lao Cai climate is very suitable for temperate crops, so it has advantage of developing the cold specialities that are not available in other areas such as flowers, fruits, herbal medicine, and cold-water fish.

 Soil: It is fertile and diversed, including 10 groups, 30 soil types, which are suitable for many different crops.

(Data on natural area extracted from the data provided by the provincial department of Statistics)