It is located in the Lào Cai province of the Northwest region of Vietnam, nine kilometres (5+1⁄2 miles) southwest of Sa Pa, in the Hoang Lien Son mountain range.

The most commonly accepted theory is that it evolved from Hủa Xi Pan ("the tottering giant rock")—the name that the locals called the mountain, based on its shape.

[3] It has also been suggested that the name could have derived from Phan Văn Sơn, a geography official in the Nguyễn dynasty who helped the French map the area and define the border with China in 1905.

[4] The Himalayan orogeny since Late Mesozoic has further uplifted Fansipan and the Hoang Lien Son range and created the Red River Fault to the east.

The amateur mountaineering expedition was the first since the end of the colonial period and was officially timed to the 40th anniversary of Victory Day of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.

[7] The gondola lift departs from a terminal in Muong Hoa valley, near Sa Pa, and takes twenty minutes to reach the summit.