Experience North Vietnam By Motorbike – 13 Days
Covering the most beautiful parts of Northern west Vietnam including Sapa, Mai Chau Valley…and Full Northern East of Vietnam with Ha Giang, Ban Gioc waterfall and Halong bay, this North Vietnam motorcycle tour is one of the best collective motorbike tours in Vietnam. The tour is the mixture of on and off road riding including many winding mountain passes, dirt tracks… therefore it’s one of the greatest motorbike rides in Vietnam but it’s not for the beginners.
Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau: 170 Km (L,d – Home stay)
Mai Chau Valley is one of the less touristy destinations in North Vietnam which quite close to the capital city of Hanoi. It’s about 150km or 3 hours drive by car on the highway No 6. Mai Chau is also the popular destination of Vietnam Motorbike Tour Expert. Instead of taking a drive on the boring highway, we will ride together to Mai Chau on our own route to this valley crossing through many other rural villages to make the ride safer on the smaller roads and especially you can see what the hidden beauty of Vietnam is. The motorbike tour to Mai Chau ends at around 5:00 pm at the peaceful village of the Thai people whom we’ll stay with.
Day 2: Mai Chau – Moc Chau – Phu Yen: 150 Km ( B,L,D – Hotel stay)
It’s a short and enjoyable motorcycle ride up to North of Vietnam to Phu Yen. We can start the ride at round 9:30 am after a short walk around the peaceful villages of the Thai people to enjoy the daily life of the local people in the rural areas and learn more about the culture of the hill tribes in Vietnam.
Being back on the bikes then we keep motorcycle touring up Northern Vietnam to Moc Chau plateau. The motorbike ride from Mai Chau to Moc Chau is almost on the winding passes with beautiful view. If you are fans of off-road motorbike ride, the guide of Vietnam Motorbike Tour Expert will take another option to give you more time to ride off-road before getting to Moc Chau. We’ll end the short but joyful motorbike ride in Phu Yen at around 4:30 pm. Stay in a small hotel in town.
Day 3: Phu Yen – Than Uyen: 220 Km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Start the day at 7:30 with hot café and rice noodles for breakfast. After saying goodbye to the little town of Phu Yen, we continue the great Vietnam motorbike tour with a long ride to Mu Cang Chai and Phu Yen. It’s more than 200 km of mountain passes and back-roads cross through many villages of the H’mong, Dzao, Thai people and especially we will have chance to take pictures of the amazing rice terrace fields in Mu Chang Chai if you do the tour at the right time (from June to September). Today is one of the highlights of this motorbike tour in North Vietnam. We arrive Than Uyen at around 5:00 pm.
Day 4: Than Uyen – Sapa: 110 Km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
This motorbike tour to Sapa is the shortest day ride of the trip but it’s the highlight of this Northern Vietnam motorbike tour. We’ll ride through some very large green tea fields and cross the O Qui Ho pass – one of the longest passes in North Vietnam with amazing view of the Hong Lien mountain range where you can see the highest peak in Vietnam and in Indochina as well – the Fan-Xi-Pan peak with the height of more than 3140 m. We’ll be in Sapa at noon, after lunch we’ll ride around Sapa to see more hill tribe’s village, rice terrace fields or just leave the bikes to let your feet walk around the Sapa town or have short trek around.
Day 5: Sapa – Xin Man: 170 km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
After having breakfast and saying good bye to Sapa, we will enjoy one of the most beautiful offroad motorcycle tours in North Vietnam from Sapa to Xin Man. Right after leaving Sapa town we can make a turn on the small back-roads through some villages of the red Dzao and black H’mong people, if you do this Vietnam motorcycle tour from June to September you must have plenty of picturesque photos of the rice terrace fields nearby Sapa. If you come another time, you may not see the rice fields but still the great chance to experience the culture of the local colorful hill tribes. After lunch in Lao Cai town and next to Chinese Border, we keep riding up and up to the Bac Ha town located at around 1000 m above the sea level, the ride is almost on the winding mountain passes and bumpy – dirt roads. We’ll end the day at little town of Xin Man. Stay in a guesthouse.
Day 6: Xin Man – Ha Giang: 180 Km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Start the motorbike tour to Ha Giang with a short off-road ride right after Xin Man town. The first half of this motorbike ride to Ha Giang is almost on the bumpy, dirty tracks but offer a great chance to be closed to the local people by riding through the villages of the hill tribes. The rest of the ride is on quite smooth road to Ha Giang city, we can be at the city of Ha Gaing at around 4:30 PM, check in the room in the Thuong Xuan resort, this is one of the best accommodation in Ha Giang and it must be the best stay of this Vietnam motorbike tour, let’s enjoy the peace of the nature and save energy for the next adventure by motorbikes.
Day 7: Ha Giang – Meo Vac: 170 km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Having no hesitance to say this is the best ride of the motorcycle tour in North Vietnam. The ride is along the Chinese border via the imposing Dong Van Rock Plateau on all the winding mountain passes offer amazing view of nature, especially riding motorbikes crossing the Ma-Pi-Leng pass – One of the longest and most beautiful passes in North Vietnam. Beside the breathtaking scenery, this Vietnam motorcycle tour on the Rock Plateau also offers a great chance to learn more about the culture/tradition of the local ethnic people. We will end the great ride at the town of Meo Vac at around 5:00 pm.
Day 8: Meo Vac – Cao Bang : 180 km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Cao Bang means High Plateau in Vietnamese. It’s the land with rich culture and turbulent history, it’s also the second homeland of Ho Chi Minh where he spent most of the time to live and work before the Dien Bien Phu battle in 1954. Cao Bang is now quite busy town; However, the Vietnam motorbike tour to Cao Bang is still one of the most enjoyable trips because of the beautiful routes to the town and after the town to the Chinese border. The motorbike ride from Meo Vac to Cao Bang today is almost on-road, crossing some scenic mountain passes we’ll be in Cao Bang quite early, check in the room in hostel, relaxing to save energy for the next long rides or try a local beer on the street.
Day 9: Cao Bang – Ban Gioc – Quang Uyen: 170 km (B,L,D – Home stay)
This is another highlight of the 13 day North Vietnam motorbike trip, after saying goodbye to the host the experienced guide of Vietnam Motorbike Tour Expert will take on the scenic roads leading to the Chinese border, the ride is almost on-road offering amazing view of mountains and rice fields between villages of the ethnic people. We’ll be at the Chinese border where we can see the biggest and most beautiful waterfall in Vietnam – Ban Gioc at the noon time. Stop riding for lunch and then spend the relaxing time to take pictures or swim at the waterfall. After the great time with the waterfall, we’ll be back to the beautiful roads and enjoy again the motorbike ride to little peaceful town of Quang Uyen. We’ll arrive at the family of the Tay people nearby the town at 5:00 PM, getting off the bikes then enjoy the relaxing time with the family.
Day 10: Quang Uyen – Mau Son: 200 Km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Mau Son is one of the highest picks of the mountains in Northern Vietnam, Vietnam Motorbike Tour Expert is one of few organizers who plan the tour to this unique destination. The motorbike tour to Mau Son today is along the frontier area closed to China, crossing some border gates. The ride is almost on the smooth mountain back-road with a nice view. At the end of the ride we have no choice but crossing through busy Lang Son city where you can take a quick visit to some famous and very large markets in the city. We’ll arrive at the guesthouse in Mau Son at around 5:00 PM.
Day 11: Mau Son – Ha Long : 180 Km (B,L,D – Hotel stay)
Continue the full North Vietnam motorbike tour at around 8:30 Am, we’ll keep riding motorcycle along the Chinese border but the roads are almost sealed and not so steep, it must be an easy motorbike ride with some stops to take visits to some interesting rural villages or local markets. The ride in the afternoon when we get closer to the Halong city is busier with traffic but we can enjoy a difference from the days before when we’re closer to the sea and riding on the coastlines. We’ll be in right center of Ha Long city at 4:30 pm. Stay in a hotel.
Day 12: Ha long Tour by Boat (B,L,D – Overnight on Boat)
After breakfast, we’ll have few hours to discover the touristy city of Ha long before getting on the boat. We can have a walk around the city center to visit more markets for some shopping or take a short ride to another part of the city with nice coastal road to Tuan Chau Island. Be back to the tourist wharf by around 11:00 am to check in the boat then spend relaxing time on boat with fresh seafood, cold drinks, swimming or Kayaking… after a long motorbike ride around Northern mountain in Vietnam, this boat cruise is perfect to cheer up. Stay on boat in a private cabin.
Day 13: Halong City – Hanoi: 165 Km (B,L)
Getting up early to enjoy a peaceful morning on the bay or experience the Taichi on the rooftop of the boat. After breakfast, we’ll keep cruising around the beautiful Halong bay until 11:00 am when we get off the boat then continue the motorbike tour back to Hanoi. The ride back to Hanoi is quite busy but we have no choice, we’ll be back to Hanoi and end the great North Vietnam motorbike tour before 4:00 pm.
