from 4 reviews
15 Days / 14 Nights
Daily Tour
15 people
English, Francais, Vietnamese
15 Day Northern Loop Vietnam Motorcycle Tour: riding motorcycle to almost corners of Northern Vietnam on some of the most imposing mountain passes in Northwest and Northeast, you’ll have chance to visit all the most beautiful terrace rice fields, the unique Rock Plateau in Ha Giang – Dong Van and the largest waterfalls – Ban Gioc and most beautiful natural lakes in Vietnam –Ba Be Lake.
The road is small, windy and snaking in the mountains. No matter which end of the trip you start from, first is on flat easy road or highway, then head up mountain range and ride the mountain roads a few days before you find the flat road back to Hanoi again. The places you stay on this trip include many warm home stays in Vu Linh, Ba Be…. This 15 Day Northern Loop Vietnam Motorcycle Tour is the mixture of on and off-road motorbike riding with local culture discovering. It’s surely great experience of the authentic Vietnam.
Picked up at the hotel at 8:00 AM then transfer to the launch place in the western part of Hanoi. Start the Hanoi motorbike tour to Mai Chau at around 9:00 AM.
Get on the bikes and it takes 45 minutes ride to get closer to the countryside then we will slow down to ride on the back countryside roads to Hoa Binh city.
After lunch in Hoa Binh, we will have a great ride through some spectacular roads through some villages of the hill tribes and enjoyable motorcycle ride along the Da river.
This is the highlight of the first day tour in North Vietnam. We’ll be in Mai Chau at 5 pm. Home stay with the interesting Thai people.
Summary:
Distance: 170 km / Meals: Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Home-stay with several beds and mosquito nets.
After saying goodbye to the host, we keep motorcycle touring up North Vietnam to Moc Chau where is known as the cool and green plateau in Vietnam where we have lunch.
After lunch, we’ll ride motorbike all the way down and down from the level of 1000 meters above the sea to the foot of the mountain where we have to cross the Da river by a ferry to another side of the mountain.
Before getting closer the town of Phu Yen, let’s enjoy a great motorbike ride along the river, it’s a beautiful ride between the big river and the mountain. It’s one of the best parts of this 15-day Vietnam motorcycle tour.
We arrive the town at 5:00 pm and end the 2nd day at the hotel.
Summary:
Distance: 150 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
It’s an easy motorbike ride to Son La, the ride in the morning is on the winding mountain passes, crossing many rustic villages of the Thai, Tay and the Muong people who plant a lot of corn, sugarcane and green tea instead of rice that make the mountain green all the you go by.
After the easy but joyful motorbike trip on the winding passes, we will have lunch and then join the smooth road to Son La, we can do some stops at some local colorful markets to feel the local tradition and learn more about the local culture,
Arrive the city about 4:00 pm, get off the bike then take a short walk to the Son La prison where the French kept the famous Vietnamese political prisoners.
The visit helps you to learn more about the Indochina war/French war when the North Vietnam take an important part for the French. This must be the highlight of the motorbike tour in Northern Vietnam.
Summary:
Distance: 180 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
It’s another long ride with plenty of visits and stops for pictures. The ride today could be one of the greatest days of this Northern Vietnam motorbike tour, it offers both on-road and off-road motorbike ride, the view of mountain is changeable after each kilometer.
Especially we will cross one of the longest and hardest mountains passes in North of Vietnam – the Pha Din pass.
We arrive the hotel in Muong Lay and finish the great motorbike riding day in North Vietnam in late afternoon.
Summary:
Distance: 190 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
After saying good bye the little lovely town of Muong Lay, we’ll be back on the bike then keep enjoying the motorbike touring in North Vietnam.
Right after the town, the motorcycle ride along the Da river will surely make you awake because of the amazing view between the limestone mountain and water.
After the ride along the river, we’ll head all the way up and up to Sin Ho town, the town is located at the level of 1500 m above the sea level, you can imagine how beautiful view you can see on the way to Sin Ho.
In addition, we can take some visits to the villages of the Dao, Thai or the Lu people and luckily if you come to the right day, you can see the colorful market of the local hill tribes at the town. After lunch in Sin Ho, we’ll drop all the way down to Lai Chau.
It’s a short ride but it could be one of the best motorbike tours in Vietnam. End the day at the hotel in town.
Summary:
Distance: 130 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
Start the motorbike tour to Sapa at around 9:00 when the mist is surely gone so that we today can have the most enjoyable motorbike ride and get the best view of the O Qui Ho pass – one of 4 longest and most beautiful passes in North Vietnam.
We’ll arrive Sapa at lunch time, in the after soon you can make your choice to have a short walk around Sapa or take a short motorcycle tour along the beautiful valley of Muong Hoa in Sapa to see more beautiful view of rice terrace fields or visits more villages of the Dao and H’mong people.
Stay at hotel in town or do home stay with the Zay people in Ta Van village.
Summary:
Distance: 180 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Home-stay with several beds and mosquito nets.
After saying goodbye to Sapa, back on the bikes then head all the way down to Lao Cai, we can choose to ride on smooth road to Lao Cai with a nice view of rice terrace fields or ride on the back, bumpy roads via some villages of the H’mong and Dzao people.
Any of the choices, you’ll have great view of the mountain because the ride is from Sapa – at the level of 1600 m above the sea.
After great short motorbike tour from Sapa, we’ll have a break at the border gate to China nearby Lao Cai to have hot coffee and have a look at China from Vietnam.
After Lao Cai, we keep touring by motorbike in North Vietnam, -crossing some mountain passes, back countryside roads to Xin Man – a quiet town we stay tonight. We stay in a little peaceful guesthouse and safe energy for the next great motorcycle ride to Ha Giang.
Summary:
Distance: 180 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
This motorbike tour to Ha Giang is one of the big days of the full Northern Vietnam Tour by Motorbike, right after starting the ride, we’ll try the difficult off-road motorbike ride to Hoang Su Phi where is famous for beautiful terrace rice fields and bumpy rugged roads. The last 30 km to Ha Giang is an easy motorbike ride on the smooth road. We’ll be at the hotel in Ha Giang at 5:00 pm. Summary: Distance: 170 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
The motorbike ride form Ha Giang to Dong Van is one of the best parts of this motorcycle tour in Vietnam, the ride offers one of the most beautiful view of mountains in North Vietnam, the imposing view of the rock plateau won’t disappoint any motorcyclists, we can stop to take picture every meter of the way, beside we can take some visits to visit some of the local hill tribes such as The Lo Lo or Hmong people to learn more about their culture and the difficulties of their lifetime. We will end the enjoyable Ha Giang – Northern Vietnam motorbike ride at the guest house in Dong Van at 5:00 pm. Summary: Distance: 150 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
After breakfast in Dong Van, we can have a walk around the town to see colorful market if you come at the weekends or visit some interesting ancient houses those were built around 200 years ago. Resume the Northern Vietnam motorbike ride at around 9:30 am to Dong Van, the ride in the morning is still on the famous Rock plateau or the Dong Van Global Geo-Park; especially we’ll cross the Ma Pi Leng pass – one of the longest and most beautiful passes in North Vietnam. The motorbike ride in the afternoon to Bao Lac is almost downhill along the Nho Que and Gam River. The beautiful day ends at the hotel on the river bank of the Bao Lac town at 4:30 pm. Summary: Distance: 130 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
After breakfast, back on the bikes then start the motorcycle ride to Cao Bang – Northeast Vietnam. The ride is almost on the mountain passes up and down crossing many villages of the ethnic people. Lunch is in Cao Bang town, after lunch we continue the Vietnam motorbike ride heading up to the North of the country, getting closer and closer to Chinese border. We’ll end the day at 5:00 pm at Quang Uyen town – the quiet town surrounded by some rustic villages of the Tay and Nung people where you can choose to stay in a guest house or stay with a local ethic people in a stilt house. Summary: Distance: 190 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Home-stay with several beds and mosquito nets.
It’s another highlight of this 15-day motorcycle ride in Vietnam. After getting out of Quang Uyen town, we’ll ride straight up to the North to the border between Vietnam and China where we take a visit to the most beautiful waterfall in Vietnam – Ban Gioc waterfall.
After lunch at the fall, we’ll try some of-road ride nearby the waterfall, taking picture of amazing scenery or have a swim in a natural pool with the fresh water from the Ban Gioc waterfall. Saying goodbye to the Ban Gioc waterfall, we’ll have a motorbike ride on another beautiful road back Cao Bang city where we have a relaxing night in a hotel.
The motorbike ride from the fall to Cao Bang offers a great mountain view, the road is not so steep but quiet and different from the roads we did ride on before.
It is for sure one of the best parts of this motorcycle tour in Vietnam.
Summary:
Distance: 180 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Hotel.
It’s an easy and relaxing day of the tour. After breakfast in hotel, getting back on the bike and continue the motorbike ride in North Vietnam to Ba Be Lake, the ride is almost on the smooth road until close to the lake, we have to slow down to ride on the narrow, bumpy road and enjoying the scenery of the National Park.
We’ll stop at the peaceful village of the Tay people to have lunch. After lunch, we’ll take a short walk to the pier nearby to have a short boat tour on the Ba Be Lake – one of the biggest natural lakes in Vietnam.
After a long motorbike tour in Vietnam the relaxing time on the lake is wonderful. You can also have a swim on the lake. After a joyful day, we will have a warm dinner and stay at the village of hill tribe who live nearby the lake.
Summary:
Distance: 150 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Home-stay with several beds and mosquito nets.
After breakfast with the Tay family, we’ll have an enjoyable motorbike trip to Thac Ba lake on almost the small back roads. It’s another short and relaxing motorbike ride of this 15-day Vietnam motorcycle tour.
We’ll be at the peaceful village of the Dzao people at around 3:00 pm, leave all the bikes in the village then take a boat ride around the largest man-made lake in Vietnam – Thac Ba lake.
With nearly 3000 islands and emerald water, Thac Ba lake is known as Halong bay in land. It’s surely other highlights of this Northern Vietnam motorcycle ride. End the day at around 5:00 pm then spend the last night of the tour with interesting Dzao people.
Summary:
Distance: 160 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Accommodation: Home-stay with several beds and mosquito nets.
Ending the North Vietnam tour by motorbikes with the short off-road motorbike ride through the villages nearby the lakes, we’ll try to be away from the busy roads as long as possible.
After getting down close to Hanoi we’ll ride on the winding dike road along the Red River to get back to Hanoi.
We will end the great 15-day Vietnam motorcycle ride at 4:00 pm in Hanoi.
Summary:
Distance: 150 km / Meals: Breakfast, Lunch / Accommodation: None.
“Do I need a motorbike license or which kind of motorbike license are legal to ride in Vietnam?” Is a quite popular question and it’s still complicated to give the clear answers.
Relating to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic in 1968, International Drivers Permits (IDP) are legal here in Vietnam if your home country has signed agreement at the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, and your motorbike license from your home country must be registered on the IDP. The UK, Australia and many other countries did not sign the agreement at the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and their licenses are not recognized in Vietnam.
So depending on from which country you get the IPD, you can ride in Vietnam legally or not; however, it’s just the law, it’s pretty easy on the road. The local people and policemen are quite friendly with foreigner tourists so if you can ride a motorbike well and especially with a local tour guide, NOBODY will care about your license or stop you when you are on tour with a local tour guide.
In addition, it’s now easier to Convert your regular motorbike licenses into IDP or local motorbike licenses in Vietnam that you can ride legally in Vietnam.
The most important thing is to make sure your Vietnam visa is stamped with the correct dates. The standard tourist visa is valid for a period of up to 30 days. If you’re going for less than 30 days you can either specify the exact dates, but it is probably best to ask for the maximum period to give yourself more flexibility. Processing normally takes between a week and ten days, but longer for overseas Vietnamese.
The Ha Giang Loop is renowned for being a motorcycle ride. It’s the best way to experience the region because of the types of roads you’ll be travelling along. They’re narrow, winding, often undulated and that makes it thrilling and exciting. You won’t want to be cooped up in a car or bus watching the world pass you by through a steamed-up window. Riding up, over and through this epic mountainous region on a motorcycle is the absolute best way to really, viscerally experience it.
The mass majority of tourists and travellers who come here will do it on two wheels. After spending months riding through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines on our round the world motorcycle trip, I can easily say that Vietnam’s Ha Giang Loop is one of the very best motorcycle routes and roads in the whole of Southeast Asia.
Specifically referring to the “guided” tours, this means that a motorcycle-riding guide, a support truck driver, or some combination of specialists in the area you’ll be traveling will be guiding you along the way. Guided tours typically have the hotel package, meals, and other features included in the tour, so without a doubt, this is the most convenient type of tour to take. For guided tours, simply reserve your spot in advance, show up at the airport on the designated date with your motorcycle gear, and we take care of everything else for you then. Just relax, ride, and enjoy!
It’s exactly what the name implies: A group that consists entirely of just yourself, or just the group of friends, family, or coworkers that you’d like to share a great riding experience with. When you see a guided tour listed on our website with fixed departure dates, those trips are open to the public, so anyone from around the world could end up riding together to fill out the group. In between those “public” dates, we have many opportunities to guide your private group without allowing outsiders. Please keep in mind, the more people you have, the lower the per-rider cost for a private group tour. As there are common or “fixed” costs like the guide(s), their hotels, food, salaries, etc., the more people you have in your private group, the less of the “fixed” costs each rider needs to pay.
The most popular question and its hardest question is that “is it safe to ride in Vietnam?” It’s hard to give the correct answer because it’s depending on each rider’s riding skill or each person’s carefulness… but you should trust the ones who did a long motorbike tour in Vietnam. All the bikers after doing Vietnam motorbike tours with us usually say traffic in Vietnam is funny or crazy. Some people say you should forget all the rules when you ride in Vietnam “NO RULES in Vietnam”.
It is almost right because the local people do not ride carefully, they get the license easily, some people can buy license easily so they don’t ride carefully with almost ‘No rules. We can say it’s not very safe to ride motorbikes in Vietnam. However, it’s only true for the one who ride themselves. If you can ride after a local tour guide who can take you on safe and unique routes, you will never die in Vietnam.
To book our trip, please select your preferred trip and click on “Book now” on web page. Our booking form wizard will automatically call the trip name and ask you to fill out some fields for information. Once completed filling the form, you just click Submit to send us your enquiry or reset to cancel what you have filled up.
After receiving your reservation request, we will immediately make all the necessary arrangements in accordance with your request. This will take less than 1-2 business days, and we will send you our confirmation message by e-mail with all the details of tours, the booking status and also payment term.
Level 1 – These routes are the most basic we offer either as guided or self-guided trips. Such a route will be completely paved (except for a possible gravel driveway or road construction spot,) and generally don’t have much in the way of complicated twists and turns. Factors like altitude, weather, wind, traffic, etc. are of a minimum concern to the average motorcycle rider.
Level 2 – These routes are typically either completely paved, or almost completely paved, but may contain about 1-5% or so of simple hard-packed gravel/dirt necessary to proceed in spots along the same itinerary. (Customization may always be possible in
order to avoid this, so inquire further.) The riding will likely have some twists and turns, and factors like weather,
altitude, wind, and traffic are typically not a concern, but may not be perfect of course during your trip. (Please keep in mind, just because a tour might be a "Level 2" does not mean it is boring! All routes on our website are chosen for being the most fun, interesting, and beautiful ways to ride through each country or region shown.)
Level 3 – These routes can be anywhere from about 25-75% off-pavement (see your specific route’s description.) A significant amount of gravel, dirt, light sand, or riding on rocks can be expected, so generally speaking, motorcycle riders who have ridden on this type of terrain previously and successfully on the same or similar motorcycles won’t have a problem when on the motorcycles used for these routes. However, these routes might be graded as a Level 3 due to factors like rough weather, altitude, high winds, or some long days that will test a rider’s endurance.
Personal/travel insurance is not inclusive in this tour, it requires that you have adequate and valid travel insurance covering medical and personal accidents, including repatriation costs and emergency evacuation. We recommend using World Nomads’ travel insurance.
Motorbike.
English Speaking Guide.
All meals, water and soft drinks on tour.
Accommodation in Local home-stays and guesthouses – twin share.
Petrol, oil and mechanic on tour.
Riding gear: open / face helmets.
Rain poncho.
Spacious saddle bags & plastic bags to pack clothes in.
Bungee cords and tie downs.
Permits, tolls and entrance fees.
Most of our motorcycle tours in Vietnam are off the beaten tracks to noon touristy/ unknown attractions…so we hope you understand and do not expect too much to have luxury hotels with plenty choices of fancy meals. We do have some tours to big towns/cities in Vietnam where you can stay in luxury hotels with fancy meals are available…however, most of our tours have just basic hotels. We will surely choose the best hotel in the region where we stay but they’re just basic standard ones but as you know the experience to ride off the beaten tracks to these remote areas is worthless.
Accommodations:
As mentioned all of our motorbike tours are off the beaten tracks so we will do stay between hotels and home-stay.
+ Homestay: Staying at homestay is a special experience that you can’t miss during the bike tours in Vietnam. All the homestays are legally licensed by Vietnamese government to ensure the safety, hygiene…and they are well chosen by experienced guide team to make sure your stays are worthy, enjoyable and memorable. All the homestay we choose are nicely wooden houses, they are all traditional typical houses in the region with friendly hosts who can cook great local food that can meet expectation of any foreigners. In addition, the view of the homestay is of the important factors for to choose. Most of the homestay have a great view of countryside /nature and well connecting with the community.
+ Hotel: We would like to say again, during our Vietnam motorcycle tours, we will pick the best hotels in towns but they’re almost in the remote areas where you can only find the basic standard hotels: They all will have free Wi-Fi, hot shower, clean and western-styled toilet…and a great view of nature.
Every season in Vietnam has its own beauty and unique color. Spring is from February to April and you will see different shades of green everywhere in the north. This is usually the best time to ride.
Summer lasts for approximately 5 months through to the end of November. It is also the rainy season.
The scenery in the mountains is both colorful and diverse and that is when the rice harvest takes place. September and October you will see stunning views of the rice terraces where the whole landscape turns yellow. The experience is amazing. Winter starts from mid-November and lasts until early February.
You should book your own hotel in Hanoi, you can try websites like Agoda.com, Booking.com…They have competitive prices with what you can book in person. We will meet you and take you to our office where you will be briefed on the tour schedule. You will be given a map, all riding gear including wet weather gear, helmets if required, waterproof bags, and saddle bags.
* We don’t endorse them they seem to do a good job.
We can book you any hotel in Hanoi or in any other city that you request. We recommend a standard hotel (2-3) stars in order to save costs. The rates are usually $30-$50 USD per night.
We can also arrange airport welcome pickup and farewell departure to and from hotel, at your request.
Airport transfers are not included in the price of this tour, however you can book for an arrival transfer in advance. In this case a tour operator representative will be at the airport to greet you. To arrange this please contact our customer service team once you have a confirmed booking.
In terms of costs, we cover everything except telephone calls, tips, souvenirs, alcoholic drink and personal medical insurance. As there are often some impressive minority crafts to be found in the markets or some more bizarre products of Chinese origin bank on US$150-200 extra.
In almost every situation, “YES,” you need to bring your own riding safety and protective gear, as most of our operations do not offer gear you can rent. Please confirm this with us as you’re selecting a trip, and also if you want some riding gear recommendations, prepare for every situation possible and make sure you’re well protected for riding.
This answer actually does not vary from tour to tour, as we hope you are in excellent physical and mental condition anytime you plan on riding a motorcycle. As with other topics, let’s discuss what shape you’re in and the type of tour you’re planning on to make sure there’s a match. However, our “approval” of your condition does not take the place of a trusted doctor’s evaluation, which is something we strongly encourage you to seek before any tour or rental.
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