10-Day Dien Bien Phu Motorcycle Tour

Ancient Northwest

Ancient Northwest Dien Bien Phu motorcycle tour takes you through the best of Vietnam’s mountainous north, through stepped rice fields and over insane mountain passes. Visit historical sites both ancient and semi-modern in the country’s least densely-populated region. Explore national parks, ethnic villages, lakes, hot springs and the old colonial hill station of Sapa.

Location

north Vietnam

Distance

1300 km

Duration

10 days

Difficulty

Intermediate

Pillion

pillions welcome

Day 1: Hanoi – Pu Luong

Take the back roads west from Hanoi along the Black River and down to Hoa Binh. The town is home to an absolutely massive hydroelectric dam, and the views from it are awesome. From there, we’ll descend into the Pu Luong Valley, on a mountain road surrounded by forest. Our homestay is next to a cool waterfall, too—an excellent place for a dip!

Day 2: Pu Luong – Moc Chau

The route to Moc Chau Plateau takes us up through Pu Luong Nature Reserve, an area populated by a variety of ethnic hill tribes and boasting some of the most impressive mountains and stepped rice fields in the country. From Pu Luong, we’ll ride Highway 6 up to the plateau. Highway 6 was built by the French to connect Hanoi with Dien Bien Phu, and remains one of the most impressive roads in the country.

Day 3: Moc Chau – Son La

The main road from Moc Chau to Son La winds through the mountains on the way to one of Vietnam’s least densely populated areas, with scenery reminiscent of the Ha Giang Loop. You’ll see strawberry fields and clusters of stilt houses along the way, before stopping off to check out Son La Prison. This place was built by the French to house captured revolutionaries, and remains one of the most interesting and best maintained historical sites in the country.

Day 4: Son La – Dien Bien Phu

The Pha Dinh Pass was how the Vietnamese revolutionaries brought all their guns and artillery to Dien Bien Phu, the site of the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War. It’s highest point is around 1,100 metres above sea level, and it offers an almost panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. Today you explore some of the historic sites of this Dien Bien Phu motorcycle tour: when you arrive in te city itself, you’ll have the opportunity to check out a variety of sites of historical interest, including A1 Hill, the War Museum and the Bunker of Colonel de Castries.

Day 5: Dien Bien Phu – Sin Ho

Follow the river northwards along the valley, up the steep, winding road to the village of Sin Ho. We love Sin Ho: while small enough in itself, it serves as a sort of market town for members of the local hill tribes. This means you’ll meet people from some very different walks of life there, and you’ll get a once-in-a-lifetime insight into the local way of life.

Day 6: Sin Ho – Sa Pa

Continue north along the winding road that leads from Sin Ho up to the old hill station of Sa Pa, now a bustling tourist destination. On the way, you’ll ride the O Quy Ho Pass, which in our estimation is easily up there with Hai Van among the most impressive mountain passes in the country. O Quy Ho looks out over the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, which is home to Fansipan Mountain, or, the ‘Roof of Indochina’.

Day 7: Sa Pa – Mu Cang Chai

From Sa Pa we’ll backtrack a little, heading over the O Quy Ho Pass, this time in the opposite direction. The reason for this is that we want to hit up Mu Cang Chai. Forget what you’ve heard about Sa Pa: it’s awesome, but Mu Cang Chai (a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site) is home to the best rice terracing and single tracks in the world. We don’t want to miss it.

Day 8: Mu Cang Chai – Nghia Lo

There’s another sweet mountain pass, Khau Pha, on the way south to Nghia Lo. That’s our route. It cuts right through another massive mountain range and the sights there are incredible. It’s also pretty remote, since most people heading south take the main road east of the pass. This means you’ll be experiencing a part of Vietnam that, until now, has remained pretty well untouched.

Day 9: Nghia Lo – Xuan Son

Close to Yen Bai township on our way south we’ll stop by Tram Tau Hot Springs. We love the clear blue waters there, and the way they look out over some really nice countryside. From Tram Tau, we’ll tak the back roads to Xuan Son, a massively underrated national park that, being there, you’d never believe is only 80 kilometres away from the country’s capital, Hanoi.

Day 10: Xuan Son – Hanoi

Day Ten is all about finding the most chilled, scenic route back to the capital. There are actually some really nice roads, through local villages and the tea hills of Long Coc, that’ll get us nice and close. Then it’s all about following the Black and Red Rivers back into the capital, where we’ll have a farewell dinner in one of the city’s top restaurants.

Pricing X Availability

Honda XR 150 $1800/rider

Honda CRF 300 $2000/rider

R.E Himalayan 400 $2100/rider

Honda CB 500X $2200/rider

BMW 1250 GS $3200/rider

Tour Gallery

Inclusions X Extras

English-Speaking Guide

Each of our guides has years of experience running motorcycle tours and is an expert on the local area.

All speak English and the local language, and guides who can speak other languages are sometimes available on request.

Motorcycle X Fuel

The cost of hiring your motorcycle is included in that of the tour. All running expenses, including fuel, are included as well.

Food X Drink

All meals are provided, as are drinks and snacks along the way.

You’ll dine sometimes in your accommodation, sometimes at quality local restaurants.

Let us know in advance of any preferences or dietary requirements and we are happy to cater for these.

Accommodation

Accommodation is minimum 3-star quality.

Standard is a twin share room but on occasion (due to remote location) we will share one large, dorm-type room: in a stilt house or a yurt, for example.

All locations have been scouted beforehand and checked for cleanliness and good service.

Waterproof Gear

Conditions in many of our destinations, in Asia, for example, may be really different from your home country.

Rain can be heavy, and start falling at a moment’s notice.

We’ll sort you out with a waterproof rain poncho and overtrousers where necessary.

Private Accommodation

We offer twin-share accommodation as standard. In most locations, though, we can arrange single occupancy if you prefer.

This comes at a small surcharge, but in most tour destinations is quite reasonable.

Motorcycle Gear

While most riders prefer to bring their own gear, we do have a limited range of extra gear (boots, gloves, armour and helmets, for example) in most of our tour destinations.

Naturally, whether or not we’ll be able to supply you with gear depends on size and availability.

Pre X Post Tour Accommodation

We are happy to provide suggestions on pre and post-tour bookings in accommodation: knowing the area well, we know the best places to stay at all price points.

We can even book for you as an added extra without any service fee, sometimes even at a discount.

Robert O'Donoghue 2 months ago

Rode with these guys in Cambodia, February 2024.

7-day loop from Phnom Penh up to Angkor Wat and back. Absolute pros - bikes (Honda dual-sports) were great, booking was easy, itinerary on point. Plenty of dirt riding, too, which is what my buddies and I requested.

Highly recommend ADV. Big thanks to Danny and the team.

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Charlie Georgiou 2 months ago

Went on tour with ADVOutriders a couple of weeks ago in Vietnam. It was a fantastic tour. We rode the Honda CB 500x up to Ha Giang and Cao Bang. Bikes were great and we really enjoyed it. Highly recommend!

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Alex 1 month ago

Once in a life time experience, went on a 5 day tour with Danny who was an unbelievable guide, very informative and took us off the beaten track.
We hired the Honda XR 150 and it was perfect, very reasonably priced when you consider the homestays and great food we had.

Will definitely be booking another adventure 10/10.

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Hal 9000 2 months ago

Danny and his crew are fantastic. Did a Cambodia trip with them in March, 2024 and it was insanely good! Riding through jungles, hidden temples, awesome off-road tracks: these guys had it all scoped out. Food and lodgings were great. Excellent adventure at a great price. Highly recommended.

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david ellis 2 months ago

Overall a amazing few days spent on the bikes, taking in some lovely scenic trails, well organised and set up, nice and relaxed attitude to life, strongly recommend, love2all!!!

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