10 Day Vietnam Motorcycle Tour

VN Great Northern

Love deep jungles? Huge lakes and picturesque colonial towns? Meandering mountain passes? North Vietnam’s where it’s at. This ride heads north from the capital, skirting the mountainous Chinese border and hitting the highlights of the Ha Giang Loop. Vietnam Great Northern is the closest you’ll come to a definitive north Vietnam motorcycle tour.

Location

north Vietnam

Distance

1300 km

Duration

10 days

Difficulty

Intermediate

Pillion

pillions welcome

Day 1: Hanoi – Thac Ba

Start your adventure on the back roads that lead along the Red River and out of Hanoi. There’s a cool monument commemorating a historic battle between the French and Viet Minh forces that we’ll check out, before heading north via the Lo River Valley on the way up to Thac Ba. Test your offroad skills on the dirt tracks in the area before, weather-permitting, taking a boat across the massive man-made lake (and perhaps even doing a bit of fishing).

Day 2: Thac Ba – Hoang Su Phi

There’s an absolutely crazy little bamboo bridge to be ridden on the way north from Thac Ba. Presuming we don’t all drown, we’ll take the mountain roads north to Hoang Su Phi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for having some of the most impressive rice-terraced vistas on the planet. Our hotel in Hoang Su Phi’s great, too: it’s a sort of boutique lodge with hot springs attached, boasting some of the best-cooked food in the region.

Day 3: Hoang Su Phi – Quan Ba

Most tour companies take the main road from Hoang Su Phi, but we recently discovered an awesome (challenging) back road. Provided everyone’s up for it and the weather isn’t crazy, we’ll ride that way up through the green tea fields of Cao Bo up towards Ha Giang City. We actually like to stay the night a little outside the city: we’ve some really cool ethnic Dao friends in the area who have a fantastic home and are always up for a party!

Day 4: Quan Ba – Dong Van

It ain’t far from Quan Ba up to Dong Van, but there’s a crazy amount to see along the way. The Lung Khuy cave in the area is massive, and all lit up in coloured lights, and the linen Co-op offers a cool opportunity to check out the skills of local ethnic artisans. While the H’Mong King’s Palace doesn’t stand up, say, to its European Equivalents, the story of its most recent inhabitants’ association with Ho Chi Minh is fascinating.

Day 5: Exploration Day

We spend our exploration day in the Dong Van because the place is fascinating. The town itself, while fun, is pretty small, but it’s surrounded by Dong Van Karst Geopark. Covered in limestone mountains, the place looks almost like an alien landscape —it’s unique. There’s also the huge Ma Pi Leng Gorge to check out, and we should be able to head up to Lung Cu, Vietnam’s northernmost point, where we’ll get a panoramic view of Vietnam and southern China.

Day 6: Dong Van – Bao Lac

By this point, we’re essentially riding the world-famous Ha Giang Loop. Huge, karst mountains, winding rivers and deep gorges—it’s all there. On the way north we’ll get the opportunity to check out Meo Vac, as well as take a bamboo raft across the water. Bao Lac’s cool, too: it’s one of these ‘hub’ type of towns, where local ethnic people come to trade at the huge Sunday market. Even in these modern times it has an ancient rural feel.

Day 7: Bao Lac – Ban Gioc

Ride the mountain roads that thread Vietnam’s natural border with China, all the way down to Ban Gioc Waterfall. Actually, this whole area is subject to ongoing border disputes: while it’s perfectly safe for foreigners, the vibe can be interesting, to say the least. Your guide will likely tell you the story of the displacement of the ‘border demarcation stone’, which happened during the War. Whatever the case, the waterfall itself is an awesome sight—it’s basically a must on any Vietnam motorcycle tour.

Day 8: Ban Gioc – Cao Bang

It’s actually a pretty short ride from Ban Gioc to Cao Bang, so we’ll have the opportunity to check out the awesome Tiger Cave or even further explore Ban Gioc Waterfall and the surrounding area before heading south. The Ma Phuc Mountain Pass, which we’ll definitely hit up on the way, offers some fantastic views of the region and there’s a village nearby where we’ll get to see local craftsmen making knives.

Day 9: Cao Bang – Ba Be

The road through Cao Bang to Ba Be winds through a massive valley, then takes us over Phia Oac, another mountain pass. One of the highlights of the day, though, is taking a little boat right through Puong Cave and on to a gorgeous, locally-owned homestay that we maintain is home to some of the best food Vietnam has to offer.

Day 10: Ba Be – Hanoi

Entering Hanoi from the north is far more chill than from, say, the west. This means we’ll be able to enjoy quiet back roads most of the way, a couple of which even have a nice river crossing or two. When we get back to the city, we’ll have our farewell dinner in one of our favourite of the city’s many world-class 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.

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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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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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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