Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau valley
Being greeted by our tour guide today. He briefs the tour program as well as gets you acquaintance with the bikes for about 30 minutes depending on your own experience with bikes.
At 8:30 am we will manage to leave Hanoi to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai minority people. We take our wheels on road No 6 high way passing expansive rice paddies and scenic villages. Have a stop for refreshment before tackling 70km of the undulating road with great view of mountains and valley.
Noontime: We will reach Mai Chau valley. We ride straight to Pom Coong village, a peaceful village of White Thai minority people where we have a lunch,
Afternoon: We can have a walk to visit and look at the daily life of the local people in their village. Return to Pom Coong village for dinner and spend our night in a traditional stilt-house of a Thai family.
Summary
Riding: 170km on mountainous road
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay in the village
Day 2: Mai Chau - Son La
Breakfast at the home-stay before we embark on a beautiful ride up north to Son La. The road is in good condition and the scenery is stunning. We may take frequent stops to visit minority villages of H’mong people, Black Thai people,… or to take photos.
Lunch will be served in a local restaurant.
The highlight of our ride today are tea plantations in Moc Chau Plateau, where you find the best green tea in Vietnam grown along the roads on hillsides. We reach Son La in the afternoon. Have time to visit Son La prison to understand a part of Vietnamese French war history.
We check in the hotel and free time for dinner. Overnight in Son La.
Summary
Riding: 187km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel in Son La
Day 3: Son La – Than Uyen
Breakfast at hotel, we hop on our motorbikes for a ride on road No6 for about 30km to visit Thuan Chau Market, where you will meet Black Thai minority people in their beautiful costumes and selling their home-made products. This is very nice chances for photos. Then we ride toward Than Uyen with a short turn back and we take a turn to Road No279. This is time for going off-road and fun experience here will be the highlights of today.
Stop for lunch in Quynh Nhai.
Then we continue our motorbikes to Than Uyen and enjoy the awesome views of stunning terrace fields, Son La Lake – that is the human-made lake for Son La hydroelectric plant, the biggest one in South East Asia. Arrive in Than Uyen afternoon then check in hotel for relaxing.
Summary
Riding: 162km with several off-road portions
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Hotel: Hotel in Than Uyen
Day 4: Than Uyen - Sapa
Save the best for the last! Today, we enjoy breakfast at the hotel and get ready to take the most stunning ride to the best place in North Vietnam, Sapa.
After about 100km, we meet O Quy Ho pass – one of four most grand passes in North Vietnam and entire Vietnam actually. We will ride up to the highest point of the pass and the high road of Vietnam at 2200m above sea level. You are absolutely amazed by terrace fields, valleys and the winding roads that you have passed by while standing at the top.
We arrive in Sapa and we will have a lunch in Red Dzao restaurant a famous restaurant in Sapa.
The afternoon will be free on your own account to exploring Sapa.
Overnight in Sapa.
Summary
Riding: 140km uphill and downhill
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel in Sapa.
Day 5: Sapa- Ha Giang province
Today, you are going to connect two best representatives of North West, Sapa, and North East, Ha Giang.
Breakfast at the hotel, we ride to Ha Giang after a visit to Ha Khau border gate – a notable gate between Vietnam and China. On the riding way along road No70 then 279, we may stop at Bac Ha market if it is Sunday.
Lunch at the local restaurant.
Depending on the season, we may take the route via Hoang Su Phi where the terrace fields are absolutely stunning in May when irrigating the fields and in October – November when harvesting the rice.
The last part of this days is rather easy with about 45km on good road No02. We arrive in Ha Giang, check in the hotel and overnight.
Summary
Riding: 250km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: hotel in Ha Giang town
Day 6: Ha Giang – Đong van – Flagpole Lung Cu - Ha Giang
Breakfast at your hotel, we will start to Dong Van in Ha Giang – the first Karst Geopark of Vietnam via Bac Sum pass. We stop for a very nice photo chance at Quan Ba
Visiting Lung Lam village where you can see how the Hmong people weaving flax trees to make their clothes.
Stop for lunch at Yen Minh town.
In the afternoon, we keep our motorbikes to Vuong House ( Hmong King) and Lung Cu flagpole – this flags the furthermost point to North Vietnam. We ride back to Dong Van and tonight we overnight at Dong Van.
Summary
Riding: 150km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel in Dong Van
Day 7: Dong Van – Ba Be
we have breakfast at the hotel and start to Ba Be, this will be a long day today
We are going to conquer one of the four greatest and highest passes of Vietnam, Ma Pi Leng. Once you can reach the highest point of the pass, the views of the valley and Nho Que River under your wheel are absolutely unforgettable. This is the don’t-miss chance for photography.
Keep going on the 279 high way of Vietnam to Bao Lac for lunch
13:00 Starting our motorbike again to ride to Ba Be lake – the biggest natural lake in North Vietnam. You are going to pass and stop to see lovely water wheels as the homemade irrigation system for terrace fields. Riding further, you should prepare for some challenging and long off-road portions (maybe 50km or more) when you ride over the road covered by streams or under constructions. In some parts, the water level might be high up to the half of your motorbike wheels. This is the most fun moments of the day.
Summary
Riding: 280km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Homestay in Ba Be
Day 8: Ba Be lake
After breakfast, we visit Ba Be Lake, one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in the world, located In Bac Kan, Vietnam and in Ba Be National Park. This is recognized as a national tourist site in Vietnam. The lake was formed over 200 million years ago. By the end of the Cambrian continental Southeast Asia, a huge body of water with a surface area of approximately 5 million square meters and a thickness of over 30 meters was built upon the limestone mountains, creating the Ba Be Lake. The three branches of the lake are called Pé Lam, Pé Lu, and Pé Lèng.
In 1995, Ba Be Lake was recognized by the World Hook Conference, held in the United States, as one of 20 special freshwater lakes of the world that need protection. At the end of 2004, Ba Be National Park was recognized as the ASEAN Heritage Garden.
After an hour cruise along the lake, we will reach the Nang River, the big river leads us to Puong Cave, a large cave is cleared and the river flows through it. It is home to a large bat with millions of bats.
After the cave, we go down the Nang River to Dau Dang Waterfall, which is formed by the fault of the crust of the earth.
Lunch will be served at Dau Dang Restaurant.
After lunch, we get on the boat back to the Ba Be a lake, if the weather is good we can swim.
At the later afternoon, we will back the homestay, relax and have dinner
Summary
Riding: None
Boat: full day
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Homestay in Ba Be
Day 9: Ba Be – Ha Noi
Enjoy breakfast at your homestay in the morning of pure nature. We say goodbye to our kind host for the last ride day of this adventure to Hanoi. On the way, we will stop in Thai Nguyen city to visit the Vietnam ethnic culture museum– where you can understand all of the minority people in Vietnam.
Stop for lunch en route. Keep our ride and we get back to Hanoi late afternoon. Time to celebrate your completion of the great motorcycling adventure over North Vietnam.
Summary
Riding: 250km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Not available