Motorcycle Road Trip from Hanoi to Ba Be via Ha Giang – 6 days

Our guides will pick you up at 8 am, and we all meet our tour director at BM’s tour office for a quick need-to-know briefing to ensure a safe and successful trip. Get on our way at 9 am, weaving through the densely knitted street of Hanoi’s outer suburb towards Nhat Tan Bridge before turning into and hugging the Red River levees towards Vinh Phuc Province. We prioritize back-road and off-road routes on all our tours and avoid larger national roads, as these tend to house the heavy traffic flow with big trucks, making our ride more risky and time-consuming. Taking the off-road motorbike tour and back-road routes, we’ll also get more chances to glance at the peaceful beauty and simplistic everyday life on the Red River Delta.

During our 40 km ride along the levee, we’ll pass countless small villages in-between vast green paddies and gardens, with families of buffaloes and cows roaming about. We stop for lunch at 11:30 in Doan Hung commune and then head to Lo river, taking a ferry to cross the other side. Our afternoon will be spent riding through the Hmong people’s tea hills and exploring a few Dzao villages. We arrive at our homestay near Thac Ba lake at 4:30 pm, take a boat ride around the lake and have dinner with our Dzao homestay host. After dinner, we sing, dance, and learn to play their musical instruments with locals sipping on some rice wine.

We start Day 2 with a short ride around the village to explore their daily life, then cross a big stream and head to Yen The on Route 170. After about 30 minutes on the road, we reach O Do fall, a beautiful waterfall in Yen Bai province. We then stop at Cam Nham fork for a quick coffee break, then continue hugging Thac Ba lakeside for some sightseeing. Soon, we are at the top of a pass on Route 170, where we can look over the lake from above.

As we weave our way past forests of palm trees and limestone mountains, we soon reach Luc Yen town. This town is famous for its gemstones, surrounded by limestone and marble mountains, along with Thac Ba lake and the Chay River. We enjoy lunch here. In the afternoon, we ride from Cao and Xuan Giang street to Viet Quang town, then hug National Highway 2 for another 60 km to Ha Giang city.

We reach Truong Xuan resort at 5:30 pm, ending our 2nd day with lots of excitement and joy. We’ve seen so much on this second day: from the magnificent Thac Ba lake to the rice terraces of Ha Giang to the towering limestone ranges of Luc Yen, and have a great time with Vietnam Motorbike Tour Club Team

We have breakfast and coffee before setting off on yet another exciting day on the road at 8:30 am. About 10km out from the resort, we reach a river fork. Here we have two choices to have another amazing day:

Option 1:

Ride on the well-maintained National Highway 4c with an exceptional view. From above, it looks like we’re riding on the back of a giant snake slithering over hills after hills. We then stop at the welcoming gate to Dong Van geological park before attempting to conquer the mountain pass ahead of us, which offers us a tough ride with some slopes ascending at 15%. We climb and climb until we reach the top. From here, to the left is a prime forest covering the Vietnam-China border, while our right is a vast valley with endless rice terraces blending in with small tiny wooden houses.

We’ll stop for 10 minutes before continuing to another peak: Quan Ba sky gate. After stopping for a while here, we climb to the peak on foot or grab some coffee with a side of sensational view, after which we move on towards Co Tien twin mountains, another landmark in Ha Giang. After being immersed in the spectacular natural scenery, we turn into provincial road 181 to visit Lung Tam village of the H’Mong people. Looking into their daily life and traditional flax weaving craft is such a joy to us. We then ride across giant flax fields to Yen Minh’s peak for the view before stopping at Yen Minh town for lunch at 12:30 pm. An hour later, we ride on National Highway 4c to Dong Van, stopping at H’Mong King Palace and Lung Cu flag pole on the way, and arrive at our hotel at 5:30 pm.

Option 2: This is an extreme off-road Ha Giang route, mostly earthen dirt road. It’s tough, but the ride is fun and exciting! It takes us up to 7 hours to conquer 155 km of dirt road, and tourists gain a much deeper understanding of Ha Giang by traveling on this route. We reach the hotel at about 5:30 pm, ending an exciting and impressive day on our 6-day Ha Giang off-road tour.

Dong Van, Meo Vac is synonymous with nature’s greatness and locals’ tenacity despite their poverty and hardship. Even clean water is a luxury here in this land covered with sharp rocks and trees. We’ll start our day with breakfast as usual. We are on twisting and turning roads again right after we leave town!

Reaching Ma Pi Leng, one of the four great passes of northern Vietnam, standing at 1200m above sea level, we enjoy the view overlooking the poetic Nho Que river. We also offer a 3-5km off-road ride which runs right to the mountain peak for an incredible view of the geological park amid the clouds. At 11.30, we reach Meo Vac and stop for lunch, then get back on the road, where we have two choices for tourists.

Option 1 is for those who prefer a light riding afternoon. We ride from the National Highway 34 for 90 km to Bao Lac, where we end our 4th day with ease and comfort, or

Option 2 with a dirt bike tour or off-road ride through wild and untamed nature, crossing the Nho Que river on bamboo rafts with our bikes, conquering extreme dirt roads, and stopping by at Khau Vai love market, a unique cultural feature of the land. This can be your most memorable ride on our Vietnam motorcycle tour. We only need to cover 90 km, but it takes us more than 5 hours.

We end our 4th day safely at Bao Lac. We’ve seen so much of Ha Giang: Ma Pi Leng, the rocky plateau, and the Khau Vai love market. We hope you’ve gotten much more than fun on the road with us!

Pristine and serene nature! Our northeast Vietnam motorcycle ride has been filled with wonder and excitement, and today will be no different! Our destination for the day is Ba Be national park, and we have picked the most impressive route for our bikers.

First, we turn into a small road with patches of concrete mixed in with northeast off-road Vietnam sections. Over 40 km of the road, we cross streams and villages and visit great prime forests as we get closer and closer to Ba Be national park. We then stop for lunch at a local restaurant. We’re in the middle of nowhere, so the ‘restaurant’ will somewhat match the surrounding. We’re off-road! After lunch, we head towards Cho Ra town and reach Pac Ngoi community tourism village of Tay people deep into the heart of Ba Be National Park at around 4 pm, then take a boat ride around the lake, and maybe take a dip if it’s not too cold. Don’t forget your swimwear and towel!

We bid farewell to our host family and get on with our day after having a hearty breakfast. Taking the small less-crowded provincial road to the Chu market is an interesting 30 km off-road route. We skip this route because those who prefer an easier back-road route get to Hanoi before rush hour. After lunch, we continue our ride on smaller national highways and return to Hanoi at 4:30 pm, ending our final day on this six-day Vietnam motorbike tour with lots of exciting experiences and memories. We’ve experienced, seen, and learned so much about Ha Giang and northern Vietnam in only six days. Nature is great with majestic Thac Ba, magnificent Ma Pi Leng, and serene Ba Be.

END OF TOUR