Insightful Northern Vietnam Motorcycle Tour in Focus

Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau – Brief Itinerary:

Day 1: Hanoi Motorcycle Tours to Mai Chau
Day 2: Mai Chau Motorcycle Tour to Phu Yen (Son La) – Offroad Motorcycle Tour to Tribal Villages
Day 3: Phu Yen Motorcycle Tour to Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai)
Day 4: Mu Cang Chai Motorcycle Tour via Than Uyen to Sapa (Lao Cai)
Day 5: Sapa Motorbike Tour to Villages
Day 6: Sapa Motorcycle Tour to Vu Linh – Thac Ba Reservoir
Day 7: Vu Linh Motorbike Tour to Hanoi

Day 1: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Hanoi Motorcycle Tour to Mai Chau (Hoa Binh)

Start our motorbike tour by leaving Hanoi on dyke roads to avoid the heavy traffic around 9 am, we ride our motorbikes west to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai ethnic minority. We will motorcycle on Highway 6 passing extensive farming lands comprising a sea of paddy fields split by tree-lined roads punctuated by limestone karst scenery.

After a light lunch in Hoa Binh Province, we cross Thung Khe, one of the most beautiful mountain passes in North Vietnam then descent to the mountain valley settlement of Mai Chau. After dinner, we join performance, where you can dance and share a range of special liquors (rice wine) with the locals. Overnight in a house-on-stilts of the Thai people.

* Summary:

+ Distance: 160 km

+ Meals: Lunch, Dinner

+ Offroad Ratio: 30%

+ Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 2: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Mai Chau Motorcycle Tour to Phu Yen (Son La) – Offroad Motorcycle Tour to Tribal Villages

Mai Chau is one of the closest places to Hanoi where you can experience a ‘real’ Montagnard village. In the morning we take a short walk around the village to discover local life. Life in the side starts early so by sunrise there is a wealth of activity. The Thai women are masterful weavers who ensure that there is plenty of traditional-style clothing to buy in the village center.

You will see women weaving on looms under or inside their houses in the village We can buy some handmade traditional-style clothing, knife or cross-bow. After breakfast in home-stay, we say goodbye to villagers and leave Mai Chau with an offroad ride via Hang Kia – Pa Co to Van Ho of Son La province where you can have a chance to experience the stunning landscapes of the valley with wildflowers, terraces of corns, bananas, poetic villages with hutches … before turning to the direction of Moc Chau, where we have lunch.

This highland town produces some of Vietnam’s best tea and is a good place to stock up. The surrounding area is also home to several ethnic minorities, including Green H’mong, Dzao, Thai, and Muong. Moc Chau boasts a pioneering dairy industry that started in the late 1970s with Australian (and, later, UN) assistance. The dairy provides Hanoi with such delectable iuxur us as fresh milk, sweetened condensed milk and little tooth-rotting bars called “Banh Sua”.

After lunch, we turn to the less travelled Road 43 leading to the Da River, crossing the reservoir of Da river at Van Yen ferry, then ride on a beautiful winding secondary road until Phu Yen where we stay in a basic guest-house.

* Summary:

+ Distance: 160 km

+ Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

+ Offroad Ratio: 60%

+ Accommodation: Hotel

Day 3: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Phu Yen Motorcycle Tour to Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai)

In the morning, we keep motorbiking across Lung Lo pass before heading up on Road 32. During the First Indochina War, the 15km-long Lung Lo Pass, used by the Vietnamese resistance force to transport weapons, goods, and food during the Dien Bien Phu campaign of 1954, was heavily bombed by the French in order to sever the front lines from the rear. Lung Lo Pass, situated in the northern province of Yen Bai, was also recognized as a national heritage by the ministry.

After lunch, we ride through the Mu Cang Chai massif, almost as high as the Fansipan. From the top, it offers one of the most beautiful views of North Vietnam. The ride is challenging but very rewarding. Overnight in a hotel.

* Summary:

+ Distance: 180 km

+ Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

+ Offroad Ratio: 60%

+ Accommodation: Hotel

Day 4: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Mu Cang Chai Motorcycle Tour via Than Uyen to Sapa (Lao Cai)

We motorbike straight toward the main Fansipan Mountain range. There is also the option for a very challenging back route which takes us through several river crossings. The massive mountain range dominates the road until finally, we must make a splendid climb up from Binh Lu and up to the top of the highest road pass in Vietnam (Tram Ton Pass).

Crossing into Lao Cai Province at over 2,000m the views looks out over the main range for miles and miles, before we descend to the mountainous Sa Pa valley. Sa Pa is located in Lao Cai Province, north-west Vietnam, and 350 km north-west of Hanoi, close to the border with China.

Sapa is famous both for its fine, rugged scenery and for its rich cultural diversity. French used to consider Sapa as Summer Capital of Northern Vietnam in the early decades of the 20th century. Its naturally gifted beauty keeps attracting more and more people to spend their vacation there since then. Particularly, the place is the foremost choice for honeymoon couples! Overnight in Hotel.

* Summary:

+ Distance: 160 km

+ Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

+ Offroad Ratio: 60%

+ Accommodation: Hotel

Day 5: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Sapa Motorbike Tour to Villages

Today, You will ride motorbikes from Sapa to explore the immense Muong Hoa valley with Lao Chai & Ta Van villages where is known as the home of a Black H’mong ethnic minority & the Giay ethnic minority hill tribe who have been living here for hundreds of years. Here you will be able to rest and enjoy your lunch in a local house. After lunch, we’ll keep riding on a hilly trail through a bamboo forest to Giang Ta Chai, Thanh Phu & Ban Ho villages where a Red Dao ethnic minority is living.

On the way, you can make a stop at a small waterfall for a rest and be photographing & learning all agricultural technics that the hill tribes are utilizing to cultivate on their terraces. Once leaving the village, you will descend to a suspension bridge before ascending to the main road where we could keep riding to Topas Ecolodge to sip a cup of coffee & see cloud flying over your head before riding back to Sapa.

* Summary:

+ Distance: 100 km

+ Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

+ Offroad Ratio: 50%

+ Accommodation: Hotel

Day 6: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Sapa Motorcycle Tour to Vu Linh – Thac Ba Reservoir

After having breakfast at hotel, we’ll take our motorbikes down from Sapa to Lao Cai City and then have a coffee-stop on the bank of Nam Thi river, which is Vietnam – China border. Enjoy your coffee while taking the view to China. Head to Road 70 before turn to Luc Yen on Road 152. We through palm forest all the way via Luc Yen to our Dao friends’ village of Vu Linh, which is located by the side of Thac Ba lake, the biggest man-made lake in Vietnam.

This artificial lake has an area of 23,400 ha and 1,331 islands and hills with diverse ecological environments. The water in the lake is blue and clear, and imprinted with the reflections of the surrounding ancient forest. The thousands of hills and islands feature caves such as the Hum, Cau Cuoi and Bach Xa.

After lunch, we take the boat ride, stop by an island for swimming and discover the particularities of this area: the way villagers paddle their boats, the exotic and odd animals living around, the quiet and peaceful beauty of this huge lake, the lifestyle of the Dao among the thousands of islets. We will have an unforgettable dinner with the hosts, whose are really big drinkers and they party every day. The welcome is exceptional and we hope you will survive.

* Summary:

+Distance: 230 km

+Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

+Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 7: Hanoi Motorbike Tour to Mai Chau, Mu Cang Chai, Sapa, Son La, Lai Chau: Vu Linh Motorbike Tour to Hanoi

After breakfast, we ride southeast on Highway 2 and then branch off to the sleepy town of Phu Tho. We follow the edge of the Red River along the dyke, almost to the point where it merges with the Black River after which they flow together to Hanoi. By now we are very much in the lowlands of the delta plains and the north’s main agricultural areas. Harvest time here is a sea of activity.

Crossing the Black River by a bridge, we pass through Son Tay and then return to Hanoi on the highway. We should be back to Hanoi before rush-hour (4 pm) because traffic’s getting busier and busier.

* Summary:

+Distance: 180 km

+Meals: Breakfast,

+Lunch.

END OF THE TRIP

* Inclusions:

+ Motorbike(s) (Honda or Yamaha)

+ Helmet(s)

+ Driving gears

+ Gasoline on tour

+ English speaking guideMechanic (only for a group from 6 passengers)

+ Accommodation as indicated in the itinerary (based on twin or double shared)

+ Homestay permission

+ Meals as indicated in the itinerary

+ Entrance fees & Sightseeing fees

+ Fruits & Coffee on tour

+ Government’s taxes