OVERHWHELMING NORTHWEST VIETNAM OFFROAD MOTORBIKE TOUR TO SAPA

* Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau – Brief Itinerary:

Day 1: Hanoi motorcycle tour to Mai Chau (Hoa Binh)

Day 2: Mai Chau motorcycle tour to Phu Yen (Son La)

Day 3: Phu Yen motorcycle tour to Son La City

Day 4: Son La motorcycle tour to Than Uyen (Lai Chau)

Day 5: Than Uyen motorcycle tour to Sapa (Lao Cai)

Day + Night 6: Sapa motorcycle tour to Lao Cai and train back Hanoi

Day 1 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Hanoi motorcycle tour to Mai Chau (Hoa Binh)

In the morning we start our motorbike tour by leaving Hanoi on dyke roads to avoid the heavy traffic around 9 am, we ride our motorcycles west to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai ethnic minority.
We will ride 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
Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 2 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Mai Chau motorcycle tour to Phu Yen (Son La)

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 village to discover local life. Life in the countryside 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 centre. 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 around 10 am. We ride from Mai Chau 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 mountain town (a district of Son La Province in the Northwestern region of Vietnam), where we stay in a basic guest-house.

Summary:
Distance: 140 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Guest-house

Day 3 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Phu Yen motorcycle tour to Son La City

Continuing our motorbike tour on the almost empty Road 37 we enter mountains heavily populated with Black Thai people, who work on large terraced rice fields. The winding road passes through many Thai villages and fields and provides a great opportunity to watch country life passing by. We continue through rolling hills before rising up to the sugar cane growing areas on the cooler Son La plateau.

Late lunch in Son La City, the capital of Son La Province, before we visit The Old French Prison & Museum. It was once the site of a French penal colony where anticolonial revolutionaries were incarcerated. It was destroyed by the infamous “off-loading” of unused ammunition by US warplanes that were returning to their bases after bombing raids, but it has been partially restored. Rebuilt turrets and watch towers stand guard over the remains of cells, inner walls and a famous lone surviving peach tree. The tree, which blooms with traditional “Tet flowers”, was planted in the compound by To Hieu, a former inmate from the 1940s. To Hieu has subsequently been immortalised. with various landmarks now named after him.
Overnight in Son La City.

Summary:
Distance: 160 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

Day 4 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Son La motorcycle tour to Than Uyen (Lai Chau)

Heading out northwest from Son La, the road crosses a series of mountain passes and areas of busy Black Thai activity. Children walk to school, kids tend buffaloes, women plant rice seedlings and men pull the buffalo. Then we come to the beginning of the very long and steep Pha Din pass where at the top we have vast views of the surrounding mountains, then down the other side on very steep sealed road. Lunch in Tuan Giao.

Turn to the almost empty winding Road 279 leading to Pa Uon bridge. The first span of the Pa Uon bridge spanning the Da river got connected on Highway 279 in Chieng On commune, Quynh Nhai district, Son La province. The bridge invested by the Ministry of Transport lies within the food-avoiding highways and provincial roads project after the Son La Hydro-electric Power project had been deployed, contributing to forming the nearest road between Son La and Lai Chau provinces. The construction of the bridge started on May 28, 2007. It opened to traffic on April 30 and put into use in July 2010.

Continuing our motorbiking on the empty winding road until we get Than Uyen Town, Lai Chau Province.
Overnight in Than Uyen.

Summary:
Distance: 180 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

Day 5 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Than Uyen motorcycle tour to Sapa (Lao Cai)

We motorcycle head 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: 110 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

Day + Night 6 – Northwest Vietnam Offroad Motorbike Tour to Sapa via Mai Chau, Lai Chau: Sapa motorcycle tour to Lao Cai and train back Hanoi

Free time in Sapa, spending time visiting the town, shop handicrafts for the souvenir or chat with locals, whose speak very good English, will tell you lovely stories about their traditions. In the afternoon, we ride down to Train station in Lao Cai city, catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Arriving Hanoi by next early morning.

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Note: We provide support truck (120$ per day) for emergency and for your safe riding in Vietnam – Most of the other tour operators do not offer that. Contact us if you think it’s necessary.