Motorbike Tour Northwest Vietnam – 4 Days

DAY 1: HANOI – MAI CHAU (HOA BINH) (150km)

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 (homestay)

DAY 2: MAI CHAU – PHU YEN (SON LA) (140km)

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 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 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.

Motorcycle tours to Phu Yen – Son La

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 where we stay in a lovely hotel.

DAY 3: PHU YEN – VU LINH – THAC BA LAKE (150 km)

Motorcycle crossing over the very end of the range and takes us through untarnished rain forest on challenging, rocky road. (The Hoang Lien Son mountain range is the main range of northwest Vietnam and also includes the highest peak – Fansipan). From Ba Khe we continue on sealed road through renowned tea growing areas, where the hillsides are literally covered in plantations, all the way to the city of Yen Bai which sits on the Red River. From here it’s a short ride to the edge of Thac Ba Lake, also formed by the construction of hydroelectricity dam in the 1970s. Overnight in Vu Linh village of Dzao people – Home stay.

DAY 4: VU LINH – HA NOI (170 km)

After breakfast, we motorcycle to the southeast on Highway 2 until Viet Tri town. After lunch we will have very enjoyable motorbike ride along the edge of the Red River bank, almost to the point where it merges with the Black River after which they flow together to Hanoi.

We will have chance to be in the heart of the Red River delta. Arrive Hanoi before rush hours, finish the short northwest Vietnam motorbike tour safely.