4 Day Breathtaking Guided Motorcycle Tour through Northern Vietnam via Mai Chau and Thac Ba Lake

Beautiful Northern Vietnam Motorbike Tour

This Vietnam motorcycle tour to Mai Chau, Phu Yen, and Thac Ba Lake offers you the exceptional chance to see many beautiful mountain passes, breathtaking landscapes, and friendly people with a start from Hanoi to Mai Chau in Hoa Binh, then Phu Yen in Son La and the final destination is Thac Ba Lake in Yen Bai. You will discover the local ethnic people’s culture by staying with them, sharing meals, and enjoying homemade rice wine.

Key information

Bike: rental bike (Honda or Yamaha motorbikes)
Terrain: a mix of tarmac, gravels, curves, muddy, rocky, and off-road
Mileage: 660 kilometers / 410 miles
Daily rides: 140 - 180 kilometers / 87 - 112 miles
Meals: 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners
Riding gear: included: Helmet(s) and driving gears

Highlights

Starts and ends in Hanoi
Ride to Mai Chau and Phu Yen
Walk around the Montagnard village
Enjoying a music performance and rice wine
Ride along the beautiful Thung Khe mountains
An English or French-speaking guide
Motorbike rental during the tour
3 nights accommodation

Skill level

Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced

4 days with instruction in English

The organizer also speaks: French

Program

Day 1: Hanoi to Mai Chau Valley (Hoa Binh), 160 kilometers / 100 miles

Brief of day one: motorbiking tours to tribal villages - enjoy a music performance + rice wine;

You start your motorbike tour by leaving Hanoi on dyke roads to avoid heavy traffic around 09:00, you ride your motorcycles west to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai ethnic minority. You 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, you 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, you join a 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.

Day 2: Mai Chau to Phu Yen (Son La), 140 kilometers / 87 miles

Off-road motorbike tours to remote tribal villages

Mai Chau is one of the closest places to Hanoi where you can experience a 'real' Montagnard village. In the morning, you take a short walk around the village to discover the local life. The 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 center. You will see women weaving on looms under or inside their houses in the village. You can buy some handmade traditional-style clothing, knife, or crossbow.

After breakfast in the homestay, you say goodbye to the villagers and leave Mai Chau around 10:00. You ride from Mai Chau to the direction of Moc Chau, where you 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, United Nations) assistance. The dairy provides Hanoi with such delectable and fresh milk, sweetened condensed milk, and little tooth-rotting bars called Banh sua.

After lunch, you turn to the less traveled 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, a small mountain town in Son La Province, where you stay in a basic guesthouse.

Day 3: Phu Yen to Vu Linh village (Thac Ba lake, Yen Bai), 180 kilometers / 112 miles

In the morning, you ride across Lung Lo pass before head up on Road 32. During the First Indochina War, the 15 kilometers - 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.

Head up to Ba Khe T-junction, you continue your motorbike tour on a 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 Thac Ba Lake, also formed by the construction of hydroelectricity dam in the 1970s. You keep riding to the Dao village of Vu Linh where you stay for the night, enjoying Dao hospitality.

You will have an unforgettable dinner with the hosts, who are really big drinkers and they party every day. The welcome is exceptional and it's hoped that you will survive.

Day 4: Thac Ba back to Hanoi, 180 kilometers / 112 miles

After breakfast, you ride to the southeast on Highway 2 and then branch off to the sleepy town of Phu Tho. You 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, you are very much in the lowlands of the delta plains and the north's main agricultural areas. The harvest time here is a sea of activity. Crossing the Black River by a bridge, you pass through Son Tay and then return to Hanoi on the highway. You should be back to Hanoi before rush-hour (16:00) because the traffic's getting busier and busier.

Beginner

Can ride for 2-3 hours
Minimal riding experience
Assistance required
Comfortable with curves and leans
Basic experience with unsurfaced roads
Short distance ascents and descents

Intermediate

Can ride for 3-4 hours
Average riding experience
Little assistance required
Comfortable with extreme curves and leans
Average experience with unsurfaced roads
Steep ascents and descents

Advanced

Can ride for 5-6 hours
Extensive riding experience
Assistance on demand (if required)
Experienced with riding a variety of motorcycles
Comfortable with any terrain and weather conditions

Food

You will be provided with 3 breakfasts, 4 lunches, and 3 dinners. You will also be served fruits and coffee on the tour.

The following meals are included:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Drinks

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Regular (typically includes meat and fish)

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation

What's included

3 nights' accommodation
English or French-speaking guide
Entrance fees and sightseeing fees
Fruits and coffee on tour
Gasoline on tour
Helmet(s) and driving gears
Homestay permission
Honda or Yamaha motorcycle rental
Meals as indicated on the itinerary
Mechanic (only for a group starting from 6 passengers)

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Day 1: Hanoi to Mai Chau Valley (Hoa Binh), 160 kilometers / 100 miles

Day 2: Mai Chau to Phu Yen (Son La), 140 kilometers / 87 miles

Day 3: Phu Yen to Vu Linh village (Thac Ba lake, Yen Bai), 180 kilometers / 112 miles