6 Day Guided Motorcycle Tour to Mai Chau, Phu Yen, Ba Be Lake, Thac Ba in Northern Vietnam

Accommodation

During this tour, you will be accommodated in different homestays and guesthouses based in twin or triple sharing rooms.

For your first night, you will be accommodated in a homestay in Mai Chau. The next day, you will spend the night in a guesthouse in Phu Yen. For the third night, you will be accommodated in a homestay in the Dao village of Vu Linh. The next day, you will spend the night in a homestay right by the side of Ba Be lake with a wonderful and peaceful view. For the last night, you will be accommodated in a homestay in Nung village.

Program

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

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

Meals: Lunch, dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay in village

Day 2: Mai Chau to Phu Yen (Son La), off-road motorbike tours to tribal villages (140 kilometers / 87 miles)

Mai Chau is one of the closest places to Hanoi where you can experience a real Montagnard village. In the morning, you will take a short walk around the village to discover local life. Life in the countryside starts early so by sunrise there is a wealth of activities.

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 your homestay, you will say goodbye to the villagers and leave Mai Chau around 10:00. You will ride from Mai Chau to the direction of Moc Chau, where you have lunch. This highland town produces some of Vietnam's best teas 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, the UN) assistance. The dairy provides Hanoi with delectable luxuries such as fresh milk, sweetened condensed milk, and little tooth-rotting bars called banh sua.

After lunch, you will turn to the less traveled Road 43 leading to 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 will stay in a basic guesthouse.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Accommodation: Guest-house

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

In the morning, you will motorcycle across Lung Lo Pass before heading up on Road 32. During the First Indochina War, the 15-kilometer-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 will 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 a hydroelectricity dam in the 1970s. You will keep riding to the Dao village of Vu Linh where you will 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 you will survive. After that, overnight in a homestay.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 4: Thac Ba to Ba Be National Park (Bac Kan), off-road motorbike tours to tribal villages (190 kilometers / 119 miles)

In the morning, you will motorcycle passing Tan Trao and Cho Chu. Tan Trao historic site is a small valley lying between mountains and jungles. It was used as a resistance base before the August 1945 Revolution. It is also where the Indochina Communist Party first carried out the National Congress (13 August 1945). At the National Assembly held on August 1945 in Tan Trao, the great policies of Vietminh were drawn and a temporary government led by Ho Chi Minh was elected.

Cho Chu Monuments prison is on the hill in the neighborhood Chu Cho township, Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen province. In 1889, the French occupying the station has built robots. In 1894, they put the agency ruled this area agents. Conducted in 1916 to build prisons until 1945, Cho Chu Monuments prison is a vivid symbol of the revolutionary soldiers who were willing to devote life, sacrifice fighting for independence and freedom of the country.

You will keep motorcycling on the beautiful road through Ba Be National Park into your homestay in Bac Ngoi village. It is located inside Ba Be National Park.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 5: Boat ride on Ba Be Lake and motorcycle tour to Na Khan (Bac Kan) (80 kilometers / 50 miles)

You will go on a half-day boat ride on the lake to the other side where you can explore Dau Dang Waterfall. As one of the 27 ASEAN heritage gardens, Ba Be has the potential to attract nature lovers with its 450-hectare natural freshwater lake, and 553 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

According to a survey from the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, over 11,000 years ago, an earthquake caused a collapse of the subterranean Nang River, creating a natural dam that led to the formation of Ba Be Lake.

You will have lunch in a village nearby Dau Dang Waterfall before going back to the homestay. Get on your bikes and take a half-day ride in the countryside to Na Khan. This Nung's village is in the middle of nowhere. You will have the last experience on the trip to share the meals and house with locals.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay

Day 6: Na Khan to Hanoi (160 kilometers / 100 miles)

Easy motor ride in the morning, passing peaceful villages and rice fields before reaching a very busy road in the afternoon. Traffic is getting worst and worst on Road 3, the way back to Hanoi, so you should be back before the rush hour. You will finish your trip around 16:00.

Meals: Breakfast, lunch

Required skill level for this tour: Beginner, intermediate

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

Included excursions

You will be taken on a half day boat ride on Ba Be Lake to the other side where you can explore Dau Dang Waterfall.

Location

This motorcycle tour will take you from Hanoi to:

Mai Chau (Hoa Binh)
Phu Yen (Son La)
Vu Linh village (Thac Ba lake, Yen Bai)
Ba Be National Park (Bac Kan)
Na Khan (Bac Kan)

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Food

You will be provided with meals as outlined in the itinerary. Additionally, you will enjoy fruits and coffee on the road.

The following meals are included:

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Drinks

The following drinks are included:

Coffee

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

Honda Wave 110cc or Yamaha Nouvo 125cc or similar scooters
Helmet(s)
Driving gears
Gasoline on tour
English speaking guide
Mechanic (only for a group from 6 passengers)
5 nights accommodation as indicated in the itinerary (based on twin or/and triple shared)
Homestay permission
Meals as indicated in the itinerary
Entrance fees and sightseeing fees
Boat ride
Fruits and coffee on roads every day

What's not included

Air ticket
Personal expenses
Tips
Travel insurance
Visa
Upgrade to manual dirt bikes of 125cc, 150cc, and 250cc

How to get there

Recommended Airports

HAN

Noi Bai International Airport

100 km

Transfer available for additional US$ 20 per person

Airport: Noi Bai International Airport Airport transfer available: Noi Bai International Airport (US$ 20 per person) Additional charges may apply. You can request this in the next step.

Cancellation Policy

A reservation requires a deposit of 30% of the total price.
The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.