“Experience riding on off-beaten tracks”
(No availability) 8 Day Vietnam Guided Motorcycle Tour to Sapa with Night Train Back
Mai Chau, Hòa Bình, Northwest, Vietnam
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Exciting Private Motorcycle Tour in Vietnam
This 7-day off-road motorbike tour to Sa Pa via Mai Chau, Son La, and Lai Chau will be started from Hanoi then keep riding on off-beaten tracks over Mai Chau, Phu Yen, Son La, Muong Lay, Lai Chau, Sapa, and Lao Cai, which are known as the most typical exciting places for adventure motorbiking trips. You'll be enchanted with plenty of unique traditions habits, cultures of hill tribes. By the end of the trip, you will take a night train from Lao Cai to save your energy from a long-hard journey!
Key information
- Bike: rental bike (Honda or Yamaha models, geared scooter 110 cc or 125 cc)
- Terrain: mix of tarmac, gravel, curves, steep passes, muddy, rocky, and off-road
- Mileage: 890 kilometers / 554 miles
- Daily rides: 80 - 220 kilometers / 50 - 137 miles
- Riding gear: included: helmets, gloves, reflective jackets, but you can also bring your own gear that suits you best
- Meals: 5 breakfasts, 6 lunches, and 6 dinners
Highlights
- Starts and ends in Hanoi
- Discover the amazing Sa Pa
- Experience a 'real' Montagnard village
- Visit the Old French Prison and Museum in Son La
- Ride via Tram Ton Pass, Vietnam's highest pass
- English or French-speaking guide
- 7 nights accommodation
Skill level
- Intermediate
- Advanced
7 days with instruction
Accommodation
Your accommodation will be based on twin or triple shared rooms at various hotels, guest houses, and home stays.
Program
Day 1: Hanoi to Mai Chau (Hoa Binh), 160 kilometers / 100 miles
In the morning, you start your motorbike tour by leaving Hanoi on dyke roads to avoid the 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.
- Meals: Lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Home-stay
Day 2: Mai Chau to Phu Yen (Son La), 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 take a short walk around the village to discover the 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 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 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 Hmong, 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 luxury as 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 mountain town (a district of Son La Province in the northwestern region of Vietnam), where you stay in a basic guest house.
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Guest-house
Day 3: Phu Yen to Son La City, 160 kilometers / 100 miles
Continuing your motorbike tour on the almost empty Road 37, you 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. You continue through rolling hills before rising up to the sugar cane growing areas on the cooler Son La plateau.
Have a late lunch in Son La City, the capital of Son La Province before you visit Old French Prison and Museum. It was once the site of a French penal colony where anti-colonial 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 watchtowers 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 immortalized. with various landmarks now named after him. Overnight in Son La City.
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Hotel
Day 4: Son La to Muong Lay (Dien Bien), 160 kilometers / 100 miles
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, you come to the beginning of the very long and steep Pha Din pass where at the top you have vast views of the surrounding mountains, then down the other side on a very steep sealed road. Lunch in Tuan Giao.
Head out northwest from Tuan Giao, the road passes isolated communities of Hmong and Thai people, whose small villages settle on the banks of dark green rivers and on the steep slopes of the mountains. Afterward, by a forest stream, the road begins to climb up the high Xa Tong pass; at the top for sunset before dropping sharply into the deep Lai Chau valley. Muong Lay old town was sunk in early 2010 and your new place for overnighting is a new town, which is located on the higher level.
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Hotel
Day 5: Muong Lay to Lai Chau town, 130 kilometers / 81 miles
After breakfast, you will start your easy day along stunning gorges and pass Sin Ho town - the "second Sa Pa" of the northwest.
Flying far from the well-known and colorful markets of Sa Pa, Bac Ha, and Can Cau, there is the bewitching northwest mountainous area of Vietnam with the remote town and market of Sin Ho, the roof of Lai Chau province. Sin Ho town is located on the highest peak of the Sin Ho plateau in Lai Chau Province, over 2,000 meters above sea level, and surrounded by verdant mountain ranges and clouds.
On the way, you will have interesting stops to visit H'mong and Dzao villages before motorbiking down to Lai Chau, where you spend the night at the hotel.
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Hotel
Day 6: Lai Chau to Sa Pa (Lao Cai) to villages, 80 kilometers / 50 miles
You ride your 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, you 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 2,000 meters, the views look out over the main range for miles and miles, before you descend to the mountainous Sa Pa valley. Overnight in Sa Pa.
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Accommodation: Hotel
Day 7: Sa Pa - Lao Cai train station
Have your free time in Sa Pa, spend the time to visit the town, shop handicrafts for the souvenir, or chat with locals, who speak very good English, will tell you lovely stories about their traditions. In the afternoon, you ride down to the train station in Lao Cai city and catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Day 8: Hanoi
Arrive at Hanoi early in the morning.
Required skill level(s) for the tour: intermediate, advanced
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
Included excursions
- Discover local life of Montagnard village
- Visit to Old French Prison & Museum
- Visit to H'mong and Dzao Village
Location
This tour will take place in Vietnam, from Hanoi to Mai Chau, Phu Yen, Son La, Muong Lay, Lai Chau, Sa Pa, and Lao Cai in Vietnam.
Food
Meals as per the itinerary are included in the package (5 breakfasts, 6 lunches, 6 dinners). Fruits and coffee on tour are also provided.
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
Things to do (optional)
- Buy some handmade traditional-style clothing, knife, or crossbow
- Chat with locals
- Shop handicrafts for the souvenir
What's included
- Motorbike(s) (Honda or Yamaha)
- Helmet(s)
- Driving gears
- Gasoline on tour
- English or French speaking guide
- Mechanic (only for group from 6 passengers)
- 7 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
- One-way train ticket Laocai – Hanoi
- Fruits and coffee on tour
What's not included
- Air ticket
- Personal expenses
- Tips
- Travel insurance
- Visa
How to get there
Recommended Airports
HAN
Noi Bai International Airport
101 km
Transfer not provided
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.
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