Ride it yourself, or sit behind someone who can.
What four days round the Ha Giang loop with homestays actually costs. Whether the Hai Van Pass is worth doing twice. When a licence matters and when a driver solves it. Reviews of every motorbike tour you can book.
Five rides that talk people into buying the flight.
A street-food run through Saigon traffic, a vintage bike round Hanoi, the karst loop north of it, the coast road over the Hai Van, and a dirt day in Thailand. What each costs and what riders say afterwards.
01The first nightHo Chi Minh City Street Food Tour & Sightseeing By MotorbikeSaigon after dark on the back of a bike, stopping wherever the plastic stools are. The evening that makes the traffic make sense.
02Hanoi on an old bikeHanoi Motorbike Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vintage MotorbikeA vintage machine through the Old Quarter and out along the dyke roads, with enough food stops to skip dinner.
03The loopHa Giang Loop 4 Days 3 Nights Motorbike Tour with easy RiderFour days and three nights round Ha Giang with a rider and homestays booked. The reason most people come north at all.
04The coast roadEasy Rider private tour via Hai Van pass from Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An (1Way|Loop)Hue to Hoi An over the Hai Van, luggage sent ahead by van. Three hours of switchbacks with the sea on your right.
05Off the tarmacPattaya Full Day Dirt Bike TourA full day on a dirt bike in the hills behind Pattaya, bike and gear included. No licence conversation needed.
Vietnam does more of its riding two-up than anywhere else.
Two thousand kilometres of it are ridden every day by people who had never touched a clutch. Four kinds of Vietnamese riding day, what each costs to get on, and where the bike actually takes you.
Ha Giang: three days, four passes, homestays booked for you.
The karst road north of Ha Giang town runs through Dong Van and Meo Vac and the Ma Pi Leng gorge above the Nho Que river. Ride it yourself or sit behind an easy rider. Either way the nights are in village homestays and somebody else moves the bags.
Somebody else rides. You get the view and the local knowledge.
An easy-rider tour puts you on the back of a local rider's bike for a day or a week. No licence, no deposit, no arguing with a hire shop about a scratch. The three below carry more riders than anything else of the kind.
- 1Easy Rider private tour via Hai Van pass from Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An (1Way|Loop)from $55
- 2Ha Giang Loop 4 Days 3 Nights Motorbike Tour with easy Riderfrom $240
- 3High Quality Small Group With Easy Riders 3 Day + Private Roomfrom $265
The licence, the helmet and the insurance question, answered once.
Riding yourself in Vietnam means a licence your insurer recognises, and most travel policies will not pay out without one. Riding pillion means none of that applies. Semi-automatic bikes need no clutch hand. Dirt days come with boots, gloves and a proper helmet included. If the paperwork is the problem, book a rider instead of a bike.
The motorbike rides that sell out while you think about it.
Every ride we have reviewed →More riders take these than anything else, and the food runs through Saigon and Hanoi beat every mountain pass on the list.
1
Ho Chi Minh City Street Food Tour & Sightseeing By Motorbike
Spend about four hours on the back of a motorbike with an English-speaking guide and licensed driver. Taste up to 12 dishes, including bún bò Huế, bánh khọt, bánh mì, grilled banana with sticky rice, and chè, while visiting District 3, District 10, the Cambodian Market, and Ho Thi Ky Flower Market. Female drivers and car options are available.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Hanoi Motorbike Tour: Food, Culture and Fun by Vintage Motorbike
from $55
3
Saigon By Night and Street Food By Motorbike | Opt: Ao Dai Riders
from $37
4
Private Street Food Tour by Motorbike/Car with Local Students
from $45
5
Street Food Tasting & Sightseeing Tour by Motorbike
from $27
6
Top Notch Street Food Motorbike Tour In Ho Chi Minh City
from $29
7
Private Street Food Motorbike Tour in Ho Chi Minh City
from $55
8
Barcelona Private Tour by Sidecar Motorcycle
from $199
What a day on a bike actually costs.
Every ride on the site, grouped by price. A night on the back of a bike through Saigon costs less than the taxi you would otherwise take.
Half-day city runs, food tours by night, a day out of Da Lat or Hoi An.
Full-day passes, the Hai Van run with luggage transfer, a day on a dirt bike.
Three- and four-day loops with homestays, private riders, sidecars in Europe.
Three rides that stop being the same trip in a car.
Plenty of places run a minibus to the same viewpoint. A limestone pass taken at forty, a coast road with nothing between you and the sea, and a food run down alleys no van fits into are not the same experience with a roof on.
The Ha Giang Loop
The road climbs out of Ha Giang town through Quan Ba and Yen Minh, over the Ma Pi Leng and down to Meo Vac, with the Nho Que river a green thread three hundred metres below. Most riders take three days, some four. The surface is good tarmac with rough patches, the hairpins are constant, and fog can close the high sections in an hour. Homestays in Hmong villages are part of the price.
- 1Ha Giang Loop 4 Days 3 Nights Motorbike Tour with easy Rider★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 972 reviews
- 2Ha giang loop 3days and 2nights with easy rider★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 718 reviews
- 33-Day Motorbike Ha Giang Loop with Easy Rider★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 501 reviews
The Hai Van Pass
Twenty-one kilometres of switchbacks between Hue and Da Nang, over the spur where the north's weather stops and the south's begins. Trucks take the tunnel underneath, so the old road is quiet. Riders usually go Hue to Hoi An in one long day with stops at Lang Co lagoon and the abandoned bunkers at the summit, and their bags go ahead in the support van.
- 1Easy Rider private tour via Hai Van pass from Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An (1Way|Loop)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,542 reviews
- 2Easy Rider From Hue Da Nang Hoi An Via Hai Van Pass With Mister T★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 769 reviews
- 3Hai Van Pass Motorbike Private Tour with Mister T Easy Rider★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 742 reviews
Saigon Street Food by Bike
The food is in District 4 alleys and on District 3 corners, and it is spread far enough apart that walking it takes a night you do not have. On the back of a bike you cover six or seven stops in three hours, from banh xeo to snails to che, and the ride between them through the eight o'clock traffic is half of what you came for.
- 1Ho Chi Minh City Street Food Tour & Sightseeing By Motorbike★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 9,413 reviews
- 2Saigon By Night and Street Food By Motorbike | Opt: Ao Dai Riders★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,066 reviews
- 3Private Street Food Tour by Motorbike/Car with Local Students★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,950 reviews
Four rides that will not wait for you to arrive.
Most of a riding trip can be sorted the night before over a beer. These four cannot: the loops run on fixed departure days, the good riders are named and requested by name, and the bikes are counted.
- 01Ha Giang Loop 4 Days 3 Nights Motorbike Tour with easy RiderLoops leave on set days with homestays booked ahead. Turn up in town wanting tomorrow and you take whatever bike is left.
- 02Easy Rider private tour via Hai Van pass from Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An (1Way|Loop)One rider, one pillion, one bag in the van. The named riders on this route are booked out weeks deep in spring.
- 03Easy Rider private tour via Hai Van pass from Hue – Da Nang – Hoi An (1Way|Loop)The good riders build a following and get requested by name. Their calendar, not yours, decides the day you go.
- 04High Quality Motorcycle Dirt Bike 3 Days Tour + Private RoomSized boots, gloves and a bike that fits you. Small fleets sell out and there is nothing to swap in.
Six cities that hand you a helmet at the door.
Traffic worth riding through, a pass worth an early start, terraces above a valley, and three European cities where the bike has a sidecar bolted to it. Six places to start, and the best ride in each.
By place — Vietnam first, then everywhere else
Hanoi, Ha Giang, Sapa, Hue, Hoi An, Da Lat: the run most riders string together.
Ha GiangThe newest motorbike tour reviews.
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