January Vietnam bike trip
Discussion
Hi. Anyone here have experience of bike hire in Hanoi and riding North from there?
I'm planning a January trip and want 6 or 7 days riding with on and off road, between two weekends for reasons of annual leave. I'm having difficulty finding a trip that doesn't start in the middle of the week so am considering just renting a bike and going on my own. I want to be able to find the remote spots the tour companies go to but see from their videos that the 'roads are often tiny tracks. Are these shown on maps? Any help/ knowledge gratefully received.
I'm planning a January trip and want 6 or 7 days riding with on and off road, between two weekends for reasons of annual leave. I'm having difficulty finding a trip that doesn't start in the middle of the week so am considering just renting a bike and going on my own. I want to be able to find the remote spots the tour companies go to but see from their videos that the 'roads are often tiny tracks. Are these shown on maps? Any help/ knowledge gratefully received.
Im just back from there a week ago. We didn t hire in Hanoi as i was with the other half and neither of us fancied trying to navigate around Hanoi on a bike. In hindsight, if I were to do it again, then i would be tempted to do it on a bike from Hanoi.
The streets in Hanoi are very hectic but it seems to work. Most people I’ve seen that are there on holiday tend to try and get out of the city (if on a bike) before the madness truly starts.
Uo to the north (we went to Ha Giang) and it was no problem at all. There s the Ha Giang loop which is very popular with lots of groups doing it with local riders and the tourists riding pillion.
We went with a guide but again I m sure you could easily find route maps online or just take the lead from the direction a thousand other bikes are going! There are some companies that do tours with more off-road sections if that s something you’re into.
Geared semi automatic type bikes seem to be the go to for most people there. I hired a normal manual XR150R which was ideal, the speeds are low all over so you don t need a huge amount more grunt than that and I saw very few bikes which were a bigger cc. If you re doing it solo then you ll need to have a plan for packing as I don t recall really seeing any bikes with panniers around (I m sure you could find one though). Most people just do what we did and strap a bag onto the back.
Let me know if you want any more info!
The streets in Hanoi are very hectic but it seems to work. Most people I’ve seen that are there on holiday tend to try and get out of the city (if on a bike) before the madness truly starts.
Uo to the north (we went to Ha Giang) and it was no problem at all. There s the Ha Giang loop which is very popular with lots of groups doing it with local riders and the tourists riding pillion.
We went with a guide but again I m sure you could easily find route maps online or just take the lead from the direction a thousand other bikes are going! There are some companies that do tours with more off-road sections if that s something you’re into.
Geared semi automatic type bikes seem to be the go to for most people there. I hired a normal manual XR150R which was ideal, the speeds are low all over so you don t need a huge amount more grunt than that and I saw very few bikes which were a bigger cc. If you re doing it solo then you ll need to have a plan for packing as I don t recall really seeing any bikes with panniers around (I m sure you could find one though). Most people just do what we did and strap a bag onto the back.
Let me know if you want any more info!
I've ridden the whole of the North solo. It was in 2017 so things have surely evolved and it was easy enough to do then. Few tips
-Mapsme was better than Google for roads then. Don't know now. Back then I rode a 300km "road" in Laos that wasn't on google maps at all!
-Plenty of accommodation if you include "nah nighi" in your searches. Think small independent hotels. Prob' booking.com has everything now
-If you're concerned about Hanoi traffic (it was mental then, so prob' worse now) go in/out in the early morning ~5am
-Take waterproofs. It's a mountain area with colder/wetter weather
-Take a smaller ~40l max rollbag for your gear or smaller rucksack. Strap to the bike rear seat or rack with a couple of sets of Rok Straps that you take with you.
-Take a cycling phone holder that you use for your phone nav.
-Get used to eating noodle soup Pho
-Everyone is friendly. Make sure you choose random valleys and ride to the end of dead end roads so that you see the real life rural parts.
-look into permits for accessing the Vietnam /Chinese frontier area which has great scenery. No idea if still a thing. I have a photo of mine but really don't remember how I got it. Can't be too hard to organise as I came in via Laos not knowing I'd be able to cross the border so half expected to turn around.
-Mapsme was better than Google for roads then. Don't know now. Back then I rode a 300km "road" in Laos that wasn't on google maps at all!
-Plenty of accommodation if you include "nah nighi" in your searches. Think small independent hotels. Prob' booking.com has everything now
-If you're concerned about Hanoi traffic (it was mental then, so prob' worse now) go in/out in the early morning ~5am
-Take waterproofs. It's a mountain area with colder/wetter weather
-Take a smaller ~40l max rollbag for your gear or smaller rucksack. Strap to the bike rear seat or rack with a couple of sets of Rok Straps that you take with you.
-Take a cycling phone holder that you use for your phone nav.
-Get used to eating noodle soup Pho
-Everyone is friendly. Make sure you choose random valleys and ride to the end of dead end roads so that you see the real life rural parts.
-look into permits for accessing the Vietnam /Chinese frontier area which has great scenery. No idea if still a thing. I have a photo of mine but really don't remember how I got it. Can't be too hard to organise as I came in via Laos not knowing I'd be able to cross the border so half expected to turn around.
Edited by FullyReclined on Wednesday 5th November 10:57
Edited by FullyReclined on Wednesday 5th November 10:58
Actually another thing to add to the list is an International Driving Permit - you can pick one up from lots of shops that have paypoint facilities and particularly in the north where there are lots of tourists, the police are hot on checking them even if the bike rental places aren’t as bothered.
Don’t let the city traffic put you off. It’s fine once you get into the swing of things.
Good advice already so not much more to add really. We are just back from Vietnam last week , over visiting wife’s family. We just dodged about on the scooter this time around Da Nang and then further south in Can Tho.
When I lived there a few years ago this was my bike below. Great fun ,but never really get the chance to exploit the bike properly. Far too many hazards on the road to be safe and open her up.
Enjoy your trip.
Good advice already so not much more to add really. We are just back from Vietnam last week , over visiting wife’s family. We just dodged about on the scooter this time around Da Nang and then further south in Can Tho.
When I lived there a few years ago this was my bike below. Great fun ,but never really get the chance to exploit the bike properly. Far too many hazards on the road to be safe and open her up.
Enjoy your trip.
That's all great, thanks for the replies.
A couple of questions. Is the international driving permit a Vietnamese thing? Different to our international driving license from the post office?
The tour companies have lots of great videos showing remote tracks, riding over mountain tops, across grassed meadows, tracks wide enough for bikes only. How to find these? Do I need a guide or should I just crib the way point names from their itineraries and make my own route......which is what I'd usually do.
January weather in the North, cold and wet enough to take my textile jacket and trousers or go with riding jeans, mesh jacket and waterproofs over the top?
My daughter did the Ha Giang loop this summer on the back of a bike - she wore shorts and tee-shirt with a plastic mac over.
Thanks.
A couple of questions. Is the international driving permit a Vietnamese thing? Different to our international driving license from the post office?
The tour companies have lots of great videos showing remote tracks, riding over mountain tops, across grassed meadows, tracks wide enough for bikes only. How to find these? Do I need a guide or should I just crib the way point names from their itineraries and make my own route......which is what I'd usually do.
January weather in the North, cold and wet enough to take my textile jacket and trousers or go with riding jeans, mesh jacket and waterproofs over the top?
My daughter did the Ha Giang loop this summer on the back of a bike - she wore shorts and tee-shirt with a plastic mac over.
Thanks.
It’s the 1968 IDP that you need (there’s a couple of others that Vietnam don’t recognise). They changed it around a year ago so it’s no longer post offices that issue them but typically newsagents with the ‘pay point’ services. You can search online with your postcode and it’ll tell you the nearest one.
HBG12 said:
That's all great, thanks for the replies.
A couple of questions. Is the international driving permit a Vietnamese thing? Different to our international driving license from the post office?
The tour companies have lots of great videos showing remote tracks, riding over mountain tops, across grassed meadows, tracks wide enough for bikes only. How to find these? Do I need a guide or should I just crib the way point names from their itineraries and make my own route......which is what I'd usually do.
January weather in the North, cold and wet enough to take my textile jacket and trousers or go with riding jeans, mesh jacket and waterproofs over the top?
My daughter did the Ha Giang loop this summer on the back of a bike - she wore shorts and tee-shirt with a plastic mac over.
Thanks.
-Yes, the normal international driving license. Police are looking for international youngsters with no bike license that they can exploit for bribes. Wearing proper gear and looking "a bit" older, I always just got waved thru and never had to show any docs (albeit I had the bike ownership docs and proper license docs with me.) A couple of questions. Is the international driving permit a Vietnamese thing? Different to our international driving license from the post office?
The tour companies have lots of great videos showing remote tracks, riding over mountain tops, across grassed meadows, tracks wide enough for bikes only. How to find these? Do I need a guide or should I just crib the way point names from their itineraries and make my own route......which is what I'd usually do.
January weather in the North, cold and wet enough to take my textile jacket and trousers or go with riding jeans, mesh jacket and waterproofs over the top?
My daughter did the Ha Giang loop this summer on the back of a bike - she wore shorts and tee-shirt with a plastic mac over.
Thanks.
-I was there in Feb and did my usual Asia winter biking layered approach. I took waterproof hiking boots to ride in, mesh biking jacket, a lightweight down jacket, waterproof hiking jacket, mesh trousers/biking jeans and waterproof hiking over-trousers. Even though I have much more serious biking gear I don't take the heavy stuff there as speeds and low and it lets me keep weight/bulk down. A combination of the 2-3 layers lets you be comfortable at a very wide range of temperatures.
-For route finding/planning what you propose seems sensible. As said I just used maps.me as I went along and favored minor roads/dirt tracks where available. A quick google did come up with this though:
https://motorbiketourexpert.com/useful-blog/off-ro...
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