Breathtaking Motorbike Tour on the Ha Giang Loop Vietnam

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The Ha Giang Loop in Vietnam is a must-do for anyone in Vietnam and if you’re not in Vietnam, then it is reason alone to book a ticket to this beautiful country. Let me tell you a little bit about how to book it and what to expect in this guide.

Hopefully I will convince you of why you should add renting a motorbike in Vietnam to drive the Ha Giang Loop to your travel bucket list.

What is the Ha Giang Loop?

First of all, what is the Ha Giang Loop? The Ha Giang Loop is a circular route through the beautiful and windy mountain rounds in the North of Vietnam. It’s full of gorgeous mountains, canyons, jaw dropping viewpoints, some of the kindest people in the world, and traditional Vietnamese villages. These roads also go up to the border between China and Vietnam.

This route is for adventure seekers that want to see areas of Vietnam that are less touched by tourists. It’s most often explored through a road trip by motorbike spanning between 2-5 days depending on your route and what sites you stop at.

I personally drove my own motorbike (with a group) and it felt like such an amazing challenge and accomplishment— definitely the best choice for those adrenaline junkies out there. However, those that rode on the back of someone else’s motorbike were really able to take in the beautiful mountain views more than those driving.

I think it’s to each their own on how they choose to see this beautiful and almost untouched part of Vietnam, but you definitely need to do one of them.

Book a Ha Giang Loop Tour

I booked through Jasmine Hostel which is in Ha Giang, Vietnam. You can book your tour when you get to the hostel or you can book it through their website here. I booked through their website and they were able to book my sleeper bus from Ninh Binh to Ha Giang the night before the trip and then my sleeper bus back to Hanoi following the trip as well.

• If you are weighing your options and also looking for a place to sleep in Ha Giang, I recommend still staying at Jasmine Hostel. You can check all that on Hostel World!

Plus, you can leave your larger backpack/luggage at the hostel which is a huge bonus. Make sure you pack a day bag with clothes you can sweat in, any toiletries you need, money, your passport, chargers, and a swimsuit.

Tons of backpackers book through this hostel so you’re almost guaranteed to be with a group of people (if that’s what you choose). You ride together with a group of people and a few guides that take you to all different viewpoints and it includes your homestays as well.

When booking with the group you can choose a 2 day/1 night, 3 day/2 night, or a 4 day/3 night tour. I went on the 3-day/2-night tour but I heard amazing things about the 4-day tour because there is a massive waterfall that the group stops at to do cliff jumps and swimming — if you have the time, do the 4-day!

Ha Giang Loop 3-Day Motorbike Tour Itinerary for your Map:

Day 1: Ha Giang —> Yen Minh (95 km)

Day 2: Yenh Minh —> Chinese Border —> Dong Van (100 km)

Day 3: Dong Van —> Lung Cu —> Ma Pi Leng Pass —> Ha Giang (150 km)

If you’re unsure, then you can book the tour for 2 or 3 days and change it during the trip if you want to extend. Which you might want to because I mean the views are UNREAL.

Ha Giang Loop Overview

Now for the actual trip, you wake up in the morning and have breakfast while the hostel plays loud music which almost feels like a pregame pump-up.

After breakfast, you pick out a helmet and choose whether or not you want the shin and elbow guards (just get them, the roads are rough and it’s worth the odd tan for peace of mind). During this time, everyone is confirming their booking and paying for the trip.

Then the group hops in a truck and heads to get their motorbikes. You get to pick from the lot and they give you a brief lesson on driving a semi-automatic bike. You have to drive around on the street there to show you can switch gears and just ride a bike in general. This is also another opportunity to decide if you feel comfortable driving or if you would like an easy rider.

Then you head back to the hostel for a debrief on the trip and some safety basics before you strap your bag to the motorbike and then you’re ready to head out!

Note: I have never driven a semi-automatic, let alone ANY manual vehicle because in America we have mostly automatic cars. I was able to pick up on it and drive all 3 days without issue. So don’t let that hold you back!

The first day is the easiest for driving so it’s perfect for getting your bearings on your bike and through the mountain roads. The drive is easily the most beautiful drive I’ve ever done in my life. Well, that goes for the entire trip so I’ll try not to be redundant in saying that.

After driving a bit, we stopped at a coffee shop with a stunning viewpoint of the mountain roads that we had just driven through. Then we drove further to lunch.

After lunch, we stopped to walk through a massive cave up in the mountains — Lung Khuy cave in Quan Ba.

The cave was really one of the coolest I’ve seen and definitely worth the walk up the mountain. HOWEVER, let me warn you that hike is no joke! Bring water or you can buy water at the top of the mountain before going into the cave.

After the cave, we headed to our homestay. Throughout the drive, everyone is just having the time of their life road tripping together and stopping at beautiful viewpoints.

Then we arrived in the town of Yen Minh for our homestay (Bong Bang Homestay).

This is what’s special about the trip, the time off the bike is just as magical as the time on the bike.

At the homestay, everyone grabs a beer to celebrate making it through the first day with no (or minimal) bloodshed — again get the protective gear people, even though this trip is fun, the roads can be intense.

The homestay serves an amazing dinner with tons of happy water.

Generally, everyone at the homestay is driving the Ha Giang Loop so everyone bonds about their day, the happy water, and the great food.

You do several Vietnamese cheers as a group and then obviously the karaoke begins. If you haven’t been to Vietnam yet, you will learn that karaoke is a lifestyle here.

After a giant slumber party (that’s how it feels anyways), it’s time for day 2! The roads on day 2 are a little bit tougher than the day before but honestly end up being more enjoyable because you are more comfortable on your bike and driving in Vietnam.

On day 2, we stopped at more jaw-dropping viewpoints.

We also stopped at the Vuong Royal Palace in Sa Phin before lunch and we were given time to walk through the palace, then grab some coffee or ice cream in the village below the palace. The group played some games here then we headed off on the bikes!

Our next stop was a hike through the cornfields to the Chinese Border. We stopped at the Local Gate. I guess previously you could walk over to China and there used to be a market but since COVID there is a huge barbwire fence up.

It’s still a cool stop because you can see the border market between Vietnam and China. There are a few different stops for this along the Ha Giang Loop.

Then we headed to our second homestay, Meo Vac Clay House. Our second night once again was filled with delicious Vietnamese food, great music, group cheers in Vietnamese with happy water, and we also played card games over some Bia Saigon beers (obviously).

Day 3, here we go! Our very first stop of the day was a boat tour on the Nho Que River. It was a close drive from the hostel. The boat tour gave us some great views of the giant cliffs inside one of the top three deepest canyons in all of Asia.

Warning again, this hike back up is intense — there’s a theme here in Vietnam, steep cliffs/hikes paired with humidity and extreme heat. Just make sure you are drinking water and it will be so worth it! After that, we started our LONG day on the bikes.

We had heard day 3 was going to be the toughest day of driving but boy I wasn’t mentally prepared. All the confidence I built on days 1 and 2 was shot down while driving through several kilometers of gravel from landslides while passing construction trucks and buses on windy roads with no guard rails.

Easily one of the toughest drives I’ve ever done but nothing forces you to practice mindfulness like driving on these passes.

And, nothing makes you feel more accomplished than driving these roads with all your new friends soaking in some of the most insane views that Vietnam has to offer.

On day 3, you also stop at one of the famous hikes and viewpoints of Ha Giang — the Ma Pi Leng Skywalk. The road here is extremely narrow, so we drove part of it then parked our bikes and walked to the viewpoint.

This view is one of the first spots that pop in my head when I picture my time in Vietnam, it is truly unforgettable.

For the people doing the 3-day/2 night tour, day 3 is a ton of driving. I will say that’s another pro for doing the 4 days tour if you can. Day 3 was mostly driving with a few stops here and there just to get off the bike for 5 minutes.

In the last hour of the drive, most of us were just about done with driving and a little bit sore but heck it’s worth it for how unforgettable this entire experience is.

In a bittersweet moment, we made it back to the hostel around 6 PM on day 3. In total, we drove around 400 kilometers but the driving distance along the Ha Giang Loop will depend on where you stop too.

I went to Vietnam during the rainy season in June and the weather on the Ha Giang loop was great. Vietnam in general is extremely hot during summer so that’s no exception on the Ha Giang Loop but we only got about 5 minutes of rain. If you pack a rain jacket, you’ll be good to go! You can grab one at a market for around 20,000 Vietnamese Dong or around 85 cents USD.

Get yourself to Vietnam and hop on a motorbike to drive the Ha Giang Extreme North Loop. If you need further convincing, check out my Instagram story highlight of Vietnam. It has videos of some of the views as well. A blog post won’t be able to explain how much of an unforgettable trip this is!