Sublime Northwest Vietnam motorbike tour to Sapa with a return night train

In the morning we start our vietnam motorbike tour by leaving Hanoi on dyke roads to avoid the heavy traffic around 9 am , we ride our motorcycles west to Mai Chau, an area of beautiful landscape and home to the Thai ethnic minority.

We 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, we 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 we join 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.

Summary:
Distance: 160 km
Meals: Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay

Mai Chau is one of the closest places to Hanoi where you can experience a ‘real’ Montagnard village. In the morning we take a short walk around village to discover 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 centre. You will see women weaving on looms under or inside their houses in the village We can buy some handmade traditional-style clothing, knife or cross-bow.

After breakfast in home-stay, we say goodbye to villagers and leave Mai Chau around 10 am. We ride from Mai Chau to the direction of Moc Chau, where we 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 H’mong, 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 iuxur us as fresh milk, sweetened condensed milk and little tooth-rotting bars called “Banh sua”.

After lunch, we turn to the less travelled 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 we stay in a basic guest-house.

Summary:
Distance: 140 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Guest-house

Continuing our motorbike tour on the almost empty Road 37 we 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. We continue through rolling hills before rising up to the sugar cane growing areas on the cooler Son La plateau

Late lunch in Son La City, the capital of Son La Province, before we visit The Old French Prison & Museum. It was once the site of a French penal colony where anticolonial 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 watch towers 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 immortalised. with various landmarks now named after him.
Overnight in Son La City.

Summary:
Distance: 160 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

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 we come to the beginning of the very long and steep Pha Din pass where at the top we have vast views of the surrounding mountains, then down the other side on very steep sealed road.

Lunch in Tuan Giao. Heading 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. Afterwards, 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 our new place for overnighting is new town, which is located on higher level.

Summary:
Distance: 220 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

After breakfast we will start our easy day along stunning gorges and passing Sin Ho town – the “second Sapa” of the northwest.

Flying far from the well-known and colorful markets of Sapa, Bac Ha and Can Cau, 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 2,000m above sea level, and surrounded by verdant mountain ranges and clouds.

On the way we will have interesting stops to visit H’mong and Dzao villages before motorbiking down to Lai Chau, where we spend night at the hotel.

Summary:
Distance: 130 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

We 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 we 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 2,000m the views looks out over the main range for miles and miles, before we descend to the mountainous Sa Pa valley. Overnight in Sapa.

Summary:
Distance: 80 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Hotel

Free time in Sapa, spending time to visit the town, shop handicrafts for souvenir or chat with locals, whose speak very good English, will tell you lovely stories about their traditions.
In the afternoon, we ride down to Train station in Lao Cai city, catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Arriving Hanoi by next early morning.

End of services

Note: We provide support truck (120$ per day) for emergency and for your safe riding in Vietnam – Most of other tour operators do not offer that. Contact us if you think it’s necessary.