Charming Northwest Vietnam motorbike tour to Mai Chau, Phu Yen, Thac Ba

We start our 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 motorcycle 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 in village

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, a small mountain town in Son La Province, where we stay in a basic guest-house.

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

In the morning, we motorcycle across Lung Lo pass before head up on Road 32 .
During the First Indochina War, the 15km-long Lung Lo Pass, used by the Vietnamese resistance force to transport weapons, goods and food during the Dien Bien Phu campaign of 1954, was heavily bombed by the French in order to sever the front lines from the rear. Lung Lo Pass, situated in the northern province of Yen Bai, was also recognised as a national heritage by the ministry.

Head up to Ba Khe T-junction, we continue our motorbike tour on sealed road through renowned tea growing areas, where the hillsides are literally covered in plantations, all the way to the city of Yen Bai which sits on the Red River. From here it’s a short ride to the Thac Ba Lake, also formed by the construction of hydroelectricity dam in the 1970s.

We keep riding to the Dao village of Vu Linh where we stay for the night, enjoying Dao hospitality. We will have an unforgettable dinner with the hosts, whose are really big drinkers and they party every day. The welcome is exceptional and we hope you will survive.
Overnight in homestay.

Summary:
Distance:  180 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch,Dinner
Accommodation: Home-stay

After breakfast we motorbike southeast on Highway 2 and then branch off to the sleepy town of Phu Tho. We follow the edge of the Red River along the dyke, almost to the point where it merges with the Black River after which they flow together to Hanoi.

By now we are very much in the lowlands of the delta plains and the north’s main agricultural areas. Harvest time here is a sea of activity. Crossing the Black River by bridge, we pass through Son Tay and then return to Hanoi on the highway. We should be back to Hanoi before rush-hour (4 pm) because traffic’s getting busier and busier.

Summary:
Distance:  180 km
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

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.