Northern Vietnam Dual Sport Motorcycle Tour

Thirteen nights in a loop from Hanoi through the northern highlands, finishing with an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay. The hire is included, with limited damage insurance.

Ba Khan Lake and a boat crossing open it, then Mai Chau, and Son La on Route 6 along a forgotten trail from the French Indochina war. Mu Cang Chai follows, with the country’s largest hydroelectric station and a hot spring homestay with a Thai family.

Sapa comes next over the Tram Ton Pass, the highest road pass in Vietnam at over two thousand metres, with a rest day in the hill town. Ha Giang follows at the Chinese border gate, then Meo Vac on the Ha Giang Loop, taking in the Hmong King’s house, an early twentieth-century compound built on opium money, and the Ma Pi Leng Pass, cut by hand into vertical limestone above the Nho Que river.

Ba Be Lake National Park follows with a boat trip, then Lang Son on the historic Route 4c, and Ha Long Bay, where the night is spent aboard a cruise boat among the limestone towers, with kayaking and caves. Hanoi closes the loop. Prices are quoted in US dollars. At this price it is the cheapest trip in the operator’s Vietnamese range and it covers the part of the country with the best riding in it, and the cruise at the end is a genuine change of pace rather than a bolt-on. Northern Vietnam is also the cooler half of the country, which through the summer months matters a great deal more than it sounds.