The more you travel the more your confidence and sense of adventure tend to grow. It’s a wonderful aspect of travelling; it’s one of the most rewarding and fruitful things about it. Before backpacking in Southeast Asia I never would have dreamt of travelling on a Vietnam motorbike tour, down through the other parts of the country but, when I was there, it seemed like an unmissable adventure and a wonderful experience I couldn’t pass up on.
Motorbike, a different way to travel through VietnamHiring a motorbike in Vietnam
Alright, so I didn’t go the whole hog, hire a motorbike in Vietnam and bomb off down the coast on my own free-wheelin’, exploration of the wild Vietnamese countryside. I don’t even have a driver’s license back in the UK and, while this isn’t necessarily an obstacle to riding a motorbike in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, I didn’t feel confident enough to go for it by myself. It’s one thing renting a scooter, to ride to some sights out of town or get you a short distance from your hotel to the beach, but committing to it as a form of transport to travel long distances is another matter, one that needs more consideration. I’ve met plenty of people though, some fairly inexperienced riders, who’ve said a Vietnam motorbike tour was one of the best experiences of travelling in Vietnam. I was itching to do it.
The twists and turns of the Hai Van Pass, VietnamVietnam motorbike tour
Luckily, there’s another option for the less wild among us: a Vietnam motorbike tour. The most popular place to start a Vietnam motorbike tour, is in the historic city Hue, found about halfway down the east coast of the country. For these tours you hire a driver and sit on the back. Some of the most popular outfits are comprised of veterans from the Vietnamese War. From Hue, they can take you on various tours, many along the Ho Chi Minh trail, a historic route that passes many infamous wartime locations. If you are looking for a Vietnam Motorbike Tour, you will find there is a range of tours from a day to over a week in length and don’t come that cheap, for the budget traveller, so look around at various options. A good way to get a taste for it is to do a day tour of the sights around Hue. If you like the guide and the experience, you can then book a longer trip.
Green rice paddiesHue to Hoi An: Vietnam Motorbike Tour
Having spent a couple of days in Hue, my girlfriend and I decided to travel on a Vietnam motorbike tour from Hue to Hoi An on the back of motorbikes. We hired the drivers through our guesthouse in Hue. The weather wasn’t great for the trip. It’s good to buy or borrow waterproof pants and a jacket, if you can. The journey itself was still amazing though, winding along through the Vietnamese countryside. The road from Hue to Hoi An unfurls, down along the east coast, and takes you past a number of sights, some fairly built up for tourists, others quieter. We rode through fishing villages and rice paddies, the rain beating against our helmets, the wind lashing against our clothes. We stopped of at various points along the way: the Elephant Springs, a waterfall with little pools; Lang Co, where we stopped for fresh and delicious seafood; then round the breathtaking twists and turns of the Hai Van Pass. The rain had stopped but high up on the pass the clouds rolled in and the fog thickened. On a good day the views are incredible; on a bad day the fog is dense and atmospheric – as you climb down the other side you look back and see it rolling off the hills like some giant animal.
The southern side of the Hai Van PassArriving in Hoi An, Vietnam
On the other side of the Hai Van Pass the weather changed, becoming warmer, less wet. We stopped off at China Beach, a 30km stretch of white sand famously used during the Vietnam war for American soldiers to rest and regroup, then onto the five impressive marble outcrops, named the Marble Mountains, before arriving in Hoi An and settling into our hotel accommodation in Hoi An. Hoi An is one of the most beautiful towns in Vietnam, famous for its picturesque houses, ancient streets and hundreds of tailor’s shops. The one-day Vietnam motorbike tour down here was enough motorbiking for us – it can be fairly tiring and uncomfortable sitting on a motorcycle for hours on end! It was a fantastic experience. One that definitely lived up to the notion that the journey is the bit that counts. It gave us the chance to see some of the countryside on a Vietnam motorbike tour, away from the tour groups. Parts of Vietnam that you’d normally pass by without stopping to look or getting the chance to see.
A different wayFishing villageFishing villageHai Van PassGreen rice paddiesHoi An by motorbike Picturesque Hoi AnThe Elephant SpringsThe twists and turns of the Hai Van Pass, VietnamMarble MountainsThe southern side of the Hai Van Pass