Northern Dual Sport Vietnam Motorcycle Tour with Guide & Support Truck

The appeal here is the ratio. Ride Adventures rates this a level three trip and puts around seventy per cent of the route on dirt, but it does so with a support truck, a mechanic and hotels at the end of most days, which is a different proposition from a self-supported dual sport trip in the same country. Ten of the fourteen days are riding days; the other four are arrival, departure and two scheduled rest days. The route works its way around the top of the country. It opens with a 160-kilometre run from Hanoi past Ba Khan Lake into the Mai Chau valley, then a longer day to Son La and a stage north to Mu Cang Chai, where the tour stays in a homestay among the terraced hillsides. Sapa follows, and then a rest day there, which sits in the middle of the hardest part of the trip rather than at the end of it. The next stages are the big ones: 240 kilometres east to Ha Giang, then the Dong Van karst plateau to Meo Vac, and another 240 to Ba Be Lake. Lang Son and Ha Long Bay close out the riding with two more long days. Ha Long Bay is where the tour changes character. The second rest day is spent on a five-star overnight cruise, included in the price, before an easy final transfer back to Hanoi. Riders fly out on day fourteen. The package is unusually complete for a dual sport trip. Motorcycle rental with limited damage insurance, airport transfers, every meal, fuel, accommodation ranging from three to five star hotels plus the homestay, the Ha Long cruise, an English and Vietnamese speaking guide, the support vehicle with its driver-mechanic, drinking water on the ride and national park entrance fees are all covered. Flights, visas, alcohol, personal insurance and gratuities are not. A passenger can travel in the support vehicle for a supplement, which makes the trip workable for couples where only one person rides. Departures are scheduled in spring and autumn, with private dates on request.

Fourteen days built around ten riding days and about 2,120 kilometres of northern Vietnam, split roughly seventy per cent dirt to thirty per cent pavement. Ride Adventures runs it as a full expedition rather than a bike hire: a guide out front, a support truck with a driver-mechanic behind, luggage carried, and drinking water all day. The loop runs anticlockwise from Hanoi through Mai Chau, Son La and the rice terraces at Mu Cang Chai to Sapa, then east along the Chinese border to Ha Giang and Meo Vac, south to Ba Be Lake and Lang Son, and finally out to Ha Long Bay. Two rest days are built in, one in Sapa and one spent aboard an overnight cruise in Ha Long Bay. Bikes are Honda dual sports: the XR150L, CRF250L or CRF300L, with groups usually six to ten machines.