The far north: limestone mountains, a road that switchbacks along the Chinese border, and markets where the surrounding valleys come down to trade.
Allow four or five days for the loop.
Our suggestion, not a rule.
Suits you if
You want the scenery that made you consider Vietnam in the first place.
You are comfortable on a bike for several days running, or happy to ride behind somebody who is.
Less so if
You are not a confident rider and do not want to be a passenger. The road is the point of the place.
You need reliable comfort. This is the least polished thing on the list.
What visitors misjudge
People underestimate two things: how tiring several consecutive days of mountain riding is, and how cold it gets up there. Going as a passenger with a local rider is not a compromise, for most visitors it is simply the right way to do it.
Pairs well with Hanoi.
These are orientation notes, not the finished guides. They carry our read on who each place suits and what people most often get wrong about it, no prices, no opening hours and no entry rules, because those are the things that go stale and we have not verified them for these places yet. Useful for deciding where to go. Not enough to book on.
Our full Ha Giang guide is still being written.
We publish a guide only once it is researched
properly. When it is ready it will cover what Ho Chi Minh City does:
costs, districts, food, transport and the entry rules, every figure
sourced and dated.
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