Cycling DMZ- Ho Chi Minh Trails- Coast of Vietnam

The train arrives at Dong Hoi Station at 7:00 am, be met by the Vietnam Backroads Team, and stops in town for breakfast, coffee, and tea before a transfer to Paradise Cave. The journey by bus takes about an hour and a half to go through the mountain scenery of a sub-national park forest, passing lakes and valleys on winding roads and rolling limestone mountains. Explore Paradise Cave, one of the most beautiful caves globally, for many reasons: for its longest underground River and for its most beautiful underground lake. It's the world's most beautiful cave, with a length of 31.4 km and the longest dry cave in Asia. We'll continue our journey by vehicle through the limestone mountain range to a nice restaurant by the River to enjoy a delicious lunch. Return to Phong Nha to check in the hotel—free time in the afternoon. 

In the morning, we explore Phong Nha's rural villages, surroundings, and calm rivers flowing to the sea. Phong Nha has mainly featured caves, quiet rivers, tiny villages, and its karst mountains. Most villagers live primarily in farming, rice crops, and fruit orchards but only a little fishing.

After lunch in Dong Hoi, we'll rest on the transfer for 1 hour to Vinh Linh Dist, then continue to explore the scenic countryside to Vinh Moc tunnels. The seaside areas offer idyllic countryside of blooming trees and vast fields, providing beautiful backdrops and fish farming when we ride down the coast. Visit Vinh Moc Tunnels, stay on coastal back roads, pass locals' sandy beaches, and take plenty of photos along small fishing villages to Hien Luong Bridge. The last visit of today is to the famous Museum of Hien Luong Bridge that knows the 17 parallel divided Vietnam in 1954 until the war ended in 1975. We'll transfer to Dong Ha in the late afternoon

Quang Tri was Vietnam's most heavily bombed province during Vietnam War. Mine Action Visitor Center is a museum that provides an excellent historical overview – in English and Vietnamese – with plenty of photographs taken during the war. Around 15 million tons of U.S. munition were dropped over Vietnam between 1965 and 1975, and at least 10% of those failed to detonate. It cannot be missed before we ride to Khe Sanh.

Our selected routes will lead you to unspoiled areas. We ride through the untouched jungle offering spectacular landscapes and green farmlands. Afterward, we undulate along the villages, and sometimes rivers will see more rice fields and fruit orchards. Visit some old military bases of the Nguyen Dynasty. Break for lunch in a small town, and continue biking through local farms and some little villages, enjoying lush farmlands un we reach high roads where we have a transfer to Ta Con Airport. It is now the Ta Con Airport Relic Museum in Khe Sanh. After the visit, we'll transfer to Khe Sanh, and check in the hotel. 

After breakfast, we check out and travel by bus to Historic Ta Con Airport. The one is many things related to Vietnam War; the airstrip used to transport troops and supplies, many US tanks, helicopters, weapons are still there. We visit the old Ta Con Airport, the former South Vietnam Army before 1975- Knows as the Khe Sanh combat base where relics of the war are exhibited and opens for tourists. After the visit, the bus ride continues to the south of the town to Dak Rong Bridge, about 4 km north of Khe Sanh. Dak Rong is the friendship bridge built by Cuban engineers. Then we start to rock and roll the trails of Ho Chi Minh (asphalt road today) The scenic ride is through spectacular scenery, mountain and jungle up and down the quiet roads along the river. We will pass many tribe villages, small towns—lunch en route before we challenge Pe Ke Pass. Then we enjoy downhill ride to A Lin then A Luoi.

A Luoi is a small town close to the Laos border. It was a small village controlled by the former French colonial capital and Hue coastal city. We have breakfast, pick up the bikes from the hotel, and ride down hills a few km of an amazingly green mountain range, then we speed up a hills with spectacular scenery setting. Break for water, fruits and be ready for  off-the-beaten-track biking. The routes are mixed with concrete paths, dirt tracks through the jungle, and farmlands, and some parts along the sleepy river to Minh Mang tomb. After we visit and learn the history of the Nguyen Dynasty, we carry on our bicycle ride to explore the charming countryside of Hue. Past many Mandarin houses, old pagodas on the back road, ride along some parts of the Perfume River to Hue City.

After breakfast, we take a short vehicle transfer out of the bustling traffic city to a peaceful village. Ride on the fantastic route through the scenic countryside lane and enjoy some of the most impressive landscapes. The rural villages are quiet, charming, beautiful lagoons and stunning coast with the mix of dirt tracks, narrow concrete paths and asphalt back roads. Lunch en route before we challenge Hai Van Pass, enjoy the breathtaking views and beautiful Bay of Da Nang. Then we ride downhill to Da Nang, and all get on vehicle transfer to Hoi An.

Stay on beach

Today begins at the hotel, and we cross a bridge over the Thu Bon River that takes us through quiet villages and then into beautiful farmlands, where we take a break at a fresh local market where the fish come straight from the sea after villagers spend a night there. It gives you more time to see the real daily life of locals living there for generations. The rural areas we bike through have buffalos working on farmlands and monkey bridges over the natural creeks connecting the village to villages.

Break for lunch at Tam Thanh local beach, then follow the well-maintained paths, passing small fishing villages. Stay on small trails along the rivers, see many little fishing boats and bamboo baskets, and cross village channels by local ferry boats of Tam Hai Island. Afterward, we'll hop on the vehicle and transfer to My Lai Massacre Memorial for a visit before a short transfer to CocoLand River Beach Resort & Spa in the late afternoon.

After a leisurely breakfast, we start cycling from the hotel, experiencing charming villages across rice paddies, along rivers, and sometimes agricultural canals and dams. We'll encounter scenic scenery along rivers and verdant farmlands, ancient temples, simple houses built with local materials, old houses, and a ferry crossing with locals.

Afterward, we ride to coastal routes and pass fish farms, beaches, and little fishing villages. We might see a small local where fresh fish comes directly from the ocean. We continue biking to My A fishing port and take a break for lunch in Sa Huynh. As the day draws to a close, we have a seamless transfer to Tam Quan for the afternoon ride on the coastal back road to My An. We then transfer to Quy Nhon in the late afternoon.

The morning's cycle begins the morning with an hour of vehicle transfer on the coastal road to a small town where we rock small mountains and through the forests. Turn on dirt track, experience local culture and hard life of farmers living in remote hamlets. The ruotes are smooth, undulating and roll small hills, then undulate along the sleepy river to a small town for lunch.

In the afternoon, we follow the country road, through lush farmlands and peaceful rivers. The routes are flat and smooth, through small towns, seafood farms to the coast, pass fishing villages, pedal along the lagoons, experience authentic attractions along the way! A short break at Ganh Da Dia- The Sea Cliff of Stone Plate is a seashore area of uniformly interlocking basalt rock columns located along the coast in An Ninh Dong Commune, Tuy An District, Phu Yen. Then we take a small paths along the sea and will stop at one of the most beautiful pagodas, and ride through the sweet potato, corn and tapioca farmlands, paddy fields, view beautiful countryside to the outskirts of Tuy Hoa city. Have a transfer to Nha Trang in the late afternoom.

Breakfast at the hotel, explore the central market and highlight town spots until the airport transfers out to catch a flight to Saigon. You are welcomed by Vietnam Cycling Tours' staff at Tan Son Nhat Airport and will be taken to Saigon downtown; check in at the hotel. 

The Cu Chi's tunnels are an incredible underground network of 250km that Vietnamese guerilla soldiers dug from 1948 to 1975 to fight the South Vietnamese government and American soldiers. It's the tunnels not only for flighting but also for living. We depart at 8:00 am from the hotel and drive on a vehicle out of bustling Saigon City before cycling through several hamlets and rubber plantations to Cu Chi Tunnels. See workers harvest natural latex rubber and stop at a local home to see how rice paper is made.

Arrival at Tunnels: We'll watch a documentary about tunnels during the Vietnam War. Following are booby traps, secret entrances, fighting bunkers, and air holes before we explore three levels of the tunnels, weapon gallery, and shooting range. We'll have lunch at a cozy restaurant by the Saigon River before returning to Saigon in the afternoon.

Enjoy breakfast, Vietnamese coffee- Cafe Sua Da, spend time shopping until the airport transfer is picked up for the international flight to depart. Tour End!