Vietnam By Bike- Cycling Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh

Depart from Ha Noi in the morning and travel by vehicle through numerous beautiful landscape, rustic villages, green paddy fields, glorious mountains with break stop on the way. The journey takes 3 hours and a half to get to Ha Long Harbor. Begin the cruise journey to explore Ha Long Bay on 2 days/1-night itineraries. The outstanding value of the property is centred around the drowned limestone karst landforms, displaying spectacular pillars with a variety of coastal erosional features such as arches and caves, which form majestic natural scenery. Board a boat and cruise the bay on its journey as planed. The cruise moves further along with the limestone islands of Bai Tu Long Bay, heading to Vung Vieng fishing village – one of the largest fishing villages in Halong Bay to see the life of local fishers. Experience a bamboo rowing boat trip around Vung Vieng fishing village, and enjoy kayaking. Overnight on board.

The morning is a great time to enjoy the beauty of Ha Long, especially at sunrise. Admire over rocky mountains, the various shape of the karst landscape in the bay. Enjoy sunrise with Tai Chi demonstration on the sun deck. Enjoy tea, coffee, and breakfast, admire fantastic landscapes, breath-taking beauty of limestone islands, explore the amazing cave, swimming and relax until having lunch. Check out, and return to Ha Noi in the afternoon. Have dinner in town before boarding on the night train of Reunification Express to Dong Hoi. 

The train arrives in Dong Hoi around 6:00 am. You are welcome by your guide and driver and have warm tea, coffee in town before an hour private transfer to Phong Nha for breakfast and shower, and will start to explore Phong Nha at 8:30 am. There is no cycling today, and we travel to Paradise Cave, through the mountain scenery through sub-national park forest, passing lakes, valleys on winding road rolling limestone mountains. The Paradise Cave is the destination must-see on your trip to Vietnam. Located in the spectacular Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Paradise Cave is home to 360-million-years-old rock formations. It's the World beautiful with a length of 31.4 km and the longest dry Cave in Asia. It offers the most natural landscapes in South East Asia. Then we continue our journey by vehicle through the limestone mountain range to a nice restaurant by the River to enjoy delicious lunch. After lunch, coffee and tea, we will discover the Dark Cave. It is located on the west Ho Chi Minh trail and by the fresh, clear river. Here is another adventure for you is the Zip-line to Dark Cave. Here is an excellent opportunity to discover the inner cavern with mud bathing and swimming on the clear freshwater River. Return to Phong Nha township to check in the hotel and dine with the team.

After breakfast, we do check out and will commence the morning adventure from the hotel. Phong Nha rural villages and surroundings are natural, peaceful countryside. We first ride through the most beautiful natural landscapes; mountain karst landscapes and tropical forest. Next, continue cycling on concrete paths, passing lush foothill farmlands, and making some stops to view the peaceful villages. Enjoy riding down the small trails through rice paddy fields. Followed by cross Ho Chi Minh trails, the routes are narrow pathways through rubber plantations, vibrant villages along the mountain's foot, and small local markets before we get to the high road where we stop to ride for a transfer 2.5 hours Vinh Moc tunnels.

Vinh Moc tunnel was built and located by the sea in Quang Tri province and not far from Ben Hai River- Hien Luong Bridge. The boundary between North and South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975.  The divided line was 76.1 km long and crossed from east to west near the Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province. Upon arrival at the Vinh Moc, take a locally guided tour to visit the living tunnels. Then take a pleasure ride, 20 km on the coast from the tunnels, pass stunning Cua Tung beach, then pedal on a rural road along the famous Ben Hai River to Hien Luong Bridge. Visit Hien Luong Museum before a walk on Hien Luong Bridge. The bridge over Ben Hai River, located on the 17th Parallel, was a boundary during Vietnam. Then we'll transfer to Dong Ha City to check in at the hotel in the late afternoon.

Enjoy a tour of the Imperial City of Hue, Vietnam's former capital of the last Nguyen Dynasty. Constructed in 1804 and the Imperial Palace faced the Perfume River. It had recognized UNESCO Heritage Site in 1993. The Forbidden Purple City is where the eunuchs, concubines, and royal servants are allowed. We will learn about the history of the feudal royal Nguyen Dynasty of 12 Lords and the modern history of Indochina and the Vietnam Wars. Then we have a short vehicle transfer to Thuan An local beach to bike toward Hoi An.

This fantastic biking offers fantastic scenery, endless charms of local culture, and a tremendous spectacular mountain photo opportunity. Ride on the undulating back roads, past the colorful temples, pagodas, traditional ground graveyards, and small villages on coast routes. View the peaceful landscapes of the lagoon and tiny fishing sampans alongside the road. Enjoy a delicious seafood lunch at Lang Co Beach and have a transfer to Hoi An with a stop at Hai Van Pass.

Free day in Hoi An

We will have a 30-minute vehicle transfer that takes us to the other side of Thu Bon River. We unload all bikes right the tiny fishing village; we will ride through the lively countryside, water palms stops at removed fishing villages along rivers. This is a chance to meet locals and experience culture when we ride into the surrounding countryside, past rice paddies, bananas, and corns. We explore most rustic countryside settings rivers. The routes are lined with bamboo trees, ass some un-modernized villages with thatch houses, old brick temples, bullock carts. Afterwards, we ride to cross the farmlands to coastal routes, cycling to Tam Thanh beach, where our lunch is setting. After lunch, continue the scenic ride through tranquil villages and smaller towns and cross the river network with some ferry crossings. Continue the ride on a rural road to highway 1A. We get on the support vehicle driving to Quang Ngai City in the late afternoon.

There is another fantastic day! As the wind is pushing you forward to Quy Nhon! Enjoy stunning coastal routes, peaceful life along the lagoons, and breathtaking views of mountain passes. Depart early at 7:00 am for 1.5 hours drives south on highway 1A to a small village, where the morning ride starts. Ride through a hamlet with coconut trees,  down the seaside trails, cycle past along sleepy beaches and local seafood restaurants and admire morning ocean views. Then we follow the smooth undulating back road with magnificent landscapes and a little hill and down to vibrant town. After we ride through the town, we cycle through many hamlets of thousand coconut trees and challenge small hills to a stunning coast. It's fantastic to see local sandy beaches with small long and circular bamboo boats on the sand while another side is fertile farmlands. Next, carry on this adventure ride on the coast routes further, and follow minor roads to the Tra O lagoon, where many fishing sampans are. Take your ride easy to experience local life, enjoy mountain views, cross rice paddies to a small town—lunch en route. After lunch, we get on the vehicle for a transfer to avid the heat at midday. In the afternoon ride, it continues in the countryside of De Ghi. Ride on hilly route leads mostly away from road traffic through the rustic countryside covering flat and hilly terrain, with some narrow pathways, pass san dune along the Thi Nai lagoon.

There is a transfer afterOn today's ride, we'll be on all different path cycle routes in the Quy Nhon and Phu Yen provinces. In the morning, the tiny zig-zag routes will take you deeper into the remote hamlets and see the most challenging life of villagers living by mountainous hills. Race along sleepy rivers and Reunification trains on its railways and pass many colonial steel bridges still used in remote villages.

In the afternoon, the ride is on the country back road, through lush farmlands, rice paddies, a small market on the undulating paths through eucalyptus, a tiny town, and rice paddy fields to Da Dia reef. The area is about 100 meters wide and 250 meters long, with an estimated 35,000 columns of basalt rocks. The rocks are dark lava columns with roughly flat surfaces of different shapes - round, pentagon, hexagon, polygon etc. Ghenh Da Dia looks like a gigantic beehive or a pile of dinner plates, hence Ghenh Da Dia's name (The Sea Cliff of Stone Plates). These rock columns were created from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago; when the molten basalt flows met cold water, they solidified and shaped these rare polygonal formations due to thermal contraction effects. Then we bike to seaside villages in the afternoon and continue cycling on undulating paths through the sweet potato tapioca plantation to Tuy Hoa city.  

Da Lat is a small town in the Central Highlands region. The city is well known for its variety of delicious food, sweets, cauliflowers, artichoke, thousands of flowers, etc. Located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbian Plateau. The French started to build the resort with the first wooden hotel in 1907. Later the railway station, power station, church and so on were constructed.

After breakfast, the support vehicles take us to the countryside of Dien Khanh. We take a leisurely bike ride to explore villages along the river, past sugar cane farms and rice paddy fields, and visit ancient villages and old French Villas. Make some stops at the sites and coffee breaks at markets along bike routes. Next, we carry on this on paths through beautiful countryside along the mountain to Khanh Vinh. After lunch, we hop on the support vehicle and drive up to the peak of 29 km on a winding road through the mountain range with views of valleys and tropical rainforests to the extreme. Follow the mountain road up and down with some small hills to Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park. The rest of the day, we have a transfer to Dalat -Honeymoon City.

Cat Tien National Park is a vast lowland tropical forest and biosphere reserve in southern Vietnam. It’s home to centuries-old trees, botanical gardens and recreational trails. The park also shelters diverse wildlife, from reptiles at Crocodile Lake to endangered primates and rare birds. The hilly landscape offers incredible views, and the weather is lovely to inspire you to get more dirt. With many hand-picked routes, you can enjoy different levels from easy, moderate, and hard OR either select smooth back roads: past greenhouse, farmlands of flowers, coffee, and pine forest along. Then we start to ride downhill on asphalt quiet back road to Ta Nung and Nam Ban, ride pass valley, vegetable plantation, greenhouses on the way. After we ride downhill about 25 km, Visit the cricket farm before we ride up gentle hills to Elephant Waterfall. After a late lunch, take rest on A/C van, transfer to Nam Cat Tien Park.

Cat Tien National Park is a treasure trove of biodiversity and tropical forests of southern Vietnam. It's a peaceful place and home to thousands of birds and many exotic plants and animals. Get up early, walk along the river, enjoy the sunrise, and listen to birds singing. The 1-hour boat trip on the Dong Nai River lets you see the wildlife along the river banks; snakes, money, cormorants, and plenty of different birds.

Then we return to the hotel for breakfast, hiking to crocodile lake, and learning more about flora and fauna. We'll have a jeep transfer of about 9km, where you trek on jungle trails to the crocodile swamp. This wetland is a beautiful lake surrounded by the jungle and home to many crocodiles. You will immerse yourself in the beauty of the diverse flora species around the area. Take a break, and view the peaceful natural landscapes. We return to the hotel, take a shower, do check out. Lunch en route on the way transfer to Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is the country's largest city. The name "Saigon" is indicated the city centre by locals today. What to do and see by your way in Saigon? Reunification Palace, General Post Office, War Museum and shopping on Dong Khoi St, and Ben Thanh Market. Enjoy breakfast at the hotel, then spend time shopping and relaxing until the pick up for transfer to the International Airport to fly home. Tour End! Bike trips Ha Noi to Ho Chi Minh.