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Saigon to Hanoi

14 Days

Riveting Saigon to Hanoi Bike Tour

Indulge in the history, culture and cuisine of Vietnam at Saigon where your leisurely Vietnam bike tour begins
Discover why Hoi An is considered to be an outstanding UNESCO World Heritage Site
Energize you mind, body and soul in the serene hills and swim in the azure blue sea in Vietnam’s top beach destination

A vivid and engrossing trip that starts at Saigon and takes you through spectacular mountains trails of Da Lat and classic coastal route of Central Vietnam, ending at Hanoi.

Here lush countrysides and pristine beaches go hand in hand with bustling markets and charming old towns.

Along the way, explore temples, pagodas and imperial citadels, seek out some some of the world’s best warm water beaches and enjoy awesome Vietnamese food as you move from South to North.

Quick Facts

Duration
14 days / 13 nights
Start / End
Saigon / Hanoi
Hotels
Casual Inns
Riding Style
Active Rider

Group Departures

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ITINERARY

Brief Itinerary

* with shuttle
Day	Place	Casual Inns	Duration	~ Cycling Distance	NON-CYCLING HIGHLIGHTS
1 – 2	Saigon	Cinnamon Boutique	2	25km / 15mi	Saigon Highlights, Cu Chi Tunnels
3 – 4	Da Lat	Du Park Hotel	2	30km / 18mi* 50km / 30mi	Flower & vegetable market
5	Nha Trang	TTC Michelia	1	80km / 48mi*	Classic beach resort town
6	Tuy Hoa	Cen Deluxe	1	60km / 36mi*	Cham temple
7	Quy Nhon	Seagull	1	50km / 30mi*
8	Quang Ngai	Sa Huynh Beach Resort	1	70km / 42mi*	Cham tower
9 – 10	Hoi An	Hoi An Travel Lodge	2	65km / 39mi* 40km / 24mi*	My Lai Massacre Memorial, UNESCO World Heritage Site
11	Hue	The Scarlett	1	50km / 30mi*	Imperial town of Hué
12	Overnight train from Hue to Hanoi		1	25km / 15mi	Train journey
13	Hanoi	Silk Path Boutique Hotel	1		Bike the busy streets of Hanoi
14	Departure

Detailed Itinerary

Pre-tour Plan: Visit Mekong region for couple of days on a bike.

Day 1: Saigon – Arrival & Walking Tour

The morning is free for you to explore the city. Post-lunch, 12:30pm, our guide meets you at your hotel for a walking tour to explore some of the most popular sites (Ben Thanh Market, Saigon Opera House, Continental Hotel, The Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and Post Office, The War Remnants Museum). This walking tour gives an excellent introduction to the city’s history and provide you with plenty of opportunities to soak up the unique mix of chaos and tranquility that is modern-day Saigon. We convene tonight to celebrate the start of our awesome journey on a bike.

Meals: Dinner

Day 2: Saigon – Cu Chi Tunnels

Today bike to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, an immense network of connecting underground tunnels. A shuttle transfer of about 90min brings us to the countryside of city. After a short ride through narrow rural trails, take a ferry to a nearby island and bike past typical rural hamlets, rubber plantations and paddy fields. Another ferry brings us closer to Cu Chi Tunnels. Our guide takes us on a walk through the tunnels and share anecdotes along the way. Try the famous Cassava with green tea and peanut dip, food of soldiers living in the tunnels during the war. After a lunch at local restaurant by the Saigon river, shuttle back to city.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance Cycled: 25km / 15mi*

Day 3: Da Lat – Fly and mountain trail

Get up early today for a short flight to Da Lat, jewel of the central highlands. The region is dotted with lakes, waterfalls, pine trees and infinite flowers, making for a picturesque cycling adventure. Here we take a classic ride around Da Lat. Take in some spectacular views as we ride along Da Lat’s pine-forested hills, picturesque flower farms past Xuan Huong Lake and Mount Langbian.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 30km / 18mi*

Day 4: Da Lat – mountain trail

Today ride through various farms and reach to the forest paths, where we start our off-road journey. The first section of trail is over Victory Lake, and is wide and very quiet. Later, be ready to ride the undulating trail.

Enjoy the evening at leisure. Da Lat is a beautiful town to walk around, known for its cool climate. If you have a flair for vegetables, do try tasty local produce here, including strawberries, avocados and artichokes.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance Cycled: 50km / 30mi*

Day 5: Nha Trang – Mountain and village trails combined with beautiful downhill stretch

An awesome day on a bike today. Ride through lush mountain range and conquer Hon Giao 1,600m mountain pass before arriving at Nha Trang, a classic beach resort town. Initial stretch is undulating past pine forests and then it’s a sheer drop of 1,500m to the low lands. Break for lunch at local restaurant by the river and continue riding on flat terrain through some gorgeous village trails. Hop into a shuttle for last section to avoid busy road.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 80km / 48mi*

Day 6: Tuy Hoa – Delightful coastal trail

After a visit to nearby Cham temple, ride a spectacular coastal trail to nearby village. A shuttle transfer from here brings us to our lunch point by the ocean. Today, we have an early lunch. Continue riding along the sea and admire the delightful ocean views around the Dai Lanh beach before meeting the pass which is natural border between the provinces. Descend down to stunning Vung Ro bay and take a break for swim and some snacks.

This is our first day of riding along Vietnamese coast and it’s a long ride. Enjoy it to the fullest.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 60km / 36mi*

Day 7: Quy Nhon – Mountain views trail

A transfer of about 1hr today takes us off the highway and to the remote area where we start biking with the view of gorgeous forests and hills. The biking is through undulating terrain past beautiful villages and mountain views. After lunch, continue riding towards the main highway. Avoid the last leg of 10km as traffic picks up and transfer to Quy Nhon.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 50km / 30mi*

Day 8: Quang Ngai – Tropical trail

Visit Cham tower – built by the Champa civilisation who ruled the southern Vietnamese area for over a millennium up until the early 1800s. Descendents of this culture, the Cham people, still live in Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia as well as Thailand. Later bike in the tropical countryside, past tree-canopied rice farms and lush green fields and paddies. Arrive at Sa Huỳnh and spend a night at a beach resort. The Sa Huỳnh culture, flourished between 1000 BC and 200 AD, were most likely the predecessors of the Cham.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 70km / 42mi*

Day 9: Hoi An – My Lai & spectacular hinterland trail

A transfer of about 1hr brings us to our start of the day with a visit to My Lai Massacre Memorial. During the Vietnam War, a company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of population of My Lai. Ride from here through corn and vegetables plantations with our first true view of cow herds. After a ride of about 30km, take a shuttle again to Tam Ky for lunch and then ride past network of lush rice fields and narrow interior rural trails. We end our day at Hoi An with a short transfer.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance Cycled: 65km / 39mi*

Day 10: Hoi An

The architectural beauty of Hoi An will captivate you as this UNESCO World Heritage Site offers a melange of Vietnamese, European, Chinese, Japanese monuments in an unhurried, timeless setting.

Today you can plan your own day, and enjoy the enchanting Hoi An town at leisure. A paradise for shoppers, a walk through the town gives a feel of an open air museum.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance Cycled: 40km / 24mi*

Day 11: Hue – Hai Van pass

We avoid riding in Da Nang busy roads and transfer straight away to the point, 5km before the climb. Bike on over gradual hills in the coastal ride to climb Hai Van pass for views of this splendid bay and of wooden fishing boats, waterfalls, mountains and pine forests. Ride the downhill with utmost care and stop for lunch by delightful lagoon. A short transfer brings us to Phuoc Tuong where we ride the undulating mountain terrain and cross the gorgeous estuary of the Perfume River. Recharged, ride through the backroads and beaches of this region towards Hue, a must-visit in Vietnam.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance cycled: ~ 50km / 30mi*

Day 12: Overnight train to Hanoi – Hue Loop

Today take your bicycle out for a leisurely loop around the imperial town of Hué. Ride past the Citadel, Thien Mu Pagoda, Mausoleums and the merchant’s houses along the banks of the Perfume River and through quiet lanes with lush gardens.

In the evening, take an overnight train to Hanoi.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance cycled: ~ 25km / 15mi

Day 13: Hanoi

Our representative picks you up at station and transfer to hotel. Arrive and settle into your hotel. Late morning, bike the busy streets of Hanoi visiting some of the cultural and historical highlights of Hanoi. Start with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, which was constructed nearly a millennium ago, and is delicately elevated in a pond. Also, visit the Temple of Literature, dating back close to a thousand years, is a wonderfully preserved piece of ancient Vietnamese architecture and stands to honour the scholarly achievements of the country’s academics and philosophers. Continue exploring the area around Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake, old quarter including Ngoc Son Temple, which sits perched on a little island in the lake.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance cycled: ~ 20km / 12mi

Day 14: Departure

Make arrangements as per your onward travel plans. You can also extend your vacation here with a visit to Halong Bay and Sapa.

Meals: Breakfast

*with shuttle – short transfers

Maps were disabled by the visitor on this site.

REVIEWS

from our friends

a fantastic experience from start to finish. Our guide was superb, very good while we were cycling and very knowledgeable when we were visiting cultural sites. He was also very funny and keen to make sure nothing got in the way of a good time. Our itinerary worked very well, with manageable amounts of riding each day. It was a very hot time of year and we were fairly exhausted at the end of the day. But, there was always a cold beer ready in the van when we finished riding.

Accommodation was great, loved the boutique hotels. And the cuisine was always good and mostly excellent. We loved the whole experience, and made some new friends in the process.

Peter F.

Our 14 day tour from Saigon to Hanoi in our group of 6 people was a great experience with the best tour leader, Phuc, a most wonderful, caring and very, very knowledgable young man, plus a great bus driver. We could not have asked for a better team (or family) as Phuc called us.
The tour consisted of a good mix of cycling and bus, most on flat back roads and through some superb scenery in the mountainous areas with some strenuous uphill roads and one with the most exhilarating 30km descent.
We were Phuc’s first group of over 60yo’s. Though we were all capable cyclists, we are not cycling junkies. It was sad to say goodbye to our ‘family’.

Charlotte

My husband and I booked this trip based on length of riding days/distances and cycling south to north (we were heading north on business). We were able to customize the options to suit and decided to open the trip to anyone else that wanted to join our dates and destinations.

I cannot speak highly enough of Phuc (Happiness) our guide and Mr Hien our driver. Nothing was too much trouble. Phuc came from a rice farming family and could give us great insight into the country through which we passed. Combined with having studied, lived in a big city and speaking English, he was well able to give us current information about the country and it’s customs both old and new.

Our route took us on the back roads and tracks used only by locals. We were able to experience the local way of life first hand. There were days our faces ached from smiling and saying hello to everyone. The genuine warmth and friendliness will not be quickly forgotten.

Our accommodation surpassed expectations and just got better as the days progressed. In summary, a 5 Star experience at a very reasonable price.

Susan

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