Traveling Vietnam by motorbike has definitely made it into our Top 50 Adventure Holidays list. To date, this motorbike trip, which consisted of me riding across the whole length of Vietnam for over six weeks, is still one of the best adventures of my life. For more at Vietnam Motorbike Tours.
Read through my experience below! And if you want more information as well as suggested route itineraries, check out the Vietnam travel guide which my partner and I co-authored.
This travel guide has all the top motorcycle routes in Vietnam as well as other tips and information which aren’t published online. Regardless of whether you are a seasoned motorbike driver or a beginner, this adventure is definitely one for the books!
Vietnam by Motorbike
I was in a hostel in Hong Kong, exactly one month into my first backpacking trip, when I started making small talk with a guy I just met. I can’t remember much of the conversation apart from him insisting that if I did one thing during my travels, it should be to travel all over Vietnam by motorcycle. For more at Vietnam Motorbike.
Five months after that conversation, I was on a sleeper bus from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh Vietnam, getting ready to buy a motorcycle. The next few weeks, I found myself riding over 3,500 km through jungles, cities and villages.
I crashed my motorcycle around midnight at the top of mountains near the Chinese border, I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, and more importantly, I made memories that I would never forget.
I didn’t spend long in Ho Chi Minh. I did the typical tourist activities but mainly spent my time checking out different motorcycles to buy. A lot of that was spent trying to haggle down the prices and test riding them to see if they were okay.
Within the first night, I had met two guys who had the same plans as me and we ended up doing the whole route together. Soon, another guy joined us along the way and on our first stop, I met a silly cute girl named Anna. (my partner in crime, who I run this travel blog with)
Motorbikes Available in Vietnam
Our trip was made up of four guys and four motorcycles. Three Honda Win manual 110cc and one automatic 125cc Scooter. There are a range of motorcycles available but these two types will be the main ones you will come across. For more at Vietnam On Motorbike.
All bikes had covered a lot of kilometers in their time (I’m talking 80,000Km plus which for a bike is a lot!) and were old. Needless to say, we all had mechanical issues during the ride.
If you can think of it, it happened to us. Punctures, bike racks snapping in half, gearboxes breaking, electronics failing, suspension snapping, oil leaking, brakes failing and the whole bike going up in flames! (yep, that was my bike).
However, the beauty of riding a motorcycle in Vietnam is there’s always someone who can fix your bike in sight, usually for very cheap. Some will try to take advantage, but it is nothing a little haggling can’t solve.
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