All Guided Motorbike Tours in Vietnam and Laos

Northern Vietnam is where most serious riders start. The mountain provinces of the far north — Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lai Chau, Son La, Dien Bien Phu — carry the highest concentration of technically demanding and visually dramatic motorcycle roads in the country. Central Vietnam adds the Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor. The coast and central highlands complete the picture south of Hue. All tours below are based on routes we have been running long enough to know every fuel stop, every tricky descent, and every guesthouse worth stopping at.

Ha Giang Loop

Ha Giang province shares its northern border with Yunnan, China, and feels it. The Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, a UNESCO-listed landscape of fractured limestone, sunken valleys, and highland villages — sits at the top of the loop. The Ma Pi Leng Pass is the signature section: a narrow mountain road carved into a cliff face above the Nho Que River, with exposure on one side and rock face on the other. The loop runs approximately 350 kilometers. Four days covers the ground; six or seven days gives you time to actually stop. Check out our Ha Giang loop motorbike tours

• Duration: 4–7 days
• Distance: 320–420 km depending on variant
• Terrain: sealed mountain road, optional dirt track extensions
• Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
• Starts and ends: Hanoi

North Vietnam Circuit

A broader arc through the far north that picks up what the Ha Giang Loop leaves out. Cao Bang province adds Ban Gioc waterfall, the largest in Southeast Asia and still largely unknown to international motorcycle tourists, and the Nguom Ngao cave road. The route between Cao Bang and Ha Giang via Meo Vac is one of the emptiest stretches of sealed tarmac in northern Vietnam, connecting two dramatic landscapes with almost no traffic between them.

Designed for riders who have done Ha Giang and want the full northern picture in a single trip. Check out our North Vietnam motorbike trips

• Duration: 7–10 days
• Distance: 700–900 km
• Terrain: sealed mountain road, highland passes
• Skill level: Intermediate
• Starts and ends: Hanoi

Northeast Motorbike Tours

The northeast gets skipped by most touring circuits, which is exactly its advantage. Ba Be Lake, Vietnam’s largest natural freshwater lake — sits inside a karst national park and is reached by a single road that sees a fraction of the traffic on the northwest routes.

Bac Ha’s Sunday market draws ethnic minority traders from Flower Hmong, Dao, and Tay communities across the border highlands. The roads here mix sealed provincial routes with secondary forest tracks. Quieter than the northwest, slower-paced, and genuinely off the touring map. See all northeast motorbike tours

• Duration: 4–6 days
• Distance: 400–550 km
• Terrain: sealed road, secondary forest track
• Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
• Starts and ends: Hanoi

Northwest Motorbike Tours

Son La, Dien Bien Phu, Sapa, Mu Cang Chai. The northwest corridor is the most ridden region in northern Vietnam and earns that reputation. The road from Hanoi to Dien Bien Phu via Son La runs sustained mountain terrain for over 500 kilometers, crossing passes above 1,900 meters and dropping into river valleys that cut between ethnic minority villages rarely reached by any other transport.

Mu Cang Chai’s rice terrace roads in September and October are among the best motorcycle photography in Vietnam. The northwest motorbike tours also connects directly to the Laos border for riders continuing on to the Vietnam Laos tour.

• Duration: 5–8 days
• Distance: 500–750 km
• Terrain: sealed mountain road, district tracks
• Skill level: Intermediate
• Starts and ends: Hanoi

Cross Country Ride: Ho Chi Minh Trail

The Ho Chi Minh Trail ran for over 20,000 kilometers as a wartime logistics network through Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. This tour follows the most historically dense and geographically intense sections through central Vietnam, from the DMZ zone south through Phong Nha cave country, across the Mu Gia and Ban Karai passes, and into the central highlands.

The trail itself is the route, not the backdrop. Roads here were bombed, rebuilt, rerouted, and rebuilt again over a decade of sustained aerial attack. The craters, bunkers, and rerouted alignments are still visible along the riding line. Central Vietnam’s climate window runs February to August, this tour does not run during the region’s main rainy season. Check out our Ho Chi Minh Trail Motorbike tours

• Duration: 8–12 days
• Distance: 800–1,100 km
• Terrain: sealed road, former trail sections, highland forest road
• Skill level: Intermediate
• Starts: Hanoi or Hue, ends: Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City depending on variant

On-Road Adventure

Sustained distance on Vietnam’s best sealed routes, no offroad sections required. This tour focuses on the mountain tarmac that makes Vietnam worth ridin the Hai Van Pass north of Da Nang, the Mang Yang Pass through the central highlands, the mountain road network above Da Lat, and the coastal highway south of Hue where the road hugs the cliff edge above the South China Sea. Daily distances average 150 to 250 kilometers with built-in stops. This is the choice for riders who want serious mountain riding without the added challenge of dirt and technical surfaces.

Check out our thrilling on-road adventures

• Duration: 5–10 days
• Distance: 600–1,200 km depending on variant
• Terrain: sealed mountain road, passes, coastal highway
• Skill level: Beginner to intermediate
• Multiple start and end point options

Off-Road Rides

The offroad tours run on Honda CRF 250L and CRF 300L exclusively. Routes operate in the northwest highlands and central mountain regions using forest tracks, dirt passes, river valley paths, and single trail that touring bikes and rental scooters cannot access.

Expect technical climbs on loose surfaces, loaded descents, river crossings that require a walk-through before committing, and remote overnight stops. Some nights are in proper guesthouses; others are in village homestays where the family cooks dinner and the nearest mechanic is two hours away.

If you have offroad experience and want the most remote roads in Vietnam, this is where they sit.

• Duration: 4–8 days
• Distance: 300–600 km
  Terrain: dirt track, single trail, river crossings, laterite
• Skill level: Intermediate to advanced
• Starts: Hanoi or Sapa depending on variant

Vietnam and Laos Motorbike Tour

One route on this page crosses an international border. The Vietnam Laos Motorbike Tour links the Vietnamese northwest directly to northern Laos via mountain border crossings that most travelers never use by motorcycle. It is the longest and most demanding tour we run, and the one riders most frequently describe as the ride that reframes everything else.

Vietnam Laos Motorbike Tour package

The primary crossing runs via the Tay Trang border near Dien Bien Phu into Sop Hun, Phongsali province, one of the most remote entry points into Laos and the gateway to the country’s least-visited north. From Phongsali the route drops south along the Nam Ou river valley through Luang Namtha and Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang. A second variant uses the Nam Phao crossing through central Vietnam into Laos, connecting to the Ho Chi Minh Trail circuit on the Vietnamese side before dropping into the Laos plateau.

The full Hanoi-to-Luang-Prabang route covers approximately 1,400 kilometers over 14 days. We handle all cross-border motorcycle documentation for bikes in our fleet. Riders bringing privately owned motorcycles need to contact us a minimum of 30 days before departure for paperwork and temporary import permit processing. This tour also operates in reverse, Luang Prabang to Hanoi — for riders who prefer to start in Laos.

• Duration: 12–16 days
• Distance: 1,200–1,500 km
• Terrain: sealed mountain road, highland track, Laos laterite and dirt road
• Skill level: Intermediate
• Starts: Hanoi, ends: Luang Prabang (or reverse)

Tour Comparison

The Bikes

All tours run bikes from our own maintained fleet. No third-party rental suppliers, no subcontracting.

Honda CRF 250L and CRF 300L cover all offroad and mixed terrain tours. Light enough to manage when things go wrong, mechanically simple enough to fix roadside, with the ground clearance the tracks demand.

Honda XR 150 is available for beginner riders on sealed-road circuits. Honda CB500X and BMW GS adventure suit road-focused tours for riders who want more power across longer daily distances.

Every bike goes out with fresh oil, checked tyres, new brake pads where needed, a full tool kit, and a first aid kit strapped to the frame. Sweep riders carry spare levers, cables, and a basic parts kit on all group tours.

Private Bookings and Custom Routes

Every tour on this page runs as a private booking. Dates, daily distances, and pace all adjust when you are not riding in a group. Riders who want a route that combines sections from two or more tours, or who have a specific region, pass, or border crossing in mind that is not covered above, can request a custom itinerary. Send us your available dates, riding experience level, terrain preference, and the regions you want to cover. We will put a route together within 12 hours.

Questions about a specific tour, group size, or dates, contact us directly. We respond within 12 hours.