Visited: November 4-7, 2024
We spent our final incredible days in Vietnam zipping through the Ha Giang Loop on a 4 day, 3 night tour. So much of this tour is about the views and feelings of cruising along all day on a motorbike which is hard to capture in a blog. I’ve included a link to our Ha Giang vlog at the end if you want to see it in video.
From Hanoi, we took a ~7 hr bus to the city of Ha Giang in the north of Vietnam. We spent one night at a hostel before the tour began the next morning. In the morning, there was a flurry of activity in the hostel lobby as everyone was placed into different groups and matched with their motorbikes and drivers.
We booked our tour through BiBi Ha Giang Loop Tours doing the “easy rider” option which means that we ride on the back of a bike with a driver. The Ha Giang Loop is known to be a very difficult path and having never driven a motorcycle before, there was no way that I was going to drive for the first time in rural, mountainous Vietnam. Going on this small group “luxury” tour was definitely the right decision for us and we absolutely loved it.
Day 1: Ha Giang to Yen Minh
We were in a group with 4 German friends travelling together. My driver was Peter, who was also the group leader. Peter was so nice and friendly, I was lucky to have him as my driver. But all of the drivers in our group were wonderful! We strapped on all of our protective gear, helmet and elbow and knee pads, and our first stop was breakfast at a local restaurant followed by an orientation for the four days to come. Finally, we were off to the Loop.
Once we exited the city, the views were already amazing as we drove through the winding mountain roads. It was lush green everywhere. Even though it was a cloudy day (like it would be during the entirety of our trip), it was beautiful. Our first stop was a beautiful viewpoint where we hopped off the bikes for a few minutes to take pictures and stretch our legs. Sitting on the back of a motorbike is a workout for your legs! Then we visited a waterfall with a swimming hole. We had to climb up a bunch of steps to get there, but it wasn’t too bad. We were the only ones there so it was nice to have it to ourselves. Nate and a couple others jumped in for a swim, but I was too cold and did not partake.
We then drove for a while with a couple stops for more views and pictures before we had lunch. After lunch, it was more driving and a long stop at a rest area/cafe with stunning views of the valley.
We arrived at a small village where we visited the home of a local family. The ruralness of life in the village really hit me when I saw their simple home and backyard with livestock. We tried a bit of a local bread made of corn and a sip of local moonshine, which Peter and our drivers liked to call “happy water”.
On the way to our homestay for the night, we stopped at one of my favorite viewpoints of the entire tour to take many pictures. The sea of pointy mountains was so amazing to see.
We finally made it to our homestay for the night in the town of Yen Minh. It was really nice and big! We had signed up for the “luxury” tour option which meant a private room and bathroom each night. And here, that meant we got an overwater bungalow in a flooded paddy. It was an amusing but pleasant surprise. After a full day of riding, we were all sore and tired. We enjoyed a couple of drinks, had dinner, and of course, did karaoke before turning in for the night.
Day 2: Yen Minh to Dong Van
Day 2 started with breakfast and we were soon off again driving through the mountain roads and some remote villages. It is really amazing to see how many people live in such remote parts of Vietnam. Our first stop was at a river where we took a short ride on bamboo rafts to a beautiful cave where you could swim inside. Luckily, it was a warmer day so I joined in for a swim. The current was quite strong, and being a weak swimmer, I struggled to swim into the cave. So instead, I jumped on a raft that was going into the cave. The cave was so beautiful. I was able to swim out of the cave by following the current. It was such a cool, refreshing swim!
We changed into dry clothes and were off once again. We made a couple quick stops before lunch. As always it was beautiful green landscapes with dramatic roads and rural villages.
After lunch, we saw the Sông Nho Quế river which looked strikingly blue, meandering around the drastic mountains. Then we saw more small villages settled on very steep terrain. It is amazing that people live and farm on such steep landscapes so far from urban areas. It just shows how accustomed I am to urban life. One of the best things about doing a small group tour is that we were able to take very small side roads. There were a couple times where we veered off the main roads to drive through what felt to me like tiny walking trails and zipping through small villages. There was even a time where we had to get off the bikes and walk up because the roads were too narrow and steep for our drivers to go up with us. It was such a cool way to experience Ha Giang. We definitely wouldn’t have been able to do this on the more popular, big tours with 20-30 people.
In the late afternoon, we finally arrived at the northern city of Dong Van for the night. We stayed in a very nice small hotel that seemed quite new. It was such a relief to have modern comforts after a long day of riding around. We took a quick stroll in the city before dinner.
Day 3: Dong Van to Du Gia
We started day 3 by going to the Dong Van Old Quarter for breakfast. It was a small but very charming area. We had banh mi for breakfast which was much better than the banh mi we had in Hanoi.
From Dong Van, we headed north towards the northernmost border with China. For long stretches, we were only a couple of kilometers from the Chinese border. At one stopping point, we could make out the fence demarcating the border on the side of the mountains. What was surreal was seeing all the homes and homesteads along the border fence. Our guide, Peter, told us that when the border fence was erected recently, families and friends were separated. Apparently, living by and crossing the border was not a big deal for the locals, but now the border is strongly enforced.
After riding along the border, we arrived at a spot where we could walk up to the border fence and peer into China. This felt surreal. There was a small shop with food (clearly built up for tourists) at a random point along the border. We walked up to the chain link fence and on the other side was China. There was another chain fence about fifty or so feet away which was the Chinese fence along with some structures that were a border post. We did not see anyone. However, it was crazy to think that we were so close from China.
We then made our way to the Lung Cu Flag Point which is a huge Vietnamese flag on top of a tower on a big hill/small mountain. There were a lot of stairs to the tower and then more spiral stairs to the top of the tower. It was all worth it for the views. It was unfortunately still cloudy, but we got a great 360-degree view of the small town and surroundings.
Our next stop was at a rest stop/cafe overlooking a very dramatic hairpin turning road that we would be driving down. We saw lots of tour groups going up and down the road which was fun to watch. It was exciting thinking that we would be going down this path as well. It is pretty amazing to see all the roads that have been built in the region through all the terrain.
We made a couple more stops before we turned in for the day at our homestay in Du Gia. It was also a very nice homestay where we had a delicious dinner and also celebrated the birthday of one of the women in our tour group with karaoke, cake, and “happy water”.
Day 4: Returning to Ha Giang
It felt bittersweet starting day 4. We had three fully-packed and tiring days, and my body was definitely ready to be done riding on a motorbike all day. However, I also felt like I could spend several more days wandering the Ha Giang area and soaking in its beauty and tranquility. Unfortunately, it was the last day.
The first stop was visiting a pretty big cave in the mountains. We had to climb a lot of steps to reach this cave but this too was worth it. There was a nice walkway built out in the cave to my surprise making it pretty easy to explore. There was one section that was very small and tight – you had to crouch through to get down. I did feel a bit claustrophobic here, but made it through. It was so tight for the bigger guys!
We then drove through a town where Peter bought a lot of local persimmon that we tried at the next stop. They were smaller and sweeter than Korean persimmons – I loved them! For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant for pho which was quite good, though not as good as the pho in Hanoi.
Then we hiked down to a secluded waterfall to swim. We were the only group here which was great. The water was so refreshing.
We made a couple more stops at outlooks and viewpoints before finally arriving back in Ha Giang. The trip was over!
We both had job interviews that evening, so instead of taking the bus back to Hanoi the same day, we stayed at a homestay in Ha Giang for one more night. We were so tired from the tour that we didn’t venture out and just ate at the vegetarian restaurant that was part of the homestay. Nate wasn’t too happy about it, but the food was pretty good.
The next day, we took an early bus back to Hanoi where I promptly fell asleep. It was a spacious bus with reclining seats which made it a decent ride back.
Here’s the vlog of our Ha Giang Loop tour:
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