A Vietnam Motorbike Trip Guide – Ho Chi Minh To Hanoi

Aug 28 , 2021 823 views

Riding a motorbike in Vietnam is by far the best way to explore and see what the country has to offer. It is complete freedom and can be done inexpensively with a bit of preparation beforehand. In this guide, we will cover all the things you need to consider for your Vietnam motorbike trip, as well as mistakes we made through lack of planning.

The chances are if you’ve found this post then you have seen Top Gear’s famous Vietnam special somewhere down the line. The popular TV trio have inspired travellers and motorbike enthusiasts to replicate this journey ever since, including us. So if you haven’t seen it already then we recommend watching it!

We decided to start our motorbike trip in the south of Vietnam as we were travelling from Cambodia. We hopped on a coach from Phnom Penh and made our way to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), with minimal biking experience and no prior plans in place.

This trip can also be done the other way round, taking your motorbike from the other end of Vietnam – starting in Hanoi and ending in Ho Chi Minh City.

Is it better to buy or rent a motorbike for your trip to Vietnam?

When you get to HCMC or Hanoi you have one of two options, buying or renting. There is no right or wrong way to do this. There are pros and cons to each one, so, it all depends on the type of experience you are looking for.

Buying

Buying a motorbike in either Hanoi or HCMC is relatively cheap and easy. There are always backpackers who have just completed the route trying to make a quick sale before their visa runs out and they have to exit the country. You could end up buying the bike for cheap and selling it to another backpacker at the end of your journey, getting most of your money back. If you’re lucky you might even make a small profit. Bear in mind, you could be waiting days maybe even a week for a buyer to come along, this is not ideal if you are short on time.

Alternatively, there are also plenty of bike shops dotted around the city selling second-hand bikes. However, make sure you check the shop’s reputation online before you make a purchase there. Some shops even offer a buy-back option once you have reached your destination city. While this guarantees a quick sale you will be selling it for a fraction of what you have paid for it.

No matter who or where you buy the bike from, it always helps if you have some sort of prior motorbiking background. If you know what to look out for then it drastically reduces your chances of having issues on the road. If you have your heart set on buying, you can always hire a local mechanic to check the bike beforehand.

Renting

How does renting work then? It’s actually very simple. The rental companies usually have offices in multiple locations in the country. Allowing you to return the bike wherever you have arranged to finish your trip.

This makes renting the easier option of the two and comes with lots of benefits you don’t get when you buy. If you rent from a reputable company then at least you know what you are getting as well. The downside is you are paying out a large sum of money without the chance of regaining it. Rental companies also require a large cash deposit for this type of journey, on top of the rental balance. This is enough to put a lot of people off.

The positive thing about renting is that if something goes wrong with the bike the rental company should cover it. Providing the issue isn’t caused by something you have done of course. Rental companies also offer a 24-hour emergency service to aid you if you do breakdown.

To enable you to pack lighter for your trip companies will ship your bags for an additional fee to any of their offices in the country. Ready to collect when you return the bike.

Choosing the right motorbike for your trip across Vietnam

As we previously mentioned, between us we had little to no experience riding a motorbike. I had only ridden an automatic scooter a handful of times in Thailand, around some of the smaller islands and Sarah had never ridden one at all. Our lack of experience played a big part in our next decision, do we get one or two bikes?

Seeing the traffic in HCMC, it was obvious this wasn’t the place for Sarah to get on a bike for the first time. So, we opted for one bike, the Honda Blade and was very happy with this decision.

Whatever bike you choose you’ll need to decide on whether it is a manual, semi-automatic or automatic transmission. A manual motorbike is the best option for this trip to tackle any of the mountainous roads Vietnam throws at you. However, if you haven’t learnt how to drive a manual bike before maybe Vietnam isn’t the place to learn. If this is the case then a semi-automatic or automatic will be fine.

For the engine size, you really don’t really need anything above 125cc. Our little Honda Blade only had a 110cc engine but it was more than adequate to tackle any of the terrains we covered. Whether it was bumpy dirt tracks or the steepest inclines, she pulled through every time. We really overloaded this thing too. We squeezed both myself and Sarah on the bike as well as a large bag and two smaller rucksacks.

When is the best time for planning your motorbike trip in Vietnam?

Weather

When it comes to Vietnamese weather there is no right or wrong time to take on this trip. Due to the long and narrow shape of Vietnam, the country can be split into three different regions which all experience very different weather conditions. These regions are the north, the south and central Vietnam.

The northern region has definitive summer and winter seasons. The coldest months are January, February and March and the summer months are May to October. The north experiences the most rainfall during the summer with July, August and September being the wettest.

Temperatures remain relatively consistent throughout the year but can be split into dry and rainy seasons. The dry season begins in November and last until mid-May. While the rainy season begins in May and lasts until the beginning of November. The wettest months are typically from June through to August.

Lastly, the central region of Vietnam is similar to the south, in Hoi An, Hue and Denang temperatures are high all year round. The dry season begins in January and lasts all the way up the late August / early September. The remaining months of the year September to December are the wettest. In the more inland, mountainous cities like Dalat temperatures have much cooler climates and the weather is far less predictable.

We went in February, during this time there was very little rainfall and temperatures were moderate in most places.

Do I need a license?

The Vietnamese law clearly states that anyone riding a motorbike with an engine larger than 50cc requires a Vietnamese license or an International Driving Permit (IDP). Just take into consideration that you will need a 1968 IDP to legally drive in Vietnam, a 1949 IDP will not be valid.

Even though this is the law in Vietnam, police rarely enforce it, at least in 99% of the country. Except for a small coastal town called Mũi Né, the police are less forgiving in this area of Vietnam, and we recommend against taking your motorbike here on your trip.

Countless locals and travellers from all over the planets are riding around without a license on a daily basis. Local police know that most people don’t have a license but, they will look the other way if you aren’t doing anything wrong. However, some police officers see this as an opportunity to make a quick buck. They pull over foreigners knowing that they can not provide a license, accepting a bribe to forget it had happened. Although the police did not trouble us during our time in Vietnam, this is a common scam here so just be aware.

So to confirm, for your trip, it is not necessary to have motorbike license to hire or ride a bike in Vietnam. We got along just fine without having any run-ins with the law. It can, however, have implications with your insurance company should you find yourself involved in an accident, while riding the bike.

Insurance

When it comes to insurance you are going to want to make sure you have adequate cover before you leave your home country. Some insurance companies do not cover any two-wheeled travel, at all. While, other insurance companies do, providing you have a valid license from your home country and you are riding within the law of the country you are visiting.

We travelled to Vietnam without holding a license to ride a motorbike in our home country neither did we apply for an IDP. So although we had a policy that would allow us to ride a motorbike in other countries, we were not covered the entire time we were riding our bike.

Driving in Vietnam is dangerous and the country has very poor road traffic statistics, especially when it comes to motorbikes. We were lucky after having multiple close calls during our trip. When we return to Vietnam to travel around the northern region we will have the relevant licenses to ensure our policy covers us.

How long does a motorbike trip across Vietnam take?

You can do this route in 2 weeks if you really want, but there wouldn’t be much time to take in what the country has to offer. Which is a lot, by the way!

We did it in just over three weeks, which to be honest, still didn’t feel long enough. Although it was enough to see the main places we had planned to see, we would have liked the option to stay in certain places a little longer.

The route from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi

We have mapped out the routes we recommend taking, it has a little bit over everything from coastal drives to winding mountain trails and everything in between. Each route is broken down into the main journeys, as we made our way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

At the begin of each route, we have included the distance in kilometres and the time it took us to travel. The travel time is based on how long it took us on that day to get from point A to point B. The time fluctuates based on stops and the types of roads we were on etc. and is rounded to the nearest 15 minutes.

Google / Offline Maps Advice

Google maps will always make the journey time seem a lot quicker than it actually is. We found that you need to at least multiple the journey by 1.5x if not double to get a more realistic journey time.

When selecting a route, make sure that you set the ‘route options’ to ‘avoid highways’. It is illegal to ride on any highway beginning with ‘CT’ and marked in orange.

There is no need to set the route to ‘avoid tolls’ as bikes are allowed to pass through for free.

Make sure the route is downloaded for offline use before you leave your accommodation.

Ho Chi Minh City – Cat Tien National Park

Distance: 155km – Duration 4hr 45m

After organising the bike rental with Tigit Motorbikes our first port to call was Cat Tien. Still feeling a little slightly uncomfortable with the gear system on the bike, we decided to leave the city at the crack of dawn the following day. This way there would be less to think about on the roads.

The drive to Cat Tien isn’t great. It takes a couple of hours just to get out of HCMC. There isn’t much to look at after that either.

Cat Tien’s national park has a whole host of things to do and is well worth spending a full day here if you have the time. Unfortunately, we didn’t because of getting back on the road the very next morning.

Cat Tien National Park – Dalat

Distance: 222km – Duration 8hr 30m

Now for your first scenic drive via the DT725. Some travellers will tell you that this is their favourite route of the trip but neither me or Sarah shared this opinion. Although it wasn’t our favourite, it was still beautiful and it was refreshing to be out of the chaotic streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

There was more to take photos of on this route so the journey time almost doubled the Google maps time. We almost ran out of fuel too, we had no signal on our phones to search for the next petrol station either. With the needle on the fuel gauge resting on empty, we had no choice but to turn back and try to find some in a small village we passed through earlier on.

Dalat is a cool, mountain city with plenty to do. This is the first time we really felt the cold in Vietnam.

Dalat – Nha Trang

Distance: 139km – Duration 5hr 45m

From the Dalat mountains to Nha Trang via the QL27C is a truly stunning drive. We started this drive in the early hours of the morning. Spending the first hour and a half driving in and out of the thick fog, our hands were freezing cold and wet. The mountain roads eventually lead us high enough that we pierced through the fog into the sunlight. This is when the route began to live up to its reputation.

Winding roads that hug the side of the mountains, with a view to making your jaw drop round every bend. This is why we decided to travel to Vietnam on a bike.

Nha Trang is a coastal city so a large portion of the route is downhill. The city itself is very popular with Russian tourists and has become a bit of a party destination over the years.

About an hour into our journey the sun started coming up on this freezing cold foggy morning – Dalat to Nha Tran

Nha Trang – Pleiku

Distance: 295km – Duration: 10hr 45m

We made the decision to make up as much ground as we could in the next two days to get to Hoi An. Choosing the inland route firstly going along the QL26 eventually making our way onto the AH17.

We aren’t going to sugar coat it, this is a tedious drive. There isn’t much to see along this route apart from small villages and farmland. You’ll enconter some pretty treacherous roads along the way aswell.

There are some positives though; you are experiencing the real Vietnam this way and we didn’t spot one local for the entire duration.

Pleiku – Hoi An

Distance: 330km – Duration: 10hr 00m

We woke up fearing that we were going to have a repeat of the previous days drive. Nonetheless, we jumped on our bike first thing in the morning and set off to make another large dent in our Vietnam motorbike trip.

To our surprise, the drive was a massive improvement to the day before. The scenery improved tenfold and the road conditions were much more forgiving this time around. Although, about halfway into the journey the state of the road did deteriorate for about 50km.

We managed to cover 625km within 36 hours but strongly recommend against doing this. If we had more time to play with we would have broken the route up in three, as below.

Nha Trang to Buon Ma Thuot – approx. 185km
Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tom – approx. 225km
Kon Tom to Hoi An – approx. 283km

Hoi An – Da Nang

Distance: 27km – Duration: 0hr 50m

If you do decide to follow the route we took then you’ll be pleased to know that Da Nang is only a short drive up the coast from Hoi An. Although there isn’t much to see after the distance travelled in the previous days, you’ll most likely just want to get there.

This city is a favourite for travellers and locals alike and is home the iconic golden bridge you have almost definitely seen on Instagram. Another famous bridge in Da Nang is Dragon Bridge. Every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm, the bridge is closed off to traffic for its unprecedented fire show, where the dragon literally breaths fire. Personally, we wouldn’t arrange our trip around this but if you’re there on a weekend then it is certainly worth a visit.

Da Nang – Hue (via the Hai Van Pass)

Distance: 126km – Duration: 5hr 00m

A route that perfectly combines the mountains and the Vietnamese coastline. Despite the fact that this wasn’t our favourite route, the famous Hai Van Pass is an absolute must if you are visiting Hue from Da Nang. It’s also a far safer alternative to travelling the whole way on the QL1A.

Hue is another coastal city with plenty to do. The main reason for our visit was to explore the abandoned water-park. There is enough in the area to keep you busy for two to three days but we only stayed for the one night.

The famous Hải Vân Pass – made famous by Top Gear: Vietnam Special

Hue – Khe Sanh

Distance: 177km – Duration: 6hr 15m

On your journey from Hue to Khe Sanh, you will get your first taste of the Ho Chi Minh Road. What was once the main route connecting the north to the south now lays almost deserted after the construction of the more direct Highway 1 (QL1A).

The Ho Chi Minh Road is a stunning, windy and mountainous route. The route runs parallel to the Cambodia and Laos borders and some travellers visit Vietnam just to experience it.

The combination of minimal traffic and outstanding scenery made this one of our favourite drives.

Petrol stations don’t come along very often on this route so make sure you keep topping up when you get the chance.

Khe Sanh – Phong Nha

Distance: 232km – Duration: 8hr 30m

This is arguably the most scenic drive in all of Vietnam and was our personal favourite. Continuing your drive on the Ho Chi Minh Road high up into the mountains. Again, there was almost no other traffic on the road and certainly no tourists, only passing around 5 cars the whole way.

The roads, for the most part, are in good condition. There are even fewer petrol stations along this route, only counting two for the whole journey, we have marked these on the map. The frustrating thing is they aren’t too far away from one another.

We arrived at the first petrol station to find out they had run out of fuel leaving us no choice but to buy some from a roadside shop next door. By the time we had got to the next fuel station we still had a reasonable amount of fuel in the tank so we drove straight past it assuming there would be one further on. The lack of internet along this route prevented us from searching for another one google maps.

When you approach Phong Nha National Park the roads become dramatically steeper and the increase in fuel consumption becomes apparent. With the fuel gauge nearly on empty, not a building in sight and a long way to go, we were positive that we would be getting off to push very soon. We must have covered about 15km with the fuel gauge below empty before we finally came across a cafe that sold us 1.5L of petrol at an inflated price. At least, it got us out of trouble for the time being.

If you decide to go along this route, we recommend buying a large water bottle and filling it with fuel for back up, in case you find yourself in the same situation as us.

Phong Nha is home to Son Doong, the largest cave in the world and also Paradise Cave, the largest dry cave in Asia. These are just two of the five hundred plus cave networks embedded into the Phong Nha mountains. Some people come to Vietnam specifically to visit the national park here. A stay of at least 3 nights should be enough to briefly explore the area.

Phong Nha – Vinh

Distance: 211km – Duration: 6hr 45m

The next place we really wanted to visit was Ninh Binh but we felt it was too far to tackle the journey in one go. We decided to use the city of Vinh as our midway point. Arriving late afternoon and leaving very early the next morning.

The scenery driving out of Phong Nha National Park is beautiful, as you would expect. However, once the soaring peaks from the national park rapidly vanish, the landscape becomes flat with little to look at making the remainder of the drive dreary and tiring.

Vinh – Ninh Binh

Distance: 278km – Duration: 8hr 45m

The second leg of our drive to Ninh Binh was the worst we encountered on our Vietnam motorbike trip. As we had driven on Highway 1 briefly a handful of times already, we were in two minds on which route to take. The quick but supposedly dangerous highway 1 or the much longer route diverting off of the main highway, onto the quieter roads.

When we had been on highway 1 nothing bad enough had happened to convince us that we should avoid this road altogether, so we decided to try it. But, only an hour of driving on Highway 1 we had a close call with a coach. With another close call involving a different coach following shortly after. This was confirmation that taking the longer, alternate route was the better option.

This is the route we took. However, we don’t have any recommendations for this route, not using Highway 1 will at least double the journey time. When we weren’t on the highway, we found ourselves on some questionable backroads.

Our time off the highway was short-lived after google maps took us there against our will. Only to be met by another two close calls, this time involving lorries. It really felt like everything wanted to kill us that day.

Ninh Binh – Cat Ba Island

Distance: 191km – Duration: 6hr 30m

Most people go straight to Hanoi from Ninh Binh and then get a bus to Ha Long, often missing out Cat Ba Island from their trip. Cat Ba is the largest island in Ha Long Bay, and after hearing such good things about it we decided to make our way there instead.

To get to Cat Ba from Ninh Binh you will need to make your way to Bến phà Gót port. From here you will board a short 20-30 minute ferry. When you reach Cat Ba you will need to ride another 50 minutes to reach the main town.

We recommend filling your tank up before you get to Bến phà Gót port as the drive on the other side has lots of steep inclines and there are no fuelling stations until you reach the main town.

The ferry cost us 114,000 VND for myself, Sarah and the bike and the drive from the port to the main town is a scenic coastal drive.

Cat Ba Island – Ha Long

Distance: 33km – Duration: 2hr 20m

Travelling from Cat Ba to Ha Long is the most cost-effective way to see the iconic Ha Long Bay. From Cat Ba island you’ll need to catch another ferry that takes you to Bến phà Tuần Châu port. It’s on this ferry ride you’ll be able to really appreciate the staggering beauty of Ha Long Bay.

The ferry tickets cost 80,000 VND per passenger and 100,000 VND for one bike and one passenger. Making it considerably less than a luxury Ha Long Bay cruise. Although if budget permits, then a luxury cruise could be the best way to spend some of your remaining days in Vietnam.

Ha Long – Hanoi

Distance: 163km – Duration: 5hr 45m

This is the last leg of the journey. Which, I’m afraid to say, is another highway orientated route, that gets progressively more congested as you approach the capital.

The driving experience in Hanoi is similar to Ho Chi Minh City. A plethora of bike and cars coming from all angles, testing your concentration at all times.

By the time you reach Hanoi you are more than likely going to be feeling fairly drained from all the highway driving so, it is important to stay focused and take a break if you feel like you need to.

Budget and expenses

Your initial thoughts about a Vietnam motorbike trip is that it’s going to be expensive. But the reality is it’s not. Not even in the slightest. Vietnam is one of the cheapest places in the world.

Breakdown of our expenses

Below is a breakdown split into categories of all the expenses we incurred on our motorbike trip through Vietnam. In this section, we have included the costs in VND, USD and GBP. Vietnamese Dong (VND) is the most used currency in Vietnam but some transactions were made in USD. The costs in bold alongside the heading is what we paid and the currency the transaction was made in. The two prices below are converted to the other two currencies based on the average exchange rate (February 2020) during our time in Vietnam.

The bike and rental expense – 324.72 USD

VND – 7,045,900
GBP – 253.30

To rent our Honda Blade for 23 days was 250.00 USD. This was the cheapest option and we understand that it is the same price if you want to rent for a full month. We also decided to pay for the optional damage waiver for 30.00 USD. One of our large backpacks was sent to Hanoi, this cost us 15.00 USD. Lastly, we bought a phone mount that clamps on to the mirror of the bike for 20.00 USD. Tigit includes helmets in the rental price or the option to buy from their store. A transaction fee of 9.24 USD was incurred for paying on card.

Accommodation expenses – 6,022,600 VND

USD – 257.81
GBP – 201.11

We stayed in some nice hotels and some, not so nice. We tried to save money where we could on accommodation but you’ll be surprised what you can get for your money in Vietnam. Some places were too tempting not to spend the little bit extra.

Food and drink – 9,389,835 VND

USD – 401.98
GBP – 313.57

You can stretch your budget even further if you can stick to eating Vietnamese foods. Since we had already been eating Asian food for the previous 5 weeks in Thailand and Cambodia, there were days we just fancied a western meal instead. This does bump the price up significantly though. The total cost for food was 7,139,635 VND

We didn’t drink any alcohol until our last night mainly opting for water and the occasional soft drink. Alcohol is cheap in Vietnam but you’ll quickly realise it eating away at your budget if you buy it frequently. The total cost for drinks was 2,250,200 VND.

Bike maintenance, repairs and fuel – 1,245,000 VND

USD – 53.30
GBP – 41.58

Tigit’s instructions were for every 1,000km covered the bike required a routine oil change at any Honda Head garage in the country. If you did not do this and something went wrong with the bike, they would not cover the cost. The total for two oil changes was 165,000 VND.

Repairing a bike in Vietnam is cheap. Remarkably the bike didn’t break down once. Not even a flat tyre so we did not incur any repair costs. Winning!

To cover the 3,000+ km we drove the total cost for fuel was only 1,080,000 VND. Fuel is very cheap, with the average price being between 19,000 – 20,000 VND / litre.

E-Visas – 54.00 USD

VND – 1,171,700
GBP – 42.12

The above prices are for two British Citizens – 25.00 USD each for the e-visa and a 2.00 USD processing fee per person. This may change based on your nationality.

Sarah and I applied for our e-visa through the official Vietnamese Gov website while we were in Cambodia. The website states that processing the e-visa takes three working days. However, this is not always the case, going by our experience and many other peoples that we read about online. Ours actually took 4 working days to be accepted but other people were reporting waiting times of 7 working days. This is something you need to consider if you are coming from another country like us.

Entrance fees & trips – 2,880,000 VND

USD – 123.28
GBP – 96.18

Because a lot of the time we were rushing we could only visit a limited amount of places. This cost would have been slightly higher had we spent more time in the places we enjoyed the most.

Over half of this total comes from our visit to Sun World, spending 1,500,000 VND on two tickets to enter the park. The other attractions were relatively cheap in comparison.

Sundry expenses – 2,884,204.50 VND

USD – 123.46
GBP – 96.32

Transportation costs – 1,238,000 VND – Transportation includes taxies using the grab app or boat taxis. Taxies were only ever used in HCMC and Hanoi when we did not have the bike.

Bribing a local – 650,000 VND – We read about an epic hike online that you can only access through an elderly woman’s house. The view from the summit overlooks Ha Long Bay and was worth every penny, no matter how sketchy the hike was. This is the best viewpoint we came across on the whole trip.

Mobile coverage – 432,000 VND – As soon as we jumped off the bus from Cambodia we got a sim card straight away. The mobile carrier we went with was Vietnamobile. Costing 216,000 VND per sim, for a 30-day unlimited data plan.

If you travel the routes we went on you will have very little service most of the time anyway.

Card transaction & ATM fees – 313,904.50 VND – When we could we would pay by card, but not many places would accept card payments and some of those who did often included a card transaction fee on top of the final bill.

ATMs fees vary from bank to bank, but nearly all ATMs have them. The smallest ATM fee was 30,000 VND and the largest was 55,000 VND. We did come across an HSBC ATM that did not charge us a fee at all but this was at the expense of a lower exchange rate.

Laundry costs – 315,000 VND – In Vietnam laundry is usually charged per kilo. This price was for 11.5kg of washing averaging 27,391.30 VND/kg.

Toiletries – 229,300 VND – We had to top up some toiletries and also buy hand sanitiser as Coronavirus was all over the media at this point in time.

Overall expenses

Now for the part you are probably more interested in. The total cost all in all for the trip. Over the whole duration of our Vietnam motorbike trip, we only spent the below amount.

VND – 30,659,239.50
USD – 1,311.58
GBP – 1,023.12

This is the total cost for two people and making this half the price. Not bad for just over three weeks on the road with a few extra nights without the bike either end in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Excluded expenses

While the overall expense sounds like an unbelievably good price, which it still is. It’s worth noting that there are a couple of costs that we decided to leave out.

Travel

People come from all different corners of the world to visit Vietnam, so the cost to get here varies depending on when and where you are visiting from.

Insurance

We set out to travel for a year so we purchased a twelve-month policy. The chances are you won’t need a twelve-month policy so the price of insurance will vary greatly. If you are looking for travel insurance we found World Nomads travel insurance a great company to go with and you can get a quote below.

What to pack on your Vietnam motorbike trip

What you can pack heavily depends on how many people you plan to have on your bike at one time. There is a weight restriction on the luggage rack. Since it was me and Sarah sharing one bike, compromises were made when deciding what we need to take. Whether you bring these items with you or buy them when you get to Vietnam is up to you.

Essential items

Waterproof clothing – this is perhaps the most important item to take to Vietnam for a motorbike trip. The North and the South of Vietnam have very different climates. While the weather could be warm and dry down the Southern region the weather in the North can be cold and wet. You will almost certainly come across a downpour at one point in your journey. So it’s best to be prepared when it does. Getting soaking wet will make your drive tedious and miserable. Ponchos can be bought on the roadside for less than $1 but these are poor quality and rip very easily.
A power bank – you will most likely be using your phone to help you navigate to each destination. We didn’t even consider packing a power bank until our phones died mid-route at the beginning of our trip. Some of the drives can take around 8-10 hours. In bright daylight, the brightness needs to be on near maximum to see the route on the map. As you can imagine even the best smartphones on the market today will struggle to stay powered for that long.
Waterproof bags or bag covers – it’s not just yourself you need to keep dry. After enduring a drive in the worst of the Vietnamese elements the last thing you want is to arrive at your hotel with the contents inside your bag soaking wet. Nothing fresh to change into after a lengthy drive can really dampen moral.
A decent helmet – in Vietnam you will see 90% of the locals wearing baseball cap inspired helmets. These offer little to no protection if you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident. Giving it the name, ‘the eggshell helmet’. Decent helmets can be bought for as little as 250,000 VND at the local Big C supermarket or market stalls around the city. Some rental companies include a good protective helmet in the price.
A phone holder – unless you are absolutely sure you know what bike you are going to buy/rent then maybe wait until you get to Vietnam to buy this. The two options we came across was one that clamps to the bars or mirror of the bike or a waterproof bag that straps onto the motorbike. We decided to go for the ‘clamp-on’ as both our phones are IP67 water and dust resistant.

Recommended items

Something to take pictures with – whether it is a camera or just your smartphone. The scenery in Vietnam is second to none. There is a photo opportunity around every corner, take as many photos you can.
Motorbike goggles or at least sunglasses – this is subject to how good your helmet is. Countless times on this trip trucks and buses will overtake you kicking up large clouds of dust. I spent most of my time on the highways peering through squinted eyelids just to keep as much dust as I could going in my eyes. Even though my helmet had a visor on it this didn’t stop the dust from finding its way underneath and straight into my eyes.
Riding gloves – you just don’t know how cold it gets up in the mountains in Vietnam until you’re there. This is another item I wish I bought. On multiple occasions, driving through thick fog in the early hours of the morning left hands my cold to the bone. During the midsts of the Vietnam heat, my hands got sunburnt leaving behind some questionable tan lines.
Download an offline map app – Vietnam is still a developing country and there are a lot of areas on this route that lack connectivity. Google maps can sometimes play up and if it loses your route you’ll need to find your own way. While this isn’t a tangible item you can’t pack it’s definitely worth a mention.

What was in our bags?

All the items of clothing we took with us

In Sarah’s bag

Leggins x1
Shorts x3
Jeans x1
Sweatshirt x1
Dresses x2
Skirt x1
T-shirts x2
Vest top x1
Raincoat x1
Swimsuit x1
Bandana x2
Underwear x5
Socks (pairs) x5

In Jack’s bag

Trousers x2
Jogging bottoms x1
Sweatshirt x1
Hoodie x1
T-shirt x2
Vest top x1
Raincoat
Shorts x2
Swim shorts x1
Bandana x2
Underwear x5
Socks (pairs) x5

What’s in our camera bag?

Toiletries

We also packed a toiletry bag between us containing all the usual suspects. Most of the hotels/hostels (but not all) we stayed at had complimentary toiletries anyway. Sarah saw this as an opportunity to save some money, taking whatever she could get her hands on.

By Before We Settle

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