Motorcycling in Vietnam

Best time by region

Each cell counts the places in this list marked as worth visiting in that month (the best months on each location page). Darker means more of the region's places agree.

Motorcycling by region32 places

North Vietnam (19)

Destination guides Cao Bang, Ha Giang · North Vietnam guide →

Monument

A Pa Chai (Vietnam's Westernmost Point)

Điện Biên

A Pa Chai is Vietnam's westernmost point - a remote peak in Điện Biên province where the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and China meet at a tri-border marker, reached via Đồn Biên Phòng 317 in Mường Nhé district's Sín Thầu commune.

Oct - Apr→

Mountain

Angel Eye Mountain (God Eye Mountain)

Cao Bằng

Angel Eye Mountain - also known as God Eye Mountain or Núi Thủng - is a limestone karst peak in Cao Bằng with a perfectly circular 50m hole piercing through its summit, set in the Thang Hen valley where the surrounding flatland floods into a 15-hectare lake each rainy season.

Year-round→

Valley

Bắc Sơn Valley

Lạng Sơn

Bắc Sơn Valley in Lạng Sơn is a wide basin of patchwork rice paddies ringed by dramatic limestone karst peaks - 80km from Lạng Sơn city, home to Tày, Nùng, and Dao communities in traditional stilt houses. One of northern Vietnam's most photogenic and least-visited valley landscapes.

Jul - Apr→

Mountain

Bình Liêu Border Mountains

Quang Ninh

Bình Liêu in Quảng Ninh is often called a 'mini Sa Pa' - a highland border district with year-round mild climate, ethnic minority villages, and nearly 50km of frontier with China. The border ridge trek to Cột Mốc 1305 crosses the famous dinosaur spine ridge above a sea of reed flowers in October and November.

Sep - Jan→

Island

Cô Tô Island

Quang Ninh

Cô Tô Island in Quảng Ninh province is one of northern Vietnam's most pristine island destinations - an archipelago of nearly 50 islands in the Gulf of Tonkin with white sand beaches, clear turquoise water, coral snorkeling, and an unhurried fishing village atmosphere far removed from the crowds of Hạ Long Bay. Accessible by fast catamaran ferry from Ao Tiên port in around 60-90 minutes.

Apr - Oct→

Palace

Hmong King Palace

Hà Giang

The Hmong King Palace (Dinh thự họ Vương) in Sà Phìn, Đồng Văn is the former residence of the Vương clan - the most powerful Hmong family in colonial-era Hà Giang - a stone compound built 1898-1907 that blends Hmong, Chinese, and French architectural traditions, funded by control of the plateau's opium trade.

Year-round→

Mountain Pass

Khau Cóc Chà Pass

Cao Bằng

Khau Cóc Chà Pass, sometimes called the '15-tier pass,' is one of Cao Bằng's most dramatic mountain roads - just 2.5km long but packed with 14 hairpin switchbacks connecting Xuân Trường commune to Bảo Lạc town near the Chinese border, with a short hike leading to the best panoramic viewpoint over the whole switchback sequence.

Nov - Apr→

Mountain Pass

Khau Phạ Pass

Yên Bái

Khau Phạ Pass is one of Vietnam's four great mountain passes - a 30km road through the clouds between Tú Lệ and Mù Cang Chải, with the most dramatic views of rice terraces in the country, and the only paragliding launch site in the entire Mù Cang Chải region.

Sep - Oct→

Monument

Km 0 Milestone - Hà Giang

Hà Giang

The Km 0 milestone in Hà Giang city centre marks the symbolic starting point of the Ha Giang Loop, which heads north onto National Highway 4C toward Quản Bạ and the Đồng Văn Karst Plateau - the traditional first stop for motorbike riders before embarking on the loop, and one of the most photographed check-in spots in northern Vietnam.

Year-round→

Monument

Lũng Pô

Lao Cai

Lũng Pô in Bát Xát district, Lào Cai is where the Red River first enters Vietnam from China at border marker 92 - the starting point of one of the two great rivers that built Vietnamese civilization. A 31.43m flagpole (2017) marks the site. Most visited for photography and the symbolic weight of standing at this geographic threshold.

Mar, Sep - Nov→

Mountain Pass

Mã Pí Lèng Pass

Hà Giang

Mã Pí Lèng Pass - Vietnam's most dramatic mountain road, a 20km switchback carved into sheer limestone cliffs above the turquoise Nho Quế River canyon. Built 1959-1965 by over 2,000 workers from 16 ethnic groups who hung from ropes on the cliff faces for nearly a year.

Mar - Apr, Sep - Nov→

Mountain

Mẫu Sơn Mountain

Lạng Sơn

Mẫu Sơn is one of the few places in Vietnam where snow falls - a highland massif topped by Phia Pò peak (1,541m) in Lạng Sơn province near the Chinese border, with abandoned French colonial ruins, a sea of clouds, and genuine subalpine conditions in winter.

Jul - May→

Farmland

Moc Chau Tea Hills

Sơn La

The Moc Chau Tea Hills are vast rolling plantations of trimmed green tea bushes covering the highland plateau of Son La province, about 10km from Moc Chau town. Most photogenic at dawn when mist settles between the rows - the smell of tea leaves in the cool morning air is one of the defining sensory experiences of the plateau.

Mar - Apr, Oct - Nov→

Mountain Pass

O Quy Ho Pass

Lao Cai, Lai Châu

Ô Quy Hồ Pass is one of Vietnam's 'tứ đại đỉnh đèo' (four great passes) - the longest mountain pass in the northwest at 50km, crossing the Hoàng Liên Sơn range at 2,035m between Sapa and Lai Châu. Named after the mournful cry of a bird in a tragic love legend.

Mar - May, Sep - Nov→

Mountain Pass

Quản Bạ Heaven Gate

Hà Giang

Quản Bạ Heaven Gate is the first dramatic viewpoint on the Ha Giang Loop - a mountain pass at 1,500 metres where the road crests and the entire Quản Bạ (Tam Sơn) Valley opens below, with the Twin Mountains rising from the valley floor and, in the right season, a sea of clouds filling the basin at dawn.

Aug - Apr→

Mountain

Quản Bạ Twin Mountains

Hà Giang

The Quản Bạ Twin Mountains - Núi Đôi, also called Núi Cô Tiên ('Fairy Mountain') - are two symmetrical, rounded dolomite peaks rising from the Quản Bạ (Tam Sơn) Valley floor, an icon of the Ha Giang Loop tied to a well-known fairy legend.

Sep - Apr→

Mountain Pass

Thẩm Mã Pass

Hà Giang

Thẩm Mã Pass (also called Dốc Chín Khoanh, the 'nine-bend slope') is a dramatic, historically named mountain pass on Highway 4C between Yên Minh and Đồng Văn on the Hà Giang Loop - one of the route's most famous photo stops, which also means it's one of its most crowded, especially during the Sep-Nov buckwheat flower season.

Mar - Apr, Sep - Nov→

Mountain Pass

Thung Khe Pass

Hòa Bình

Thung Khe Pass (Đèo Đá Trắng / White Rock Pass) on National Highway 6 sits at 1,000m with sweeping views of Mai Chau valley and dramatic white limestone cliffs that look like snow from a distance. A mandatory stop on any Hanoi - Mai Chau motorbike route, 100km from Hanoi.

Mar - May, Sep - Nov→

Forest

Yên Minh Pine Forest

Hà Giang

The Yên Minh Pine Forest is an unexpected stretch of man-made highland pine on the Ha Giang Loop, spanning Na Khê, Lao Và Chải, and Bạch Đích communes along Highway 4C - dense Pinus kesiya forest at around 1,200 metres, with morning mist threading between the trees and a completely different atmosphere from the surrounding karst landscape. Note: at the Cán Tỷ bridge fork before Yên Minh, only the longer 41km route passes through the forest - the shorter 22.6km route bypasses it entirely.

Mar - Apr, Sep - Nov→

Central Vietnam (9)

Destination guides Da Lat, Da Nang, Mui Ne · Central Vietnam guide →

Beach

Bình Sơn Beach

Ninh Thuận

Bình Sơn Beach is Phan Rang's city beach, just 2-3km from downtown and connected directly to Ninh Chữ beach, with a modern seafront park, fine white sand, and reliably clear water in a province that gets less rain than anywhere else in Vietnam.

Mar - Sep→

Beach

Cape Cà Ná

Ninh Thuận

Cape Cà Ná is a dramatic headland on the Ninh Thuận coast where granite boulders meet the East Sea against a backdrop of near-desert scrubland - one of the most visually distinctive coastal landscapes on the north-south motorbike route, with small sheltered swimming coves alongside longer stretches of rock better suited to sightseeing than swimming.

Feb - Dec→

Bridge

Cầu Ông Cọp

Phú Yên

Cầu Ông Cọp is Vietnam's longest wooden bridge - a roughly 700-800 meter hand-built structure of timber and bamboo spanning the Bình Bá river (also called Phú Ngân river) in Phú Yên. Privately funded and built in 1998, opened in 1999, and rebuilt after every flood season, it became famous as a filming location for the 2015 Vietnamese film 'Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass' and is now one of Phú Yên's most photographed landmarks.

Jan - Aug→

Beach

Cù Mi Beach

Bình Thuận

Cù Mi Beach is a quiet working fishing beach in southern Bình Thuận, with colourful boats, low-key local life, and almost no dedicated tourist infrastructure. Its distinctive access via a narrow wooden footbridge makes it an interesting stop on the coastal motorbike route between La Gi and Phan Thiết.

Oct - Apr→

Stream

Đa Ploa Stream

Lâm Đồng

Đa Ploa Stream in Đạ Huoai district of Lâm Đồng is a multi-tier stream in the transitional forest zone between the southern highlands and the lowlands - much of the wider Đạ Huoai stream area remains genuinely undeveloped, though at least one organised camping site with basic facilities has emerged nearby in recent years.

Dec - May→

Mountain

Masara Hill

Lâm Đồng

Masara Hill in Đức Trọng district, Lâm Đồng is a 30-hectare expanse of open grassland that turns a deep pink from roughly November to December - unlike other pink-grass spots near Đà Lạt, Masara's grass grows on bare, treeless hills rather than under pine cover, giving it a darker, more saturated colour.

Nov - Apr→

Cape

Mũi Điện (Cape Varella)

Phú Yên

Mũi Điện (Cape Varella) in Phú Yên is a dramatic 110-metre headland crowned by a working lighthouse - traditionally regarded as the easternmost accessible point of mainland Vietnam, and one of the first places on the country's coastline to receive sunrise.

Apr - Sep→

Waterfall

Phi Liêng Waterfall

Lâm Đồng

Phi Liêng is a 7-tier, 70m waterfall deep in the forest of Đam Rông district, Lâm Đồng - nicknamed 'Tây Nguyên Đệ Nhất Thác' (the greatest waterfall of the Central Highlands). 80km from Đà Lạt, no phone signal inside, a 40-45 degree descent with ropes - genuinely remote and genuinely rewarding.

Nov - Apr→

Nature Reserve

Sơn Trà Peninsula

Đà Nẵng

Sơn Trà Peninsula is Đà Nẵng's wild backyard - a 4,439-hectare nature reserve rising directly from the sea, home to one of Vietnam's last populations of the endangered red-shanked douc langur. Known for scenic mountain roads, quiet northern beaches, and Linh Ứng Pagoda with its 67m Lady Buddha.

Mar - Sep→

South Vietnam (4)

Destination guides Mekong Delta · South Vietnam guide →

Island

Hòn Sơn Island

Kien Giang

Hòn Sơn is a large mountainous island in the Gulf of Thailand, Kiên Giang - calmer seas and a shorter crossing than Phú Quý, with clear water, Ma Thiên Lãnh peak, fishing villages, and almost no resort development. Minimum 2 nights to do it properly.

Nov - May→

Beach

Phước Bình Beach

Ba Ria - Vung Tau

Phước Bình Beach is a 4km stretch of quiet coastline next to Phước Tĩnh fishing village, tucked behind a row of resorts between Long Hải and Hồ Tràm. Almost no tourist presence - barely shows up in Google search results. Best October to November.

Oct - Apr→

Rice Fields

Ta Pa Fields

An Giang

Ta Pa Fields, at the base of Tà Pạ and Cô Tô mountains in Tri Tôn district, An Giang, are a patchwork of terraced rice paddies at different growth stages - a result of the local communal 'vần công' farming custom - considered one of the Mekong Delta's most distinctive rice landscapes, especially during the July-November harvest season.

Jul - Nov→

Rice Fields

Vĩnh Trung Fields

An Giang

Vĩnh Trung Fields, in Tịnh Biên district beneath the Thất Sơn mountains, is home to An Giang's most photographed thốt nốt (sugar palm) row, standing behind the Khmer pagoda Sà-Đách-Tót - best seen at dawn during flood season when the fields mirror the trees.

Aug - Apr→

Browse other experiences

• Beaches55 places→
• Trekking74 places→
• Camping45 places→
• Caving15 places→
• Snorkeling21 places→
• Kayaking23 places→
• Food32 places→
• Culture57 places→
• History82 places→
• Photography181 places→
• Markets11 places→
• Nightlife9 places→
• Walking Tours29 places→
• Cycling31 places→
• Boat Tours42 places→
• Cable Cars9 places→
• Homestays11 places→
• Wildlife33 places→
• Shopping5 places→