The Ultimate Itinerary for 2 Weeks in Northern Vietnam

After a rather stressful start entering Vietnam, we just had the most amazing past 15 days here. We decided to explore only Northern Vietnam since Daniel is visa-free for 15 days, so it just seemed logical to set our sights out on a small area. Vietnam is huge and I think we would have needed at least 4 weeks if we wanted to explore the south as well!

We chose Northern Vietnam since there was a typhoon in the south and Daniel really wanted to ride along the famous motorbike loop. But more on that later! So, why was the start of this journey a bit stressful? The country we were in before Vietnam was Taiwan (a great place to travel, by the way). We had a midday flight and we were going to be quite late after our last day in Taipei. It was then that we realized that although Danne is visa-free, I most definitely need a visa to enter Vietnam. I seriously cannot wait until I can apply for my Swedish passport since I am going to be invincible and be able to get into so many countries!

Related Blog Post: Read why you should visit Taiwan here!

Anyways, after a lot of stress and changing our flight to 7 pm, since even express visas need some time, we found a company that was relatively cheap and could produce an express 1-month visa before our evening flight. We used Govietnamvisa.com and paid about 48 USD for the 4-hour visa service. Honestly, it was worth it. They communicated with me at 1 am via Whatsapp and the application process was rather easy. Since we had extended our trip in Taipei by a few hours, we were able to print out the form and get passport photos to expedite our waiting time once entering Hanoi.

All I know from various years of travelling is that everything solves itself in the end. It seriously does! There is no use in stressing out since this is Asia and with a little patience and some money, you will get to your destination.

So, we started with a hiccup, but we happily arrived in Hanoi on November 19^th and left on December 3^rd. In 2 weeks, we felt like we really got to explore the north and even got a tiny, tiny bit off the of the beaten path, which is nearly impossible in touristy Vietnam.

So, what does the ultimate itinerary for 2 weeks in Northern Vietnam look like? Feel free to click on the anchor links below to hop to your favourite part!

• Days 1-2 Hanoi
• Days 3-6 Cat Ba Island
• Days 6-7 Hanoi Again
• Days 8-9 Sapa
• Days 10-13 Motorbiking the Northern Loop
• Day 14 Hanoi for the Last Time

Days 1-2 Hanoi

We arrived in Hanoi very late on a Monday so I will count Day 1 as the day after we arrived. As the capital city, Hanoi is bustling and you will find that the majority of tourists stay in the Old Quarter since you are sandwiched between thousands of bars, restaurants, and Instagrammable cafes. For me, Hanoi is the city of cheap but delicious food.

When you arrive into the Old Quarter, the streets will be narrow and littered with people. Right away, you know that this is a busy tourist destination. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but we were quite shocked since we really have been off the beaten path in a lot of travels. There is a charm to Hanoi, and I think many people that do not like big cities like the hustle and bustle of the Old Quarter in Hanoi.

For the first few nights, we stayed at Ibiz City Hostel, which is located in the heart of Old Quarter. Expect loud music blaring from local clubs and restaurants scattered all around. However, we were on the 4^th floor and found our stay very quiet and comfortable.

Unfortunately, Daniel was sick during our time in Vietnam and since we knew we had a lot planned after Hanoi, we spent the first few days relaxing. I caught up on some writing and we watched some Christmas movies on Netflix. Even when it is blaring hot outside, I need the Christmas feeling!

We were good tourists and did force ourselves to do some sightseeing in Hanoi. Here are some of our highlights:

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Of course, we had to visit the place where the beloved communist leader was laid to rest. We didn’t actually go inside to see his body but visited the grounds. I found it really interesting that Vietnam went against his dying wishes where he clearly stated that he did not what his body displayed. Feels a bit disrespectful to the dead. But, oh well, I guess it attracts tourists from all over Vietnam and the world.

Visit Temples and Pagodas

There are loads of temples and pagodas to visit in Hanoi. We ended up going to Tran Quoc Pagoda, and honestly, 1 was enough. It was cool to walk around and watch the locals give offerings and pray.

I liked that all the Buddhist rules were listed at this site. We especially enjoyed reading the ones that seemed super ridiculous to us; for example, ones about homosexuality and travelling.

This pagoda is located along a lake, so it was nice to walk around and see a new area of the city. If we had been a bit better at sightseeing, I would have liked to see the Temple of Literature.

Thang Long Water Puppet Show

If you want a cultural and extremely strange experience, see a water puppet show! The puppets really were beautiful and it was pretty awesome to see them dance around on the water.

We were glad that this show was less than 1 hour though since there are no subtitles. You can understand the general gist of the show, but I think that the experience would be really enhanced with some generated subtitles on a screen above the stage.

Go Shopping in the Old Quarter

There are so many shops selling fake North Face and Fjällräven that you will lose count. Since Fjällräven is a very expensive Swedish brand, which is famous for impractical but adorable backpacks, I had to buy one for a fraction of the cost. I ended up buying a mini version and the classical regular size version. They cost about 150-180 000 VND (8.5-10 CAD/58-70 SEK) per backpack. I found it way harder to bargain in Hanoi than other places since it is so frequented by tourists, so they don’t chase after you for a sale. Gone are the good old days of getting extremely cheap items for just a few bucks. However, I would still say that we got a wicked good deal!

Eat Amazing Food

I had to write another blog post about the amazing restaurants in Hanoi. There are tons of delicious restaurants at reasonable prices. We enjoyed everything from street food to fancier Italian restaurants. Although, we always try to eat the local food as much as possible while travelling! Click on the link below if you want to read about what to eat while in Hanoi.

Related Blog Post: Read about what to eat in Hanoi here!

Days 3-6 Cat Ba Island

So, after our short stint in Hanoi, it was time to go to Cat Ba Island. We chose to visit Cat Ba Island (and thus Lan Ha Bay) over doing an overnight tour on Halong Bay since, according to the blogs online, it seemed to be less touristy and more off the beaten track.

It was touristy and definitely on the track. However, that is ok, and we still enjoyed it. We booked the bus ride direct from our hostel to Cat Ba Town through Good Morning Cat Ba. We filled in the form online and everything was set. It cost us 13 USD which included a bus, a boat ride, and then another bus ride to the town. The entire journey took about 4 hours. We opted for the 11 am time so we could sleep in.

This company was good since we got free water and cookies on board.

We met a really nice couple from Belgium, Daphné and Micahel, on the bus who we ended up travelling with them for the rest of our stay in Vietnam.

Danne and I decided to stay at Green Island Hotel in Cat Ba Town for 3 nights. It included a yummy free breakfast included in the extremely cheap price. All the hotels on Cat Ba Town were super cheap. We were quite tired the first night so we just had dinner with our new friends and booked a tour to see Lan Ha Bay with them for the next day.

Lan Ha Bay Tour

Every single hotel offers the same tour of Lan Ha Bay for 15 USD. You get to kayak in a pretty area, have lunch on the boat, stop at a swimming spot, and then stop on Monkey Island where you can hike a scary ass point.

The day starts early and it can be really cold in the morning, so bring a cozy sweater since it is way nicer to sit outside. It is also better for those like me that get seasick. The tour is a screaming good deal for only 15 USD. You are on a boat with a bunch of other tourists (once again, this is not off the beaten track), but everyone on our boat was nice.

I was quite chilly in the morning but it was okay since right away we got some amazing views to appreciate

The kayaking was beautiful. There are tons of small lagoons, so try to enter any small hole and see where it pops out. It was nice to just paddle around and get a bit lost on our own.

After kayaking, we ate a very decent lunch with whomever you are sitting with. Danne and I really liked the meal. Thankfully, Daphné asked for a vegetarian meal, so we got extra vegetables, which was very appreciated by me. So, I would suggest someone in your group to ask for this since the veggies were great.

After lunch, we visited a swimming spot. It was advertised as a place to snorkel, so Daniel and I brought our gear with us (the boat has them for free as well). However, the water here is nothing like in Indonesia. The bay is completely dead. It is totally not worth snorkelling here. The swim stop was really short, and our boat drivers were yelling for us to come back to the boat when it felt like we just got into the water. It was hot on the day we had our tour, so the swim was really nice.

The last stop is Monkey Island, which does have monkeys (cool) but they are not native to that island (not cool). Since we have seen tons of monkeys in Borneo, Kuala Lumpur, and Taiwan, we just didn’t want to hang out with these aggressive macaques. They seemed really mean.

There is a hike on Monkey Island, which offers some spectacular views. However, all the tourist boats land on Monkey Island at the same time so it is insane trying to climb the sharp-edged cliffs. Daphné and Michael stopped once it got dangerous since it really was dangerous. If there had been fewer people it would have been a lot easier.

Danne and I continued to the 1^st peak. I honestly was too scared and it was too busy (and stressful) to make it the 2^nd peak that was just a bit higher. To be honest, I don’t regret stopping early at all since, in all honesty, this hike felt way more dangerous than motorbiking the infamous Northern Loop in a t-shirt (don’t worry, I had protection!).

Here are some pictures from the top of the peak. Here you can really see the extreme amount of tourists trying to climb the steep rock.

I saw people climbing this in sandals, which I think is pretty dumb since it is eroded volcanic rock. So, it is really slippery. We did get some nice views from up there. It was cool to be so high up and see the surroundings. However, if you are not fit or extremely scared of heights, just walk up until you have to half rock climb like we did. The first part of the walk is very easy as long as you have good walking shoes.

We got tons of beautiful views of Lan Ha Bay on this tour. Lan Ha Bay is just an extension of Halong Bay, so you basically see the same stuff. From what I have heard from other travellers, the overnight trip on Halong Bay can be extremely varied (from really good to terrible), and it is not really worth it. It is extremely pretty, but I think it would be more worth it to take 2-day trips than sleep overnight on a boat.

And then there is the price. It is so much cheaper to do day trips, and you get to be on the tour from around 8 am-5 pm. Danne and I thought the tour was really worth the money and the lunch was tasty.

As I said, the views of Lan Ha Bay were great. We had really great weather, so us 4 just enjoyed chilling on the deck for a lot of the ride.

Daphné and I enjoying the wonderful views

Rent Scooters and Explore the Island

On our second full day on Cat Ba Island, we rented scooters and explore the island. I really appreciated being able to rent scooters since it allowed us to visit places in a much more convenient way. The traffic on Cat Ba Island was quite reasonable so it would be a good spot for beginners to learn.

Our first stop was Cannon Fort, which offers amazing views just outside of Cat Ba Town. It is a bit of a climb with the scooter, and our scooter did not have a lot of a power, so it was a bit of a tough climb up the hill.

If you opt to walk up the hill, it is going to be a workout. Riding a scooter was definitely the best option. It cost 40 000 VND (2 CAD/15 SEK) per person for a ticket to enter the fort.

The main attraction here is the view. However, you can look at the old cannons. I think the views of Lan Ha Bay are great from up here.

We then drove up to Hospital Cave, which is a hospital within a cave, which was used during the Vietnam War. It cost 20 000 VND (1 CAD/8 SEK) per person for entrance and parking.

You get a guide when going through the hospital. Ours was really sweet but was a bit tough to understand. However, a quick walk around the hospital was really neat.

On the hospital’s main entrance (which is the exit for the tour), you have a great view of some mountains. I really liked the landscape in Vietnam. It reminds me a lot of the rainforests in Borneo, just without the crippling humidity.

The views from Hospital Cave once you exit the tour

Our last stop of the day was at Cat Ba National Park. We passed a cave on the way, which is included in the admission for Cat Ba National Park. However, we were running a bit late and wanted to be back before it got dark and we knew that we would probably be going for a hike at the national park.

The entrance fee for the park was 40 000 VND (2 CAD/15 SEK) per person for a ticket and parking. There is a short 1.5-2 km hike that takes less than 1 hour to complete. It was a relatively easy hike; just bring proper shoes for the steep bits.

It was nice to be outside and hiking since it had been a while since we have done that on this trip. The trail was quite easily marked, although we did get off the path 1 time (Danne’s fault).

Since we were doing a day trip, none of us were in proper hiking clothing. If it is sunny, I would recommend having shorts on since it gets hot when you climb up.

There are 2 viewpoints, with the 2^nd one being nicer than the 1^st. So trek on those last few minutes for the good views.

I loved the views from way up here so make sure you visit Cat Ba National Park

Although we were a bit rushed to get down before it got dark, this hike was so worth it. It wasn’t tough except for 2 steep parts near the end.

The views were also really rewarding! The landscape from up here was breathtaking. Don’t miss hiking this relatively easy peak while visiting Cat Ba Island.

After hiking, I was really craving pizza (let’s be honest, I am always craving bread in Asia!), so we found a nice place to eat dinner together. The food at Café My Way was quite good but I think our favourite part was their boisterous son who forced us to colour for like 20 minutes while we waited for our food. He was super bossy, but we all wanted to please him with our good colouring.

I love that no matter where you are in the world, kids are just kids. On an important note, he better enjoy the amazing colouring job I did of Belle.

If we had been a bit more planned, we would have taken a direct transfer from Cat Ba Island to Sapa. However, I had to pick up some clothing I had tailored (more on that disaster later), so we were forced to go to Hanoi. Luckily for us, Michael and Daphné were also heading that way so we booked a bus back to Hanoi together. We booked through our hotels, and it was cheaper on the way back at 200 000 VND (11 CAD/77 SEK) per person. So, don’t book the return ticket from Hanoi!

We left on the 1 pm bus, which allowed us to grab lunch before heading on the road.

 

Days 6-7 Hanoi Again

We arrived quite late in Hanoi and all 4 of us were exhausted. Danne and I tried to pick up the tailoring I did at Airashi Silk, but they were closed. This should have been an omen for how the tailoring would turn out for me.

Since the shop was closed, and she knew I would be coming, I began to feel a bit nervous.  But would ripping me off of 30 USD really be worth closing your store when you thought I may be coming? We were spending 1 night in Hanoi, so we returned the morning to find them…closed. How could they be closed again? We finally walked back to the hotel and had them call the store. Miraculously, they had just opened.

So, here is the tale of my tailoring experience in Hanoi. To sum it up, I will never get anything tailored in Asia again. In China, I did it once or twice and didn’t extremely love it but wasn’t too bothered either.

Well, in Hanoi, it was just bad. The outcome could not have been more different than the skirt that I gave her a picture of. I wanted a wrap skirt (just with a zipper instead of a wrap) so I could have something long, breezy, and had good air flow. What I received was thick, stiff, and very non-Western in design.

I will take some blame for the skirt fiasco since I know nothing about clothing. If you don’t know a lot, then don’t even bother. Go shopping at H&M or Mango instead if you are that desperate for some new clothes while backpacking. In the end, I got my skirt shortened since it looked a little bit better (it is still hideous) and I am currently trying to find a way to “forget it” somewhere so I can stop lugging along the extra weight.

Since I am dumb, I also tried to get a tank top tailored. It was also terrible but by then I was too defeated to even try to fix it. Still lugging that around too.

I did feel pretty sad about being such a failure. But hey, life is about learning, right? And I learned that I immediately needed to go shopping and buy some clothes.

Of course, with my bad luck already, this ended up being a bust and everything looked terrible. I made a vow to go to H&M when we returned from the Northern Loop and try to test my luck one last time.

After the disaster of bad tailoring and not finding anything I wanted, I bought another Fjällräven bag to compensate my sad feelings and prepared for the night train to Sapa.

 

Days 8-9 Sapa

A trip up north must include the touristy Sapa!

The night train to Sapa was an experience, to say the least. Danne, Daphné, Michael, and I booked a berth with 4 beds. I should note that 2 of these beds are suspended from the ceiling (as terrifying as it sounds) so naturally, the boys were forced to sleep there.

The lady who worked on the night train kept asking us aggressively if we wanted beer and rolling her eyes when we said no. Eventually, Danne and Michael caved and took 1 beer each. After that, we learned to lock our berth.

We all really tried to sleep early so we could enjoy the productive day we planned in Sapa. In my head, I imagined falling asleep at precisely 1 hour after the train departed Hanoi and sleeping peacefully until it rolled into the station at Lao Cai. I have taken a night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and I don’t remember it being that bad. Either old age has made me forgetful or I was amazing at sleeping back then because this was the most sleepless night of our entire trip. We were all flung about every 2 seconds. When the train would finally stop at a station and you would finally be drifting off again, BAM, just kidding, no sleep for you!

Even with the terrible sleep, we were excited to arrive in Sapa. The train actually stops in Lao Cai, so had to arrange a minibus to our hotel in Sapa. To be honest, I barely remember this journey since I was so tired. I can tell you this: Sapa is cold so bring really warm clothes. I mean, really warm clothes which meant I had to wear long johns under my pants.

When us 4 extremely exhausted individuals finally arrived at London Sapa Hotel, we were praying that we could do early check-in. After waiting a little while, our wishes were granted and we all passed out for several hours. Waking up was hard but we knew we had to start our day since we were going to leave on the 10 am bus to Ha Giang the following day.

Stopping for gas and our 4-person scooter gang in Sapa

We rented scooters again to explore the Muong Hoa Valley. You can also organize treks through your hotel (for a steep price), but after riding the scooter around the valley, I can’t imagine exploring it any other way. Some of the roads are bad, so be careful.

You can use Google Maps or Maps.me to help guide yourself around. There are lots of villages to visit; however, tourists have already overrun Sapa. I would suggest finding cute lookout points and small walking trails to explore.

These views offer some amazing photography opportunities

If we were able to, we would have liked to stay an extra night in Sapa. As I said, we were on a tight schedule due to Danne not needing a visa if we stayed only 15 days. There were so many beautiful homestays in the Muong Hoa Valley that looked amazing to stay in. If we went back, we would just rent a bike and find one we found cozy. There were seriously so many homestays that looked adorable and had great views of the valley. However, it would be cold to stay at a homestay out there, so make sure you have the proper clothing.

After a half day of exploring, it was time to head back to the main part of town for dinner and relaxing before starting a new journey on the Northern Loop.

 

Days 10-13 Motorbiking the Northern Loop

Without a doubt, this is the best thing to do in Northern Vietnam. You will read online that it is the last thing to do in Vietnam that is off the tourist track. I would say that this is false since there were tons of tourists doing the loop. However, we met really cool people and more importantly the views are jaw-dropping, so there is a reason why travellers love to test their driving skills and explore the loop.

Last Wednesday, all 4 of us took the bus from Sapa to Ha Giang. This is a local bus and it takes forever to arrive. It is a really bumpy ride, so if you get carsick easily, take medicine.

Before we arrived, I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to do the loop. It sounded dangerous and I was a bit nervous about riding on the back of a bike for so many hours per day. However, while we were on the bus, I read a few blogs about the loop and I instantly knew I had to give into Daniel’s plans for the loops since it sounded so AMAZING.

We booked at Mama’s Homestay in Ha Giang since another traveller recommended it if you want to ride the Northern Loop. After some miscommunication with the local bus driver, we were able to get dropped off at the homestay since it is literally on the way and just a few kilometres before Ha Giang.

That night, we ate a big dinner with other travellers and got some advice about what to do on the way. We ended up meeting Frankie and Liam from England as well as Tomas from Germany at this dinner who ended up being our travel buddies for the next few days.

If you don’t feel comfortable riding the loop on your own, they do offer a great alternative called Easyride. You are on the back of an experienced driver and you go as a big group. Michael and Daphné did this option and they seemed to really like it!

However, if you are an experienced driver, then doing it yourself is extremely advantageous. You don’t really need a guide to help you out since it is quite obvious what views are nice and what restaurants look cute for a coffee or lunch break.

Day 1 on the Northern Loop

Leaving Mama’s Homestay took a bit longer than we anticipated since we had to avoid the police stop. If you have an international driver’s license then you have nothing to worry about. Tomas had this, so they just sent him off all alone, which was really a bit silly since he didn’t get stopped and had to pull over for quite a long time to wait for Danne, Frankie, Liam, and me.

At first, I thought this whole “avoiding the police” thing was a bit of a scam. You pay 100 000 VND (6 CAD/39 SEK) per person and they take you over the police stop while they are on their coffee or lunch break. However, we actually met some travellers later on that were forced to do the loop the opposite way since they couldn’t get through. So, pay for it since apparently, it is not a scam.

I would recommend just getting your international licence before you travel to Vietnam (Danne and I are so annoyed we didn’t do it) to avoid any headaches. You may read in blogs that you need a permit to ride on the Northern Loop. We didn’t have this and neither did anyone we meet. So, I wouldn’t even bother. We had the contact details for Dung Vu from Mama’s Homestay, so we knew to call her if we ran into any problems.

So, once we collected Tomas, finally us 5 were on our way. Daniel and I were doing the loop in 3 days, while the other 3 had 4 days. Our biggest regret is that we didn’t have an extra day to do the loop since it would have been awesome to explore what they did on their 4^th day out.

Our motorbike group decked out in some pretty attractive gear and views on the first day of riding

On our first day, we had to stop multiple times since there were so many beautiful views along the way. We ate lunch in Quan Ba, where there were various restaurants to choose from. I was a bit surprised that these northern towns were actually quite large.

Danne and I at one viewpoint and me decked out in my motorbiking gear

We then headed to Lung Khuy Cave. This was a cool detour and it allowed us to pass by a local ethnic village.

Daniel on our motorbike with the ethnic village in the background and woman from the village carrying sticks

From the cave, there are 2 ways to get to Yen Minh, which was where we slept the first night. You can either drive 42 km around the mountain or 22 km through it. We opted to drive through the mountain, which was great since the views here were amazing!

The roads are really winding and not always well maintained, but it was really cool to go that high up and drive on these intense roads. It also saved us time, which was good since we were forced to start our day late. Just when it was getting dark, we arrived at Tom Homestay in Yen Minh. We met up with Daphné, Michael, and the others that were doing Easyride. The dinner at this homestay was really tasty (it was family style like most homestays up north have) and staying here cost us 90 000 VND (5 CAD/35 SEK) per person excluding food.

Day 2 on the Northern Loop

In the morning, us 5 head out before the others and drove north. Here the landscape changed a lot, but the views were still really nice. Along the way, we curved our way up the hillside.

Sitting at a viewing point where the road curves up and some spunky kids

We ended up stopping for a coffee at a rest stop overlooking a valley, and the group of Easyriders joined us by coincidence. This is what I mean by you will discover things yourself if you are driving without a lot of planning. There are some cute cafes that are obvious places to stop at.

Danne having a coffee at a good lookout point and some views along the way

For lunch, we made a plan for us 5 to meet the Easyride group at Su Su Coffee Shop. However, we ended up eating after they left since Tomas’s phone fell out of his pocket somewhere on the road. Losing pictures is so annoying while travelling, and everyone really tried hard to find it. This is such a shit thing to happen so please be careful with your belongings if you motorbike the loop.

The children from some of these different ethnic villages have to walk a long while to school

It was then time to head to the Chinese border and the most northern point in Vietnam. There are a few points where you can cross the border between Vietnam and China. We chose 1 that we had already found on maps.me and headed there. I did feel a bit nervous sneaking through the hole in the fence since I have lived in China and I don’t want to break the rules there! However, the only people we saw on the other side were a car full of Chinese tourists, who did not cross onto the Vietnam side.

Sneaking into China and a group picture of us on the other side

We did meet another traveller later on that crossed at a different site. He took a picture of a huge tower with a big camera on it. So, you know, China is always watching.

Then we drove to Lung Cu Flag Point, which is 2 km from the most northern place in Vietnam. Here we could drive our bikes always the entire way up, so we just had to walk the last bit. This flag point is a huge tower that gives an incredible view of the most northern tip of Vietnam.

That view behind us is China and Daniel being, well, Daniel

Since we got a bit delayed today, we did have to drive a bit in the dark to Dong Van. The scenery along the way to Dong Van was really beautiful, so I wish we could have done it in the light to take some pictures.

Some pictures of locals we saw along the route

We arrived in Dong Van and stayed at CND Hostel, which is the 2^nd wooden hostel when entering the city. All 5 of us (Frankie, Liam, Tomas, Danne, and me) shared a simple room. We opted for the family style dinner and met some other really nice travellers. There was a lot of karaoke and some groups (perhaps those that had a later start) had a few more drinks than us. I really liked the ambience of this hostel, but there was a wedding next door with some pretty awful singing all night. So, I slept quite poorly, but oh well!

Day 3 on the Loop

The next morning was our 3^rd and last day. This drive had the worst roads but the best scenery. Frankie, Liam, Tomas, Danne, and I left relatively early and spent some time in Ma Pi Leng Pass taking footage with the drone as well as stopping at viewpoints.

Ma Pi Leng Pass is a favourite for many people motorbiking the loop. Since we were heading home, we were not riding right on the edge. I can imagine if you are riding the opposite way it can be a bit scary being so close to the cliff when you are meeting trucks.

There is a great lookout point on Ma Pi Leng Pass

Give yourself more time than you think to ride along the pass. It has lots of lookout points and jaw-dropping sceneries. We, of course, wanted to use our drone to get some good footage of us riding. There is a dam nearby which is a no-fly zone, so, unfortunately, we didn’t get as much drone footage as we would have liked.

This is another of the reason why I wish we did the loop in 4 days. It would have been nice to have had more time to take footage so we could have played around with the settings a bit more so it was more obvious how steep the cliffs were.

As you can see, the views are so beautiful

I would definitely recommend filming on your phone while on the pass since it really shows how beautiful (and sometimes scary) the ride is. This is one of the advantages of having 2 people on a single bike. Or else, you would have to pull over a lot more often.

After passing Meo Vac, we took the shorter loop towards Yen Minh (where we slept the first night on the road). I absolutely loved the scenery here! The roads were very bumpy but it was worth it.

There were so many hills and small villages for at least a 1-hour stretch. Everything was so lush and green. It surprises me that after 3 days of amazing scenery, you can still appreciate it.

A small child walks a herd of cattle

Us 5 had a lunch stop in Mau Due. Then we had to say our goodbyes and split off from our lovely group since Daniel and I were heading back to Mama’s Homestay in Ha Giang. From Mau Due, we drove up to Yen Minh and then following the same path home that we did on the 1^st day.

My favourite part is the mountain pass between Yen Minh and Quan Ba. We did it on the 1^st day and it was awesome to do it again since you really do get some fantastic views.

It was awesome to see the scenery again and we took a quick coffee break to look at some nice views outside of Quan Ba. Daniel and I were riding at a good tempo and were on schedule. Everything was going great.

And then we got a flat tire. Yeah, it was bound to happen, but of course, it happened when we were on our own. The good thing is that at every single flat part on the route there is a tiny village with a mechanic.

We were up on a hill, so I walked down while Daniel rode the motorbike down. We were really lucky that we were so close to a small village. Once I walked down, I lost Daniel since people kept on pushing him further and further on to find a mechanic. All the locals kept pointing me further on. I guess it was pretty obvious who I was looking for.

Finally, I found Daniel our tire was on the way to being fixed. We called Dung Vu from Mama’s Homestay and she told us to keep the receipt to be reimbursed since bought insurance through them.

Even without the insurance, it would have only cost us 80 000 VND (4.5 CAD/31 SEK) to fix the tire. So, it was ridiculously cheap. However, better safe than sorry when buying insurance.

Finally, we were on our way again and not even that far behind schedule. After the tire incident, we rode back without stopping since it got quite dark.

We arrived at Mama’s Homestay literally a few minutes before Daphné, Michael, and the rest of the Easyrides showed up. This was last Saturday (December 1^st) and everyone was super exhausted and just wanted to rest. After an amazing family dinner (Mama’s Homestay makes amazing fried eggplant), Danne and I slept early since we had a long bus ride to Hanoi the following day.

Our Route

If you are interested, here is a map of the places we visited and stopped at.

 

Day 14 Hanoi for the Last Time

This last day is actually a travel day. We took the limousine bus from Mama’s Homestay at 7 am (it was half an hour late) and arrived quite far from our hotel at around 2 pm. Daphné, Michael, Danne, and I booked our bus together but there was a problem and we weren’t all on the same bus.

All 4 of us were really exhausted after the Northern Loop, so the last day was pretty chill. After eating lunch and taking a nap, Danne and I went to H&M (have to support Sweden!) to buy some clothes to make up for my disastrous tailoring incident. I can completely confirm that I feel way better about it now that I have some cute new shirts.

That evening, Danne and I walked around St. Joseph’s Cathedral, which is enclosed by lots of cute restaurants and right by Ho Hian Kiem Lake. We had a nice date night dinner and enjoyed walking out on the streets since it was a Sunday (which means Sunday Night Market). It also happened to be a victory by the Vietnamese soccer team. So, the streets were wild.

Finally, it was time to head back to our hotel, say our final goodbyes to our Belgium friends, and get ready for our early morning flight to Laos that we took on Monday.

Things I Wish I Saw in Hanoi

Our time in Hanoi was cut rather short since even when we came back to break up our journey from one place to another, there always seemed to be something I needed to buy or a bus delay which limited our time in the city. If we had 1 extra sightseeing day in Hanoi then I would have gone to the following:

The Note Coffee

A cute little café with sticky notes everywhere! Check out #thenotecoffee for picturesque pictures on Instagram. I really tried to go here but alas, there was no time.

Vietnamese Women’s Museum

This is a highly rated museum about the lives of women during the history of Vietnam. An entire museum dedicated to women? Yes, please!

 

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Well, I must admit that it was an intense but rewarding 2 weeks in Vietnam. We loved the people we met and we seriously saw the most amazing views so far on our travels.

We both really want to explore Central and Southern Vietnam on our next trip to Asia. Are there any must-see recommendations from your fellow travellers? Do you know of any places to get off of the beaten track in Vietnam?

 

xx

Jasmine

Photo credit: Some pictures were taken by the very talented Daphné and Michael!

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