MOTORBIKE TRAVEL GUIDE · RIDES WORTH THE TRIP
Find the ride, not just the road.
Reviews of guided motorbike tours around the world, region by region. The Ha Giang Loop and Sapa’s rice-terrace passes, Rome by Vespa, the Hai Van coast road and the Alps. We read the reviews so you book the right ride and the right guide.
Worth the trip
Three rides you plan a whole trip around.
You can rent a bike almost anywhere. But the Ha Giang Loop through the limestone north, a day down Sapa’s rice-terrace switchbacks, and a Vespa run out the Appian Way belong to those roads alone, and they ride best with a guide who knows them.
The far north
The Ha Giang Loop
No road in Vietnam is more talked about. Three or four days of limestone passes and switchbacks above the Nho Que river, homestays in Hmong villages, and the Ma Pi Leng with a thousand-foot drop off the edge. Take the bars yourself or ride pillion behind an Easy Rider who has done it a hundred times. Most riders call it the best thing they did in the country.
- 1 1 Day Ha Giang Loop Tour by Motorbike with Easy Rider – Real
- 2 Easy Rider 3 Day Motorcycle Tour of Ha Giang Loop
- 3 3 Days Motorbike Ha Giang Cheers Tour
Rice-terrace country
Sapa by Motorbike
The roads out of Sapa fold down through some of the steepest rice terraces in Asia, past Red Dao and Hmong hamlets the trekking crowds never reach. A local guide knows which valley the light hits first, which waterfall is worth the stop, and which muddy turn-off leads somewhere you would never have found alone. One long day, and the north makes sense.
- 1 Sapa Motorbike Tour With Local Guide 1 Day – Waterfalls, Villages
- 2 Motorbike 1 Day Off The Beaten Track, Hidden Villages, rice field
- 3 Sapa Motorbike Experience: Local Life, Rice Fields & Waterfalls
On a Vespa
Rome by Vespa Sidecar
The classic way to see Rome moves on two wheels and a sidecar. You weave past the Colosseum and the fountains, climb the Aventine for the view, then peel off down the cobbled Appian Way under the pines while a driver who grew up here does the traffic. Day or night, with a pickup at the door, it is the most Roman hour you will spend.
- 1 Vespa Sidecar Tour By Night with Pickup
- 2 Vespa Sidecar Tour at Day/Night with Pickup
- 3 Vespa Sidecar Tour: Express Highlights of Rome
The one everyone books
If you only ride one tour.
More riders reach for this one than anything else on the site. A safe first booking in a place you are still learning the roads of.
The classics
The World’s Most Popular Motorbike Tours
Ha Giang, Sapa, Rome, Hanoi, Dalat. The loops and rides travellers reach for first, in the places they most want to ride.
Where to ride
Pick a place to point the bike.
Sapa for the rice-terrace switchbacks. Hanoi for the Old Quarter loops. Rome for a Vespa run past the ruins. Ho Chi Minh City, Dalat, or the Ha Giang Loop up north. Start with the region, then pick the ride.
Before you book
How to ride a place you just landed in.
The kind of ride matters as much as the where. Three ways to take on a new place, depending on the time you have and how far you want to push it.
The mountain north
Where the road folds into the terraces.
Northern Vietnam is the reason a lot of people learn to ride. Out of Sapa the tarmac drops through some of the steepest rice terraces in Asia, past hamlets the trekking crowds never reach; further north the Ha Giang Loop strings together pass after pass above the river gorges. A local guide knows the surface, the weather, and the turn-offs worth the mud.
Read the guide: riding around Sapa →Rome & the Mediterranean
The old world, two-up on a Vespa.
Europe rides differently. In Rome it is a sidecar past the Colosseum and out the cobbled Appian Way under the pines; in Valencia, Bordeaux and Provence it is sun-warmed back roads between the vineyards and the coast. Someone who grew up on these streets handles the traffic so you can just take in the view.
See the best rides in Rome →Why we ride
The road is the destination.
A good tour is never just the sights. It is the pass that opens onto a valley you did not expect, the guide who knows where the surface goes bad and where it goes perfect, and the riders who left as strangers and swap photos at the last fuel stop. You come home knowing a place the way only the road can teach it.
Browse every motorbike tour →The home of the loop
Vietnam is built for two wheels.
From the Ha Giang Loop in the far north to Sapa’s terraces, Hanoi’s back lanes and Dalat’s pine passes, no country does motorbike touring like Vietnam. The Easy Rider tradition means you can take the bars yourself or ride pillion behind someone who runs these roads every week and knows every surface, switchback and homestay.
- 1 From Hanoi: 3-Day Motorbike Ha Giang Loop with Easy Rider
- 2 Hanoi old quarter sightseeing & street food eating by Motorcycle
- 3 3-day Motorbike Ha Giang Loop Luxury Tour With Easy Rider
By distance
How far do you want to go?
Some days you want a couple of hours and the best of a city. Some days you want a pass, a waterfall and a long way home. And some days you want days in the saddle and a homestay at the end. Pick the distance, we will point you at the ride.
Half a day
A loop around town.City rides and short runs: a guide on the lead bike, the famous sights, the back lanes no rental map shows, and you home by mid-afternoon.
A full day out
Out past the city limits.Day rides into the hills: a mountain pass or two, waterfalls and villages, lunch somewhere with a view, the long way back as the light drops.
The expedition
Days in the saddle.Multi-day loops like Ha Giang: limestone passes, homestays, an Easy Rider up front if you want one. The trip you plan a whole holiday around.
The coast road
The Hai Van Pass earns every photo.
The climb out of Da Nang over the Hai Van is the run Top Gear made famous and locals knew all along: hairpins stacked above the South China Sea, an old French fort at the top, and the long sweep down to Lang Co and on toward Hoi An. Ride it on the back of a guide’s bike or take the bars yourself, with your bags following in the van.
See all 3 Da Nang rides →By place
Pick a place and point the bike.
Sapa for the rice-terrace switchbacks. Rome for a Vespa run past the ruins. Hanoi for the Old Quarter loops. Ho Chi Minh City for the night-food rides. Dalat for the pine passes. Da Nang for the Hai Van and the coast road to Hoi An.
More places to ride
From the Ha Giang Loop to the open road in Europe.
The big northern loop, the central coast, the temples of Cambodia, the back roads of France, Spain and Portugal, and a few rides further afield. Browse by where you are headed next.
A sample run
One perfect week riding the north.
First time touring Vietnam? Here is how a week strings together, from an easy warm-up around Hanoi to the big loop up north and a gentle wind-down in the terraces.
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