Planning a long-distance cycling trip in Vietnam? Discover essential tips on bike selection, routes, gear, training, and cultural etiquette for an unforgettable ride.

Plan your cycling trip in Vietnam with this essential guide on the best routes, gear, safety tips, weather conditions, and cultural insights for an unforgettable ride.

Discover Vietnam’s top 5 most scenic cycling routes, from the Ha Giang Loop to the Mekong Delta. Explore stunning landscapes, coastal roads, and mountain passes.

Vietnam is a country best viewed from two wheels. While the view from a bus window is passive, and the view from a motorbike is fast, the view from a bicycle is immersive. You smell the drying rice, you feel the humidity change as you ascend a mountain pass, and you hear the greetings of "Hello!" from children in every village you pass.

For years, this region was a forbidden land, a remote border zone accessible only to military personnel and intrepid locals. Today, the Ha Giang Loop has opened its gates, revealing a landscape of geological violence and breathtaking beauty. It is a world of limestone karsts that pierce the clouds, serpentine roads that defy gravity, and colorful ethnic minority cultures that have thrived in isolation for centuries.

Imagine a world where the roads are rivers, the horizon is a sea of green, and the traffic consists not of honking trucks, but of ducks crossing the path and boats laden with dragon fruit. This is the Mekong Delta—Vietnam's "Rice Bowl."

Hoi An Ancient Town is a place that captures the heart instantly. With its mustard-yellow merchant houses, silk lanterns swaying in the breeze, and the lazy flow of the Thu Bon River, it is arguably Vietnam's most atmospheric destination. But for many travelers, the real magic of Hoi An doesn't lie within the ticketed zone of the Old Quarter; it lies just beyond the city limits.

Vietnam’s traffic is legendary. To the uninitiated Western eye, it looks like chaos. It looks like a swarm of bees, a river of metal, or a disaster waiting to happen. Traffic lights seem to be mere suggestions, lanes are fluid concepts, and the sidewalk is occasionally just an extra lane.

It is the dilemma every cyclist faces when planning a dream cycling holiday abroad. You stare at your beloved carbon-fiber road bike or your perfectly fitted touring rig in the garage. You imagine it gliding through the limestone karsts of Ninh Binh or conquering the Hai Van Pass.

You have booked the flight. You have trained your legs. You have studied the route maps of the Mekong Delta or the elevation profiles of the Ha Giang Loop. But as the departure date draws near, a pile of gear sits on your bedroom floor, and a question nags at you: "What do I actually need to survive cycling in the tropics?"

In many parts of the world, cycling is about fitness, speed, and aerodynamics. But in Vietnam, cycling serves a higher purpose. It is the most efficient vehicle for exploring one of the world’s greatest kitchens. The bicycle is not just a mode of transport; it is a mobile dining chair, a ticket to hidden alleyways, and the perfect excuse to eat five meals a day.

We live in an era of checklist tourism. We have apps that tell us where to go, influencers who tell us what to photograph, and high-speed trains that whisk us from city to city in a matter of hours. It is possible, in 2024, to "do" Vietnam in ten days. You can wake up in Hanoi, sleep on a train, take a selfie on the Golden Bridge in Da Nang, and be drinking a cocktail on a rooftop in Saigon the next day.

Vietnam is a country of secrets. For every famous landmark that graces the pages of a guidebook—like Halong Bay or the Hoi An Lantern Bridge—there are a thousand hidden corners that remain invisible to the average tourist.