How To See Vietnam on a Motorbike In Just 2 weeks (Route, Cost, Recommendations)

If you have read our recent post 4 Reasons You Need To Embrace The Mini Retirement OR The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris you already know all about the importance of taking ‘mini retirements’ throughout your life. I am a big advocate of this concept and hope to inspire you to give it a try by telling you all about my recent mini retirement to Vietnam.

So if you want to know how to see Vietnam on a motorbike in just 2 weeks, you are in the right place. I am sharing how much 2 weeks in Vietnam cost, what route to take and some recommendations along the way such as what is the best time of year to visit Vietnam, where to rent Motorbikes and where to stay in Vietnam. But remember, I am not a travel blogger, just a thirty something year old hoping to inspire you to embrace mini the mini retirement like I did with my recent trip to Vietnam.

Weather & Time Of Year

What is the best time of year to visit Vietnam? Basic research will tell you that dry season in Vietnam is typically December – March whilst rainy season is June to November. We travelled in February which seemed to be the perfect time to be in Vietnam as we did not experience any challenging or extreme weather over the almost 3 week period we were there. The temperature was between 18 – 33 degrees celsius.

Weather aside there were a few other good things about this time of year. Firstly, we had 6 weeks between Christmas and our trip which gave us something to look forward to in dull January. And it is winter at home so it was a great time to be getting away. Also in Vietnam, we arrived the week after they celebrated Tet, the lunar new year. This meant everywhere was a little less busy and we were able to get great deals on our hotels.

The Route

There are so many articles and suggestions as to what is the best motorbike route in Vietnam. We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh, South Vietnam and travelled all the way to Hanoi which is in the North. We split our travel between motorbiking and flying as we wouldn’t have had enough time to get from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi without a couple of internal flights. Even with a month, this would be intense and difficult to achieve. We hit 6 cities along our route, outlined below and spent 1-3 nights in each depending on the place which seemed about right for us.

We rented bikes from TIGIT motorbikes and I would highly recommend them if you plan to rent bikes. They have a range of bikes, we opted for the Honda XR 150cc. They also allow you to pick up and drop off the bikes in different cities which is great. We picked up our bikes in Ho Chi Minh, and dropped them off in Dalat. The cost per bike was approximately $200 total for 10 days plus a $50 charge for opting for multi-city pick up/drop off. We also paid $1000 bike deposit which we got back when we returned the bike without damage.

Cost

We spent about €1200 on flights to get to Vietnam and about the same during our time there. This covered our hotel (which ranged from $12 per night to $75 per night), bike rentals $250), food & drink ($4-$12 per meal), and any other daily expense. Our internal flights were with Vietnam Airlines and totalled about €100 per person. An average lunch cost about €4-6 per person and dinner being about €12 including a beer.

Vietnam is definitely still very affordable. But don’t be fooled there are tourist traps, more westernised areas as well as high quality restaurants which can all cost similar to what we are used to at home. We didn’t do the most affordable or most expensive version of a trip to Vietnam, but landed somewhere in between.

Ho Chi Minh

As we had been there before, we only spent one day in Ho Chi Minh City. And we used this time to collect our rental motorbikes and familiarise ourselves with the chaotic city driving. We visited District 1 and 7 mainly, ate some local food and saw the sites from the bike. On a previous visit I went to the War Remnants museum which I would highly recommend.

We did spend some time in Ben Thanh Market where you can pick up some high quality goods for a fraction of their regular retail price. Just be prepared for the local vendors and their eagerness to sell to you. And to bargain to get a great deal of course. And no we did not visit the Cu Chi Tunnels as they are a day trip outside the city and we didn’t have the time.

HCM - Mūi Né

Our first day on the bikes took us on a coastal drive to the beach town of Mūi Né about 300km from HCM. The journey took approximately 8 hours however we made regular coffee and lunch stops along the way. During that time we got a taste of city driving, highways, we even took a ferry, before hitting some beautiful coastal driving.

Mūi Né itself was a quiet (at the time) beach town that seemed to be hit hard by COVID as many of the businesses along the strip were closed down. We stayed at the Mūi Né Bay Resort which was a beautiful 4 star quality hotel with numerous pools, excellent food and a stunning private beach. The cost of a room with a sea view was approximately €45 per night. Apparently there is a waterfall and sand dunes here which we decided not to visit.

Mūi Né - Dalat

Next stop, Dalat via Phan Rang. We drove up the coast to Phan Rang and then cut inland to Dalat, approximately 230km. This entire drive was one of the biggest highlights of the trip. The coastal drive to Phan Rang was incredibly beautiful. It was hard to imagine the day could get much better than that. However after lunch, we travelled to Dalat, a mountainous town about 100km inland. In Dalat we treated ourselves to a stay in the Swiss-Belresort Tuyen Lam which was more expensive compared to the rest of our hotels but still only €70 per night for a stunning hotel.

As we approached Dalat, we felt a noticeable drop in temperature which was welcome. It had been about 32 degrees celsius and dropped to about 25 with a cooler breeze. We saw lots of coffee farms and banana trees on the ride. The air felt fresh, we drove the winding roads up the mountain and had stunning views around every corner. We also did tick off some of the tourist attractions such as visiting the Dalat night market, visiting the waterfall and riding the alpine coaster which cost about €9 and is a somewhere between a leisurely ride and a slow rollercoaster but you get nice views of the Waterfall. However the real treat in Dalat was driving the mountain roads.

Dalat - Da Nang

We returned our motorbikes in Dalat and hopped on a plane to Da Nang. It is worth noting we booked our flights the night before and they cost us about €70 each. I’d recommend booking them 2-3 days in advance to get even better pricing. We knew there was a lot to see in Da Nang so we planned to spend 3 nights here. It was a delight from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. Bonus our perfectly clean and modern hotel was €18 per night, The Golden Rose Hotel.

We arrived at night and the city lights absolutely everywhere gave the city a warm vibe. Da Nang is a beach city. And we opted to stay close to My Khe Beach which turned out to be great. We spent our days strolling around, on the beach or trying out local cuisine such as Pho and Mi Quang. We also visited Marble Mountain 15 mins taxi ride away, which I would recommend. You can spend a couple of hours here with an entry fee of less than €2 but be warned there are lots of steps. Ba Na Hills is 45 mins away from Da Nang and although still developing, on a clear day it was worth the trip to take the cable car ride and see the views from The Golden Bridge but be warned there wasn’t much more to do or see there. It was also pricey compared to other activities in Vietnam at about €35 per person entry fee.

Hoi An

The final day trip we took from Da Nang was to Hoi An. Before travelling I had heard this was a must and it definitely did not disappoint. This is a beautiful town about 30 minutes from Da Nang where tailoring and handmade goods rule everything. There is a large market with a lot of high quality goods made from leather and silk. As with most markets, there is repetition of the goods on offer but it was still beautiful to see and offered lots of cafes to watch the hustle and bustle around you.

As a tourist myself, I expect to see tourists and don’t view it as something to note as negative but it is worth mentioning, Hoi An is extremely busy with tourists. We arrived early in the day and it got busier into the evening. If you do want to avoid tourists, a visit early in the day may suit better.

Da Nang - Hanoi

We flew from Da Nang to Hanoi to finish our trip. We booked our flights 2-3 days in advance this time making them less than €50 per person. We stayed at ‘Hanoi Brilliant Hotel‘. It was €45 per night as we walked in and booked it there and then. They were incredibly helpful and the location was great. Hanoi is probably represented ‘what we expected’ from a Vietnamese city. There were busy narrow streets, chaotic traffic, lots of scooters, markets, local sellers but also nice trendy cafes as well as tailors on every street.

Our main focus in Hanoi was to feel the vibe and soak up the atmosphere. We spent some time in the Old Quarter, visited train street and also visited Hoa Lò prison which was really interesting. Since there was so much more to see we also took the city tour bus to ensure we saw as much as possible. Train street, although a cliche tourist spot was a highlight for me as well as just being in the chaos of the city itself.

Things To Note

In my experience Vietnam seems to be and feels like a safe place. The people are very friendly and welcoming. Walking around in any city during the day or at night did not feel unsafe or threatening. Of course, like anywhere in the world, you need to be careful but overall it was great.

Someone is always trying to sell you something. We were pretty obviously tourists and that attracted a lot of attention. One of our group were able to speak a small bit of Vietnamese and as soon as this became clear, we were treated a little differently. It wasn’t overly invasive or uncomfortable, just something to note as a tourist you are likely to experience this too.

Overall

Vietnam is a beautiful country with a difficult history and a very positive and friendly vibe in spite of that. It is still developing which means some of the infrastructure has a way to go (for example some of the roads were awful!) however this added to the adventure for us. And the scenery and the abundance of natural beauty made up for everything. It is truly stunning and a trip I would highly recommend to anyone with a sense of adventure and an appetite for travel. If you’ve ever been, please share your experiences in the comments.