Forget Sapa – The Ha Giang Loop is Vietnam’s Most Underrated Adventure

📍 Location: Ha Giang Road Trip (Tour group I used, 5.5 hrs From Hanoi)

🚗 Getting There: Sleeper bus or “VIP Taxi” from Hanoi. Read more below!

🎟️ Tour Cost: AU$278.47 including 2 nights accomodation, the tour guides, all meals and drinks (alcohol included)

🔎 Tips for Your Visit: There are many different tour groups that do the loop. I recommend choosing smaller groups for a better ride!

🎒 What to bring: You can bring a smaller overnight bag for the loop, and leave your main luggage in Ha Giang. Bring swimmers for the second day!

💵 Cash: I recommend bringing a little bit of cash, just in case you want to buy snacks along the way.

The Ha Giang Loop is a famous motorbike route in northern Vietnam, known for its stunning mountain landscapes, s-shaped winding roads, and remote ethnic villages. It’s considered one of the most scenic and adventurous road trips in Southeast Asia and potentially the world. Unlike more touristy spots like Sapa or Ha Long Bay, Ha Giang offers a more raw, untouched experience. However, that is changing as more tourists discover this hidden gem. The roads are thrilling, the views are breathtaking, and the culture is authentic, with many hospitable, ethnic minority groups living in the region.

It’s a must-do for someone looking for adventure, but also not for the faint-hearted, as the roads can be challenging, and dangerous! The route is around 350km and can be done in 3 or 4 days.

I still remember booking the Ha Giang Loop tour like it was yesterday. Nearly every single person I had met in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi all said to do the Ha Giang Loop so I booked it last minute, with only 3 nights left in Vietnam. With barely any research I had booked the tour and all was well, until I realised I actually had to get there… by tomorrow morning. Being the inexperienced traveler at the time, I remember walking down the main market street of Hanoi and booking a $20AUD sleeper bus from Hanoi to Ha Giang. I booked through redBus and I’m not going to hold back in saying this, they were super misleading and I highly recommend staying away from them! When the bus came, it wasn’t anything like the photos, and it definitely didn’t match their bullshit “Luxury Van Limousine” description.

The seats were very short and cramped, and being around 175CM (5’9) I’m not the tallest person in the world but I felt like a friggen NBA player as my feet were cramped up and I can’t really imagine anyone getting a good night sleep.

The bus ride itself was very questionable, with the bus driver stopping multiple times to drop off Amazon packages 😭 and we only had 2 bathroom breaks. One of which was at a random family’s house on the side of the road???

Finally getting to Ha Giang, it was around 4AM and I realised I had not booked a hostel for the night…

Disheveled, tired and a little bit scared, I asked around and was lucky enough to stay at a random hostel for $10AUD. After getting a great 3 hours sleep, I woke up and contacted the Ha Giang Loop tour guide over breakfast. They picked me up, and after dropping my bags off at their office, we were on our way!

I was pretty happy with the tour group I booked with. Which you can find on TripAdvisor here. As you spend a lot of time stopping and starting on the loop, having a small group was really good. We only had 3 people including me, and we all had our own “Easy Rider” making it feel like a very personal experience. Speaking of Easy Riders, these are the people who actually ride the motorcycle. Before booking, I was pretty split on whether or not I wanted to ride the motorcycle myself or to choose being a passenger prince. I chose the latter, and I’m glad I did. Although, I love riding bikes and scooters in South-East Asia the Ha Giang Loop is very, well loopy, and you end up needing to ride for over 6 hours a day. This is a lot for most tourists and I have heard many sad stories of foreigners losing their lives on the loop due to fatigue or inexperience.

The route is long, but beautiful, with many strategic rest stops along the way. I never felt bored with the sights constantly changing and honestly, it was pretty overwhelming to take everything in.

There was a dummy amount of food along the way, and I was never hungry. As the cuisine is primarily from the Hmong people in the upper mountain region of Vietnam, it was very different to what I expected. Slightly more “Chinese” in influence the food was bursting with flavour!

The first night, we stayed in a hotel and it was clean but nothing special. We had a fun night drink happy juice and sharing stories about our home countries and I had no complaints. However, the second night, we stayed deeper in the mountains and the accommodation felt like it was straight out of a movie.

The 3 days will go by quick, so I recommend trying your best to soak up every moment! After getting back, my tour group was able to book transport back to Hanoi, and its safe to say this was the MUCH better option. They were actually able to book me a “Luxury Van Limousine” and it was way more comfortable, and shorter! With a travel time of only 5.5 hrs, I was able to get back to Hanoi safely, and spent my last night feeling refreshed and grateful for the experience.