Mountains & Beaches: Ha Giang to the Coast

Our first hotel is located on the edge of Hanoi's Old Quarter. An airport pickup will be provided for convenience. Once you have settled in, a wander around the immediate area will give you a great feel for this vibrant city with its distinct culture. We meet at 5 pm for a briefing and then walk to dinner, a meal that will be a highlight in itself.

It is a long drive to get to Ha Giang Province, as never was a remote and untouched area easy to reach. We'll leave early morning and stop along the way at a couple of points of interest, arriving just after midday. It's then time to try out the bikes and take a warm-up ride of this sleepy provincial capital. The late afternoon is best spent in our simple but adequate resort, on the banks of the main river.

After a full day yesterday, we will glide into the third day of our adventure. After taking our time at breakfast, we set out on our first proper ride. We initially follow the river along an undulating landscape and after the first short climb and descent, we reach a village for lunch. We push on into the second climb and discover what the gradient of Ha Giang province is like. For the most part, it's a continual but predictable ascent where you will be at ease once you find a rhythm. The high pass today is called Heaven’s Gate with some breathtaking views. We have a short descent into Tam Son, a tiny community clinging to the side of the hill. A short exploratory ride or walk is a great way to see out the day. The village is surrounded by limestone hills and traditional style houses.

A long day starts early. After a steaming bowl of noodles, an egg baguette, and a strong coffee, we finish the descent that we started the day before. Halfway down, we detour onto a minor road that takes us right down to the bottom of the valley. Here we ride through tiny hill-tribe communities and eventually reach a bustling village market where a dazzling array of bright costume-clad villagers are trading everything from piglets to bamboo shoots and forest fodder.
After following a river for a short while, we see the ruins of a defensive wall of speculative age, and then we start to climb. A gradient similar to the day before is a welcome warm-up before the main climb to come after lunch. As we enter the Ha Giang Plateau, scenery that was already impressive is now nothing short of mind-blowing. At each stage, you find yourself wondering how you could continue to climb when you've climbed so far, but it goes on and on with an amazing variety of scenery. When you finally descend into Meo Vac, a beer and a feast will be a welcome sight, and the news that you have just managed the epic Ha Giang Plateau climb, is enough to ensure a good night's sleep.

The news that you will continue climbing this morning may come as punishment to tired legs, but the reality is that you are about to ride one of the most scenic 10km of northern Vietnam. As you leave town, you descend slightly, but into the next climb you are delivered an optical encouragement as the valley floor down to your right drops at almost the same level as you climb, pronouncing your climbing achievements. The huge gorges leading away from you at this point lead straight into the wild frontier land and Yunnan Province of China. You are less than 20km from a border that has been fiercely defended on various occasions by the Vietnamese, and where its porous nature makes all manner of trade possible.
After some time to soak up the sun with a coffee on the edge of the charming Dong Van Market, we may take a ride to the site of the palace of the former Hmong King. From here we take a drive back to Meo Vac.

It's reward time. After all those days of climbing today comes the inevitability of physics as we descend for a continual 30km on well-made road. The climate will noticeably change as we cycle, to the point where you'll be shedding layers as soon as we reach the bottom. From here we have a lovely ride of ups and downs through sleepy villages in a very different lowland setting to what we've seen on the plateau. There are still some steep little hills, but after the last few days these will be nothing more than a blip. We roll into the small town of Bao Lac in the mid afternoon.

Today we start with a transfer of approximately 2.5 hours, bypassing the least interesting section. Our destination is an area of forests and terraced rice paddies. The scenery on today’s ride is beautiful and the route is mainly downhill today. Our destination is Ba Be, a stunning lake in the mountains where we can enjoy a celebratory beer or juice in the knowledge that the challenging part of the ride is done.

In the morning there’s time for quick paddle on the lake. We leave mid-morning for the drive back to the airport in Hanoi where we board our flight to Hue, the former imperial capital of Vietnam.

We explore Hue by bike and aside from the most well-known sites of the Forbidden City and Tu Duc's Tomb, we will take in some lesser known ones, such as the mini colosseum where the Emperor would have tigers and elephants do battle for entertainment. We also visit a local monastery for a great vegetarian lunch before taking a boat back to the hotel.

We ride south along a sandy peninsula. This area was the exit point for many of those who left during and after the US-Vietnam war. Today much of the area is covered in tombstones as it is not only an important place for the families of those who died trying to flee, but it is also considered a suitable burial spot in the principles of the Vietnamese equivalent of feng shui. We ride two short passes today, but are mostly on flat coastal road with hardly any traffic at all. We pass a number of small fishing villages and a large lagoon before arriving at our breathtaking and peaceful destination of Lang Co Beach where we stay on the beach with a huge mountain range in the background.

This morning after a warm-up around the lagoon, we climb Hai Van Pass. This is the coastal tip of the Bac Ma Range which has a dividing effect on the climate of the area. The weather on the north of the pass can be very different to that on the south. As we pass the top we see French and US bunkers and some stunning views out over the coast and into Danang, Vietnam's third largest city. After descending and passing the outskirts of Danang, we make our approach to Hoi An where we stay on the beach, not far from the ancient town.

The Kingdom of Champa, an originally Hindu one before a mass conversion to Islam in the 15th Century, controlled much of the land in what is now central and south Vietnam. The only remnants of this kingdom today are a small number of scattered and partly intact clay towers. The most famous of these is My Son which is to where we ride today. We take some brilliant back trails through lovely farmland to reach the site, and after some time to explore, we return to Hoi An to celebrate the conclusion of our ride with yet another great dinner.

There are no activities planned today, so you can leave anytime that you wish. Should you wish to stay on in Hoi An, we can arrange bookings at the tour hotel.