Ha Giang Loop, Vietnam

Ha Giang is Vietnam’s northernmost province bordering China. It’s famous for the Ha Giang Loop, a motorbike loop through amazing mountainous landscapes, isolated villages, and endless rice terraces. Unlike Sapa, Ha Giang is off the radar for most of the tourists who visit Vietnam, probably because it requires a motorbike to see most of it and you won’t find accommodation other than homestays.

The loop usually takes anywhere from 3-5 days, with most people completing it in 4. I would’ve liked to spend 4 days on the loop, but I didn’t leave enough time, so I did it in 3 days. I got to Jasmine Hostel in Ha Giang Town the night before I planned on starting the loop. From there, I rented a semi-automatic motorbike. I had never ridden a semi-automatic before, but automatic bikes don’t have enough power for the steep hills on the loop, so I went with it.

During the family dinner at the hostel that night, I ate with a few backpackers who had just finished the loop, and got to hear their horror stories about the terrible truck drivers, unpaved roads, and long hours of driving. I really couldn’t tell whether or not they enjoyed it, but I’d already paid for the bike rental and driven seven hours on a terrible local bus (where a girl PUKED ON ME by the way), so there was no turning back now. The next morning I left my big backpack in the hostel storage room piled high with other backpacks, strapped my small bag to the back of my bike (covered in plastic for the rain), and set out!

Day One: 6 hours of driving.

The first day of the loop is supposedly the easiest. The roads stayed two lanes for most of the day, and halfway through the day there was a town (Quan Ba) to stop in for lunch. The weather was rainy that day though, and the mist made the visibility terrible. Even with headlights, you could only see a few feet in front of you at any given time. Some of the viewpoints were completely covered in mist, but near the town of Yen Minh it cleared up a little. Also near the town of Yenh Minh, I tried to brake while riding downhill on muddy gravel and wiped out. My first fall in 7 months of motorbiking. So that was fun. Luckily, I continued with just a few scrapes and bruises and made it to the home stay in Yen Minh, where we met up with other backpackers also doing the loop. They served a delicious, traditional Vietnamese family dinner and passed out plastic water bottles full of rice wine that we all drank while shouting a very long version of “cheers!” In Vietnamese (I could not tell you what the words were).

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Day Two: 6 hours of driving.

The second day of the loop was noticeably more difficult than the first. The roads are less paved and far less wide (one lane roads) and the turns go from 90° to 180° up steep mountain passes. I’m actually glad I fell on the first day, so that I was slower day two. It started off very green, then turned into beautiful mountains of rice terraces as we made our way to Lung Cu Flag Tower, at the northernmost tip of Vietnam, near the China border. The visibility was good all day and the views were unreal. I actually could not believe what I was surrounded by.

Besides the nature, we also witnessed local life seemingly untainted by Vietnam’s tourism industry. Children walking along cliff sides with school notebooks, mothers working with babies strapped to their front and baskets on their backs, and men leading herds of water buffalo with bells ringing on their necks down winding dirt paths between the rice paddies. Day two ended at a homestay in the tiny town of Dong Van with more delicious food and rice wine. Also, as with the night before, the sleeping situation was 25 backpackers all sleeping on mattresses laid out in one large room. However, for night two we got mosquito nets too!

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Day Three: 10 hours of driving.

On my last day of the loop, I was sad that I only had three days. Most of the friends I made on the loop were heading to Du Gia to stay one more night, but I drove through Meo Vac and split at Mau Due to double back towards Yen Minh (where we stayed on night one) and back to Ha Giang to catch a night bus back to Hanoi. Not only was I sad to be leaving, but ten hours on a motorbike kind of takes the fun out of it… By the time I got back to Ha Giang Town, my butt was sore from riding all day and I felt content to never ride a motorbike again (don’t worry, that feeling has passed and I’m back to loving it).

Despite the long drive and being bummed about leaving early-ish, day three views did not disappoint. The 20 km drive between Dong Van and Meo Vac is called Ma Pi Leng Pass and is famous for being one of the most beautiful spots in Vietnam. There was even a ‘sky walk’ to hike up and get even more views. Also, even though it was annoying to go back, I got to see cool things that were too misted over to see on day one; like Bac Sum Pass, also known as ‘Heaven’s Gate’.

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Like I mentioned before, the Ha Giang Loop was my absolute favorite thing I did in Vietnam. From the blind turns on the sides of cliffs to the mountain top views to the backpacker bonding at local homestays. It was dangerous, exhilarating, breathtaking, fun, aw-inspiring, and exciting. I can’t think of any more cheesy (but also completely accurate) adjectives to describe the experience, so I will leave it at that.