On the Ha Giang Loop you ride about 350 kilometres in three or four days, and in those days more stops go past than you could ever make. That is fine. The road itself is the attraction here, and the moment you end up describing most often is usually a bend with no sign next to it.
A few things really belong on the loop: the Ma Pi Leng Pass, the river at the bottom of the gorge, and that one morning you get up an hour before everyone else. Other stops are on every itinerary and are nice to have along the way, but the best part is often pulling over at a view you picked yourself.
So where on the Ha Giang Loop do you actually get off your bike, and where do you ride on at an easy pace to the next stop?
Want the practical side first, like how many days you need, where you sleep and how to get there? That is all on our Ha Giang Loop page.
The Ma Pi Leng Pass
This is why the loop is on almost every bucket list. The pass sits at about 1,500 metres and looks out over steep limestone mountains, with the turquoise Nho Que river almost eight hundred metres below you. For most travellers this is the most beautiful viewpoint in all of Vietnam, and for once that is not an exaggeration.
On the classic three-day route you ride it on day three, between Dong Van and Meo Vac. Give it plenty of time and do not stop once, stop three or four times, like most groups do: the view changes with every bend and you keep looking into the gorge from a new angle.
Check the forecast for the days you will be on the road. After heavy rain, sections of the pass can be closed for days by a landslide, and then your group has to take the long way round.
Our verdict: this is what you came for, everything else is a bonus
A boat through the Tu San gorge
From the Ma Pi Leng Pass you look down on the Nho Que river, and here you get out on it yourself. The walls of the Tu San gorge rise hundreds of metres straight up above you and the water is a striking green. It is exactly the same landscape you saw from the pass, only now from underneath.
The trip takes about an hour and leaves from down at the river, so you do it on the same day as the pass. You do have to ride down the mountain for it and back up again afterwards, but the boat is often already in your tour, so ask before you pay the €5 or so yourself.
Do it straight after the pass, not before. That way you get the big picture first, and then you see up close how deep that gorge really is.
Our verdict: make time for it, even if it adds an hour to your day
Sunrise in Dong Van or Meo Vac
Nearly every backpacker takes dozens of photos at the famous viewpoints along the way, but hardly anyone on the loop gets up really early. And that is when this area is at its most beautiful: the first sun sliding over the ridges, with the mist still sitting low in the valleys.
On the night you sleep in Dong Van or Meo Vac, ask your guide or your homestay to wake you before sunrise. You do not have to walk far, because from the edge of either town you are already looking out over the valley.
Put on a warm layer. It gets properly cold up in the mountains at night, and at six in the morning you feel it straight away.
Our verdict: you barely have to walk for it, just ask your homestay to wake you
The evening in the homestay
The landscapes are why you come, but the evenings are what most travellers remember. You eat whatever the homestay cooks that day, and it is almost always the same format: a table full of small dishes that everyone shares, with a local family and the rest of your group around you.
You choose nothing and you arrange nothing. You arrive late in the afternoon, drop your bag, and an hour later you are sitting at the table. The rice wine appears by itself.
The first night, usually in Yen Minh, is when your group gets to know each other. Do not call it a night too early: the rest of the ride is a lot more fun once you know these people.
Our verdict: as much a part of the loop as the passes
Our own pick
The loop with Mama's Homestay
One of the best-known operators in Ha Giang, and the safe first choice: experienced easy riders, bikes that are actually maintained, and a hostel full of people about to do the same thing as you. Meals, homestays and entry fees are included, and you get a bed in Ha Giang before and after the ride.
Reader discount with the voucher REBELSONTHEROAD. Mention it when you book, because nobody applies it for you.
See Mama's HomestayOur partner in Ha Giang
Day one: the Bac Sum pass and Heaven’s Gate
On the first morning you climb out of the valley from Ha Giang, and straight away that is one of the most beautiful stretches of the whole loop. Over the Bac Sum pass you ride up to Heaven’s Gate, passing the Twin Mountains and the first mountain villages on the way.
This is also the day you are getting used to riding, or to sitting on the back, so it is tempting to just rack up the kilometres. Don’t. You finish in Yen Minh and it is a short day, so there is room for stops. Riding yourself? Vietnam only recognises the 1968-convention international driving permit, alongside your own licence from home, and without one you sit on the back with an easy rider. Either way, a proper helmet goes on every morning, even when it is warm.
Look back while you are climbing. The road you have just ridden up winds below you like a ribbon, and you only see that if you stop for a moment and turn around.
Our verdict: absolutely, and take it slowly
Dong Van Old Quarter
The town where you spend your second night is a market town of stone and timber, and it feels older than the rest of the route. Low houses, an old square and narrow lanes where daily life just carries on, even with backpackers walking through.
You get there at the end of day two, after the Hmong king’s palace and a ride through smaller and smaller villages. Plan on an evening of wandering and finding something to eat. That is all there is to it, and that is exactly the charm.
After dinner, take one more walk through the old quarter once the stalls have closed. Without the daytime traffic it is completely silent.
Our verdict: one evening is plenty, and it is a good one
Du Gia and the waterfall on day four
Book four days instead of three and you take the long way back via Du Gia. That stretch is greener and quieter, with far less traffic than the way out, and there is a waterfall along the way where you can swim.
You have the time here too, because the hardest riding is behind you by then. The waterfall is the obvious place to stop and rinse off three days of mountain road dust.
Torn between three and four days? This is the argument for four. You see a completely different part of the province instead of the same road back.
Our verdict: only if you book that fourth day, and then definitely
Our own pick
The loop with Tiem Tours
Groups of eight to ten, with riders and guides who grew up on these roads. You choose how you do it: ride yourself, sit on the back, or take the car, over three days or four, in a dorm or a private room every night. All meals, the entry fees and the boat on the Nho Que are included, plus your first night in Ha Giang.
Reader discount with the code REBELSONTHEROAD. Put it in your first message to them, because without it you pay the standard rate.
See Tiem ToursOur partner in Ha Giang
Got time to spare on the Ha Giang Loop?
Take three or four days instead of two
Some operators promise you the whole loop in two days. With three or four the trip really takes shape: you slow down, you stop where you want to and you have time for the villages along the way. It is also a much safer pace on a road with sharp bends and very little crash barrier. If you only have two days, save Ha Giang for another trip, because this is a ride that deserves the time.
The detour to Lung Cu
Lung Cu is the northernmost point of Vietnam, and the road there is gorgeous. On the classic route it is a set stop on day two, between the Hmong king’s palace and Dong Van: a short detour and a few hundred steps up to a flag tower, a border on the map and a great photo. It comes on a day that is already long, so keep a bit of energy for the steps. Standing up there is fun just to say you did.
The best season for the views
Between December and February it is wonderfully quiet up here and you hardly meet another traveller. It is cold and often cloudy though, close to freezing at night, so you regularly ride through fog. If you can choose, go between September and November, or from March to May: that is when you get the views you came for.
The rice wine in the homestay
The rice wine goes round every homestay in the evening, and joining in for one round is simply part of it: that is often the moment the night really gets going. It is stronger than it tastes, though, and the next morning you are back on a bike on a mountain road, so feel free to say no to the second round. Nobody who knows this place will think twice about it.
Our top five on the Ha Giang Loop
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- The Ma Pi Leng Pass, with at least three stops along the way
- The boat through the Tu San gorge, straight after the pass
- Getting up for sunrise in Dong Van or Meo Vac
- The shared table in the homestay, especially the first night in Yen Minh
- The climb over the Bac Sum pass to Heaven’s Gate on day one
Got room for a fourth day? Add it on the end and ride back via Du Gia, with the waterfall on the way. And if you have an evening spare in Dong Van, just wander into the old quarter without a plan.
Where you sleep along the way, what the loop costs per day and what you need before you ride it yourself are on our Ha Giang Loop page, and whether your cover rides along is on our travel insurance page. Would you rather sit on the back? Then Tiem Tours is who we ride with ourselves.
So what do you really have to do on the Ha Giang Loop?
Everything on this list is worth your time, but the best thing about Ha Giang is that there is nothing to tick off: these are three or four days on a road, not a row of sights with a ticket booth in front. The travellers who get the most out of it are usually the ones who stopped most often, not the ones with the most stops on their list.
If we had to pick just one thing: on the Ma Pi Leng Pass, do not reach for your phone straight away. Pull your bike over, sit down with the gorge in front of you and watch that river far below for a few minutes without recording anything. A year from now that picture will still be sharp.
And ask for that one early morning. Waking up before sunrise in Dong Van or Meo Vac costs you an hour of sleep and gives you the best twenty minutes of the whole ride, while the rest of your group is still asleep.
