Bike and Beaches of the Vietnam Coast

Arrive in Hanoi and transfer to your hotel. Depending on your flight, you’ll have time to explore Hanoi, Vietnam’s busy capital city, with its charismatic old quarter, coffee culture, and tantalising street food.

This morning you will depart Hanoi for Ha Long Bay to commence your cruise. Once onboard, you’ll head to quieter Bai Tu Long Bay, where you can marvel at the spectacular limestone towers without dozens of other tourist boats. Explore the stalactite filled caves, swim, and kayak to a secluded beach. Later, return to the boat in time to watch the sunset from the top deck and enjoy a fresh seafood dinner.

Get up early this morning to enjoy the view as the bay is bathed in the warm morning sunlight. After breakfast, you’ll board a sampan, a traditional flat-bottomed bamboo boat, row around the limestone karsts. Back on board, lunch will be served as you return to the pier. You’ll disembark and be driven back to Hanoi, arriving in the early evening.

Be prepared for an early start this morning as you embark on a tour of early-morning Hanoi. You’ll visit two of the city's most colorful early morning markets, Quang Ba, a famous flower market where hundreds of different kinds of flowers are sold to flower shops, and Long Bien, one of the biggest and busiest fruit markets in the country. Next, you’ll wander to the Old Quarter where the shops and markets are beginning to open. At Hoan Kiem Lake watch as the citizens of Hanoi go about their morning routines, practising tai chi, and jogging. Then enjoy a typical Hanoi breakfast of pho bo and Vietnamese coffee. In the afternoon you’ll hop on a local flight to Da Nang and then transfer to Hoi An.

Today you’ll take a deep dive into Vietnam’s culture with a visit to Bho Hoong on the banks of the Kon River. This is a typical village of the Co Tu minority ethnic group who are known for traditional dancing, bamboo and rattan weaving, brocade textiles and folk songs. Meet the village patriarch and see his house where many objects relevant to the cultural and spiritual life of the Co Tu are on display. After lunch in the village, walk with a local guide to visit the Moongs, the traditional thatched roofed stilt houses. You’ll also have the chance to participate in a handicraft workshop and learn traditional weaving techniques.

If you’ve been keen to hop on your bike, then you can officially start getting excited. Today is the first of four days cycling through the Vietnamese countryside, following rivers and the coastline south from Hoi An to Tuy Hoa. You’ll begin today cycling south from Hoi An. The road meanders through rice paddy fields, fruit tree gardens, Casuarina and pine forests. After stopping for a picnic lunch, you’ll continue to the attractive coastal city of Tam Ky. Enjoy dinner this evening in a local restaurant – and make sure to try the seafood!

Today you’ll have the chance to learn a little more about Vietnam’s turbulent history. You’ll cycle on country roads through quiet fishing villages, stopping for lunch along the way. The ride finishes at Mai Lai. One of the most notorious locations in Vietnam, Mai Lai was the scene of a massacre during the Vietnam war where hundreds of unarmed South Vietnam civilians were killed – an event that provoked global condemnation. In the afternoon, the ride continues along quiet roads to Quang Ngai. Your hotel has a swimming pool and is located on a lovely golden sand beach – perfect for relaxing and soaking up the sun after all that cycling!

This morning’s ride from Quang Ngai is idyllic, taking you among mountains, rice paddy fields, salt flats, and through sleepy fishing villages. Lunch is in a local restaurant on the way before you arrive at Tuy Phuoc, where you will hop back into the vehicle and transfer to Quy Nhon City. Quy Nhon is an unspoiled coastal city with an attractive waterfront that sees few foreign tourists. You’ll have the evening to explore on your own and find a nice spot for dinner.

Today is your final day of cycling, and it is an epic one! Follow the coast through rolling hills, forest, cassava and sugar cane plantations, with the sparkling blue sea on one side and lush green mountains on the other. If you fancy an easier ride, the transport vehicle is on hand to pick you up. At Chi Thanh the vehicle will collect you and take you to see Ganh Da Dia, a spectacular natural rock formation that juts out into the sea, created by volcanic activity millions of years ago. Afterwards, you’ll transfer to Tuy Hoa, a typical Vietnamese coastal city surrounded by miles of quiet sand.

Today you will hop on a local flight south to Ho Chi Minh City. Depending on the flight, there may be time to visit a beach before departing. You’ll arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s energetic southern metropolis, in the early evening.

This morning you’ll journey from Ho Chi Minh into the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s ‘rice bowl’, for another day delving deep into the culture of this country. Cruise along a tributary of the Mekong, visit a market, and several workshops making products including woven sedge mats and coconut-candy. Then, immerse yourself even more in the life of the Mekong during a bike ride around the bitter melon and cucumber farms to a farmer’s house for lunch. In the afternoon, explore the village with its farms and fruit orchards and drift down the canals and under a canopy of water coconut palms in a traditional sampan boat. You’ll travel back to Ho Chi Minh City in the evening.

Depending on the time of your flight, there will be some free time to explore Ho Chi Minh City before you transfer to the airport.