January 2026 saw us return to Vietnam for maybe the 6th time, and we wanted to do something different. So what else would an almost 60-year-old woman with no experience of riding motorbikes do? Book a 3-day motorbike tour, of course. Here’s a quick overview of this holiday within a holiday, with much more detail to come later.
I’m posting live from Southeast Asia on variably bad internet with limited time. Real travel blogs, like back in the day when humans wrote for humans. I know I have readers waiting on my Saigon food tour post, it will come soon, but there are a lot of photos to edit for that one, so it will take a while. I’m doing the quick post first, thanks for your patience. This post may contain affiliate links and please could you save to Pinterest or otherwise share? Thanks, it helps us travel more to share with you.
Booking a Motorbike Tour in Vietnam
We booked our tour through Easy Riders Vietnam, direct. Specifically Mr Vu’s Easy Riders, easyridersvietnam.org. This post isn’t sponsored, we paid for it ourselves.
There are a lot of motorbike tour companies in Vietnam called EasyRider or EasyRiders and there are also Easy Rider tours on GetYourGuide and Viator. These big companies are generally a safer way to book tours, but we took a chance.
The new me, without anxiety and with more faith in everything working out as it should, takes chances. It all worked out fine, give or take a small problem with a young driver, who we nicknamed Sulky Simon for the final day. Our other driver was older, experienced, and a dream to travel with. We can’t say enough good things about him.
So yes, it’s a bit risky to book something like this, direct, but it worked out fine for us, and yes, we’d recommend Mr Vu’s Easy Riders. This is a positive review and recommendation.
As with all things in Vietnam, a lot of communication is via WhatsApp, get that ready on your phone.
Paying For The Bike Tour in Cash
We were able to pay a deposit online from Australia. The remaining payment had to be paid in cash to the driver at the start of the tour. We were told that the payment should be in Euros or VND, but later this was changed to VND cash only. This isn’t easy.
You can’t bring VND into the country, and Vietnamese cash points (ATMs) have a small cash limit. The only way to do this, for us, was to bring AuD or USD cash and change it in Vietnam. We found that gold shops were open for currency exchange on Sundays, and give better rates.
Are Vietnam Motorbike Tours Expensive in Vietnam?
Yes, we thought it was very expensive. If you are familiar with typical prices in Vietnam, you probably will too. To westerners it may seem cheap. We paid approximately $100 or $100 Euros per day.
The price included the motorbikes, our drivers and guides, admission tickets, a helmet, jacket and knee pads, water, breakfast, lunch and hotel.
Popular Motorbike Tours in Vietnam
We drove from Da Lat to Saigon on our motorbike tour, a 3 day, 2 night trip. You can take a 1 day tour, for instance, this trip from Da Lat would be great, we visited most of these attractions, and they were amazing. I’ll post about them soon.
Our tour included Cu Chi Tunnels, and they’ve changed a lot! This is our old post about visiting with the kids, a new one for 2026 will be published soon.
The Ha Giang Loop, in the north from Hanoi, is very popular. Our drivers told us this tour is mostly beautiful countryside, as we saw on our tour. In our experience, Hanoi has a lot more to see and do than Saigon.
Did It Feel Safe, Being on a Motorbike in Vietnamese Traffic
The only time I was a little uncomfortable on the bikes was for a short stretch on a busy road with trucks honking and screaming past. It wasn’t for long. I asked my driver to slow down, and he did, keeping me comfortable was his priority.
Mostly, I felt completely safe.
As we entered Saigon the traffic became crazy, hundreds of bikes and scooters moved like a shoal of fish. Sagon traffic was absolutely fine on bikes. It’s slow, and Vietnamese drivers are extremely considerate and careful.
As I know Vietnamese traffic well, I knew it would be OK. Vietnam is probably the only country where I would take a motorbike tour.
Luggage and Packing Tips For a Motorbike Tour or Holiday
Jeans are ideal, as is a light long-sleeved top for under your jacket. You will need something to keep the sun off your face and neck. The jacket covered my hands, so I didn’t need gloves for the sun. You’ll need covered shoes or boots. I only had running shoes, they were OK.
You will sweat under the jacket, so a clean top every day is pretty essential. We managed to wear the same jeans every day, with clean pants for the evenings after we’d showered.
We travel with carry-on luggage only, but I think the drivers can manage to strap a reasonable-sized backpack onto the bikes. You can see our luggage in the top photo.
Getting on and off the bikes was a little challenging for a slightly older woman with a dodgy right hip, but I managed, and it got easier with time. I’m fit, I run a bit and walk daily, but that hip isn’t happy.
Was it Worth Doing?
Yes, we loved it. At times we were sore, and sometimes a little nervous. We had a few issues with food not being what we’d prefer to eat, and my son got a bad cold along the way.
It was hot, we sweated, and clean clothes were getting low, but we loved it.
It gave us an insight into a Vietnam that we hadn’t previously seen. It gave us access to the experiences and lives of our guides. They had fascinating stories to tell and our Vietnamese History, as we knew it, was pretty much torn apart.
One negative, you will see a lot of eating dogs, and dog restaurants. As a dog owner and lover, it can be upsetting.
Can You Take Motorbike Tours With Kids in Vietnam?
Yes, you can. For worldschooling kids, this could be a great experience. Just look into age limits, insurance, and availability of kid-sized helmets and safety gear for yourselves. It’s the perfect adventure holiday for travel with teens.
We definitely recommend motorbike holidays in Vietnam for the adventurous. You do need to be comfortable with being around people constantly. That’s not my favourite thing. I would have preferred more time to myself over sharing every meal with our drivers. That’s nothing against them, I’m an introvert, I like my space.
Some motorbike holidays like this are group tours, I wouldn’t do well with that, but our group was private, just my son and I, plus drivers.
So all up it was a great experience, and this, as always, is my very honest review. We write for humans here, and we are human. Real experiences, not AI. Sign up for more on this motorbike tour and more from Southeast Asia in coming weeks. Thanks. Would you ride bikes in Vietnam? Tell me in the comments.
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