Day 1: Hanoi - Mai Chau, 160 km, 5 hr ride.

After breakfast, we take a taxi to get to the starting point at the outskirt of Hanoi, from here you will take the bikes and start your first day ride to Mai Chau.

Leaving Hanoi and breaking out of the delta plains, we pass through endless limestone karst scenery as we travel up to the Northwestern region, the extensive farming lands comprising a sea of paddy fields split by tree-lined roads. Arrive in Mai Chau in late afternoon, night on a stilt house of the Thais Minority peoples, dinner with the family.

Day 2: Mai Chau – Phu Yen, 170 km, 6 hr ride 

We backtrack on the main a few kilometres before embarking on a new road which drops down the side of a huge valley, steadily falling all the way back down to the Black River Reservoir. The 50 kilometres route has plenty of challenging surface and is prone to landslides. Much of the area is inhabited by Kinh and both Black and White Thai ethnicities. Depending on time we can complete another side road which rises up the opposite side of the valley, offering impressive views over the area on a clear day. Just before the reservoir we breach a final steep ascent and pass by communes of Dao people, before the descent to the banks of the reservoir and a ferry crossing. Once across we follow the banks of the reservoir past village all relocated before the flooding of the valley. On easy dirt road we approach the delta settlement of Phu Yen, set in the middle of a vast valley floor of paddy fields. Overnight in Phu Yen.

Day3 : Phu Yen - Vu Linh, 150 km, 5 hr ride

We have two options : one takes us around the very end of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, enjoying good riding on winding sealed mountain roads. The other crosses over the very end of the range and takes us through untarnished rain forest on challenging, rocky road. (The Hoang Lien Son mountain range is the main range of northwest Vietnam and also includes the highest peak - Fansipan). From Ba Khe we continue on sealed road through renowned tea growing areas, where the hillsides are literally covered in plantations, all the way to the city of Yen Bai which sits on the Red River. From here it’s a short ride to the edge of Thac Ba Lake, also formed by the construction of hydroelectricity dam in the 1970s. Overnight in homestay.

Day4: Vu Linh - Hanoi, 180 km, 6 hr ride
After breakfast we cruise southeast on Highway 2 then branch off on the sleepy town of Phu Tho. We follow the edge of the Red River along the dike, almost to the point where it merges with the Black River after which they flow together to Hanoi. By now we are very much in the lowlands of the delta plains and the north’s main agricultural areas. Harvest time here is a sea of activity. Crossing the Red River by ThangLong bridge then return to Hanoi on the highway.