Clothes to Pack
I traveled in November & December of 2018, and the weather was all over the place. For most of Vietnam I enjoyed 80 degree weather and sunshine, but for about two weeks in the north the temperature dropped to 40 with heavy rain. It is hard to prepare for everything.
I would recommend summer clothes, and bringing one pair of pants and a sweatshirt along. Rain gear can be purchased cheap along the way - rain boots and rain pants were only $4 each at a store along the way.
I also brought one pair of hiking boots and one pair of sandals. This covered all of the weather situations I faced!
Vietnamese Visa
If you are flying into Vietnam, the visa is easy. Some backpackers choose to fly even short distances into the country because the process is so much easier than land crossing.
I took a bus from Penom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the Mad Monkey Hostel helped us arrange everything. I highly recommend the three month visa if you have a flexible schedule - biking all of Vietnam in only one month is tight, and having the flexibility is a game changer.
The three month single entry visa was approximately $70, and our hostel took care of everything for us. It took us three days to sort it all out.
You are required to have a photo for the visa - it is very unclear what the size of this photo is supposed to be. If you have the wrong size they will accept it for $1 - so just make sure you have some photo. We had ours taken at a photo shop on the street.
When we crossed over the border everyone on the bus needed to pay $1USD to the driver for unclear reasons. It was probably a bribe - make sure you have some small change on you.
SIM Card
SIM cards can be easily purchased in Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi at the tourist agencies located everywhere. There will be signs advertising the sale of SIM cards in tourist areas. I paid approximately $15 for 30GB lasting one month. After researching, I went with the brand Viettel and had great cell service throughout Vietnam.
Credit and Debit
MasterCard and Visa are the credit cards accepted most widely, but cash is king in Vietnam. The Charles Schwab debit card is the gold standard for travel cards since it both charges no ATM fees and reimbursed fees charged by the ATM. Either way, check with your bank to see what fees you will be hit with in Vietnam.
How to get a Bike
Most backpackers buying bikes get them used from other backpackers on Facebook groups. We planned to buy used bikes for $250 in Ho Chi Minh and sell them for roughly $250 in Hanoi after paying for repairs along the way. However, a group of Americans convicted us to act otherwise.
For $700USD from Style Motorbikes, we could buy brand new 127cc Espero Detech manual Motorbikes (a Vietnamese knock off of the Honda Win - important because all mechanics know how to fix these bikes).
After two months, Style Motorbikes in Hanoi would buy the bike back for $450USD. This would allow us to travel Vietnam without the mechanical issues that most backpackers face - sometimes these mechanical issues can cost hundreds of dollars.
This was appealing to us because biking the entire country felt ambitious enough - dealing with a bike that constantly broke was not something I wanted to deal with.
The Blue Card
It is important that whatever bike you buy, new or used, comes with the “blue card.” This card certifies that you are the real owner of the bike. If you buy a bike with no blue card, just know that it is the equivalent of driving a stolen bike.
Motorbiking Vietnam without a License
It illegal to drive Motorbikes in Vietnam without an international drivers license that covers Motorbikes. For the entirety of my trip, I drove with no license - completely illegal. If a police officer stops you and realizes that you are unlicensed, it is a 2 million dong ($86USD) fine.
In my experience, police do not pull people over anywhere except Mui Ne, which is why we chose to skip Mui Ne. There is one checkpoint on the Ha Giang Loop where police also check, and we left at 5am to avoid that one. Speed limits are not enforced.
The most likely interaction you will have with an officer is following an accident. When this happened to us, we spent 5 hours doing paperwork at the police station before paying $200 to settle everything. We avoided the unlicensed fine by claiming that a Wisconsin driver’s license is valid for driving Motorbikes in Vietnam (it is not.).
Insurance
Travel insurance will not cover illegal activity. If you are driving a motorbike without a license, travel insurance will not cover any resulting injuries.
Route
This is roughly the route we took through Vietnam, plus a few cities we wish we had visited:
Ho Chi Minh
Da Lat
Nha Trang
Hoi An
Da Nang
Hue
Khe San
Phong Nha
Mai Châu
Son La
Lao Cai
Ha Giang
Du Gía
Dong Vân
Meo Vac
Ba Be Lake
Cat Ba
Hanoi
The advantage of driving south to north is that the views become increasingly beautiful every day. The far north is the most beautiful part of Vietnam!
If you are unlicensed, skip Mui Ne because everyone gets pulled over. Don’t rent Motorbikes here either!
Accommodation
In the more touristy cities, hostels are available to stay at where you can meet backpackers that are traveling by motorbike or bus. En route to these cities, however, you will spend nights in rural areas where there are not hostels available.
In all of Vietnam, hotels are available for 200k dong ($10usd) per room. In some parts of Vietnam, mostly the north half, homestays are available. Homestays are slightly more expensive than hostels (maybe $10 per person), but they feel like low-key hostels and are run by local families that serve authentic and delicious food.
Words to Know
Ngha Nghi = Guest House (hotel)
Xe May = motorbike mechanic
Banh Mi, Pho, Com Chien = food; sandwich, soup, fried rice
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