Ha Giang Loop

Ha Giang had been on my list for a long time, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of my entire Asia trip. If you go to Vietnam and skip this, you go home with a missed life. Idiot.

The loop is a motorbike route through the north of Vietnam, right near the Chinese border. The mountains are insane. Not "beautiful for Vietnam" insane. Objectively one of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. Terraces, cliffs, valleys so deep that morning mist hangs in them like water. And there you are, sitting on the back of a motorbike, just watching.

You do need some luck. We met travellers who had done the route a week earlier and had mist on almost every day. Same route, same money, nothing to see. That can happen. The weather determines a large part of what you get.

Easyrider or self-drive

You can do the loop two ways: on your own scooter, or riding pillion with an easyrider, a local guide who drives for you.

I'd recommend the easyrider. Everything is sorted for you, and at some points along the route you're not actually allowed to stop freely, so it's nice to have your full attention on the views. They'll try to buy you a few little things here and there to keep you friendly. Well-meaning, occasionally a bit awkward. Just give them a decent tip at the end. They can use it.

Self-driving gives you more freedom, but keep in mind that the first two days the roads are fairly decent. The last days are genuinely rough. If you want to self-drive, make sure you've got some experience with mountain roads.

3 or 4 days

Do 4 days. On day 3 most operators include a detour outside the standard 3-day route. We found that detour to be by far the best part of the whole loop. Quieter, fewer tourists, and the views might actually be even better. For one extra day, it's absolutely worth it.

Which operator

We did the tour with Mama's Homestay. Well organised, a get-together with the group every evening, and a small party if you're up for it. The food wasn't great but perfectly fine. A tip if you're travelling as a couple: pay a few dollars extra for a hotel room instead of the hostel they arrange by default. The rest of our group slept in those hostels and they were pretty grim. Mama's also sorts transport to your next destination; we could continue straight to Hanoi.

Other operators we saw a lot:

Jasmine has more of a party atmosphere and is known for faster riding and more challenging roads. Fun if that's your thing, but worth being aware of.

Bong is smaller, more upmarket and less party-focused. If you're after peace over socialising, this is the better pick.

Happy water and the family dinners

Every evening ends with a family dinner. Groups from different operators come together, food gets cooked, and then comes the moment you've been looking forward to all day: happy water. That's locally distilled rice wine, and the flavour profile sits somewhere between "medicine" and "nail polish remover." You hope there's no methanol in it, because the taste gives you little reassurance. It's undrinkable, but a lot of fun to drink.

The toast goes: Mot, Hai, Ba, Zo. One, two, three, drink. I still remember it. We joked we were drinking the happy water to kill the bacteria, because you do have your doubts about how food is prepared here and there. High in the mountains, sometimes in the middle of nowhere, not every kitchen is running at restaurant level. It worked. Nobody in our group got food poisoning.

The people I met at those family dinners are people I'm still in contact with now. That says enough about the atmosphere.

Season and weather

We did the loop at the start of January. On day two we were sitting at 2 degrees on the back of the motorbike. I was literally shivering and kept edging closer to my easyrider. He probably didn't mind.

Buy a jacket in Vietnam. You can find decent knockoffs that look like a brand name but come from the market for a few euros. They keep the wind out. That's enough.

Better times are March to May. Temperatures are more pleasant and the chance of mist is lower. Avoid the rainy season from July to September: the roads get more dangerous and there's often not much view left.

Keep an eye on the weather in the days leading up to it. You can't change much, but it's good to know what's coming.

After the loop I wanted to catch up on a few hours of work. That didn't happen. You need a moment to sit with what you've just experienced over the past few days. Parts of it are genuinely tough on the back of that motorbike, uphill, downhill, uphill. But that's exactly what makes the view at the top so good, and the feeling afterwards too.