VIETNAM from south to north... from SAIGON to HANOI 2023

Acclimatization Day.

Covering several time zones in a short period of time, especially by airplane, causes very common disorders related to disruption of the body's diurnal rhythm. It also bears its name "Jet Lag", and fighting the disorder requires a little time and relatively little activity, so the next day after arrival we take you on a bus ride to the Mekong Delta. It will be a bit like the Rambo movies - canal rafting through dense jungle, abduction to villages submerged in the scrub, visits to manufactories, tuk-tuk rides, tropical fruit tastings. Moderate activity will help you fight Jet Lag. At the end of the day, we will officially welcome you with a gala dinner and pilot briefing.

Acclimatization and sightseeing around Saigon cont.

Today a bit more active - we will start with a walking tour of the city and a bus tour outside.

There can be no Vietnam Tour without mentioning one of the most famous wars in the world - the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, the U.S.-Vietnam War, or the U.S. intervention in Vietnam... Fought between 1955 and 1975, devastating and morally degrading for all parties to the conflict, with the resounding participation of the world's major powers: the United States and the Soviet Union, but also South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. During 20 years of extremely brutal war, more than 2 million civilians were killed, and the memory of those years remains in numerous memorials of heroism and the fall of humanity - museums, monuments, cemeteries and... the Vietcong tunnels. More than 200km of underground corridors, burrows and complexes, of which only 120km remain today, with hospitals, kitchens, bedrooms, meeting rooms, torture halls, arsenals and warehouses. We will visit the best preserved and those near Saigon, less than 70km northwest of the city, from which the Vietcong attacked Saigon in 1968.

In the late afternoon, after visiting the grim wartime attractions, we go to pick up our motorcycles. Test rides in urban conditions are also planned.

Our first day on motorcycles.

We will leave Saigon, moving in an easterly direction. After less than 1 hour on the asphalt, during which we will experience the charms of riding on Vietnam's congested roads, we will deviate from the main route, leaving the asphalt for paved dirt roads. There won't be any challenging off-road sections, just fun off-road paved sections appropriate for enduro motorcycles, leading among plantations, with rubber, banana and coffee being the most common in the area. Quite a few places for the first "green" photos . On the way, several stops for programmed tourist attractions.

If the group of participants will be uniformly advanced we can optionally use a more difficult section of the route, prepared for such a circumstance and all to provide you with maximum fun and enjoyment, while taking care of your safety. The variant suitable for the group will be decided by our pilot.

We reach the town of Bảo Lộc via winding side roads, which offer several vantage points of amazing greenery. We spend the night in Bảo Lộc in a beautiful villa on top of a hill.

We will start our morning route by driving through several ethnic minority villages, and then head to Tà Đung National Park , where the floodplains of the Dong Nai River create amazing views...In Tà Đung we will have lunch somewhere with such a picturesque view. After lunch we will head north on side roads and off-roads. On the way to our destination, we'll take several long paved routes through vast rice fields and scenic hills on the horizon. We will drive along a road through a cluster of Catholic villages and visit one of the churches. 

As with all off-road sections, we have options for undemanding and more demanding sections, the pilot always decides which route is right for the group's skills.

We end the day in Buôn Ma Thuột, there will be an opportunity to taste regional specialties, of course.

From Buôn Ma Tuột we leave on side roads, heading northeast towards Gia Lai province. On this day, we drive mostly on asphalt, and as we pass through the least crowded regions of the country, you will certainly see differences.... AND you will hardly meet people!

Not much traffic, good pavement, panoramas all around - a day of exploring Vietnam from the seats of motorcycles 😎 .

Completely similar to today's drive through this part of Vietnam, there will be an evening and an overnight stay - away from civilization, without crowds or even normal population, the only accommodation on this route and close to the local community. We will spend the night in a private lodge near An Khe! 

This is definitely one of our most favorite sections of the tour!
A full day's drive between rustic villages, blended into the countryside - with rivers on one side, many levels of rice fields on the other and a horizon with mountains. The landscapes that will accompany us this day can be compared to the most beautiful postcards depicting the rice fields of Bali and the valleys of Peru.
We will drive through scenic mountain passes with stunning views all around us. We will see the most colorful agricultural part of Vietnam. On the way there will be countless opportunities to collect amazing shots, and if time allows us - opportunities to cool off and jump in the water 😆 .

We'll end the day on the shores of the South China Sea, near ( or maybe even in the center of) a peculiar place for Vietnam - a graffiti village - an artistic expression of the sensibility of locals decorating the bypasses of their homes with street art.

This day can easily become one of your most treasured memories of Vietnam!

A day rich in thematic diversity....

In a straight line from Tam Thanh to Hoi An, where we intend to spend 2 nights, we have a little over 70km. We, however, will lead you along somewhat circuitous roads, all in order to provide the maximum positive experience. 

There will be an off-road through jungles, between floodplains and lakes, along paths among village fields, we'll drive to the Marble Mountains to visit the most famous Pagoda in the area, for lunch we'll probably jump to Da Nang to see if this most popular resort actually has the most beautiful beaches, and we'll end the day in Hoi An and maybe take a walk together through the colorful, atmospheric streets of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Here we will visit the Chinese quarter, where there is something for everyone. In the evening and at night plenty of good restaurants and massage parlors....

It will be a truly unforgettable day.

In Hoi An, after several days of intensive travel, a little tired we will take a breath during the so-called day without a motorcycle (free day), partially organized. This is a day for you, with no imposed organization, to be freely used and developed. And the place is really ideal for this. For those who want to spend the day actively countless possibilities, the choice is really a lot, although we recommend just a few:

• The ruins of the Cham temples in My Son - several clusters of temple towers that formerly (until the 15th century) were the religious center of the Cham Empire, conquered and assimilated by the Vietnamese. Nice views and a live performance of Cham music and dance - at 10:45. https://goo.gl/maps/eornnHDH7fMR2WUJ7
• Mountains of Five Elements - you can take an elevator to the Mountain of Water, at the site you can descend into a cave where there are temples and a Buddha sitting on high. Impressive if you like walking up stone stairs + secret places  https://goo.gl/maps/ZvWeivKPGsPhDrgj9
• Ba Na Hills and the Golden Bridge - an amusement park with a golden bridge supported by carved hands. If there are not a lot of people it is ok, you enter and move around the area by cable cars. NOTE: if it's windy they will turn off the cable cars and you can't enter/exit. It takes at least half a day to visit the whole thing, so there may not be enough time for Hoi An. Ticket quite expensive: 825,000 - 970,000 VNd HTTPS://GOO.GL/MAPS/SYNNJP4XDNA9YL1DA

We remain, of course, at your disposal at all times, ready to provide any assistance. 

We're off to our final motorcycle leg - Vietnam's former capital and UNESCO-listed imperial city. Although you would need at least 3 days for Hue, we'll show you the essentials in a few hours - and that's what we'll do. The Citadel and the Imperial City in brief. On the way we will stop at one of the largest cemeteries located in rice fields, of which there are many around Hue, we will tell you a little about the traditions of burial in Vietnam. We'll drive through the Sea Cloud Pass, also known as the Ocean of Clouds, and there you'll learn where the name came from and why it was worth the drive.

After exploring the city, we take off our motorcycles, check into one of the hotels in the city, and move north the next morning on a local flight to Hanoi. 

After breakfast, we'll take a morning flight to Hanoi to complete our journey through Vietnam with a sightseeing tour of the country's capital in a few hours. An organized bus tour of the city's highlights and accompanied by our guide will round out the experience. In the evening we will have a farewell dinner in a snake village and our last night in Vietnam.

For some of you, the adventure doesn't end yet and we may continue with a drive to Ha Long Bay (additional options) or even a motorcycle tour of North Vietnam with the famous Ha Giang loop on the agenda. For those who are finishing today, we will solemnly thank you, believing that we will meet you soon at future events. 

After breakfast (or perhaps much before), depending on the time of the flight back home, our driver will take the departing passengers to the airport in Hanoi, where our adventure together and for the extended OPTION will end.