Touring Vietnam by motorcycle, or a part of the country, is a dream for many travelers. Traveling through its intricacies with total freedom, without depending on bus routes and schedules, helps you to get to know the most authentic of the country at your own pace. However, there are points to consider: it is hard, especially if you do many kilometers a day and most likely the weather will not be perfect during all the stages of the road. A good option is to do like us, choose a part of the country to get to know it by motorcycle.
We are not very handy with motorcycles (apart from scooters), so we chose public transport (buses) most of the time during our 2 months in Vietnam. But we did one part, the Central Highlands (from Da Lat to Hoi An) by motorcycle with a driver. This is known as easyriders there, and it was the best decision we made during our two months in Vietnam.
5 days, almost 800 km by motorcycle, and the best experience we had in the country.
The photos speak for themselves about these unforgettable days and we do not know if we can express how much this adventure marked us. We will try. Besides, we have decided to tell you about our adventure with practical information so that you can do the same when you visit the country.
Contents
What are Easyriders?
Easyriders are motorcycle drivers who take you (you and your backpack) on their motorcycle on the route you want in Vietnamese lands. While before this service was offered in a more “informal” way (you knew the driver and you agreed on it), now the thing is more regulated. There are companies, travel agencies, and tour operators that offer you directly the service: motorcycle tours with a driver. Of course, male drivers. We have looked into it and we have not found a single female easyrider! Vietnamese female motorbike riders, where are you? From what we learned on this trip we can tell you that they are probably working in the coffee, tea, and mushroom plantations, in the wood factories, working with tapioca or taking care of their children and elders.
We do not know very well how they started or how they became so famous in Vietnam, but especially in Dalat, you can not walk more than 10 meters without seeing one of these easyriders companies. In theory, the original concept is a few older gentlemen, bikers, who you met on the street or in a bar and agree on the route, duration, and price.
In Vietnam there is a very common business practice: if there is an already established company with a well-known brand, others who want to enter the market create a new company with the same or a very similar name. Thus, they take advantage of the “original” brand to get customers, who fail to differentiate one from the others.
The Easyriders is a very clear example of this: Easyriders Dalat, Original Easyriders, Easyriders Official Office, Dalat Easyrider Club, Original Easyrider Club… it must be very difficult to find a similar name that is not registered.
Is it safe to travel with Easyriders?
We felt very safe at all times during these 5 days: the three drivers (Boss, Messi, and Dragon) drove at a reasonable speed and there was little traffic on most of the routes.
But this is Vietnam, and the driving of the rest of the people was not that safe, so anything can happen, just as it can happen if you go by car or bus (the type of transport we used the most outside this route). In addition, the roads are sometimes not in very good condition. Especially on the first day, there was a stretch that was in pretty bad shape. In any case, the three of them were very good drivers and experts and made us feel like real bikers along the way.
How much do Easyriders tours cost?
Here, as always, your negotiation skills come into play, but the starting price that all agencies ask for is about $75 per day/person, although usually with a little bargaining, they go down to $65/day/person.
The price usually includes everything except food. That is, they include accommodation for you and your easyrider, gasoline, entrance fees…
There is another option, for those of you who want to exercise, which is to do the tour with bike+van. Basically, the van takes you with the bikes and you do different sections by bike each day. In this case, if we remember correctly, the price was 10$ less (55$ per day).
Is it worth it? Isn’t it expensive for what it offers?
It is true that the price is somewhat high, and it took us quite a while to decide to pay the money. But, after doing it, we believe that it was worth all the money invested. It was the best thing we did in our two months in Vietnam, we would do it again with our eyes closed.
Spectacular landscapes (which you also enjoy as you would not do it by bus or motorcycle because you are driving), not a single tourist (in 5 days we only met two other tourists one day who were also doing the tour with easyriders), the most amazing people in Vietnam, the local and cheap food… If you want to escape from the Vietnamese tourist route, this is your place.
The easyriders, besides driving, will be your guides: they will stop you at different plantations, temples, and historical sites and explain you about the country and the local culture.
If you dare with a motorcycle, you can also rent one and do the tour at your own pace. But you get better views riding as a pack on the motorcycle, and if you drive you miss the guide. There were also people who rode two with a guide; one of the people drove alone, and the other rode as a pack with the guide.
Where can I book a tour with Easyriders?
As we said, Dalat is full of agencies that sell this type of tour. We basically wandered down Trương Công Định Street, in Dalat, where we saw several agencies advertising the tour, and stopped at each one to ask about availability, conditions, and prices.
In the end, we checked with 5 or 6 of these agencies, asking about conditions, prices, routes, etc. We chose one in particular, but we recommend you hire directly with our favorite Easyrider driver, Mr. Dragon. Here we leave you the contact:
Phone: (+84) 01268.639.429
Email: thintours@gmail.com
The agencies take a commission, so if you hire directly with a driver you can probably save some money.
Our experience with Easyriders
We will now tell you in detail about our experience, from the moment we discovered the possibility until the end of the trip.
How we discovered the option
Although Dalat is riddled with Easyriders agencies, we had read that the most typical thing to do was a one-day tour of the outskirts of the city. Looking for more information on this we discovered two things, which were (both) the best we did in our two months in Vietnam:
- Mr. Rot’s Secret Tour: an alternative to the easyriders but only around Dalat. It starts in the morning and ends in the afternoon. Highly recommended when you are in Dalat. Depending on the time of the year they also take you by motorcycle, but we went by van because of the weather (it was threatening to rain but in the end, it didn’t). This tour is a must, there is no other tour like it, no matter how much they tell you (and that has to do with specificities of the life of the person involved that we will not tell you because we want you to do it!). Mr. Rot takes you to a village of the so-called “minority peoples” (they don’t speak Vietnamese but they do speak their dialect) with a very peculiar recent history (in no man’s land, not pleasing the communist government nor the Americans at the time), they don’t use money and everything is done by exchange of antiques (even buying husbands, yes, these communities are matriarchal). There are no photos of the experience (out of respect for the people) so we can only tell you that spending a good few hours with these incredible women was one of the most emotional parts of the trip. It’s amazing how you can communicate so well without verbal language. And Mr. Rot, we carry him in our hearts. We leave you a couple of pictures and the contact of Mr. Rot Secret Tour.
Phone: (+84) 913 95 33 00
Email: mrrotsecrettour@gmail.com
Price: 35 USD/person
- The Central Highlands: practically all the itineraries we saw in Vietnam followed the coastline and at most Dalat. Vietnam is not a country of spectacular beaches and the beach was not what we most wanted after having been in the most beautiful of the country, on the island of Phu Quoc. In addition, we did not like Mui Ne (a coastal beach town, very touristy), we did not want to go to Nha Trang (even more touristy) and in Dalat, we discovered that we could go to Hoi An through the Central Highlands, a mountainous area with breathtaking views and where there are hardly any tourists.
We discovered both on our reference website in Southeast Asia: Travelfish.
What tour did we do?
We wanted to go all the way to Hoi An, so we chose the shortest tour to go from Dalat to Hoi An: 5 days, 4 nights. The normal is to do this tour in 6 days, 5 nights, but we wanted to save a bit and we really enjoyed it a lot anyway. We did it with Lorena, from Viaja Sé Tú Misma, so we hired three drivers.
The tour would be done in 5 stages, each in one day:
- Day 1: Dalat -> Lak Lake
- Day 2: Lak Lake -> Buon Ma Thuot
- Day 3: Buon Ma Thuot -> Pleiku -> Kon Tum
- Day 4: Kon Tum -> Kham Duc
- Day 5: Kham Duc -> Hoi An
Our experience on the road
Day 1: Pick up in Dalat and drive to Lak Lake
Route: From Dalat to Lak Lake
Distance: 135KM
We arranged with the agency that our Easyriders would pick us up at 9:00 a.m. We were nervous! We had bought some things the day before for breakfast, so at 8.30 we went down and waited in front of the hotel. At 8.45 our Easyriders arrived: Boss, Dragon, and Messi, as they called themselves, with their very nice-looking bikes.
After introducing ourselves and exchanging a few pleasantries, we were asked for our luggage. The backpacks were very well protected by a huge plastic bag (in case it rained), and very well tied to the back of the bike. Once everything was ready, we put on our helmets, and off we went!
The first day’s journey would take us to Lak Lake, with several stops.
The first stop was around a reservoir, with an idyllic landscape. They dropped us off at a point, told us to continue walking for a few meters, and waited for us further on. This way, we could stop to admire the scenery and take pictures.
We continued for several kilometers and at one of the road changes we stopped to buy and taste fruit. Further on we stopped at an orchid farm. TET (Vietnamese New Year) was approaching so there was a lot of demand as everyone orders orchids to put in their homes, temples, etc.
The next stop was to see a mushroom farm, and then we went to eat at a local place. Very good food, they ordered a bit of everything for us to try, and we paid 50000VND per person (about 2€ per person).
Unfortunately, Inês didn’t get as much of this meal as she wanted (she basically ate rice and not much else) because the day before she started to feel sick to her stomach… Yes, having to go to the bathroom every few minutes is not the best thing for long motorcycle rides, but it turns out that she finally got better. Besides, in this place where we ate she had an unforgettable experience: going to the bathroom with 2 chickens that were already inside and that watched her all the time until she finished! hahahaha (Too bad she didn’t take her cell phone to take a picture…).
In addition, during lunch, we had a small argument because the agency had assured us that the accommodations (already included in the price) would be in all cases 3-star hotels and two rooms (one for Lore and one for us). Suddenly the Boss suggested that for Lak Lake he had a cool place (a resort) but that we had to pay a little more, or else we would go to sleep in a traditional Long House, where there are several beds and more people.
After “arguing” for a while, the boss calling the agency, and so on, we saw pictures of the long house and reviews of the resort and decided that we actually preferred the Long House experience, so everything was perfect!
We continue on our journey with spectacular views of coffee plantations, which we taste at the next stop, and also with some hammocks to rest for a while.
The road continued with amazing landscapes, with more coffee plantations and incredible greenery. The Central Highlands are the cradle of Vietnamese coffee, and it would be a constant during the 5 days aboard the motorcycle.
As it could not be otherwise, the next stop was in a small town, to see how they treated the coffee and learn a little more about the process. It is picked, left in the sun to dry, roasted and the husk is removed.
We stopped once more on the way to see a floating village and some local stalls selling dried fish among other things, and made the last stretch to Lak Lake, to our Long House.
We liked the accommodation (the Long House) in Lak Lake very much, there were 4 or 5 other tourists with whom we shared the house and the night. Lak Lake, where we spent the night, is a more touristy spot, so it is normal to meet more people coming on tour. It was the only time where we crossed paths with tourists and only to sleep.
What we didn’t like, is that in this lodge and in the area in general, the typical activity (which of course we didn’t do) is to cross the lake riding an elephant. They looked mistreated, sad, and sore, with huge iron seats on top. Did you know that the spine of elephants is especially sensitive? Stop being a tourist at the expense of animal abuse! We always recommend this post of ConMochila about it.
Also, our accommodation had a cage at the entrance with a huge python, and a duck inside waiting to be gobbled up…For tourist’s enjoyment. :( The food and service were also pretty bad, so we recommend only sleeping at the Long House (and if you want to even avoid it, we’ve seen a couple of homestays in town) and walking 5-10 minutes to eat on the main road in town, where there are several options.
Day 2: Lak Lake to Buon Ma Thuot
Route: From Lak Lake to Buon Ma Thuot
Distance: 55KM
The route of day 2 is short and very enjoyable. We got up at 8:00 for breakfast, and at 9:00 we were already leaving for the next destination. The surroundings of the lake are full of rural life, rice fields, cows along the road… The camera could not stop taking pictures
The first stop was to climb the Elephant Rock. This huge rock, as you can deduce, is shaped like an elephant! It is not very complicated to climb it but you have to be careful, especially on the way down, not to slip. The views from the top are very cool so it’s worth it.
It was necessary to cross a small puddle and here Lore was stepping in water attempt after attempt :D
We continue on our way and the next stop is the facade of a church, which is the only thing left standing of it after a U.S. bombing. Since the end of the war, it seems that local Catholics have been celebrating Mass in the “interior” of the open-air church compound or in their homes.
The next stop was a factory where they make chipboard out of sheets of wood. It is a very hard job, which demands a lot of physical strength, and where almost exclusively women worked. Inside the factory, it would be about 40º…
After saying goodbye to these brave and very kind workers, a little more time on the road and we were in Buon Ma Thuot! But we only stopped to withdraw money at the ATM and continued on our way to have lunch and visit some waterfalls in the afternoon. We ate again at a very local place, Com Ga (rice with chicken), with beer, for 50000VND per person (2€).
After lunch we headed to the waterfalls: we had to walk for a while and although it was not the best time of the year to see them, the scenery is quite beautiful. On the way back, we had a coffee (with ice!) and back to Buon Ma Thuot to leave our things at our hotel, passing by a workshop where they build barrels and other things with wood.
We stayed at the Hotel Eden. It was not bad, typical place that you can tell it is a few years old. Big room (we had two big beds), private bathroom… We had a dinner date with Boss, Messi and Dragon, so we went to take a shower and relax a little bit.
Dinner was again at a local place, “do-it-yourself” rolls, delicious. Basically, they give you all the ingredients and rice paper, you put whatever you want on the rice paper, roll it up, dip it in sauce and you’re in. We miss them already! The price, again, 50000VND (2€) per person, beer included.
Once we finished dinner, we arranged a time for the next day with our easyriders and went to explore the city a bit. Not far away there was a market, with many people surprised to see tourists around.
We tried some cakes with waffle-like dough and chocolate inside, shaped like fish, which were delicious (Lore and Chris loved them, Inês not so much because she doesn’t love sweet flavours). Then on our walk, we saw a lot of people congregated in front of a shopping mall, so that’s where we went!
It turned out that they were playing some games and giving away discount vouchers for stores in the mall. Of course, as soon as they saw us, being the only tourists, they invited us to participate so Chris was the first one, and then Lore followed. Inês recorded it all on video. They gave us envelopes with discounts, which we gave to a child who was there with his parents.
Before going to sleep, we went for a drink at a super hipster coffee shop that Inês had discovered in the morning when we stopped to get money.
Day 3: Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum via Pleiku
Route: From Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum
Distance: 230KM
This is the longest route and the one that is usually done in two days, not one: the first day to Pleiku, and the second to Kon Tum. As we chose 5 days and not 6, it was a bit of a beating.
We woke up for breakfast at the hotel. It was nothing special and cost 1.50€ per person.
The first stop of the day is a recently built Buddhist temple. All very new, we were the only ones there and a very young monk (about 15 years old) offered to take us on a tour, although he did not speak any English.
After the temple, we stop at a monument to the Vietnam War combatants.
After an explanation that we did not understand very well (the truth is that both the English level of our easyriders and our comprehension (the famous listening) were not very good), we stopped to eat a Banh Mi (the typical Vietnamese snacks that we love!) and in a local market, where they explained us how the market is organized and some fruits that we did not know.
At the next stop, Mr. Dragon (who is very joking) takes us to see a plant with green fruits. He asks us to taste it. Delusions to us, it was pepper! After a couple of “Macarena” dances in the middle of the peppers, we continue on our way to stop for another Com Gà (rice with chicken) in Pleiku, and a delicious coffee in a historic cafeteria.
The next stop is another lake, Bien Ho, where we spend some time relaxing, taking pictures, and walking to where we would be picked up before continuing. We see a lot of young Vietnamese people taking posturing photos around there… Sefies everywhere… They also asked us to take some pictures with them. :)
We continue driving for more kilometers, and the next stops are in some tea plantations and in a workshop where they “peel” the trees to remove the bark.
We finally make the last stretch of the day to reach one of the highlights of the trip: Kon Tum!
This small town has a wooden church, next to an orphanage. We arrived just during mass, so it was crowded, and outside there were a lot of children with whom we were playing for a while, taking videos, photos and selfies.
When the mass was about to end, Boss, Dragon, and Messi brought us some bags of candy and balloons to give to the children of the orphanage, who were at the mass. Here it would have been nice to know that we were going this day to buy more things for the children. There were many of them, and as they were leaving we gave them one by one, trying to get enough for all of them.
The orphanage is called Vinh Son and you can check their work and support their projects here. They have more than 700 children in their care who are cared for with housing, food, clothing, education, medical care, and various activities. Although the orphanage is run by a Catholic organization – Sisters of the Miraculous Medal – the care of the children is done independently of their religious beliefs. There are children from 4 months to approximately 14 years of age.
We visited the orphanage and its facilities and met a charming Belgian worker who explained to us how it works.
We would have stayed there a lot longer, we had our hearts veryyyyyy tight but it got dark and our easyriders told us we had to leave. We passed a typical Kon Tum house and went to the hotel.
Our hotel was the Konklor Hotel, the best of these 5 days. Big room, super comfortable bed, in the middle of the rural area of Kon Tum, and close to the suspension bridge. We had dinner (the food was not great), and drank a few beers with Dragon and Messi, who let himself go a little (he is more shy) until late.
Day 4: Kon Tum to Kham Duc (via Ho Chi Minh Trail)
Route: From Kon Tum to Kham Duc
Distance: 172KM
In the morning, if you get up early you can see how life starts in the village, watch the sunrise next to the bridge, eat a super cheap local Banh Mi, watch the children on their way to school…
Another long day of touring had begun! With many stops, of course. The first one was in a factory where they prepare Tapioca. There were some very nice ladies working there who didn’t hesitate to put on their best smiles for the three of us.
Then we stopped on the side of the road at a stand where they prepare rubber. Later we would also see the tree from which it comes, and how it is extracted.
We continued on our way and stopped at a place where we were asked to keep quiet and be discreet with the camera. We did not understand 100% why (it seems that the government does not want tourists to walk there), but it was a cemetery with victims of the Vietnam War. Many of the graves had no name….
During the next trip we stopped to put gas in the motorcycles and bought sticky rice from a very nice lady who sold it there.
A couple of kilometers later we stopped at another war victory monument. There were two original tanks there that you could climb on and enter (we didn’t, we don’t like these war and militaristic monuments). They are tanks that North Vietnam got from Russia and China, they came here from Hanoi through the Ho Chi Minh Trail and were used in an offensive in the Central Highlands. Their role was crucial and so they are on display here, along with the names of the soldiers who died in the attack.
The next stop on the road was in an area where there was a former airstrip for light aircraft, which is now forbidden to access because there are still anti-personnel mines, remnants of the war.
After so many stops, it was time for Vietnamese coffee, so we stopped at another of those typical roadside places in this part of Vietnam, with good and cheap coffee, hammocks to rest, and this one also had a big screen and mega speakers with music. Dragon delighted us with a show that included dancing and air guitar, air percussion, and everything you can imagine.
The next point we saw was the rubber tree. We stopped in an area where there was a lot, and we could see how the rubber came out and how it is made: they make a diagonal cut downwards, surrounding the tree and put a piece of coconut underneath, hooked to the tree, where the rubber is collected.
Our next stop was the border with Laos and Cambodia
And right after that, we stopped for lunch. Again, we were the only tourists there, and our easyriders ordered a little bit of everything to try. It was all delicious.
We continue driving through spectacular mountain scenery, huge roads and a lot of light and shadow play in front of us.
We stopped again, this time at a rather rustic looking suspension bridge. We went to cross it with Messi, and it was quite swaying so our movements were quite cautious.
It took us a while, and there were people waiting on the other side to cross, on motorcycles! When we finally got to the other side and saw people passing by with their motorcycles at full speed, we felt more like tourists than ever hahahahaha.
After so much exercise and tension, another stop for coffee. Once again we had a little bed to rest, and this time we dared to ask for an ice-cream. When they brought it to us, we immediately regretted it, as it must have been in the freezer since the war. So we tried to eat some but gave up. It tasted really bad.
After resting with coffee, we continued our route. Our easyriders dropped us off to walk through a “minority” village (that’s what they call these communities and we don’t like it) and picked us up later. The people we have seen in these areas don’t speak any English, and in most cases don’t speak Vietnamese either, just their dialect. They are the nicest and most authentic people we have seen in all of Vietnam. All smiles.
A little further on we stop again to pass through another village along a road belonging to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
This route was very important in the Vietnam War as it is composed of a set of trails and roads (approximately 16000 KM) that linked North Vietnam and South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia. It was used mainly by the government of Hanoi (North Vietnam) to send supplies to the forces of the South and the Viet Cong guerrillas, without the Americans noticing.
On our history-laden walk along one of the Ho Chi Minh Trail trails we enjoyed pleasant views of rice terraces and met a lovely family living nearby.
We continued on our way and stopped at a bridge to appreciate a waterfall
We make the last journey and arrive at our new destination for the night: Kahm Duc. A very rural village where there is not much to see and where we enjoyed taking a walk and taking selfies with the groups of children that we met there and shouted “Photo! Photo!”, while their parents sang karaoke at home with the door open.
Our hotel in Kham Duc, the Be Chau Giang Hotel was undoubtedly the worst of the trip. The room smelled very musty, everything was old and dirty looking, and the worst came when we were going to sleep. We were already in bed, watching TV, when suddenly we heard a mini explosion in the bathroom and smoke started coming out. We ran out of the room screaming for someone to come. It was the boiler.
We asked for a room change of course, which we got, and they helped us move things around.
Day 5: From Kham Duc to our final destination: Hoi An
Travel: Kham Duc to Hoi An
Distance: 125KM
We got up early to have breakfast and continue on our way. The weather this day was the worst of the 5 days, as it was cloudy and very humid, and we had rain for a large part of the journey, for the first time.
The first stop was at a local handicraft stall, where they made elaborate wooden sculptures, and next to it another waterfall.
We continue along the road and go along the edge of a huge river. Eventually we stop and see a kind of bridge, which they explain to us was used by the Vietnamese to cross and was only visible in the dry season. The rest of the year, with the rains, it was covered by water so that the Americans could not see it.
We make another stop a little later, on another section of the Ho Chi Minh trail, to pass through another “minority” village.
The rain was starting to fall harder, so when we arrived at our next stop, another piece of the Ho Chi Minh Trail with a truck and a war jeep they are preparing for tourism, we had to cover ourselves with our mini raincoats. When we got back to the bikes, our easyriders already had more pro raincoats ready to continue on the bike.
We continued on our way through the rain and stopped at a roadside stall to have a coffee and eat the best pineapple we have tasted so far. Super sweet, freshly cut and served with a mixture of pepper, salt and other things to contrast. In this area there is a lot of pineapple cultivation and you often find them on the road.
Finally, it stops raining a little and the sun comes out again, although our feet and legs are completely soaked.
We stopped at a curious temple, where we took the opportunity to leave our shoes and socks in the sun. This temple is of the Cao Dai religion, practiced in Vietnam and integrating elements of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It is an inclusive religion that welcomes any believer from other religions and integrates the best of each. Its symbol is the eye of god within a triangle.
Inside the temple, you can see images of all these religions, which is super curious.
We continue our route, now without rain, progressively approaching Hoi An. The goal is to eat a little before arriving, in a place with seafood that our easyriders have recommended us, and so we do. And indeed, the food was spectacular. Highly recommended. It is called Cà phê tình yêu .
After the great meal, we make the 10 kilometers to go and our easyriders take us to our chosen guesthouse in Hoi An, Mi Kha Homestay, which was a success and where we spent a week working (and enjoying this magical city that seems out of a fairy tale) after this incredible motorcycle trip.
As a picture is worth a thousand words, we say goodbye to this post with this one, as it represents very well the spirit that accompanied us these days bikers, with the company of our friends easyriders, especially Mr. Dragon who already occupies a special corner within us. We would also like to comment that in all the photos we have with people, we have asked for permission before. We hope that in our next biker adventure here we can see more female easyriders, we are sure that there are some who are looking forward to it.
Route map from Dalat to Hoi An
Here you have the map with the itinerary of our motorcycle route with Easyriders. The main points of the route:
- Dalat
- Lak Lake
- Buon Ma Thuot
- Pleiku
- Kon Tum
- Kham Duc
- Hoi An
Cheer up and have a good trip bikers of the World!
