Hi! Would love some help from people who've cycled Vietnam before. This will be the biggest tour I've done yet by far, and while I don't mind winging it, it would be nice to hear if there's some really nice bits I'm missing for cycling and generally visiting
Currently in Hanoi working but am getting set up for what will be a 6 week tour from south to north (minus an obligatory week or so in Cambodia to await an e-visa). Cycling here is an experience I imagine to be close to hell lol so need some inspo that conditioning on these roads will all be worth it. I've a decent used mountainbike I'm getting kitted out. I want to do a lot of cycling, but don't mind using buses/trains to skip some distances
My rough plan is to take the train to HCMC (have to go here for work anyway). Then I will need to do a visa run. So,
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Bus from HCMC to Pnomh Penh, bus up to Kratie and cycle up the Mekong for 3/4 days. Bus / bike back into Vietnam to Pleiku
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Run the HCM road (this, not the highway) up til I can drop across to the coast and Hoi An – touristy stuff, rice fields, go to the beach etc, then ride the Hai Van pass to Hue
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This is what I could do with some advice on – either back to the HCM road and run up to Hanoi (I suspect this would be running fairly close to my 6 weeks) or skip a bit in favour of being able to visit Sapa, ride the Ha Giang loop, maybe Cao Bang (heard very good things)
Any tips appreciated!
by diasterd