The last three months have been some of the most intense and rewarding of my life and I've been struggling to work out where to begin with a trip report.

Travelling across an entire country at 18 km/h gives you an incredibly granular experience. You watch the landscapes and climates slowly bleed into one another. Places that would usually be glossed over from a bus window become destinations of necessity.

Because of that, it's impossible to do justice to a journey like this in a single Reddit post. Rather than trying to document every day I thought I'd write about the moments, places and people that have stayed with me most since reaching the southernmost point of Vietnam.

The North

Like many people, I came to northern Vietnam for the limestone landscapes of Hà Giang. Unlike most people, I arrived with a fully loaded touring bike, around 30 kg of gear, and no experience riding in mountains. In hindsight, starting here was a bit insane, but I'm glad I did.

The Hà Giang Loop was every bit as spectacular as people say. Endless climbs on double-digit gradients were rewarded with sweeping views across the jagged karst mountains. The descents were just as memorable. Steep and slightly terrifying on a loaded touring bike, with tight bends and motorbikes appearing from nowhere.

From the northernmost point in Lũng Cú my route took me through Đồng Văn, the Mã Pí Lèng Pass, Mèo Vạc and Tủ Sản Canyon before I began working my way back towards Hanoi. The north was a brutal introduction to cycle touring and it forced me to learn quickly.

After Hà Giang, the landscape calmed around Ba Bể Lake. I stayed at a beautiful homestay, ate some of the best home cooked food I had in Vietnam, and found a huge cave hidden down an overgrown path outside Pác Ngòi on my rest day. It was the first time the trip moved beyond mere survival.

The road back to Hanoi brought a different kind of challenge. With the terrain flattening out, I tried to cover the final 250 km in two days, but the heat and humidity were brutal. On the last day some suspect routing from Komoot turned what should have been a long but manageable ride into a 150 km ordeal. I eventually spent five hours hiding under a motorway overpass with the local taxi drivers in their hammocks before making the final push into Hanoi at rush hour.

The north was where I experienced my first mechanical issues, my first genuine exhaustion, and my first doubts about whether I was capable of this goal. It was also where I first encountered the generosity that would become a constant throughout Vietnam, from homestay owners who insisted I eat until I could barely move, to the one-legged mechanic who appeared on a scooter carrying tools and inner tubes after I'd spent an entire afternoon failing to find a microscopic shard of metal embedded in my tyre that caused four consecutive punctures.

The Central Coast

Leaving Hanoi, I gradually worked my way south along the Ho Chi Minh Road. The savage gradients of the far north turned into long rolling hills that were less dramatic but just as relentless physically. This was where I began completing consecutive days over 100km, and life became a simple rhythm of eating, pedalling, sleeping and repeating.

One of the hardest days of the entire trip came just before Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. After being delayed by another series of multiple punctures, I was forced to climb into the park in peak afternoon heat with barely any shade and almost no water. I started feeling the first signs of heatstroke and briefly attempted to hitch a lift over the pass but every pickup truck turned me down. Eventually I accepted there was no option but to keep pushing and I somehow made it without passing out. The descent into Phong Nha that followed remains the most satisfying I've ever experienced.

Phong Nha itself was the perfect place to rest. Towering jungle-covered limestone cliffs rose straight out of the surrounding farmland, rivers disappeared into cave mouths, and after the intensity of the previous stretch I spent a few days doing little beyond eating, sleeping and letting my legs recover.

Further south, Huế was the next major milestone. After weeks of mountains, jungle roads and rural landscapes, arriving in a large historic city was quite disorientating. From there came the famous ride over Hải Vân Pass, which turned into another mid afternoon slog against impending heatstroke. The climb was brutally hot and exposed, but the views made it one of the most memorable roads of the journey.

The temple ruins of Mỹ Sơn sanctuary were a personal highlight of this stretch. I arrived before sunrise, before the crowds and the worst of the heat, and wandered between the temple ruins with little more than birdsong and insects for company.

The Central Highlands

If I had to choose a favourite region of Vietnam, it would be the Central Highlands without hesitation.

Turning inland from the coast was a huge relief after weeks spent in the sea level furnace. The humid sea air was replaced by cool mountain mornings. The rice paddies gave way to pine forests and coffee plantations stretched across the rolling volcanic plateaus. At times it was difficult to believe I was still in Vietnam.

The riding remained demanding, but in a different way. Long climbs carried me from plateau to plateau before dropping into fast descents through valleys and forests. The roads were often in poor condition, with broken tarmac, rough surfaces and sections that demanded constant attention, especially on a loaded touring bike. It was challenging and at times punishing, but still the most enjoyable cycling of the trip.

The QL24 route into Mang Đen was one of the most beautiful stretches of road anywhere in Vietnam. In places it was just as spectacular as the Hà Giang Loop, with winding mountain roads, dense forest and roadside viewpoints that sit above the clouds in the early morning. Hà Giang gets a lot of attention but if you have the chance to visit Mang Đen and the surrounding area, I can't recommend it enough.

Mang Đen itself was a big surprise. After weeks of oppressive heat, arriving somewhere cool enough to need a second layer in the evening felt bizarre. The pine forests and quiet roads reminded me more of Europe than Southeast Asia and I found myself staying longer than planned because it was such a relieving place to rest.

Further south, the road passed through coffee country before giving way to endless rubber plantations. Some of my favourite riding in Vietnam came from these long, quiet stretches through the grid like mass of trees. Tà Đùng was the final great highlight of the Highlands. From the mountainside, the reservoir looked unreal, with scattered green islands rising from the water below. 

Saigon and the Mekong Delta

After thousands of kilometres of mountains, jungle roads and small towns, arriving in Saigon felt a little overwhelming. I'd expected the city traffic to be intimidating but even after nearly two months of cycling since leaving the chaos of Hanoi it still felt familiar. Once I had a chance to acclimatise to the busyness I really savoured the flow state you have to enter when navigating these city roads.

I took the opportunity for a brief city break to catch my breath, then pointed the bike south once more towards the Mekong Delta.

After weeks of climbing the road flattened out into an endless maze of rivers, canals, rice fields and pineapple farms. The kilometers disappeared beneath my wheels with ease on the flat ground as I took in the slower, more watery rhythm of the region.

The final ride out to Đất Mũi was quite emotional. For months I'd been working towards this point that only existed as an abstract marker on a map. Standing at Vietnam's southernmost point, looking out across the Gulf of Thailand, I felt a subtle disbelief. The finish line I'd been thinking about every day had become the new starting point for the rest of my journey.

Conclusion

Vietnam exceeded every expectation I had. It isn't just a country of spectacular scenery, it's a country of great generosity. Complete strangers helped me everyday without expecting anything in return. I can't count the amount of times someone pulled up alongside me to offer an ice cold drink that they'd obviously just bought for themselves or stopped to help me fix a flat tyre.

Travelling by bicycle also changed the way I think about distance. Three thousand kilometres sounds enormous on paper, but taken one day at a time it makes the world feel like a smaller place. Every morning I just had to think about getting to the next climb, village or place to sleep.

If you're considering visiting Vietnam, you should slow down if you can. You don't need to take 3 months but giving yourself time to experience the country beyond its highlights is something you won't regret. For me, Vietnam wasn't just the first country on a much longer expedition, it was the place that showed me that this is how I want to experience the world. From the saddle.

Photos:

1 – roadside viewpoint somewhere between Buon Ma Thuot and Ta Dung lake in the central highlands

2 – northernmost point marker near the Chinese border in Lung Cu

3 – pushing my bike up a brutal climb on a backroad in the Dong Van geopark

4 – the road leaving Ba Be lake

5 – a cave I found down an overgrown path near Ba Be lake

6 – a backroad in the Trang An landscape complex

7 – rice fields inbetween Trang An and Cuc Phuong national park

8 – My Son sanctuary, near Da Nang

9 – aerial view of Hoi An

10 – foothills of the central highlands

11 – a bridge on ql24 heading towards Mang Den

12 – sunrise on my climb into the central highlands plateau

13 – descending from Mang Den towards Kon Tum

14 – looking out above the clouds near Kon Tum

15 – landscape inbetween Kon Tum and Pleiku

16 – Ta Dung lake

17 – aerial view of a steel cable suspension bridge on a coffee plantation outside Pleiku

18 – sunrise on a climb in the central highlands

19 – celebrating my arrival at the southernmost point of the country in Dat Mui

20 – cycling to the end of the pier at the end of Vietnam