BBC Top Gear Vietnam route: 23-day motorcycle tour from Hanoi to Saigon

In 2008, the BBC Top Gear Vietnam Special sent Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May on motorbikes from Saigon to Hue, covering around 1,200 kilometers over eight days. This 23-day tour runs the full length of the country in the opposite direction, Hanoi to Saigon, covering 3,500 kilometers on the roads the show made famous and the ones it never reached.

The route follows the Ho Chi Minh Trail through the Central Highlands, crosses the DMZ, climbs the northwest passes, and ends in the streets of Saigon. It covers terrain that ranges from sealed mountain highways to single-track dirt roads through ethnic minority villages.

23-Day Vietnam Top Gear motorcycle route: Hanoi to Saigon

Day 1: Hanoi – Thac Ba Lake (180 km / 112 miles)

We leave Hanoi on quiet roads along the Red River, passing rice fields and villages before lunch in Doan Hung. The afternoon includes off-road trails through tea hills, palm forests, and Dzao ethnic villages north of the city. We reach Thac Ba Lake by mid-afternoon and cross by boat to the far bank. The night is in a Dzao stilt house with local food and the first real quiet of the trip.

Day 2: Thac Ba Lake – Ba Be National Park (170 km / 106 miles)

The route runs through tea hills, forest trails, and backroads through remote villages on the way to Ba Be. Off-road options are available for most of this stretch. For riders who prefer tarmac, quiet sealed roads connect the same points through the same scenery.

We arrive at a Tay ethnic village on the banks of Ba Be Lake by late afternoon. Ba Be is Vietnam’s largest natural freshwater lake, surrounded by jungle and limestone cliffs.

Day 3: Ba Be National Park – Bao Lac (170 km / 106 miles)

We ride Ba Be’s shoreline in the morning, load the bikes onto a small boat, and cross the lake. The crossing takes about two hours through jungle cliffs and cave entrances at water level.

The afternoon road climbs toward Bao Lac, a small market town on the Gam River near the Chinese border. The hotel sits on the river.

Day 4: Bao Lac – Dong Van (160 km / 99 miles)

Today’s route includes single-track sections, stream crossings, and mountain roads before reaching the Dong Van Karst Plateau in the afternoon. The plateau is a UNESCO Global Geopark with limestone peaks and valley drops of several hundred meters.

The day ends on Ma Pi Leng Pass, where the road cuts along cliff faces above the Nho Que River. The river runs emerald green below. We stay in Dong Van town.

Day 5: Dong Van – Ha Giang (170 km / 106 miles)

The ride south from Dong Van follows the Ha Giang Karst Plateau, with limestone peaks and valley views for most of the route. Easy single-track sections run alongside the main road with stops at H’Mong villages along the way.

We reach Ha Giang city by evening and stay in a hotel in town.

Day 6: Ha Giang – Bac Ha (180 km / 112 miles)

The road heads west from Ha Giang into the Hoang Su Phi district, where rice terraces cover the hillsides and Flower H’Mong, Thai, and Tay villages line the route. We stop at local markets and ride through village tracks in the afternoon.

The night is in a Tay family stilt house.

Day 7: Bac Ha – Sapa (170 km / 105 miles)

We leave the minority village and ride through mountain passes, stopping at local markets before the road drops toward Lao Cai on the Chinese border. After lunch, the route climbs into Sapa, rising through rice terraces to the town at around 1,600 meters elevation.

Day 8: Rest day in Sapa

Sapa is a market town built during the French colonial period at 1,600 meters in the Hoang Lien Son range. The day is free to explore markets, walk to nearby H’Mong and Red Dao villages, or rest.

Optional: ride with your guide to villages outside town, or take the cable car to Mount Hoang Lien at 3,143 meters for views across the Muong Hoa Valley.

Day 9: Sapa – Mu Cang Chai (180 km / 112 miles)

We leave Sapa on O Quy Ho Pass, one of the four major mountain passes in northwest Vietnam, at around 2,000 meters elevation. The descent runs through tea fields and rice terraces before the route mixes sealed road with single-track off-road sections toward Mu Cang Chai.

Riders can adjust the off-road ratio on this stretch. We arrive at the hotel in Mu Cang Chai by late afternoon.

Day 10: Mu Cang Chai – Phu Yen (170 km / 106 miles)

The route continues deeper into northwest Vietnam through small mountain passes. Off-road sections make up around 70% of today’s distance for riders who want them. Riders who prefer sealed road can follow the main highway through the same terrain.

We arrive in Phu Yen town by late afternoon. Riders with energy can explore Muong villages on quiet backroads before dinner.

Day 11: Phu Yen – Mai Chau Valley (170 km / 106 miles)

We ride alongside Da River Lake in the morning before a short ferry crossing. The road then climbs the Moc Chau plateau, a high grassland at around 1,000 meters used for dairy farming and tea production. After lunch in Moc Chau, we descend into Mai Chau Valley.

The night is in a Thai village homestay. An optional off-road ride up the valley ridgeline gives views across the paddy fields below.

Day 12: Mai Chau Valley – Tan Ky (250 km / 155 miles)

We follow a sealed trail along the Ma River through bamboo forest to Cam Thuy for lunch. The afternoon runs south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a 1,800-kilometer road built along the wartime supply route. The road is smooth and carries little traffic between Mai Chau and Tan Ky.

Tan Ky is a small town surrounded by limestone mountains. During the war, it was the northern departure point for troops and supplies heading south.

Day 13: Tan Ky – Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (289 km / 180 miles)

We continue south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail past rice paddies and tea farms toward Phong Nha. The landscape changes in the afternoon as the Phong Nha-Ke Bang karst mountains come into view. The national park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with limestone formations estimated at over 400 million years old.

We arrive around 4:30 pm. Weather permitting, a short boat trip into one of the river caves is available before dinner.

Day 14: Phong Nha – Khe Sanh (220 km / 137 miles)

Today’s route follows the western Ho Chi Minh Trail through Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park on roads with almost no traffic. The road runs close to the Laos border through dense jungle before emerging into the Khe Sanh plateau.

We visit the former US Marine base at Khe Sanh, the site of a 77-day siege in 1968. The base museum and the surrounding hill positions are still accessible. We arrive in Khe Sanh around 5:00 pm.

Day 15: Khe Sanh – Vinh Moc Tunnels – Hue (170 km / 106 miles)

We leave the Ho Chi Minh Trail and ride east on Route 9, the road that runs from Laos to the coast along the former DMZ. Stops include Hien Luong Bridge, which divided North and South Vietnam at the 17th Parallel from 1954 to 1975, and the Vinh Moc Tunnels, where around 300 villagers lived underground for several years during US bombing campaigns.

After lunch near the tunnels, we ride south into Hue, arriving around 5:00 pm.

Day 16: Hue – Hoi An (190 km / 118 miles)

We leave Hue along the coast, passing fishing villages and royal tomb sites before climbing Hai Van Pass. The pass rises to 496 meters above sea level with views back toward Hue and ahead toward Da Nang. This is the stretch Hammond, Clarkson, and May rode in the Top Gear special.

From Da Nang, we follow the coast road south to Hoi An, arriving around 5:00 pm.

Day 17: Hoi An (free day, no ride)

Hoi An is a UNESCO-listed trading port with well-preserved merchant architecture from the 15th to 19th centuries. The day is free. The old town, covered Japanese bridge, tailors, and An Bang beach are all within easy reach on foot or bicycle.

A complimentary massage is included today.

Day 18: Hoi An – Kon Tum (290 km / 180 miles)

We leave the coast and ride west on the Ho Chi Minh Trail into the Central Highlands. The road passes through the Lo So Pass, Ba Na villages, and approaches the Laos border before turning south toward Kon Tum.

Kon Tum is a highland town on the Dak Bla River with a significant Bahnar and Jarai ethnic minority population.

Day 19: Kon Tum – Buon Ma Thuot (230 km / 143 miles)

The route heads south through the highlands past Pleiku and the Ia Drang Valley, where the first major battle between US and North Vietnamese forces took place in November 1965. We stop at Yok Don National Park, Vietnam’s largest protected area at 115,000 hectares, before continuing to Buon Ma Thuot.

Buon Ma Thuot is the center of Vietnam’s coffee industry, producing around 40% of the country’s total output.

Day 20: Buon Ma Thuot – Da Lat (220 km / 137 miles)

We ride south on the Ho Chi Minh Road through coffee and rubber plantations before the road climbs onto the Da Lat plateau at around 1,500 meters. Temperatures drop noticeably on the ascent. Da Lat sits at the southern end of the Central Highlands and was developed as a hill station by the French in the early 1900s.

Day 21: Explore Da Lat

Da Lat sits at 1,500 meters and stays cool year-round, which is why it became Vietnam’s main flower and vegetable growing region. The day covers flower gardens, Datanla and Elephant waterfalls, Xuan Huong Lake, the 1930s-era train station, pagodas, and the central market.

Day 22: Da Lat – Nam Cat Tien National Park (180 km / 112 miles)

We descend from the plateau on Road 20 with optional dirt tracks through the lowland forest. Nam Cat Tien is a 72,000-hectare national park and one of the few remaining lowland rainforests in southern Vietnam. Parts of the park were heavily bombed and defoliated during the war and are still recovering.

Day 23: Nam Cat Tien – Saigon (165 km / 102 miles)

The final day runs southeast from the park to Saigon on roads that get progressively busier as the city approaches. We enter Ho Chi Minh City from the north and ride through the inner districts to the hotel.

This is the end of the 23-day Top Gear Vietnam motorcycle route. Transfer back to your hotel follows the arrival.