I appreciate all of the positive stories everybody is sharing. I am still loking into the possibility of riding in Vietnam, but I am reconsidering the ride fron Saigon to Hanoi in the 2-3 week time frame. We want to be on vacation and not be rushed on our trip. We are thinking about making the motorcycles a part of our trip instead of it being the main point. I would assume the north would be the best part of the country to focus out time......any suggestions?

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Hanoi to Saigon is OK for no less than 18 days in my opinion, having done the trip. You won't see much except tarmac, if your doing 100km a day.
18 days is 100km a day, which might not sound much in UK, or EU, but on small 110cc motorbikes, 100km a day is enough.
We spent time in Ha Long Bay, which I suppose if you cut off our trip, then 18 days is OK.
If your looking to do Hanoi to Saigon in 14 days, it's no fun at all.

Are you going to stick to the coast roads?, we did North to South, taking in.
1/ Hue, Thua Thien - Hue province, Vietnam
2/ Hai Van Pass, Lăng Cô, Thua Thien - Hue province, Vietnam
3/ Qui Nhon, Binh Dinh, Vietnam
4/ Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam
5/ Mui Ne, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan, Vietnam
6/ Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan, Vietnam
7/ Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The "beachy" areas are Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet, and Can Ba,
Great to have 2 days in each of them places, if you can.
These were our favourites.
Hue, needs just 1 full day, OK, nothing special.
Saigon needs 2-3 days, for the Mekong River Delta tour/cruise.

It's some thing like 1850km, but more like 2000km, by the time you have done little detours finding the hotels, and finding your way out of the little cities, back onto the highways.

The north is OK, but cold.
The north to me looked like it was in a derelict state, where the south had been fixed up a bit, and had money spent on the place.

Beach apartments can be had for US$10 a night with internet, right onto the beach.

Vette

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Hi Momi20,

I don't know what to say.
If you did 6300km in 22 days in Vietnam, then all I can say is you didn't see jack nothing.
You must have been speeding all day,,,,,every day.

That is 3 times further than what we did in 22 days.

vette

--still can't believe it actually ---

6300/22= 286 km/day

I've riddena just on paved route and normally around 7.30 I was ready to go.
During the day you can consider at least 6 driving hours, this mean an average of 47 km/h. Consider that normally I don't stop for long time to eat, and always was in little restaurant along the road.

Just on the way back to Hanoi I did a distance over 400 km.
This was my route

I've never driven more than 60/70 km of speed and just when the road was straight and jam free.



I've visited Dien Bien Phu, Meo Vac, Halong Bay and Huè.