Vietnam targets unlicensed foreign MC drivers
 

Good, Europeans would be the first to complain if un-licenced Vietnamese came over here riding motorcycles, people should have more respect for local laws.

Easy to spot them,shorts and flip lops.Until the first off anyway.

Never have understood why Brits go on holiday and rent a bike, when many wouldn't dream of riding in the UK - 'too dangerous' they say, but in a foreign country their levels of perceived danger seem to be lower.... doh

And not just on vacation: there must be something in the water, or the air.

Over twenty years ago it was much the same on the island of Ibiza.
I well recall talking with a Brit owner of a local scooter hire shop on that island: he was just going out to pick up one of his hire machines which had been dropped on a road junction overnight and simply left there by the hirer.

Sat waiting for a plane back from Corfu a few years ago in the airport and I couldn't help noticing a fair few people with plasters and bandages mainly on elbows and legs tht were sitting around the departure area..
I rented a pushbike for a couple of days whilst waiting for friends to decide what they wanted to do,and it was quite a shocker,on some of the downhill bits I could follow some of the hire bikes/scooters and spectate at their near collisions on bends and getting things realy wrong..and usualy whilst clad in shorts and flip flops...

nice weather
no points on licence for behaving badly!
cheaper than car hire
parking is free!

I'd go with any of the above!

but "beer induced stupidity" followed by "I'm not loosing face" are in the alternate set!

What Mark said, though I've been there done that myself when I was younger.

I was in Vietnam a little over a month ago on the trip I'm currently on and yes I did rent a scooter a couple of times to go out of town. I have a UK motorbike license but you are only allowed to legally ride there on a vietnam license which requires a resident permit.
There are so many tourists there riding around of all ages. I met so many people covered in bandages from offs obviously who have no riding experience not because it's a more dangerous place to ride, in my experience of travelling through asia its probably safer to ride here than alot of western countries because there are more bikes on the road here and most of the locals ignore all road signs and signals everyone is more aware and expects someone to pull out on them or cut them up.

Vietnamese license
 

Actually, I obtained a Vietnamese driver's license as a tourist. One will read of various "requirements" needed for obtaining the license, including resident's permit, or business visa with the addition of letter from Vietnamese business and/or stamp from your home country's embassy in Vietnam.

As a US citizen, I paid slightly extra for the maximum duration tourist visa,
went to the motor vehicle office in HCM. There I obtained the forms required, and yes someone will speak enough English. Then one proceeds to a government translation office (opposite and down the street from the US Embassy). There, you will leave your form and your license from your native country, to be translated into Vietnamese. The next day I picked up the translated form.

(NOTE: My understanding was, that not having a business visa and VN business trader to sponsor me, that I was required to get a stamp from my US Embassy on the form. The Embassy wanted $50! However several Vietnamese born US citizens told me just to return to the motor vehicle office and I would be able to get my Viatnmese lcense, which I was able to so procure in this manner.)

With translated license and application form in hand, I got the required photos at a booth adjoining the motor vehicle office and paid the fees.
Five days later I had my Vietnamese license in hand, which expires on the same date as your native country's license.

So:
1) get the longer Tourist Visa
2) taxi to motor vehicle office for application
3) taxi to translation office
4) return to translation office and go back to motor vehicle office
5) get photos in required size/format and submit everything upstairs
6) return on the date they give you to pick up the license.

Plan on taking a week. Easy enough if you have the office addresses.

I am guessing that there is no need for resident's permit/business visa and sponsor etc because Vietnam joined the WTO. The "International License" one gets at AAA in the US is just a translation of one;s US license in the languages of the participating countries, Vietnam just has not been added yet. Or so I am guessing. Someday an International license may be all that is required.

My license was checked in the mountainous NE border region where one needs a permit to enter the territory. No where else in VN was I ever asked for a license. I have heard that one is legally allowed to drive a motorcycle (without a VN license) if on a tour with an officially licensed tour leader. I would not know.

I thought I had read somewhere on the rideasia site about Vietnam accepting IDP sometime in 2015,, but I cant find the thread again

Wayne

Are you certain about this? The newspaper article does not specify a Vietnamese licence, and could be interpreted as saying the tourists do not have a (motorcycle) licence from any country.

I have ridden in Vietnam many times over the years, most recently around 15 months ago, and had numerous (self-initiated) interactions with the police. On the one time they did ask to see a licence I showed them my Victorian (Australian) licence and no further questions were asked.

By comparison, when I was asked to show my licence in Thailand (9 months ago), the police wanted to see my IDP and NOT my real licence.

i think tourists loved renting bikes in vietnam since there are tons of bikes on the road. its cheaper compare to renting a car, more convenient even especially going around saigon.