Hanoi - Da Bac - Ta Xua - Mai Chau - Pu Luong - Hanoi
Ride Details
870 km
5 days, 4 nights
Oct 2023
Group Info
This was a 5 day tour that took us to the awesome dinosaur spine via some small back roads and then down to the Pu Luong Ntl Park in a huge loop that really isn't that far out of Hanoi. Each day is quite long so we had to be up and out early to make good time but it was good fun.Excellent stuff.
Day 1: Hanoi - Da Bac
160 km
6 hours
Large road; then smaller DT road
Cloudy, dull, grey, warm 30C
We got out of Hanoi on the back road along the Red River and past Son Tay and then we went down the Black River to get to Hoa Binh Dam.
After Hoa Binh, we turned onto the small DT road along the lake and over to Da Bia and Lakeview homestay.
Day 2: Da Bac - Ta Xua
180 km
6.5 hours
Small winding roads, DT and TL
Cloudy, dull, grey, warm 30C
We climbed up from the lake past Sung village and then took small road past Xuan Son National Park over to Phu Yen where we had lunch.
After lunch, we took the small Hmong roads over to Bac Yen and then up to Ta Xua to our homestay with the view of the Dinosaur Spine.
Day 3: Ta Xua - Mai Chau
180 km
7 hours
A lot of small back roads and dirt, bumpy
Warm and dry; a little sun today.
A longer day today because we got up early to see the clouds and because we kept off the main roads and took the small back routes through to the Van Yen Ferry.
We went up the valley on the back roads and along the old Highway 6 before making good time down to Mai Chau on the last stretch of main road to the homestay.
Day 4: Mai Chau - Pu Luong
100 km
4.5 hours
Small DT road, stretches of dirt
Sunny warm, 32C
This was an easy day which was welcome. We took a detour around Mai Chau valley to look around and then went down to Co Luong. We hopped onto a forest track to have some fun on some dirt.
We headed down on more dirt past the Phi Cave and then over to Pu Luong through a little known back route.
Day 5: Thac Hieu - Thung Nai - Hanoi
180 km
6.5 hours
A mix of all types
Warm, some sun, some rain
A really long drive today as we got out of Pu Luong and over to Lung Van, where we took the Pu Bin road over to the AH13. We took this for a bit and then headed off on to the Thung Nai road.
After winding through Thung Nai we came out at Hoa Binh and then shot down the Hoa Lac Expressway to get back to Hanoi in good time.
