Three days rolling through the Mekong Delta: coconut groves, canals, Khmer pagodas. Then a ferry out to the open sea and five days on Con Dao island (Côn Đảo). We carry the luggage, you ride light.
A support van follows the group all the way across the mainland. It carries the suitcases, water, spare tubes and tools.
That is why no special training is needed. If you ride a bike around town, you will handle 40 km across the flat delta, with stops along the way.
Sea turtles come ashore on Hòn Bảy Cạnh island to lay their eggs. The national park rangers move the clutches to a hatchery, and when the hatchlings emerge, they release them to the water at night. The little ones run across the sand into the sea.
We stay on the island overnight to be close by when it happens. Honestly: turtles keep no schedule, and early November is the end of the season. We cannot guarantee it, but there is a chance to see a release.
If we are out of luck, you still get a night on a national park island, the stars and snorkeling over the corals.
Sergei has cycled all the way from Almaty to Da Nang himself and knows what a long road is. He leads the group from Ho Chi Minh City to the island and back. Everything else — hotels, the van, ferries, boats, tickets — we arrange.
A small group and Sergei. We ride at a comfortable pace: nobody is left behind, nobody is pushed on.
Foreigners rarely make it to Trà Vinh, Sóc Trăng and Trần Đề. This is the delta living its own life, not a show for tourists.
First rivers and pagodas, then an island with jungle, empty beaches and a heavy history.
The order may shift a little because of the weather and the ferry timetable. We do our best to keep every stop.
In the morning we pick everyone up in Ho Chi Minh City, bikes included, and drive to Mỹ Tho. Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda, a boat to Thới Sơn island, and then by bike among coconut groves and canals to Bến Tre. Dinner by the river in the evening.
We ride into the Khmer part of the delta. Ao Bà Om pond under old trees with their roots above the ground, and Chùa Âng pagoda, which legend says is more than a thousand years old. Monks in orange, hardly any tourists.
We cross the Hậu River by ferry with the bikes on board and ride across Cù Lao Dung island. At sunset we reach Chùa Dơi, the “bat pagoda”: thousands of flying foxes take off from the trees above the roof all at once.
The bikes travel in the van. We see Chén Kiểu pagoda, inlaid with porcelain bowls, and Đất Sét, where one family sculpted everything inside out of clay over 42 years. In the evening we arrive at the port of Trần Đề.
At 5:30 we go to the fish market while the boats are being unloaded. At 8:00 we board the ferry and head out to sea. In the afternoon on the island we visit the former Phú Hải prison and the “tiger cages”, and in the evening we go to Hàng Dương cemetery, where the Vietnamese come at night with flowers.
The best cycling road on the island runs along the sea: cliffs on one side, water on the other. We arrive at Đầm Trầu, a beach in a bay by the runway. With luck, a plane will come in to land right over your head. After the beach we ride on to Suối Nóng.
We take a boat to an island of the national park, snorkeling over the corals on the way. We sleep at the ranger station. This is where we wait for baby turtles — more in the section about them.
In the morning we return to the main island by boat. We walk a national park trail to Ông Đụng bay. In the evening we climb up to Vân Sơn Pagoda and look over the bay from above.
The morning is free: the sea, coffee, souvenirs. At 13:00 we take the ferry to Trần Đề, where the van is waiting to take us to Ho Chi Minh City. We will be in the city at about 21:00, so it is best to book your flight home for the next day.
“Everything's good, the girls are happy. Thank you again for organizing our vacation, everyone really liked it, all the guides did a great job.”
“Today's guide was really great. He told us a lot, didn't rush us, and fed us well. We've had three guides already, and he's the best. A super comfortable trip.”
“We had two guides: Maria and Natalia. We liked both My Son and Hue, and Hoi An is love.”
“We liked Ninh Binh, the mountains and the greenery. Trang An is very beautiful, we'd like to go back and see more.”
“They have their own little restaurant, and the food is very good. And there's a pool with sun loungers on the grounds.”
“Fansipan is top. The town of Sapa itself is magnificent. Ninh Binh is potentially a wonder, it depends a lot on the weather. Probably only in summer. Visibility was poor there, but it's still captivating. Hanoi is noisy, very. Otherwise northern Vietnam is wonderful.”
“Da Nang was a real treat. We happened to catch the kite festival.”
Message us and we will tell you how many spots are left for the 1 November start and answer your questions about the route, the bikes and the island.
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