Vietnam is a land of timeless charm, stretching out along the eastern edge of Indochina and squeezed between it and China to the north with the South China Sea lying to the east. The country’s shape is long and narrow for the most part and indeed it is only 50km wide at the narrowest point. Heading into the mountainous northern region, the country mushrooms out a little and one approaches the border with China. Vietnam also borders Cambodia and Laos, which both lie to the west.

Vietnam received approximately 10 million tourist visitors in 2016, making it a relatively popular Asian country with foreigners. Vietnam enjoys this popularity for many reasons.

The country’s biggest drawcards for visitors are its buzzing cities with more motorcycles than people, ancient pagodas filled with incense smoke, history with respect to the Vietnam War, imperial citadels from a time when the country was ruled by emperors, historic old towns, stunning sand dunes, spectacular waterfalls, stunning rice terraces and mountain vistas, awe-inspiring limestone caves, (including the world’s longest cave), beautiful karst landscapes, magnificent national parks with trekking opportunities and a whole lot more.


Like Thailand, Vietnam also attracts its fair share of young backpackers because of the availability of extremely cheap beer. Vietnamese food can be very tasty and the country is famous for its street food. Travel costs are generally very low in Vietnam and yet the Wifi is very good, making Vietnam one of the best countries in Southeast Asia for digital nomads.

At the beginning of 2016, we completed an epic motorcycle journey from Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam to the capital city of Hanoi in the north. The distance between the two cities is more than 1,600km and Vietnam is a country with a lot to offer, so we took the journey slowly and completed it over a period of two months. We stopped in many fascinating places along the way and documented all the highlights of our trip in the following videos.


If you want to complete a motorcycle journey like this across Vietnam, you can find everything you need to know in our Ultimate Guide To Motorbiking The Entire Length Of Vietnam.

The following videos of Vietnam's travel destinations are laid out in the exact order in which we experienced them while motorbiking the country, starting in the south and ending in the north. We also recently returned to Vietnam for a second visit to experience the charming town of Sapa, nestled high in the Hoang Lien mountains of the northwest and you'll find a video of that here too.

1. Ho Chi Minh City

2. Mekong Delta

3. Mui Ne (beach resort)

4. Dalat (Hill station)

5. Buon Ma Thuot

6. Kon Tum & Pleiku

7. Hoi An

8. Hue

9. Dong Hoi & Phong Nha National Park

10. Ninh Binh

11. Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

12. Hanoi

13. Sapa