Friday Flyday Nº13 — Vietnam: the north nobody goes to

It is the cheapest extraordinary country left, and that will not hold. Vietnam is the rare place where the gap between what a trip costs and what it delivers is still absurd. A very good dinner is eight dollars. A room in a decent hotel is sixty. And the north — not the beaches, not the war sites, the north — is a landscape that would be a national park with an entry queue anywhere else, currently reachable by a road with almost nothing on it but motorbikes and buffalo.

The numbersWhy the north, and why now

The Ma Pi Leng Pass — a road hacked into a cliff face by hand in the 1960s, running above the Nho Quê river a thousand metres below. It is the reason people come.
Ha Giang is a UNESCO Global Geopark — the Dông Văn karst plateau, and it looks like nowhere else in Southeast Asia.
Harvest is late September into October — when the terraces turn gold. Two or three weeks a year, and they are the photographs.
October to April is the dry season in the north — and December to February is genuinely cold at altitude, which surprises people.
On-ground costs are low enough to change the trip — a guided three-day Ha Giang loop runs about $150–400 per person all in, which means the flights are most of your budget.
Canadians need an e-visa — applied for online before you fly, good for up to 90 days, about US$25. Allow a week for it.

The shape of itFourteen days, and the loop in the middle

Days 1–3 · HanoiThe Old Quarter, and eat everything. Bún chả for lunch, egg coffee in the afternoon, and a plastic stool on a pavement for dinner. Three nights is not too many.

Days 4–8 · Ha GiangNight bus or a private car north, then three to four days on the loop — Quản Bạ, Yên Minh, Dông Văn, the Ma Pi Leng Pass, and a boat on the Nho Quê. Homestays in H'Mông and Tay villages, which is most of what makes it.

Days 9–10 · Back south, slowlyBreak the return at Ba Bể lake rather than doing it in one push.

Days 11–13 · Ninh BinhTwo hours south of Hanoi and worth every one. Trang An by sampan through flooded caves, Hang Múa for the view, and a bicycle between rice fields and karst towers.

Day 14 · Hanoi, and out

Three ways to do itHow you want to do the loop

Comfortable — an easy rider on the loop: you ride pillion, a local driver handles the road, and you look at the view instead of the surface. Good hotels in Hanoi and Ninh Binh, homestays in Ha Giang, private car for the long transfers.
Elevated — a private guide and vehicle throughout, the better boutique places in Hanoi and a resort at Ninh Binh, and the loop at your own pace rather than a group's.
Extraordinary — the colonial-era grand hotel in Hanoi, a private car and guide for the full fortnight, a helicopter transfer, and the loop run entirely to your own schedule.

TimingWhen to go, and the one decision on the loop

October to April is the dry season and the whole window. Late September into October is the harvest, when the terraces are gold — a narrow two or three weeks, and the single best time to photograph the north. December to February is dry, clear and cold: single digits at altitude in Ha Giang, and occasional frost. March and April are warm and green.

🔴 The loop decision: do you ride, or are you ridden? Self-riding a motorbike on the Ma Pi Leng needs a proper licence and real experience, the road has no barrier for long stretches, and this is where trips go wrong. The easy rider option — a local driver, you on the back — costs a little more, removes the whole risk, and means you actually see the gorge instead of the next twenty metres of tarmac.

⚠️ And the permit. The loop runs through border districts that need a border-area permit, around US$10 and arranged by any operator. It is routine, but it is enforced more strictly some years than others and the rules change with little notice, so confirm it when you book.

The investmentWhat it runs

Comfortable

around $3,600–$5,000 CAD per person

Fourteen days, return flights from Edmonton, hotels in Hanoi and Ninh Binh, homestays on the loop, an easy-rider driver for Ha Giang, private transfers and a realistic allowance for food. Based on two sharing.

Elevated

around $6,500–$9,500 CAD per person

Boutique hotels, a resort at Ninh Binh, a private guide and vehicle for the full route, the loop at your own pace, and premium economy on the long leg.

Extraordinary

from $15,000 CAD per person

The grand colonial hotel in Hanoi, private car and guide throughout, a helicopter transfer, and business class.

Fourteen days · two stops from Edmonton · Canadians need an e-visa (up to 90 days). Every band is all-in: return flights, accommodation, transfers, the loop, entry fees and food. On-ground costs here are low enough that the flights are most of the number — which is unusual, and it is why the Comfortable band buys a genuinely good fortnight.

✿ A rough guide, not a quote. Built from current published flight and operator rates for the October–April season, and set to over-estimate rather than under. A guided three-day Ha Giang loop runs roughly $150–400 per person all in, so almost all of the spread above is the long-haul fare. Your real price gets confirmed with live quotes when we plan it.

Before you bookWhat is easy to get wrong

The commonest mistake is trying to do the whole country. Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is 1,700 kilometres, and a fortnight spent covering it is a fortnight of airports and night trains. Pick one end. This itinerary picks the north and is better for it; the centre and the south are a separate trip and a good one.

The second is Halong Bay. It is genuinely beautiful and it is also four million people a year and a lot of identical boats. Lan Ha Bay next door has the same limestone and a fraction of the traffic, and Ninh Binh has it on land with no boat queue at all. If Halong is on your list, know why it is there.

And do not compress Ha Giang. Three days is the minimum that works, four is better, and people who try it in two spend both of them in a vehicle looking at the clock.

Six hours past where the buses stop