Vietnam Mountains and Coast

During this stunning cycling holiday in Vietnam we'll explore its finest backroads, to get the full "surround-sound" effect - you'll be able to interact with local children cycling to school, smell delicious wafts of street food cooking, see stunning scenery and feel the incredibly varied Vietnamese weather on your skin.

Our journey begins in Vietnam's former capital Ho Chi Minh city, still often referred to as Saigon by locals and tourists alike. The city has managed to retain a lot of its historic charms while evolving in to a bustling modern city. From here we head north to the Cu Chi tunnels where we'll get a real insight into the Vietnam war from a local perspective. Next we're off to the stunning coastline at Miu Ne where we can enjoy a swim and a fantastic sunset across the South China Sea. From the coast we head inland to the former French colonial hillstation of Dalat and then we're descending all the way to Nha Trang - famed for its 6km beach, crystal clear water and fantastic seafood.

From Nha Trang our route follows the coast north, riding through tiny villages, past rice paddies and well away from the tourist trail, before heading on to the UNESCO world heritage site of Hoi An. From here we travel to Hue where we spend a couple of days exploring this fantastic area, before boarding a sleeper train to our final destination - Hanoi. We'll spend a day here exploring this fascinating city, taking in the sights and the sounds, before flying home at the end of the holiday.

It's more than 1100 miles (nearly 1800 kms) from Saigon to Hanoi, so in order to fit in the best bits of cycling and to miss out some of the busier urban sections, this cycling holiday in Vietnam uses transfers to get us out of the cities and onto the quieter backroads. Don't let this put you off however - it just means you can save your energy for the great riding that can be found off the beaten track.

Highlights

• Exploring the lesser visited parts of Vietnam by bike
• Stunning Saigon – the ‘Pearl of the Orient’
• Heading off the tourist trail in the Central Highlands
• Treating your tastebuds to Vietnam’s legendary cuisine
• Get your caffeine hit with a fresh roadside brew
• Soaking up the sunshine at beautiful Nha Trang

The heat and humidity means we set a reasonably leisurely cycling pace, and where possible we stick largely to quiet rural roads. While the majority of these are sealed, they are sometimes not in the best of condition and the verges particularly can give way to hard packed dirt. Where the main road is busy, we occasionally take dirt roads for a more scenic ride.

The route is a mixture of flat riding in the plains and hillier routes in the Central Highlands. There are occasional more challenging climbs of up to 1000m / 3280ft where our support vehicle will be on hand for those who prefer a lift.