Vietnam · Itinerary · Updated September 2026
7 days in Vietnam: Hanoi and the Ha Giang loop
A week in Vietnam does one thing well. This route picks the Ha Giang loop, gives it the three days it actually needs, and uses Hanoi as the bookends. Tour prices and the new permit checked September 2026.
Khánh Hmoong / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Length
7 days
Budget
14,400,000₫ / $554
per person, mid-range
Best season
Sep–Nov
Best light and driest roads on the loop
Stops
3
2 bases, no flights
The route
Two nights in Hanoi, three days on the Ha Giang loop by night bus, and a final night back in Hanoi.
Day by day
Days 1–2 · Hanoi
Two nights, and the second one books the loop
Day one is the flight. Do the evening version of Hanoi: Hoan Kiem lake at dusk, bia hoi on a plastic stool at a street corner, an early night. Day two: the Temple of Literature, the Ho Chi Minh complex before it closes at eleven, bun cha for lunch, and the afternoon confirming the Ha Giang tour and repacking into one small bag. The night bus north leaves that evening.
Sleep: Old Quarter, near the Ha Giang bus offices. You are here for convenience, not charm.
Days 3–5 · Ha Giang
Three days on the loop
Six to seven hours on the night bus, so the journey costs no daylight at either end. Three days and two nights around the Dong Van karst plateau: the Ma Pi Leng pass above the Nho Que river, Lung Cu at the Chinese border, and villages linked by a road that was cut by hand. **A permit of about $10 is required from 2026**, tours include it. Easy-rider tours, riding pillion behind a local driver, are $170–250 all in; jeeps $200–350; self-driving $80–150 and a licence you likely lack.
Sleep: Homestays on the loop, included in the tour price.
Days 6–7 · Hanoi, and out
Back down, and one day that is not a bus
The night bus returns overnight, putting you in Hanoi at breakfast with a full day before the flight. Spend it on the things day two had no room for: the Train Street area, the ceramic mosaic along the dyke, coffee with egg yolk in it, and the Old Quarter's market streets. Noi Bai is forty-five minutes out.
Sleep: One more night in Hanoi if the flight is early; none if it is late.
Best things to do on this route
If you cut the trip short, these are the ones to keep.
- 01
The Ma Pi Leng pass
The high point of the loop, above the Nho Que river gorge. Every photograph of Ha Giang you have seen was taken within a mile of it.
- 02
Riding pillion with an easy rider
Someone who knows the road takes the corners; you look at the view instead of the tarmac. On a three-day mountain loop that is the whole difference.
- 03
A homestay dinner on the plateau
Communal table, whatever was cooked, and rice wine you will be offered regardless of your answer.
- 04
Bun cha in Hanoi
Grilled pork in broth with cold noodles, on a plastic stool. Lunch only, the good places shut by two.
- 05
Egg coffee
Whipped yolk and condensed milk over strong coffee. It sounds wrong and is not.
Where to stay
Neighbourhoods rather than specific hotels. Prices move, areas don't.
Hanoi: Old Quarter
Loud and central, and next door to the Ha Giang bus offices. On a trip this short, that proximity is worth more than a quiet room.
Ha Giang: homestays on the loop
Included in every tour price. Shared rooms, communal dinners, no heating. Bring layers between November and March.
What it cost
Per person, 7 days. International flights not included.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Ha Giang loop: 3 days, guided, all in | 5,200,000₫ / $200 |
| Food and drink | 3,500,000₫ / $135 |
| Accommodation: 4 nights, plus 2 on the loop | 3,200,000₫ / $123 |
| Activities, entry fees and the Ha Giang permit | 900,000₫ / $35 |
| Night buses to and from Ha Giang | 600,000₫ / $23 |
| Local transport and airport transfers | 600,000₫ / $23 |
| SIM, laundry, everything else | 400,000₫ / $15 |
| Total | 14,400,000₫ / $554 |
Converted at 26,010₫ to the dollar, checked 2 September 2026. About $79 a day, the highest of the Vietnam routes and by some way the smallest total. The loop is $200 of a $554 trip, well over a third, because it costs the same whether the holiday is a week or a fortnight. On this itinerary that concentration is the point rather than a problem.
Getting around
Two night buses, and no daylight lost
Hanoi to Ha Giang is six to seven hours, run overnight in both directions. That is the single structural reason a seven-day trip can include a three-day mountain loop 300km from the capital: the travelling happens while you are asleep.
The Ha Giang permit is new for 2026
Roughly $10 and required. Tour operators include it in the price and handle the paperwork. Independent riders must arrange it themselves and should not skip it.
Ride pillion unless you genuinely ride
Easy-rider tours are $170–250 against $80–150 self-driving. The roads are mountain switchbacks shared with lorries, and travel insurance wants a motorcycle endorsement most visitors do not hold. Paying more here is the obvious call, not the indulgent one.
There is no flight on this route, and no need for one
Everything is within seven hours of Hanoi, and Noi Bai is forty-five minutes from the Old Quarter. A seven-day Vietnam that includes a domestic flight has spent a day of it in airports.
Packing notes
The things that are annoying to find locally, or that people forget.
- Warm layers and gloves. The plateau is at altitude, cold at night from November to March, and colder still at speed on the back of a bike.
- A light waterproof. The loop runs regardless of weather and the homestays have no drying room.
- One small bag. You leave the rest in Hanoi. Every guesthouse will store it free while you are on the loop.
- Cash in small notes. The loop takes nothing else.
- A padlock for the night bus and the homestay lockers.
Why the whole trip is one road
Because a week in Vietnam does one thing well, and everything else on offer is worse than three days in Ha Giang.
Ha Long Bay is four hours each way for a cruise you cannot get off. Hoi An is a night on a train or a flight plus two airport transfers, and then two days there. Sapa is the loop’s tamer, busier cousin. Ninh Binh is genuinely excellent and is the one real contender, but it is two hours from Hanoi and will still be there on a longer trip, whereas the reason to come now is the plateau.
So this itinerary spends its whole discretionary budget on one thing and does not apologise for it. Over a third of the total cost is the loop.
What to add first with more days
Ten days adds three nights in Ninh Binh: the rowing boats through flooded caves, Hang Mua at dawn, and a day on a bicycle with nothing booked. Twelve adds the sleeper train south to Hue and Hoi An. Sixteen adds Saigon and the Mekong.
The order is deliberate: Ninh Binh before the centre, the centre before the south. Nothing here would take Saigon over three days in Ha Giang.