TOUR GUIDE RENTAL FOR YOUR VIETNAM MOTORBIKE TOURS
Tour guide rental can add tremendous value to your two-wheel adventure in Vietnam. On this page, we’ll explain the benefits to help you decide whether hiring a guide is the right choice for your trip.
One of our customers had this to say:
“If this is your first visit to Vietnam, take a guide with you. The help you get is invaluable, and chances are he’ll save you money when it comes to bargaining while shopping, as well as helping you get to know the local people. Vietnam is a different world. It’s a beautiful country filled with the happiest, friendliest, and most helpful people I have ever come across. But it’s different – different in a pleasant way – and you’ll need help adapting to that difference.”
In addition to renting reliable touring or off-road motorcycles in Hanoi, Vietnam Motorbike Rental strongly recommends hiring a local tour guide who is also an experienced rider. To see what our guided tours are like, visit our YouTube channel and watch videos filmed from our guides’ helmet cameras, as well as footage shared by our customers.
Is Hiring a Tour Guide Worth It?
Our guide accompanies groups of no more than six riders, ensuring maximum personal attention and rider safety. Without a local guide, you’ll likely experience only half of what Vietnam has to offer. From hidden back roads and scenic viewpoints to authentic local food and cultural encounters, a knowledgeable guide helps you discover places and experiences that most independent travelers would otherwise miss.
Tour Guide Rental Adds More Value
Experience the real Vietnam by riding roads you would never find on your own. With years of riding experience, your guide knows hidden back roads, scenic routes, and remote areas far from the usual tourist trails.
Stay with local host families in their villages. Many of these homestays were never designed for tourists and therefore don’t advertise or appear on booking websites. They simply welcome travelers on a seasonal basis. Without a local guide, you would be unlikely to discover these authentic places.
More Support Throughout Your Journey
There is no language barrier. Throughout your tour, your guide acts as your translator, helping you communicate with local people and understand their conversations and culture.
You won’t have to worry about unwanted attention in remote areas. Our guides have friends and local contacts throughout the country. In some remote regions, foreign riders can attract curiosity from local authorities. Having a local guide helps everything run more smoothly and avoids unnecessary misunderstandings.
Leave all the motorcycle maintenance to us. Your guide rides the same type of motorcycle as you and takes care of routine servicing and basic repairs along the way. If a mechanical problem occurs, he can often fix it on the spot or arrange a replacement bike whenever possible. Without a guide, some repair shops may overcharge foreign travelers or recommend unnecessary repairs. Unfortunately, this has happened on many self-guided trips.
Finally, you don’t have to worry about paying tourist prices. Your guide helps negotiate fair local prices, giving you the confidence to know what things should cost before you buy or order anything.
Safer riding
There is almost no chance of getting lost. Our guides know Vietnam like the back of their hands and always choose the best routes for your trip.
Riding in Vietnam’s heavy traffic can be intimidating, especially for first-time visitors. Your guide leads the group, sets a safe pace, and uses clear hand signals and body language to warn riders of potential hazards. Throughout your journey, you’ll be in experienced hands.
While riding, your guide also ensures the group stays on the correct route and avoids accidentally leaving the planned trail, as shown in the photo below.
That’s it – a straightforward explanation to help you decide whether hiring a tour guide is the right choice for your Vietnam motorbike adventure.
If you need any further information about our Tour Guide Rental for Your Vietnam Motorbike Tours, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
The video below offers a glimpse of the places our guides can take you. Are you ready for the adventure?
Hi Anh Wu,
Some mates and I are planning on doing a 10-day motorbike tour out of Hanoi next year but only 2 of us have motorbike licenses and won’t be able to swap over to a Vietnamese licence due to the reasons you have stated.
Will this lack of a license prevent us from being able to hire motorbikes and a guide or are companies happy to rent to unlicensed riders?
What would be a good itinerary for 10 days out of Hanoi that includes the Ha Giang loop?
Thanks,
Tony.
Hello Tony. We sent a detailed (long) reply via email. Please check that reply and let us know what else you need us to provide. Thanks.
Hello. I am a US citizen and will be in Sapa, Vietnam in November. We will be staying at Cat Cat View Hotel and would like to rent 2 motorbikes to travel the Tokinese mountains (and maybe stay with a hill tribe; guided tour) and some of the other sites. I currently have a US enhanced drivers license and motorcycle license. What else may I need to operate the motorcycle? My daughter has only a US drivers license. What will she need to operate a motorbike when we arrive and how do we get it? Thank you.
Dear Pamela. Sadly, both of your licenses (US & IDP) are not legal here in Vietnam due to the signing of the different Conventions on Road Traffic Rules. Therefore, you will be riding without a license in Vietnam. We are based in Hanoi and are not able to offer anything in/from Sapa. You can do some research and ask companies/shops in Sapa, we have nobody to recommend.
Hi!
2 friends and I are wanting to ride motorbikes from Saigon to Mui Nee to De lat to Nha Trang. We are hoping to do this in 3 days and are looking for a guide who can accompany us. Is this a possible option?
Thank you for contacting us.
We are based in Hanoi only and sadly can’t offer anything from Saigon. You can do some Google search and contact companies based in Saigon. Unfortunately, we have no contact to recommend.
Enjoy your ride.
Hi, my son and his friends are planning a trip to Vietnam and want to use motorbikes as a part of their trip. As insurance is a big issue and one of the boys has a mild disability, is it possible to hire a rider and a bike so they could go pillion. Would this satisfy insurance issues?
Yes, it’s possible. What dates are you looking at?
Hi. I see on a web page that the decree allowing International Driving Permits, is no longer valid, from Dec 2017. What happens now with guided tours, is there no insurance available?
Steve.
Dear Steve. Vietnam still accepts IDP but must be issued under 1968 Convention on Road Traffic Rules, not the earlier 1949 Convention. If you don’t have 1968 Convention IDP and home country driving license (with motorbike endorsement) then you won’t be insured unless you have a special arrangement with a travel insurance policy.
Hi, my boyfriend, an experienced rider, and I are planning a trip for Hanoi Feb 7-12ish 2015. We are thinking about renting ONE motor bike for a few days to go to the hills and country side. No specific route but we’d like to go beyond the tourists towns unless recommended. Please can you advise:
1. What type of bikes you have that would fit us? he is 180cm and me 160.
2. What route would you suggest if we have 3-4 days?
3. The cost for hiring a local guide and the rental.
many thanks in advance.
CJ
Hello CJ. From what you said, we could offer a semi-guided motorbike tour. The cost of the tour is bike rental (see the links) plus 100$US/day for the guide and his bike. Then you pay things on the road as you ride, for yourselves, the guide and fuel. Bikes you can hire from us are:
Honda road bike CGL125 manual new 2014 model: 15$US/day/bike.
Honda dirt bike new 2013/2014 XR125L manual: 25$US/day/bike.
Honda dirt bike manual XR250: 35$US/day/bike.
In 4 days we recommend this itinerary.