We had an additional full day after our 2D1N in Ninh Binh. Our initial planning had already filled up most of our itinerary: we had our food tour, walking tour, a cruise around Halong Bay, and a Ninh Binh excursion. For this last remaining full day, we had two options: a jeep tour of Hanoi, or a motorbike tour. The former seemed a lot more comfortable, but wasn’t particularly appealing for me personally. My 2.5 years of National Service as an 18 year old had already sufficiently provided me a life-time of experiences in army jeeps!
The motorbike tour was always going to be novel, but the missus had some early concerns about safety for our kids. But the reviews of this tour on Klook were all positive, with many sharing that it was the unexpected highlight of their Hanoi vacation, and the experience was actually quite safe despite their similar initial anxieties. So, we decided to chance it and went with a reservation for the four of us for our last full day in Hanoi. And one five hour motorbike tour later, we were glad we went with it: the excursion was just fantastic!
As with all of the other day tours we’ve had this trip, our guide/host – Summer – arrived early to our hotel pick-up location with her team of three motorcyclists, so there was one bike for each of us as pillion riders. After Summer’s safety briefing, round of introductions for her team, and for ourselves, we were shown to our respective bikes, how to wear the bike helmets and also sit on the bike, and we were off. We first linked up at Hang Dau Garden with three other guests and the respective riders, and we then rode off as a convey in the streets of Hanoi, then crossed the Red River, and then headed in the south-easterly direction towards Bat Trang pottery village and market. Along the way, we stopped for coffee at a coffee shop, plantation fields, a visit to a pottery factory and store front, sugar-cane drinks, the pottery village and market, a quick pottery making class, before finally heading back to Hanoi for lunch.
Like many other previous guests, we were a little worried whether the kids would take to riding on motorbikes. But both were able to quickly adjust to the sense of being, and enjoyed the trip thoroughly. H did share that initially it was a little scary navigating the streets of Hanoi where traffic rules do not apply to riders of two wheelers, but that fear got overcome quick when she saw that our assigned riders were all very skilled. We took a number of videos and pictures, and I was able to also do a quick drone video while in the fields. Summer was also especially jovial, and her team while not all speaking English as well as she could, were all very friendly and helpful.
We never thought we’d enjoy the motorbike tour this much, and we highly recommend it!