What it costs, and what each part of it costs us
Daily rates by style of trip, then the same money broken down into hotel, vehicle, guide and bike, so you can compare our quote against anyone else's line by line.
Daily bands, land only
Every figure on this page is per person per day, two people sharing a room, and excludes international flights, visa fees and insurance. A bike tour is priced by the day, not by the kilometre — a 40 km day in the delta costs almost the same to run as a 90 km day in the north, because the vehicle, the guide and the hotel do not get cheaper when you ride less.
| Style | Cycling, per person per day | Motorbike, per person per day |
|---|---|---|
| Simple: homestays, group departure | USD 110 – 150 | USD 95 – 120 |
| Standard: 3-star and good local hotels | USD 160 – 240 | USD 120 – 140 |
| Comfortable: 4-star where it exists | USD 250 – 400 | USD 150 – 190 |
| Two people travelling alone, private | add 55 – 70% | add 40 – 55% |
The last row is the one that surprises people. A private trip for two carries the same vehicle, driver and guide as a private trip for eight, split between two heads instead of eight. Nothing about that is a markup; it is arithmetic, and it is why the set-departure groups exist.
The same money, broken into its parts
These are our actual buying costs in the 2026 – 2027 season for a standard-level trip in the north. They move with the season and the exchange rate, and we will show you the current version of this table for your specific dates if you ask.
| Line | Unit | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Three-star hotel, twin, breakfast | per room per night | USD 38 – 62 |
| Homestay, shared platform, all meals | per person per night | USD 14 – 22 |
| Valley lodge, fan room, Pu Luong | per room per night | USD 45 – 75 |
| 16-seat support van with driver and fuel | per day | USD 95 – 135 |
| English-speaking cycling guide | per day | USD 55 – 85 |
| Second guide, groups over six | per day | USD 45 – 70 |
| Road or gravel bike hire and servicing | per day | USD 18 – 28 |
| E-bike supplement | per day | USD 22 |
| Motorbike, fuel included | per day | USD 22 – 34 |
| Lunch at a roadside restaurant | per person | USD 4 – 8 |
| Dinner, group, local restaurant | per person | USD 8 – 15 |
| Domestic flight, Hanoi – Da Nang | per person | USD 95 – 180 |
| Ninh Binh, Trang An boat | per person | USD 11 |
| Nho Que river boat, Ha Giang | per person | USD 6 |
Add those up for a four-day northern trip with four riders and you land within about 12 per cent of our published price. The gap is our margin, the office, the workshop, the mechanic who does not ride with you, and the trips that get cancelled at the last minute and still have to be paid for.
What moves the price, in order of size
- How many of you are riding. Far and away the biggest factor. Two riders pay roughly 70 per cent more per head than six riders on the same route.
- Private or set-departure. Below four riders the group departure is much cheaper. At six or more the difference is under 10 per cent.
- Hotel level. The jump from three-star to four-star is about USD 45 per room per night in cities and unavailable in Pu Luong and Meo Vac, where the best room in the valley is a fan room with a good view.
- Season. October to April in the north carries a 10 to 15 per cent premium on hotels. Tet, in late January or February, is worse than that and some homestays close entirely.
- Domestic flights. Booked eight weeks out, USD 95. Booked ten days out, USD 180 or sold out. This is the one line you control by deciding early.
- Bike choice. An e-bike adds USD 22 a day. Bringing your own bike takes USD 18 to 28 a day off.
What is not in any of our prices, and why
- Travel insurance. We are not licensed to sell it and we would be a bad place to buy it. Buy it at home and check that the policy names cycling, or motorcycling at the engine size you will ride — a great many policies exclude both by default.
- International flights. We have no buying advantage on them and adding them would only hide our margin inside a bigger number.
- Most dinners on the coast and in Hoi An. Deliberately. The restaurants there are good and cheap and choosing your own is part of the trip. In the mountains, where there is one place to eat, dinner is included.
- Tips. Not included and not expected as a fixed percentage. If you want a number, USD 8 to 12 per rider per day for the guide and driver together is normal, handed over at the end.
- Visa or e-visa fees. Yours to arrange. We will send the invitation documents if your nationality needs them.
How a quote gets to be 25 per cent cheaper than ours
There are six standard ways, and they are all legitimate business decisions. You just want to know which ones have been taken before you compare two numbers.
- The bikes are rented in on the morning. A hire fleet in Hanoi costs about USD 9 a day instead of USD 18 to 28. You find out which you have at the fitting, if there is a fitting.
- There is no support vehicle, or it meets you at lunch. This saves USD 95 to 135 a day. It also means that when somebody stops riding, everybody stops riding.
- Hotels are quoted by star rating rather than by name. "Three-star or similar" is a promise about a category, not a place. Ask for names in the itinerary before you pay a deposit; we put them in.
- The guide is a driver who speaks some English. A guide who rides costs USD 55 to 85 a day. A driver who follows costs less than half that and cannot fix your bike or read the weather on the pass.
- Shopping stops. Two hours at a silk workshop or a pearl farm on a riding day is not a cultural inclusion, it is a commission. We have none.
- The group is bigger than it looks. "Small group" with no number means 20 riders and one guide. Ours says twelve because it is twelve.
Paying
A 30 per cent deposit confirms a trip. The balance is due 30 days before the first riding day, or in cash on arrival if you prefer, which about a fifth of our riders do. The how to pay page has the bank details, the card fee and, more importantly, the section on payment fraud — criminals impersonating travel companies by email is a real problem in this industry and there are two checks you should always run.
Cancellation terms are on the booking terms page, in full, including what happens when we cancel a set-departure group for not reaching four riders.
Questions travellers ask most
Why is your quote higher than the one I got from a Hanoi agency?
Usually one of the six reasons in the section above, and most often the support vehicle and the bikes. Those two lines together are USD 115 to 165 a day, which on a four-day trip for four people is about USD 130 a head.
Send us the other itinerary. We will tell you which lines differ, and if their trip is genuinely the same and genuinely cheaper, we will tell you that too and you should take it.
Do you discount for larger groups?
The price tables already do — every route drops as the party grows, because the fixed costs divide further.
Above twelve riders we quote separately, because a second vehicle and a third guide come in and the per-head cost stops falling in a straight line.
Can I pay in euros or pounds?
We invoice in US dollars, which is how our suppliers price. You can pay in euros, pounds or Australian dollars by card at the day's rate, with the conversion done by the payment provider and shown to you before you confirm.
Bank transfers in currencies other than USD sometimes arrive short after intermediary bank fees. If that happens, we absorb the first USD 25 and ask you for the rest.
What if the trip costs you less than quoted?
If a hotel is unavailable and we substitute a cheaper one, you get the difference back. This happens two or three times a season.
If a domestic flight goes up between quote and booking, we ask you for the difference with the booking reference attached, or we offer the night train instead. We do not absorb it and we do not hide it.
Read next
Tell us about the ride you have in mind
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.