Every line of the budget, in USD and VND: bike hire, fuel, beds, food, permits, fees. Then the part nobody prints — what the cheap version really costs you.
Home › Ha Giang Loop cost
Almost every "Ha Giang Loop price" you find online is either a hostel's headline number or a blogger's three-year-old receipt. Here is the whole bill.
We live here and we book these beds, buy this petrol and pay these permits every week. What follows is what things actually cost on the ground in 2026, quoted in Vietnamese dong with a USD equivalent at roughly 25,000 VND to the dollar. Rates move, so treat the dollar figures as close rather than exact.
Two things worth knowing before the tables. First, the loop is about 350 km and takes four days done properly — you can do it in three, and you will feel it. Second, the gap between the cheapest possible trip and a well-run guided one is smaller than most people assume, and it is almost entirely made up of things you would otherwise pay for one at a time.
The loop starts in Ha Giang City, about 300 km north of Hanoi. Nearly everyone takes the night sleeper bus: you board in Hanoi in the evening, sleep in a flat bunk, and arrive around dawn. It is the cheapest and the most time-efficient option, because it costs you a hotel night as well as a bus fare.
| Option | VND | USD | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night sleeper bus | 250,000–400,000 | $10–16 | About 6–7 hours. Book a lower bunk if you can. |
| Day limousine van | 350,000–500,000 | $14–20 | Faster and more comfortable, but burns a daylight day. |
| Private car transfer | 2,800,000–4,000,000 | $110–160 | Per car. Worth splitting between four. |
Both directions. Double these numbers for the return, and remember the loop ends back in Ha Giang City, so you will take the same road home. Budget $20–32 round trip on the sleeper bus.
If you ride yourself, this is where your money goes. Prices below are per day, from Ha Giang City rental shops, and almost always include a helmet and a rain poncho.
| Bike | VND / day | USD / day | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-automatic 110cc | 180,000 | ~$7 | Light riders, light luggage. Struggles two-up on the passes. |
| Semi-automatic 125cc | 250,000 | ~$10 | The default choice. Enough engine for the climbs. |
| Manual 150cc dirt bike | 450,000–550,000 | $18–22 | Experienced riders only. Real clutch control needed. |
| Petrol | ~100,000 | ~$4 | Roughly one tank a day at loop speeds. |
| Four days, 125cc + fuel | ~1,400,000 | ~$56 | Before any damage |
The deposit. Most shops hold your passport or 2,000,000–5,000,000 VND ($80–200) against damage. Scratched plastics on a dropped bike routinely cost 500,000–1,500,000 VND to settle, and you are negotiating in a language you do not speak on the morning your bus leaves.
The licence. Vietnamese law requires a licence covering motorbikes over 50cc. Riding without one is a fine at a checkpoint and, more importantly, voids most travel insurance if you crash. Here is how to ride the loop without a licence, legally.
Homestays are the whole point of this trip and they are cheap. The real decision is dorm versus private room, and it matters more than the price gap suggests: after eight hours on a mountain road, a door that closes is worth a lot.
| Type | USD | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Homestay dorm bed | $7–12 | Mattress on a raised platform, shared bathroom, often dinner included. |
| Homestay private room | $15–25 | Own room and usually own bathroom. Book ahead in season. |
| Small hotel, Dong Van | $18–35 | Hot water you can rely on. Less atmosphere. |
| Three nights, private room | $45–75 | Dorms: $21–36 |
October and November cost more. Buckwheat season is the busiest window of the year and homestay prices climb with it. It is also, genuinely, the most beautiful time to be up here — see when to ride the loop.
Food is the cheapest part of the trip and the best. A bowl of pho at a roadside stall is 30,000–50,000 VND ($1.20–2). A full homestay dinner — rice, several shared dishes, soup, sometimes spring rolls — is 100,000–150,000 VND ($4–6) and it is usually the meal people remember.
Plan on $12–20 a day eating well without thinking about it, so $48–80 over four days. Coffee is under a dollar. Beer is about the same. The corn wine a host pours you is free and stronger than it looks.
These are small individually and add up to a real number. They are also the line items most likely to be quietly excluded from a tour price, so this is the section to check any quote against.
| Item | VND | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Border area permit (Lung Cu / Dong Van) | ~250,000 | ~$10 |
| Vuong family mansion | 30,000 | ~$1.20 |
| Lung Cu Flag Tower | 45,000 | ~$1.80 |
| Ma Pi Leng skywalk | ~50,000 | ~$2 |
| Nho Que river boat (optional) | ~150,000 | ~$6 |
| Total if you do everything | ~525,000 | ~$21 |
Everything in that table except the boat is included in our price. We say that here because it is exactly the list that turns a $280 quote into a $310 trip once you are standing at the gate with your wallet out.
Here is the same four days costed three ways, return bus from Hanoi excluded so you are comparing like with like.
| Self-drive | Easy Rider (ours) | Private car (ours) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bike or vehicle | ~$56 | included | included |
| Beds, 3 nights | $21–75 | included, private | included, private |
| All meals | $48–80 | included | included |
| Permits & fees | ~$21 | included | included |
| Guide | — | included | included |
| Luggage transfer | — | included | included |
| Total | $146–232 | $315 | $720 / car, up to 6 |
So the honest gap is roughly $85 to $170 per person. The private car works out at $120 per person with six, which makes it the cheapest option in the table for a family or a group of friends, as well as the warmest.
What that money buys is not luxury. It is a rider who has crossed Ma Pi Leng in fog several hundred times, no conversation with a police officer about your licence, no deposit argument, and an invitation into houses you would otherwise photograph from the road.
Budget roughly $130–220 for a self-drive four-day loop once you add bike hire, fuel, homestays, food and permits, plus about $20–32 for the return sleeper bus from Hanoi. A guided four-day trip with everything included generally runs $300–400 per person. Ours is $315 per person, or $720 for a private 7-seat car carrying up to six.
About 180,000 VND (~$7) a day for a semi-automatic 110cc, about 250,000 VND (~$10) for the popular 125cc, and 450,000–550,000 VND ($18–22) for a manual 150cc dirt bike. Petrol adds roughly 100,000 VND (~$4) a day. Most shops also hold a passport or a $80–200 damage deposit.
A dorm bed is $7–12 a night and a private room $15–25, often with a meal included. Prices rise through the October and November buckwheat season, which is also the busiest time to find a bed at all.
The gap is usually $85–170 over four days. If you are an experienced rider on a tight budget, self-drive is genuinely fine and plenty of people do it well. If you are not a confident rider, or you have no licence, the guided trip is the cheaper way to avoid a mistake that costs far more than the difference.
Yes, if you share a bike two-up, sleep in dorms, skip the optional boat and eat only at roadside stalls. You will not save much more than $30–40 doing it, and the first thing people cut is usually rest, which is the thing that keeps you upright on day three.
Your rider-guide, the bike and helmet, three nights in private rooms, every meal on the road, all park, viewpoint and permit fees including the border permit, the Ma Pi Leng skywalk, and luggage moved ahead for you. The only extras are the Nho Que boat (about $6), drinks and tips.
No packages to decode, no fees revealed at the gate. One price per person, in USD, with the whole list of what it covers.