GETTING TO NINH BINH FROM HA GIANG
After four long days of riding through the mountains of Northern Vietnam, we returned our bikes to QT Motorbike and Tours rental in Ha Giang. We ran a quick load of laundry and spent the last remaining hours in our homestay rearranging our luggage to prepare for the next leg of our long journey south to Ninh Binh.
The journey from Ha Giang to Ninh Binh is long and grueling. We highly recommend to those who have a bit more time than the standard American PTO (paid time off) to buffer a city in between, whether it’s staying one night in Hanoi or visiting the infamous, Ha Long Bay. But if you’re just like us and need to head quickly from Ha Giang to Ninh Binh, be prepared for an experience you’ll never forget (for better or worse).
Both Ha Giang and Ninh Binh remain treasures of the North because they are not the easiest places to get to and require the use of local transportation. The distance from Ha Giang to Ninh Binh is approximately 371 kilometers and takes about six to seven hours to descend the long and windy trip down the mountain. The most common vehicle to leave the mountaintop city is a local sleeper bus, which can be an experience all on its own.
I’m going to be completely transparent and say that taking the sleeper bus is not for the majority of travelers who need personal space and for those who aren’t used to traveling via local transportation, especially in countries like Vietnam.
The bus can only be described as a tour bus such as the ones you find all over the world like Flix, Greyhound, etc., but instead of reclining seats, most of the seats are reclined to resemble small beds. Each seat is smaller than a twin bed, and there are no dividers or partitions to separate the seats from each other. To cap our local experience, the bus we rode in had fairy lights strewn throughout the cabin with non-stop Vietnamese music that was on full blast during our 6-7 hour drive. Be sure to have some noise-cancelling headsets.
Even though the above may sound like a nightmare, the experience wasn’t all too bad (for Matt at least; Mishi on the other hand, has her own opinion about this transportation option). But again, these sorts of travel experiences are incredibly relative depending on the traveler, what their personal preference is, and how immersive you want your local experiences to be. We thought it would be best to share our individual experience below so you can decide which type of transportation works best for you and your travel style!
Matt’s experience on the sleeper bus
My experience on the sleeper bus from Ha Giang to Ninh Binh wasn’t bad at all. To be honest, my body was so tired from our four-day motorcycle loop, that as soon as I landed on the bed-like chair, I fell asleep without waking up once during our six to seven-hour journey to Ninh Binh.
Mishi’s experience on the sleeper bus
As soon as the bus door opened, I realized that no one on the bus spoke any English, and it was about to be an interesting seven-hour ride. Matt immediately fell asleep, while I stayed wide awake to ensure we arrived safely. I knew we had to keep watch of our belongings while paying close attention to the bus driver announcing each stop. While Matt slept soundly, I would religiously check Google Maps, checking to see if we were close to our stop. At some point, I needed to use the restroom and when we finally got to the one rest stop during our seven-hour ride, Matt was sound asleep, so I was afraid to leave our luggage and be left behind. So instead, I held it in for the rest of the bus ride! Imagine how glad I was when we finally arrived at Ninh Binh.
If the sleeper bus from Ha Giang sounds a bit too adventurous for your liking, there are two options available. We recommend either hiring a private driver or checking out the VIP bus.
FYI - the term “VIP” bus in Vietnam is not a limousine by Western standards but more like a sprinter van; I suppose the word “VIP” better suits the experience since aesthetically, it is a much nicer vehicle with fewer passengers.
Although we don’t have experience with hiring a private driver in Vietnam, we did take the VIP bus from Hanoi to Ha Giang and from Ninh Binh back to Hanoi. The VIP bus can be a very comfortable experience, especially if you have the option to sit in one of the front four seats, which looks like a captain’s chair that you find in newer models of Western minivans. However, if you’re one of the last three individuals to be picked up like we were, you’ll have a slightly better experience than the sleeper bus since you’ll also be crammed in the back with two other people. For reference, Matt is 187cm and 92kg, so it was quite a task to fit ourselves and another local in the back of the bus. The VIP bus is catered towards the locals, and the general population in Vietnam is much smaller in frame than their Western neighbors. Even sitting in the back of the VIP bus, the short ride from Ninh Binh to Hanoi (approx. 94km and 1 1/2 hours by car/bus) was a pleasant experience while the ride from Hanoi to Ha Giang (approx. 280 km and 5 hr 40 min by car/bus) was less ideal, and we would highly recommend hiring a private car.
Ultimately, your choice will be dependent on your travel preference, budget, and time. If we were to do it all over again, we would choose the VIP bus options for the sub two-hour rides, while opting for private transportation for rides longer than three hours. Whichever mode of transportation you choose, I assure you that Ha Giang and Ninh Binh are destinations that travelers worldwide seek to experience.
