Cycling in Vietnam: The Timeless Charm: Part-2: Quy Nhon to Ho Chi Minh
For my Vietnam cycling trip, I started from Hànội (the Capital city of Vietnam) on 20 February’25 with my co-cyclist (Kumar Abhisek) and reached Quy Nhon city in Binh Dinh province in Central Vietnam on 2 March’25. During those 11 days, we have cycled for 670 km through major cities like Ninh Binh, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, etc. The detailed descriptions of journey are covered in Part-1 of my blog on the same subject. In this Part-2, I shall describe my further journey from Quy Nhon to Ho Chi Minh City.
We reached Quy Nhon yesterday night and taken a room at FLC sea tower near Quy Nhon beach road. The room has everything including kitchen, dining table, sofa, washing machine, TV, AC, etc. As planned, we rested for the whole morning, washed our clothes, prepared breakfast, lunch (Egg curry & rice) and slept till the afternoon.
Being rejuvenated by a day rest, we started in the morning. We cycled through QL1D. After some distance, it merges with expressway (CT01) and there was a long tunnel. As cycling may not be allowed in the tunnel, we followed a walking road as per google map. It necessitates to cross a river/ back water (Song phu Ngan). Kumar was very over enthusiastic to capture video/picture of that bridge and as a result he was almost fallen in the water. Somehow, with God grace, he was saved. I understand, he does not know swimming. We continued to walk past the bridge and then continued cycling through the village roads. After about 25 km, the village road joins the highway (QL1D) again. We continued cycling and reached to a place called An Cu (Tuy An district). We took a room at a Homestay (Nha Ngai Hoa Hong-2, 0333-582222). Like all other homestays, they provided basic utensils (plates, bowls, knife, etc) and we prepared our dinner.
Day-14: 5 Mar’25: Tuy An to Dai Lanh (Van Ninh district): 75 km
We continued cycling through Expressway (CT01), then we took DL Hung Vuong road to reach Tuy Hoa, a beautiful coastal city, the capital of Phu Yen province. It is the mid way between Quy Nhon and Nha Trang. We visited the Tuy Hoa beach, the light house, Nghinh Phong tower, etc. We had lunch at a restaurant (thali with rice, soup, vegetables, eggs, etc.) for 30 vnd.
After visiting Tuy Hoa, we continued cycling in the hot sun through QL1A. In order to avoid a long tunnel in CT01, we had to cross a mountain by pushing our cycling for about 10 km. But the road was so good and scenic that we didn’t feel tired. It was already evening, we could not see good homestays. Finally, we took 2 single rooms at an ordinary homestay (300 VND for 2 rooms) at Dai Lanh village (Van Ninh district). We prepared food in their kitchen (with their consent) as there was not enough space in our rooms.
Day-15: 6 Mar’25: Dai Lanh to Nha Trang:85 km
As we were ready to leave the homestay in the morning, the caretaker lady asked for additional 100 VND as we have used their kitchen. This is the first time, we encountered a non-cooperative Homestay. Without much argument, we gave her 50 VND extra, moved ahead towards Nha Trang. We cycled through QL1A and AH-1. Roads are excellent with paddy fields on both sides. There were traffics but not unmanageable. We had been enjoying our cycling. We reached Nha Trang city at 6 pm.
We had pre-booked a room at Rembrandt Hotel (0258-3529292, VND 486 for 2 nights). Keeping our luggage in the room and taking bath, we went to the sea beach in the evening. Nha Trang beach is the best of all Vietnamese beaches. It is the paradise for beach lovers. With crystal clear water, soft golden sands and vibrant atmosphere, it offers the blend of relaxation and adventure. The colourful Vinpearl Island is visible from here. We decided to stay one extra day in this beautiful beach city and visit the vinpearl amusement park tomorrow.
Day-16: 7 March’25: Nha Trang stay: 10 km cycling
In the morning, after breakfast, we took out our bikes to visit Ponagar temple (Thap Ba Ponagar) at Cu Lao hill, Nha Trang. It is a unique architectural and art works of champa Kingdom. It is a religious center with 4 towers (north eastern tower to worship Ponagar, southern tower for shiva, south eastern tower for skanda & north western tower for Ganesha). Entrance fee is 30 VND per person.
In the evening, we went to Vinpearl. We purchased 2 combo tickets on line (13 USD each) which includes to and fro bus ticket, cable car, Tata show and sauna bath at their spa center. There are many other options available. We roamed around the entire happening area, the 120 m sky wheel, sea front, souvenir shops, food stalls, etc. The 40 minute multi-media show (Tata show) was spectacular. The sauna bath was very relaxing which was very much needed for our body. Overall, this trip was excellent and a must do event for anyone visiting Nha Trang.
Day-17: Nha Trang to Trung Bac: 80 km
Today, we started cycling towards Cam Ranh (via DT6571). As road was excellent and almost flat, we crossed past Cam Ranh bay and Cam Ranh international airport and moved ahead via QL1A/AH-1. We took lunch (rice, vegetables, soup, fish, etc.) at a restaurant for 30 VND each.
We reached to a place called Thuan Bac (Ninh Thuan) on Asian Highway-1 in the evening. We took 2 single rooms at Nha Ngai UT Duy Hotel (0983937733, 150 VND each). It was reasonably good.
Day-18: Thuan Bac to Phu lac (Hoa Da): 80 km
Everyday, we prepare our food in the morning and start by 8 am. We cycled through QL1A all along.
On the way, we found a marriage party in a roadside pandal. They invited us in the party. Everybody wanted to have selfie with us. We danced on the stage with local music and tasted many local dishes except the non-vegetarian dishes. Many of them wanted their wives and children to have photo with us. It was a memorable experience which we witnessed suddenly and unexpectedly.
It started raining slowly. We continued cycling with rain coat towards Hoa da. The marriage party experience made our energy high and everything looked wonderful, road was beautiful (1-2 deg downslope), weather was pleasant and we continued for 80 km non stop upto a place called Phu Lac (cam khe district), 22 km before Hoa da.
We took shelter in a Homestay (Nha Ngai Tai Minh, 0252-3850678, 300 VND).
Day-19: Phu lac to Phan Thiet: 90 km
We started after our usual breakfast (khichri) at 8 am. We followed QL1A upto Hoa da, then coastal road (DT-716B). It was very hot but windy. There was not much traffic. After mountains, beaches, forests, we saw sand dunes in Vietnam on both sides of the road.
We continued cycling to reach Mui Ne, a beach resort town along the sea. With a long, palm lined stretch of sands, it has steady wind conditions making it a popular weekend destination from Ho Chi Minh City. There were many tourists travelling in safaris and many were busy in kitesurfing. We walked on the sands at Doi Cat Bay and took some pics.
We reached to our pre-booked hotel (Hotel Huy Hoang, 02523853456, 350 VND) at Phan Thiet in the evening. After freshening up in the room, we cycled around the nice Phan thiet city, primary to buy groceries.
Day-20: Phan Thiet to Tan Thang (Binh Thuan province): 82 km
From Phan Thiet, we took coastal road (DT-712) towards La Gi. It was very hot and sun is directly falling on our face. We took lunch at a restaurant and continued cycling thinking that we will rest at La Gi for the day. We reached La gi (a coastal town) in binh thuan province. We didn’t like La Gi town and we continued cycling via QL55 and reached to a place called Tan Thang in the evening. We got a very good homestay (Nha Ngai Nhat Khanh, 0908927149, 300 VND). It had a self service washing machine. We washed all our clothes. The care taker was very helpful person who helped us to dry our clothes and also provided us drinking water.
Day-21: Tan Thang to Ba Ria (55 km cycling) to Ho Chi Minh ( 80 km by cab)
Today we are very excited to reach to our final destination of our Vietnam cycling tour ie Ho Chi Minh City (commonly known as Saigon). We started cycling via QL55. On the way, we saw many dragon fruit (national fruit of Vietnam) gardens and stalls with plenty of dragon fruits of different colours. But it was costly (INR 600 per kg).
We crossed a beautiful town, Phuoc Buu (Binh Chau). It is known for nature reserve, park, lakes. We didn’t had enough time to explore much. We just spent time at a park and taken few pics and proceeded ahead.
Just before the Ba Ria town, there was a martyr memorial near the sea beach. It was also beautiful. We spent some time there. We reached Ba Ria at 3 pm. There was another tourist attraction (Vung Tua) near Ba Ria. But as didn’t have time, we skipped that place and decided to move to Ho Chi Minh.
We went to the private bus stop to get transfer to Ho Chi Minh with our cycles. We booked two seats in a 14 seater tempo traveller (180 VND each) but our cycles were booked in another luggage vehicle (250 VND for 2 cycles). We reached Ho Chi Minh by 5 pm and collected our cycles from the transporter office. Then we reached to our pre- booked hotel (Anh Duy Hotel, +84 2839144091, INR 2980) which was at the centre of district -1 of the city. After keeping our luggage, we went to market to buy vegetables and groceries.
Day-22: Stay at Ho Chi Minh : 20 km cycling
In the morning, after breakfast, we went to find out any cycle shop to buy packing box for our bikes. We bought two boxes from Mr. Biker Saigon (+84 949692179, 159C Co Giang) for 100 VND. We brought the boxes to our hotel in a scooter.
Then we went to visit the Independence palace and the Saigon central Post office. The monumental central post office which was established in 1891 and it is still operational. There were huge tourist crowd inside the main hall and they are all busy in posting letters to their beloved one from this post office.
After visiting these places, we came back to our hotel room. In the afternoon, we went to famous Ben Thanh market. We ate egg coffee at egg yolk and did some shopping in the market. At night, we packed our cycles in the boxes, prepared dinner and slept for the last night in Vietnam.
Day-23: Departure from Ho Chi Minh: End of unforgettable Vietnam cycling tour:
We checked out from the hotel at 12 noon, had lunch at a restaurant, hired a cab to drop us at Tan son Nhat international airport (Ho chi Minh) for my Vietjet flight () for Delhi and Kumar’s flight to Ahmedabad.
This way we ended up our Vietnam cycling tour.
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