The first documented license-free electric scooter crossing of Vietnam
Hi, my name is Yuri Malykh. I have been traveling for ten years, and I was foolish enough to test whether it is possible to legally cross Vietnam without a driver’s license and without harming the environment through exhaust gases. To find out, I bought a brand-new electric scooter and set off to ride across the country from its southernmost tip all the way to the far north.
According to public data, a Vietnamese traveler completed a major cross-country trip nine years ago, which is amazing. However, his route was shortened: he rode from the easternmost point to the southernmost tip, skipping the hard-to-reach northern mountains. That traveler covered the country in 9 days via highways, proving that electric vehicles are viable for long trips. My goal is different: I decided to go all out and travel true edge-to-edge.
I set off thinking this might be the first complete journey of its kind. Yet I am not looking for a pioneer’s crown; I just want to show thousands of curious travelers a completely new way to explore this country, while respecting its laws and taking care of its environment. That is why I plan to stay off major highways as much as possible, taking back roads to soak in the full aesthetic joy of slow travel.
Here is how it all turned out…
Mission Complete — 27 June 2026
Route: 📍Mũi Cà Mau → 📍Điểm cực Bắc của Việt Nam
Vehicle: VinFast Evo Lite (2026) — license-free
Total distance | 4,187 km (2,602 mi) |
Calendar days | 31 |
— Riding days | 21 |
— Exploration days | 2 |
— Rest days | 8 |
Battery swaps | 102 |
Total fuel cost | $35 USD |
Total trip spend (without the rest days) | $460 USD |
What follows is the full account of the project — from buying the scooter and the two-day ride south to the starting point, through 23 active riding days across the country, mostly on small regional and provincial roads.
Fishing villages, Khmer temple corridors, Mekong Delta ferries, the karst formations of Ninh Bình, the Ho Chi Minh Highway through Kon Tum, the Mã Pí Lèng Pass.
The road wasn’t without adventure.
There were coastal stretches where the mountains meet the sea, karst plateaus, rice terraces the colour of gold before the harvest. Khmer temple ceremonies I stumbled into, mudflat fishing at low tide, tomb-cities on the peninsula near Huế, ethnic villages on stilts above the water.
There were mechanical failures — an overheating scooter on mountain climbs, a broken sensor after a low-speed fall, a battery that died in 47-degree heat.
There were natural obstacles — storms in the mangroves, floods that turned streets into rivers, heat that turned the road into a griddle.
And a lot of small human moments… All of it is in the pages below.
Table of Contents
Preparation Start — May 14, 2026
Getting the Ride
Every motorcycle trip has one non-negotiable starting point: you need a motorcycle. Obvious, sure. And yet finding the right one ended up being the biggest part of this whole preparation process.
The main constraint I was working with: whatever I ride has to be something I can legally operate in Vietnam without a motorcycle license. That narrows things down quite a bit. After going through the available options and doing the usual agonizing over specs I only half understand, I landed on the Vinfast Evo Lite — a brand-new model released just this year.
What makes it stand out from everything else in the license-free category is one specific feature: it’s the first no-license scooter in Vietnam with a battery swap system. The bike runs on two batteries housed inside the frame. You can charge them the traditional way via cable, but you also have the option to pull into a swap station, hand over your dead batteries, and ride away with fully charged ones in minutes.
Vinfast claims there are already 45,000+ swap stations operating across the country. If that’s true in practice, the “range problem” that kills most e-scooter trips essentially disappears — it becomes roughly similar to stopping for gas on a petrol bike. Whether those stations are actually out there when I need them in the middle of nowhere is, frankly, one of the main things this whole trip is designed to find out.
Buying the Thing
I bought the Evo Max Lite (2026) brand new from a Yamaha dealership. The purchase itself was painless — under an hour, start to finish.
One thing anyone planning to do the same should know upfront:
Foreigners without a Temporary Residence Card (TRC) cannot register a vehicle in their own name in Vietnam. You need a trusted local friend willing to be the official owner on paper.
The breakdown:
- Bike price: ₫16,700,000 ( $634/ ~€540)
- Batteries: Not included — purchased or rented separately
- Battery deposit: ₫500,000 ( ~$19 / ~€16) per battery
- Monthly battery rental fee: ~$6.45 (₫170,000 / ~€5.50) per battery per month
There’s a small wrinkle: the dealership could only locate one battery at the time of purchase. They’re “working on finding the second one.” I’m choosing to believe them.
Getting the Plates
Here’s the mildly surprising part: even a license-free electric scooter needs to be officially registered and plated. The dealership is handling all the paperwork with the traffic authority — which is a relief, because bureaucracy in a language I don’t speak at all is its own kind of adventure I’d rather delay.
From the day of purchase, it took 14 days to get the official license plates on the bike.
Update on the battery
Unfortunately, I was unable to get a second battery. The seller simply told me they were out of stock. For the first week, they kept saying they were looking for one or had ordered it, but in the end, they just said, “Sorry, but that’s how it is—no battery.” We called other dealerships, and they all said the same thing: they do not provide second batteries.
It is definitely a strange situation. I personally saw dozens of scooters with identical, swappable batteries sitting right there in the distributor’s warehouse, yet they couldn’t rent even one of them to me.
600 Kilometers South: The Pre-Trip Journey
Before starting the official ride from the southernmost point of Vietnam to the north, I had to travel from 📍Mui Ne (Phan Thiet) to 📍Cape Ca Mau. This pre-trip distance is about 613 km (380 miles). The start was delayed by 4 days due to paperwork at the dealership, which took a full week. Once the police documents were ready, I got the license plate the next day and set off the following morning.
May 26 – Two Days Before the Official Start
The Numbers
- Distance driven today: 330 km (205 miles)
- Money spent today: 401,000 VND
- Route: Mui Ne to My Tho
- Road quality: 5/5
Road Journal
I departed at 6:30 AM. There were no major adventures planned for today—just driving down the highway. My main goal was to cover as much ground as possible while testing the real-world battery range under my actual weight and checking the density of the battery-swapping stations along the route.
Tested Battery Ranges:
Sport Mode [Max speed 49 km/h (30 mph)]: The battery lasts for 42–50 km (26–31 miles).
Eco Mode [Max speed 32 km/h (20 mph)]: The battery lasts for 65–70 km (40–43 miles).
After figuring out these ranges, I initially planned to use 50% of the battery in Sport Mode, and then use the app to find the nearest swapping station. By the third swap, I realized this strategy did not work.
I stopped for a coffee after using half the battery, checked the map, and realized I had been driving too fast. The nearest station was too far to reach, even if I go Eco Mode for the rest of the way. I had to ask the café owner to let me plug in the scooter using my portable charger. Ended up resting in a hammock for an hour and a half while the bike charged enough to help me reach the next station.
As it turned out, this was the only time I ever had to use my personal charger. Once the main part of the expedition kicked off, I made it a strict rule to rely solely on public swapping stations, and on my way north, I ended up leaving the portable charger behind with friends.
The battery queue
The second challenge happened in Ho Chi Minh City. Surprisingly, the density of swapping stations there was almost the same as on the highway, but the demand was much higher.
Local motorbike taxi drivers taught me the local etiquette for battery queues: when you arrive at a swapper, the screen shows the charge level of the batteries inside. You select the one closest to 100%, hang your helmet on the battery handle to reserve it, and wait for it to finish charging. According to the drivers, the batteries charge at a rate of about 1% per minute, though it felt slower to me.
I finally reached the city of My Tho after dark, covering a total of 330 km (205 miles) for the day. Considering the mistakes made, this is a good result for a scooter limited to 49 km/h (30 mph). Most importantly, I managed to avoid staying overnight in Ho Chi Minh City, which is too loud and doesn’t fit the vibe of this trip.
May 27 – One Day Before the Start
The Numbers
- Distance driven today: 402 km (250 miles)
- Money spent today: 416,000 VND
- Battery swaps made: 9
- Route: My Tho to Dat Mui Commune (Cape Ca Mau)
- Road quality: 3/5
- Scenery: 4/10
Road Journal
The day started at 6:30 AM leaving My Tho. The first 180 km (110 miles) along highway QL1 were straightforward, passing local shops, houses, and hammock cafés.
To prepare the scooter for the official start photos tomorrow, I stopped for a full wash (30,000 VND). Ironically, less than a kilometer later, the asphalt ended and turned into dusty gravel.
The Kickstand Sensor Breakdown
Around sunset, I stopped to take photos in a scenic spot with dried, cracked earth. While I was setting up, the scooter fell over onto its left side. Fortunately, my 360-camera caught on the selfie stick just 5 cm from the ground, leaving the bike with only a bent brake lever and a scratched mirror.
However, the impact damaged the side-kickstand sensor. On modern scooters, a safety feature prevents the motor from starting if the kickstand is down. For 30 minutes, I tried resetting it, adjusting the wires, and even using a pocket screwdriver to trigger the magnetic sensor, but the bike remained completely unresponsive.
With the nearest town 5 km (3 miles) away, I began pushing the bike. Within minutes, two locals stopped and offered to push me—a common technique in Vietnam where a rider uses their leg to propel another moving bike. They pushed me all the way into town to a small repair shop that specialized in electric scooters (surprisingly). The mechanic managed to disconnect and adjust the sensor, getting the bike running again. He refused to accept any money for the help.
Shortly after leaving to swap my battery, the sensor failed again. I pushed the bike back to the same shop. After the second repair, I asked the mechanic for a strong magnet to keep in my pocket, ensuring I could manually activate the sensor if it failed again on the road.
Riding through a Storm
As I approached the southernmost cape, the streetlights and houses disappeared, replaced by dark mangrove forests. A heavy downpour with lightning started, forcing me to pull under the awning of a roadside building.
The owner, a 65-year-old Vietnamese man, invited me inside. When I told him I was from Russia, he welcomed me warmly, insisting I join his friends for dinner. I used a translation app to talk with them while they shared pork and duck dishes. They strongly insisted I stay the night due to the storm, but because of previous delays on this expedition, I politely declined and continued toward the starting point once the rain slowed down.
The Final Stretch
With the battery running low, I switched to Eco Mode, cruising at a steady 32 km/h (20mph) down empty roads in complete darkness. The landscape was surreal, passing a massive Buddha statue on one side of the road and a Catholic church with illuminated crosses on the other. I arrived in a completely quiet, empty town near the national park. Fortunately, the battery-swapping station was working, allowing me to get a fresh 100% battery.
The hotel owner then messaged me: “My friend, you won’t find the hotel easily, it is hidden.” Following his maps, I turned off the main road onto a narrow concrete path through the mangroves, navigating past barking dogs. The path eventually narrowed into a one-meter-wide concrete bridge with water on both sides and no railings.
I finally reached the property at 11:00 PM.
Tomorrow, the actual expedition begins.
Day 1: Cape Ca Mau → Ca Mau City — The Official Start
May 28, 2026
| Start: 📍Cape Ca Mau | Finish: 📍Ca Mau City |
|---|---|
| Distance | 135 km (84 mi) |
| Total distance | 135 km (84 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 3 |
| Spend | 529,000 ₫ (~$20.11) |
| Road quality | 3/5 |
| Scenery | 5/10 |
Road Journal
Finding a battery-swapping station just 15 km (9 miles) from Cape Ca Mau was a great surprise. This network is quite new, so having a station at the very end (or beginning) of Vietnam is excellent. It only had one full battery available, which might cause waiting times if more electric travelers come here, but it worked perfectly for me.
Leaving with a full charge allowed me to explore the route fully in daylight. The views are beautiful, with thick mangrove forests growing right next to the road. To see more of the local life, I turned off the main highway onto a quiet coastal side road. I passed through a small village where people live in houses built on stilts directly over the water. The locals were very friendly and waved at me as I rode by.
When the side road ended, I got back onto the main highway. On the way, I stopped by the house of the man who gave me shelter during yesterday’s storm. I bought a lemonade from him to say thank you, and then continued toward Ca Mau City.
The road to the city was good, with smooth asphalt and very few cars. I arrived early and finally got some good sleep. The stilt bungalow from the night before was a great experience, but the loud motorboats at 4:00 AM made it impossible to rest properly!
Day 2: One-Day Loop Around Ca Mau in the Mekong Delta
May 29, 2026
| Start: Ca Mau City | Finish: Ca Mau City (loop) |
|---|---|
| Distance | 181 km (112 mi) |
| Total distance | 316 km (196 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 4 |
| Spend | 465,000 ₫ (~$17.68) |
| Road quality | 4/5 |
| Scenery | 6/10 |
Road Journal
Day 2 of crossing Vietnam south to north on an electric scooter.
Today I tested whether a one-day loop around Ca Mau City (Cà Mau) works as a route — and it does. 181 km, four battery swaps, and the kind of variety that turns a city stopover into a destination.
The loop went west to Thi Tuong Lagoon (Đầm Thị Tường), the largest lagoon in the Mekong Delta, with restaurants directly on the water and the fishing industry visible all around. From there along the coast to the Ship to the North Monument (Tập kết ra Bắc) — a large memorial on an artificial pedestal in the sea, completely empty of tourists. As I was leaving, a local entrepreneur pulled up with homemade electric carts he rents for driving around the area.
Next was Song Doc (Sông Đốc), a coastal town where one of the river’s arms meets the sea. After riding through small streets I came to an active boat repair yard. Strangers welcomed me onto the territory and walked me through what they were doing. Then north past banana plantations, through a rainstorm that cleared just in time to reach Hon Da Bac Islands (Hòn Đá Bạc) — two small islands you can walk to across a concrete causeway above the sea.
Closed the loop through U Minh Ha National Park (U Minh Hạ). Battery availability today was a different story compared to yesterday: stations were spaced well, and I never had to switch to eco mode.
Day 3: Ca Mau → Soc Trang — Khmer Temples and the Bac Lieu Wind Farm
May 30, 2026
| Start: Ca Mau | Finish: 📍Soc Trang |
|---|---|
| Distance | 229 km (142 mi) |
| Total distance | 545 km (339 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 5 |
| Spend | 495,000 ₫ (~$18.82) |
| Road quality | 4/5 |
| Scenery | 6/10 |
Scenery: Mangrove flats, offshore wind turbines standing in the sea, Khmer temples along the road.
Road Journal
Day 3 of crossing Vietnam south to north on an electric scooter. 229 km from 📍Ca Mau to 📍Soc Trang through 📍Bac Lieu.
First stop was 📍Tac Say Church, the pilgrimage site of Father Diệp. Sunday — the parking lot full, locals arriving for the service. Interesting buildings, statue out front. I didn’t go inside.
Heading for the well-known 📍Quan Am Phat Dai statue on the coast, I first ended up at 📍Bac Lieu Artificial Beach — a strange seaside amusement park with a Ferris wheel and a huge concrete head sculpted to look like carved rock. The Quan Am statue itself turned out smaller in person than in photos, but the garden was busy with Sunday crowds.
A small coastal road turned out to be the Khmer temple corridor — this land was once part of Khmer (Cambodian) Empire and the heritage remains. Temple after temple along the route, several with Sunday ceremonies. At 📍Wath Prek Chop the temple guards waved me in to watch — musicians, and a small parade. Foreign tourists are clearly rare here: local women immediately wanted photos.
Continued to the 📍Bac Lieu Wind Farm, Vietnam’s largest offshore wind farm. Concrete roads run straight into the sea with dozens of turbines in shallow water. I wanted to ride between them — the entrance was closed.
Late in the day I reached 📍Mo O beach , where a river arm meets the sea. A concrete pier on pillars stretches across mud and mangroves, almost empty. At the far end: mudflats alive with mudskippers. Locals were sliding across the mud on sleds with headlamps on, likely catching mudskippers (they’re eaten here).
Three days in, still no foreign tourists in sight.
Day 4: Soc Trang → My Tho — Mekong Delta Ferries and Island Routes
May 31, 2026
| Start: Soc Trang | Finish: 📍My Tho |
|---|---|
| Distance | 168 km (104 mi) |
| Total distance | 713 km (443 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 4 |
| Spend | 498,000 ₫ (~$18.94) |
| Road quality | 3/5 |
| Scenery | 6/10 |
Scenery: River and shorelines from the ferries, banana plantations, sugarcane fields.
Day 4 of crossing Vietnam south to north on an electric scooter. 168 km from Soc Trang to My Tho with four battery swaps. The route went deep into the Mekong Delta on ferries and island roads — a deliberate dodge of the QL1A national highway.
The dilemma at the start: the two goals were pulling in opposite directions. The zero-emissions route ran on the highway — with trucks and buses. The route away from the highway crossed the Mekong arms on diesel ferries. I picked the ferries. The trip’s bigger purpose — showing the country can be ridden comfortably without a license and without the highway — won out over the smaller one.
First ferry: 6,000 ₫, twelve minutes, mud-brown river, fishing boats.
Disembarked on 📍An Thanh, a Mekong Delta island with no Battery exchange stations at all. Rode it anyway. Small concrete paths cut through banana plantations and coconut groves. Houses modest but flowered. The local market had a wider seafood selection than the mainland — stingrays, octopuses, snails. A bridge is under construction nearby; the ferries here are on borrowed time.
Two crises followed in sequence. The SIM card died mid-day — and without it there was no way to find the next charging station or swap a battery. I caught Wi-Fi at a café, found the nearest carrier office, and rode over. It turned out Vietnam had introduced a new regulation tying SIMs to a national ID; the staff had no clear procedure for a foreign passport and spent an hour trying to figure it out. They did everything they could. In the end, the only option was a new card.
Then the heat killed the battery: at 47°C the charge dropped from 7% to zero in seconds, leaving me 3 km short of the next station. I thought about pushing it, but that idea didn’t last long. I tried Grab — a driver accepted, drove past me, and left. No other mototaxis available in the app. I stopped at a café for a coffee; the owner made a call, and a few minutes later someone drove me and my battery to the charging station and back for $2 (50,000 VND).
Reached My Tho through a downpour. The hostel owner — who I’d met on the way south — recommended Hu Tieu My Tho (Hủ Tiếu Mỹ Tho), the noodle soup the city is known for. First foreign travelers I’d seen in four days were at this hostel.
Day 5: My Tho → Vung Tau via the Coconut Monk’s Island
June 1, 2026
| Start: My Tho | Finish: 📍Vung Tau |
|---|---|
| Distance | 206 km (128 mi) |
| Total distance | 919 km (571 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 4 |
| Spend | 621,000 ₫ (~$23.61) |
| Road quality | 3/5 |
| Scenery | 5/10 |
Scenery: River and banks from the boat, banana plantations along the roads.
Day 5 of crossing Vietnam south to north on an electric scooter. 206 km from My Tho to Vung Tau, four battery swaps. The day went through two of the four famous Mekong Delta islands at My Tho, a controversial snake farm, a wooden boat ferry, the Can Gio mangrove biosphere, and ended on a ferry across the bay.
First thing in the morning I decided to explore the small islands around My Tho.📍Unicorn Island didn’t impress. The main road was under construction and the back lanes mostly led to coconut candy factories built for tourists. 📍Phoenix Island was a bit more interesting — this is where the Coconut Monk 📍lived, ate only coconuts, and founded a small religion. The site has been turned into a modest entertainment park with bamboo walkways, a pond with a bicycle path, and gazebos. From the monk himself only a small shrine, a closed tower, and a few relics remain.
The 📍Dong Tam Snake Farm, i visited after, turned out to be a mistake. It’s known as a military anti-venom facility, but it also functions as a low-quality zoo — deer, ostriches, a hornbill — all in small cages next to a noisy children’s carousel that frightens the animals. I regretted going.
The bypass road east led to a ferry pier I wasn’t sure was operational — 📍Ben pha Gia Thuan. It turned out to be a large wooden boat in the middle of nowhere, locals delighted to see a foreigner. Fourteen motorcycles, about twenty-five people. The boat left, then turned around to come back for one late passenger.
Disembarked on 📍Can Gio, the mangrove biosphere reserve technically inside Ho Chi Minh City. Surprisingly good road, an electric public bus between towns. Planned to stay overnight to see the bird sanctuary, but the coastal town turned out to be one continuous construction site — the entire shoreline is being walled off for a mega-development. All the “first-line” hotels face the wall. Lost the sanctuary plan, I took the 19:00 ferry to Vung Tau instead. Forty minutes across the bay.
In Vung Tau I went straight to my 📍known place for Hau Ne — oysters and shellfish on a sizzling cast-iron pan in sauce, the local seafood cousin of the more famous Bo Ne. Cheap hotel for 135,000 ₫. Vung Tau remains a great city.
Day 6: Vung Tau → Mui Ne — Empty Tunnels and a Flooded Phan Thiet
June 2, 2026
| Start: Vung Tau | Finish: 📍Mui Ne |
|---|---|
| Distance | 231 km (144 mi) |
| Total distance | 1,150 km (715 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 6 |
| Spend | 526,000 ₫ (~$20.00) |
| Road quality | 5/5 |
| Scenery | 6/10 |
Scenery: A scenic ride along 📍Back Beach with public art installations; new developer projects with European-style facades — striking but empty. A long stretch of seaside road.
Day 6 of crossing Vietnam south to north on an electric scooter. 231 km from Vung Tau to Mui Ne, six battery swaps. Today’s ride included the abandoned Long Phuoc Tunnels, the Ke Ga Lighthouse on the coast, and an unexpected swim through a flooded Phan Thiet.
The morning was easy. Left Vung Tau in cloudy weather — bad for filming, good for riding. Honestly my favorite coastal city in Vietnam: wide streets, good air, calm. Dropped my 360 camera while shooting the scooter against Hon Ba, the small offshore island. Lenses scratched, but it still works.
First stop was📍Long Phuoc Tunnels. No one around. Free entry. Couldn’t find the actual tunnel mouth at first — just administrative buildings. Once I did and started descending, the gate behind me creaked shut on its own. Ran out, caught my breath, went back in. The tunnels are large, at least two levels, with bats overhead and giant geckos on the walls.
Nobody knows you’re down there. This has nothing in common with Cu Chi, where tourists get bussed in by the dozen to crawl through a 50-meter section. For anyone who actually wants tunnels without the choreography, Long Phuoc is the answer.
Almost a full battery of riding then went past coastal construction — five-star hotels, residential complexes, theme parks, everything Vietnam’s coast has been getting for a decade. All of it empty. European-style facades on streets nobody lives on.
Stopped at a beach campsite with the newer wave of amenities — air-conditioned tents, geodesic dome cabins, kayak and surf rentals.
Made a little detour from the seaside road down to the beach promenade to see Ke Ga Lighthouse.
Approaching 📍Phan Thiet, the rain came in heavy. Twice I had to stop in roadside cafes to wait it out. Reached the city itself and found the streets under twenty centimeters of water — motorbikes literally floating. I crossed the scooter’s water-test the hard way. The scooter passed; “swam” is the better word.
I arrived in Mui Ne soaked through, and decided to celebrate survival with a pizza at 📍Dong Vui Food Court. (Very decent)
Day 7: Mui Ne → Lien Huong — Sand Dunes and Riding Through Rain
June 4, 2026
| Start: Mui Ne | Finish: Lien Huong |
|---|---|
| Distance | 87 km (54 mi) |
| Total distance | 1,237 km (769 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 2 |
| Spend | 383,000 ₫ (~$14.56) |
| Road quality | 5/5 |
| Scenery | 6/10 |
Scenery: The Red Dunes of Mui Ne, the freshwater Bau Trang lake and the neighbouring White Dunes, quiet coastal bays, Cu Lao Cau seen from the shore, unusual pine forests running right along the sea, and small fishing towns with everyday life on display.
A half day, mostly by force of the weather. It rained through the morning in Mui Ne, and the coastal road ahead deserves at least a bit of sun to be worth riding. Waited until noon, gave up on the sun, and rode out anyway.
The route passed through the 📍Red Dunes, then the 📍White Dunes and the freshwater 📍Bau Trang lake, on along the coast with the 📍Turtle Island visible offshore. It was raining the whole way, and i had to stop in a small café inside a coastal pine forest for a bowl of noodles when it got heavier. Then the road took me through 📍Phan Ri.
Pulled into Lien Huong earlier than planned rather than push on toward Phan Rang. There is a serpentine stretch coming up that is too good to spend on a grey rainy day.
Better to wait one out here and take it in the sun tomorrow. Stayed at 📍Khach san Dai Nam hotel. Good location and price.
Battery swap availability was good today — no need for eco mode. Two swaps for the day. $14,6 total spent including a budget hotel room. Sometimes the trip decides to slow you down, and you take it.
Day 8: Lien Huong → Phan Rang — Empty Coast Road and Salt Farms
June 5, 2026
| Start: Lien Huong | Finish: Phan Rang |
|---|---|
| Distance | 97 km (60 mi) |
| Total distance | 1,334 km (829 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 2 |
| Spend | 483,000 ₫ (~$18.37) |
| Road quality | 5/5 |
| Scenery | 8/10 |
Scenery: A quiet coastal serpentine running directly between the sea and the mountains, viewpoints over blue bays from height, salt farms, sand dunes and the lighthouse, and small fishing towns along the way.
The serpentine that had made me stop short yesterday delivered. This was the most scenic stretch of the whole trip so far.
The road ran along the coast, at one point right next to the water, with low mountains on the opposite side. My first stop was the famous mossy beach at 📍Co Thach, where I parked, drank a coffee overlooking the tide, and got back on the road. The rocks were bare rather than green — it wasn’t moss season, so the vivid version you see in social-media photos wasn’t showing up.
Just past 📍Ca Na, the landscape flattened into salt farms, the pans where seawater is left to evaporate in the sun. Then the road climbed a switchback into the mountains, gaining altitude with bigger and bigger views over the sea.
The scooter handled the climbs without needing eco mode. Closer to Phan Rang, the road turns inland and crosses a sand dune with the sand actually blowing across the tarmac, before opening up to sweeping views of the 📍Mui Dinh Lighthouse.
What makes this stretch what it is: it’s almost empty. The QL1A national highway runs parallel a bit inland, and anyone with somewhere to actually be uses that. Only tourists take the coast road. The result is a first-rate ride with almost no one on it.
I made 97 km on the day, though it felt like less, because I kept stopping to photograph and film. Two battery swaps, ~$18 spent (483,000 ₫), including the mossy-beach coffee and dinner in Phan Rang.
Day 9: Phan Rang → Cam Ranh — Vineyards and Cliff Coast Serpentines
June 6, 2026
| Start: Phan Rang | Finish: 📍Cam Ranh |
|---|---|
| Distance | 155 km (96 mi) |
| Total distance | 1,489 km (925 mi) |
| Battery swaps | 4 |
| Spend | 411,000 ₫ (~$15.63) |
| Road quality | 5/5 |
| Scenery | 9/10 |
Scenery: The wide open streets of Phan Rang, a temple on boulders, coastal mountains and switchbacks running high above blue bays, vineyards and plantations of aloe vera and garlic, and the near-perfect Vinh Hy Bay.
The scenery got a new record today. Nine out of ten.
I started with a walk around Phan Rang before heading out. It’s a beautiful city with wide streets, mountains visible from the middle of town, a good beach, and the 📍Chua Trung Son Co Tu temple sitting on a boulder outcrop. Salt farms sit just outside the city.
Once out of town, the landscape becomes something else. Cliffs on one side, sea on the other, blue bays with kite-surfers.
The road passes through vineyards and aloe vera fields. This whole Phan Rang / Ninh Thuan valley is one of Vietnam’s most under-visited regions for foreign travelers, and it’s easy to see why more people don’t come.
There’s no single “landmark” to pull a tour bus in. It’s slow, vibe-first travel: you ride, you look, you eat something local. The potential of the region is quiet and enormous.
Past the valley the road climbs and drops into 📍Vinh Hy Bay, where the views are great and there are apparently coral reefs offshore. It was a weekend, though, so domestic tourists were out and I didn’t linger.
After Vinh Hy Bay, the coastal road climbs up, offering some of the best viewpoints in Vietnam. It twists up and down, giving you views of turquoise water bays, a big island close to the shore, abandoned luxury villas, and a golf course. That’s where the scenery gets a solid 9 out of 10.
The last third of the day was highway, unavoidable, and I dropped off it at 📍Cam Ranh airport to ride along the resort coastline into town. The airport-strip drivers, especially the taxis and buses, are noticeably worse behaved than anywhere else on the route so far. Ended the evening on the Cam Ranh beaches.
Stayed at 📍An Binh Homestay: extremely basic, but since I had no plan to stay in the room when the beach was so close, I didn’t mind. Especially considering the price of $7.50 (200,000 ₫).
I made 155 km (96 mi) on the day. Four swaps, ~$16 spent (411,000 ₫).
