Why this ride
A 246 km round trip from Hạ Long - roughly 4 h 14 in the saddle. On the way it passes Yen Giang Stake-yard, Chua Lan Pagoda, Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster and Thanh Mai Pagoda.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago and Thanh Mai Pagoda
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 246 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 14
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago → Yen Giang Stake-yard
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 55 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 55 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago
Ha Long means descending dragon, and the legend says a dragon family came down from heaven to spit out jewels that became the islands, which is as good an explanation as any for nearly two thousand limestone towers rising from green water. UNESCO listed the bay in the 1990s for its scenery and its geology, and the Cát Bà archipelago to the south joins the same landscape of steep karst islands, hidden lagoons and floating fishing villages. The scale is hard to describe: islands shaped like teeth, like ships, like sleeping animals, all standing in a calm, jade-coloured sea.
Read the complete Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago is where the day begins. Next is Yen Giang Stake-yard.
2. Yen Giang Stake-yard
Twice in Vietnamese history, the tide at the mouth of the Bạch Đằng river decided the fate of the country. In 938, Ngô Quyền defeated a Southern Han fleet by planting iron-tipped stakes in the riverbed, hidden at high tide, then luring the enemy ships upstream and waiting for the water to fall. In 1288, during the third Mongol invasion of Đại Việt, the general Trần Hưng Đạo used the same trick against the fleet of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, trapping and destroying it. In the fields around Quảng Yên, archaeologists have found rows of those ancient wooden stakes, still standing in the mud, and the Yên Giang stake yard is one of the sites where you can see them preserved.
Read the complete Yen Giang Stake-yard write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yen Giang Stake-yard comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chua Lan Pagoda.
3. Chua Lan Pagoda
The lowlands where the Bach Dang river meets the sea in northern Vietnam are a place of legends and battles, and the pagodas scattered across this landscape carry centuries of history. Chua Lan Pagoda stands in Quang Ninh province on the low ground south of Uong Bi, between the Yen Tu hills and the port of Haiphong, surrounded by rice fields, fishponds and villages. Like many rural pagodas in northern Vietnam, it is a place of worship, community and memory, with incense-filled halls, statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and old trees in the courtyard. The region is associated with the Truc Lam school of Zen Buddhism, founded by the Tran dynasty king Tran Nhan Tong in the thirteenth century at nearby Yen Tu mountain.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Chua Lan Pagoda. Next is Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster.
4. Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster
In 1293 the Vietnamese king Trần Nhân Tông, who had led his country to victory against two Mongol invasions, gave up his throne and became a monk. He retreated to the mountains of Yên Tử, east of Hanoi, and founded the Trúc Lâm, or Bamboo Forest, school of Zen Buddhism, a distinctly Vietnamese tradition that still flourishes today. In his final years he lived at a hermitage on the mountain of Ngọa Vân, and it was there that he died in 1308. The pagodas, stupas and relics scattered across the ridge form part of the complex of sites connected with Yên Tử and the Trúc Lâm school, which has recently been recognised by UNESCO.
Read the complete Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster, about halfway. Next is Thanh Mai Pagoda.
5. Thanh Mai Pagoda
In the late thirteenth century, a Vietnamese king who had twice helped drive back Mongol invasions gave up his throne, put on a monk's robe and founded a Zen school of his own. Trần Nhân Tông's Trúc Lâm school, the Bamboo Grove sect, became the most distinctly Vietnamese form of Buddhism, and the temples connected with it are scattered across the hills of the north-east, from Yên Tử mountain to Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc. Thanh Mai pagoda, on a forested slope in the Chí Linh area, is one of these places, associated with the early patriarchs of the school, and it belongs to the Yên Tử, Vĩnh Nghiêm, Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex that UNESCO listed in 2025.
Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Thanh Mai Pagoda sits at 123 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster.
6. back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster comes up about 141 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Chua Lan Pagoda.
7. back through Chua Lan Pagoda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 164 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Chua Lan Pagoda. Next is back through Yen Giang Stake-yard.
8. back through Yen Giang Stake-yard
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yen Giang Stake-yard write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yen Giang Stake-yard, late in the day. Next is Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago.
9. Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 246 km.
Leg by leg
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago to Yen Giang Stake-yard
Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago → Yen Giang Stake-yard is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yen Giang Stake-yard to Chua Lan Pagoda
Yen Giang Stake-yard → Chua Lan Pagoda is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chua Lan Pagoda to Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster
Chua Lan Pagoda → Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster to Thanh Mai Pagoda
Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster → Thanh Mai Pagoda is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thanh Mai Pagoda to back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster
Thanh Mai Pagoda → back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster to back through Chua Lan Pagoda
back through Ngoa Van Hermitage Pagoda relic cluster → back through Chua Lan Pagoda is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chua Lan Pagoda to back through Yen Giang Stake-yard
back through Chua Lan Pagoda → back through Yen Giang Stake-yard is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yen Giang Stake-yard to Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago
back through Yen Giang Stake-yard → Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.