How Much Does the Cao Bang Loop Cost? (2026 Breakdown)

How much does the Cao Bang Loop cost?

A three-day Cao Bang Loop costs 1,740,000 to 2,545,000 VND (68 to 99 USD) per person if you rent a bike and organise everything yourself, or 3,410,000 VND (133 USD) on a guided self-ride tour. An easy rider costs 4,810,000 VND (188 USD). All figures are per person, start and finish in Cao Bang city, and exclude transport Hanoi. The independent figures already include the 10 USD border permit. On a guided tour, easy rider or private car it is billed on top of the price below, the same 10 USD, since it is a personal document rather than part of the package.

Prices convert at 25,641 VND to the dollar, our own booking rate. Estimates elsewhere differ because the terms move: some count the Hanoi bus, some assume a group of four, some fold in the refundable deposit.

Three budget levels, line by line

Riding independently, what you spend comes down to three choices: which bike, which bed, where you eat. Every column adds up to the total beneath it.

Which option is yours

• Never ridden a geared bike on mountain roads: easy rider, or a car if there are three of you.
• Confident rider, one or two people, tight budget: independent, on a semi-automatic.
• Three or more, at any comfort level: private car. It is cheaper per head than an easy rider and carries the luggage.
• Confident rider who wants the route handled: guided self-ride tour. Above roughly 2.5 million dong of self-organised spending it also becomes the cheaper option.

Comparing headline prices without comparing inclusions is how people decide a tour is overpriced. A guided tour here already covers fuel, tickets and a guide, which an independent rider buys one at a time.

Handing over the handlebars costs a consistent premium: 400,000 VND a day on a full-day trip, 450,000 on two days, about 467,000 on three, so roughly 16 to 18 USD a day for an easy rider instead of riding yourself.

Motorbike rental: rates, cover and deposits

A semi-automatic bike suitable for the loop rents for 180,000 to 280,000 VND a day, a fully automatic scooter for 250,000 to 350,000, and a manual clutch bike for 350,000 to 700,000. Optional damage cover is half the daily rate on every model.

Bikes are 2023 to 2025 models. Before you compare these rates with anyone else's, check what they carry:

• No multi-day discount. Three days on a Wave Alpha is simply 540,000 VND.
• Free with every bike: helmet, phone mount, bungee straps, rear box.
• Rain suit, jacket and trousers: 20,000 VND.
• Fuel at handover: a little above empty, enough to reach a pump, so your first stop is the petrol station.
• Damage: shared if you skip the optional cover. Riders without it pay 30 to 70 percent of the repair depending on cause and severity; taking the cover waives that share.

What the optional cover is, and what it is not

Our cover costs half the daily rate, so 90,000 VND a day on a Wave Alpha and 350,000 on an XR 190L. What rental companies in Vietnam sell as insurance is a damage waiver on the bike, not a policy in the sense you know at home: the compulsory Vietnamese motorbike insurance is third party liability only and costs a few tens of thousands of dong a year, so any daily product priced like this one is cover for the machine. Take it and the 30 to 70 percent damage share above does not apply: the cover replaces that liability rather than sitting on top of it.

None of it is medical insurance. If you come off the bike, your own travel policy pays the hospital, so check three things in the wording before you leave home:

• Whether motorcycles are covered at all, since many policies exclude them outright
• Whether cover depends on holding a licence valid in Vietnam for the engine size you ride
• Whether there is a capacity cap, commonly 125cc

Without that, an emergency transfer to Hanoi is the largest bill this trip can produce.

Deposits, and why they sit outside your budget

You choose: leave your passport, or leave a cash deposit equal to half the bike's daily rental rate, the same figure as the optional damage cover. Both come back when the bike does, and you pick because the two carry different risks for you.

Either way it is security, not spending, so it belongs on a separate line: money you must have available, not money you lose. Ha Giang Loop operators publish refundable deposits of 40 to 200 USD for comparison. Protect yours whichever you choose by photographing the bike every angle before you ride off, existing scratches included.

Fuel, food and drink

Petrol costs 52,000 to 65,000 VND per 100 km on a semi-automatic bike, so 155,000 to 230,000 VND for the whole loop. Food and drink run 150,000 to 250,000 VND a day if you eat where local people eat.

Petrol

Vietnam moved RON 95-III to an E10 blend, priced at 25,630 VND a litre the afternoon of 17 September 2026, with E5 RON 92 at 25,130. Cao Bang is in the second pricing zone, capped at 102 percent of zone one, so expect slightly above that at the pump. A 110cc to 125cc semi-automatic uses 2 to 2.5 litres per 100 km on mountain roads. Our classic route is about 300 km and the extended route about 350 km.

Fill up in Cao Bang city before you set off. Stations exist along the route but thin out between towns, and running low in a valley is a problem money cannot solve quickly.

Eating and drinking

• Pho or bun at a roadside stall: 30,000 to 50,000 VND
• Banh mi: 15,000 to 30,000 VND
• Plate meal at a local quan com: 30,000 to 60,000 VND
• The same food at a restaurant set up for tour groups: 60,000 to 120,000 VND
• Bottled water 5,000 to 10,000, coffee 15,000 to 30,000, bia hoi 5,000 to 10,000, bottled beer 15,000 to 25,000 VND

Those are market ranges rather than fixed prices. For a published figure to anchor against, dishes at our own restaurant, Gilu's Garden, start at 50,000 VND.

Accommodation price bands

A dorm bed costs 100,000 to 150,000 VND, a private double 200,000 to 590,000, and a family or VIP room 690,000 to 1,290,000. Camping combos run 750,000 to 850,000 per person. Weekend rates are higher at the larger properties.

Laundry is 40,000 VND a kilo at both properties, worth knowing on a trip where everything ends up damp. The camping rate covers the tent and the site, meaning picnic area, outdoor furniture, BBQ facilities, wifi and hiking, but not food, so budget meals on top. For which part of town or which village to base yourself in, see our guide on where to stay in Cao Bang.

Entrance fees and paid stops

Tickets for a standard three-day loop come to 110,000 to 195,000 VND per person including parking. Ban Gioc and Nguom Ngao are 45,000 VND each, Pac Bo 25,000 and Thang Hen 30,000. Angel Eye Mountain is free. On any of our tours the three main tickets are already in the price.

Nguom Ngao sells two different visits, and most guides mention only one. The standard ticket is a lit walk through the main chamber. The Ban Thuon branch trip, around 190,000 VND and more than four times the basic ticket, is guided, uses supplied safety gear and rafts across an underground stream through a part of the cave few visitors see. No advance booking is needed, so you can decide at the counter, but decide on the budget beforehand.

The costs most budgets miss

Four things regularly catch people out: the border permit, licence checks, roadside repairs and the weather.

Border area permit

Ten US dollars per person. Parts of this loop run along the Chinese border, and the permit for that zone is a real administrative step rather than a formality invented for tourists, which is why it sits in the budget table above rather than in a footnote. Who needs one and how to get it is in our guide to the Cao Bang Loop border area permit.

Licence checks and fines

Riding without a licence valid in Vietnam is expensive twice over: the fine itself, and a travel insurance claim that will not be paid. Whether your home licence or international permit is accepted depends on which convention your country signed, so check before you book a bike rather than after: our guide to which international driving permit is valid in Vietnam covers this by country. If the answer is no, an easy rider or a car removes the problem.

Breakdowns and repairs

Punctures are the common one, and small workshops sit in most villages, so repairs are quick and cheap: 30,000 to 80,000 VND for a puncture, 50,000 to 150,000 for chain work, 50,000 to 100,000 for brake pads. On a guided tour or with an easy rider this stops being your problem, which is part of what the price buys.

Rain

Wet season does not raise prices, it costs you time. Slower riding often means an extra night, landslides force detours that add fuel and hours, and wet clothes turn laundry a daily 40,000 VND line. Budget one spare night and one spare tank and the season stops being a financial risk. For which months to avoid or aim for, see our guide to the best time to visit Cao Bang.

Cash, ATMs and tipping

Withdraw 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 VND in Cao Bang city before you leave, and carry it all. Card payment is effectively unavailable on the loop, ATMs in the smaller towns run dry at busy times, and village shops, coffee stalls and family homestays take cash only.

• Spend 300,000 to 500,000 VND a day if a tour covers the big items. That is drinks, coffee, snacks, laundry and market buys. Independent riders need more.
• Keep 500,000 to 1,000,000 VND in reserve, separate your daily money, for a repair, an unplanned night or a pharmacy.
• Ask the price before you accept a service, particularly parking, rafts and photo props. Prices at the ticket gate are posted and fixed. Prices offered in the car park are not.
• Watch the pump meter reset to zero before filling starts, and pay after.

Tipping

Tipping is not expected in Vietnam and no guide or rider will treat you differently for skipping it. Ha Giang operators publish an expected 10 to 20 USD a day for easy riders, for reference. We publish no figure of our own and set no expectation, so treat any number you read elsewhere as someone else's benchmark rather than a rule here.

Getting to Cao Bang: adding Hanoi transport

A one-way bus Hanoi costs 180,000 to 450,000 VND, so budget 360,000 to 900,000 return. Around 67 services run daily and the trip takes about seven hours. Seats and sleeper cabins can be checked and booked on our Cao Bang bus ticket page.

A full Hanoi to Hanoi trip therefore runs about 2,100,000 to 3,445,000 VND (82 to 134 USD) independently, 3,770,000 to 4,310,000 VND (147 to 168 USD) on a guided self-ride tour, and 5,170,000 to 5,710,000 VND (202 to 223 USD) with an easy rider. Come up on the night bus and the free arrival-night dorm bed included with our tours removes one night that total.

How to spend less without gutting the trip

• Travel as three or four. The largest single saving. A private car drops 7,210,000 VND per person alone to 3,835,000 with four aboard, a 47 percent cut, and rooms split the same way: the Eco House family room works out at 230,000 a head.
• Book direct, not through a booking platform. Our full-day easy rider tour is 58.11 USD on our own site and 74.42 USD on the large international platforms, 28 percent more for the same tour. That gap is platform commission.
• Ride midweek. Weekend rates add 40,000 to 60,000 VND a night at the Eco House and the popular stops are busier, so shifting a trip by two days costs nothing and saves twice.

Where not to economise

• Travel insurance that actually covers motorcycles. An emergency transfer to Hanoi without it runs thousands of dollars.
• A bike in known condition. The cheapest rental in town is cheap for a reason, and a seized chain on a mountain descent is not a saving.
• An easy rider or a car if you are not a confident rider. Long descents, blind curves and gravel sections. The money saved riding a bike you cannot handle is the worst value on this page.

Planning your own loop

Every price here is what we charge or what we pay at the gate, with the arithmetic shown so you can rebuild it for your own group and dates. The three-day trip these numbers describe is on our three-day Cao Bang Loop tour page, and rental rates are listed bike by bike. If you are three or more and want the car priced for your dates, send us the details and we will quote it. For what to pack and how to prepare beyond the budget, see our checklist for the Cao Bang Loop.