There are a couple ways to get between the towns of Hue and Hoi An. You could take a scenic train ride, or crowd into a bus. But there’s a third option, one popularized by the show Top Gear: riding a motorcycle over the Hai Van Pass. I’ve never watched Top Gear, but I discovered these tours while researching Hue. Sam and I immediately knew this was something we had to do, so I shot off an email to Anh at Hue Motorbike Tours.

A couple days later, we were picked up by two guides named Minh and Nhat. They strapped down our bags and we hit the road. We stopped at a small fishing village and a local swimming hole before eating lunch at a lagoon just north of the pass. After a seafood feast we crossed the pass (enjoying some amazing views) and stopped at Marble Mountain in Da Nang before finishing in Hoi An.

The ride was a little bit of a splurge compared to taking a bus, but it was one of the highlights of our trip. Our drivers were fun, friendly, and – most importantly – safe. We stayed slow and didn’t weave through traffic like a lot of other drivers do. If you’re ever in Hue and need to get to Hoi An, I can’t recommend Hue Motorbike Tours highly enough.

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