FAQ

We want all of our guests to feel safe and comfortable on our tours. If you are over 195cm (6ft4in) or weigh more than 110kg  (240pounds), please let us know in advance. We will then check with our team and, depending on which tour you have booked, we may arrange a larger, more comfortable scooter.

Our Vespa Adventures tours are the most unique and authentic experiences in Asia. We have been running scooter tours in the region longer than anyone else and still remain the very best in the business! From start to finish, every details of the tour has been carefully designed and delivered with the highest service standards. The route will highlight local gems rarely seen by foreigners and provide you with a good mix of culture, sightseeing and fun. Our bikes, a combination of restored vintage Vespas and modern Vespas, are immaculately maintained and supremely comfortable with cushy seats and backrests. Safety is at the top of the priority list and, to that end, we ensure each guest has a well-fitted helmet and our drivers are always proceeding with caution. Vespa Adventures is the original and still the best! Join us on a fun scooter tour in Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand- it is sure to be “The Ride of Your Life”!

 

You will be zipping around town on a Vespa piloted by one of Vespa Adventures’ local drivers. Their goal is to ensure that you have a safe, comfortable ride. And although they may not speak more than a few words of English, our drivers’ genuine hospitality and friendliness shine through in their actions and big smiles. The guide will be with you at every stop of the tour and can answer any questions you may have or assist in translating if you have a message for the driver! Every driver receives extensive training, covering everything from defensive driving to helping guests get comfortable on the bikes. Plus the Vespa Adventure drivers are all local residents, so they know the rules of the road and the unique challenges that come with navigating Southeast Asia traffic!

In addition to the extensive safety procedures on Vespa Adventures tours, we also have insurance policies in each of our destinations. These policies cover you, our guest, when riding as a passenger on the Vespa (pillion). Should any incident take place on tour, our local team is first-aid certified and will assist in getting you to professional medical care as fast as possible

Meet the people, Taste the flavours and See the culture are 3 things you will bring home with our Vespa tours.

A typical Vespa Adventures day tour looks like this. You’ll be picked up at your hotel by one of our drivers and transferred to the gathering point to meet the other group members and the guide. Your guide, who quickly will become your new best friend, will provide a safety briefing and tour overview. Then it’s off on the scooters! Each route is different but each tour contains a healthy dose of zipping through side streets and short stops to mingle with locals, taste traditional delicacies, explore cottage industries, sightsee, take photos or a mix of all of these! Full descriptions of each tour can be found on our “Our Tours” page and if you still have questions, our team will be happy to assist! You can reach out to us anytime via our “Contact Us” page. Vespa Adventures is the original scooter company in Asia and still the best! Join us on a fun scooter tour in Vietnam, Cambodia or Thailand- it is sure to be “The Ride of Your Life”!

Vespa Adventures is THE original scooter tour company and although there are many copy-cats on the market, we are still the best! With 15+ years of experience under our belt, we know what it takes to deliver an amazing tour and our prices reflect the value we provide. Vespa Adventures' routes are carefully researched and mapped out to show you authentic culture, incredible food and hidden places only known to locals. Our drivers and guides go through extensive service and safety training to deliver a safe, enjoyable ride. And we partner with locally-run businesses, paying fair compensation while helping to support their work. We don't compromise on quality or cut corners- and as a result you will have "The Ride of Your Life"!

We understand that your plans may unexpectedly change while on holiday and we try our best to accommodate these changes. If you need to reschedule or cancel your tour please contact us by phone or email as soon as possible. For rescheduling, We do not charge a fee for changing the tour date but letting us know in advance is best so that we can arrange with our team. For cancellation, there is no fee for cancelling more than 24 hours in advance. If cancelling under 24 hours before the start of the tour, please contact us by phone and we will discuss refund options.

A better question might be "What doesn't the tour price include?" Vespa Adventures day tours include local food, purified drinking water and a fun, knowledgeable tour guide to show you around town. You'll also be provided with a helmet, a poncho in case of rain and a stylish Vespa with backrest piloted by an expert local driver. And we include hotel pick–up and drop-off if you are staying in town. You'll only need to reach in your pocket for any personal expenses (such as buying souvenirs) and tips if you wish to thank our crew at the end of the tour.

 

The prices vary depending on the location and the specific tour- you can find a list of our tours and prices here. If booking two or more tours, we offer a 10% discount on each tour. And children under 12 receive 30% off the normal tour price. We also have a variety of combination packages where we pair our tours with a special site visit, theatre show or other experience for a fabulous rate. Check our Special Offers page for more information.

Vespa Adventures tours run on a daily basis, rain or shine. Our tours kickoff in the morning, afternoon, or evening depending on which experience you’d like to join. You can find the specific start times for each tour listed in Our Tours section. If you don’t see a starting time that fits your travel itinerary, please contact us and we can organize a private tour for a 50% surcharge.

The short answer is no. An experienced, trained local driver will be navigating the streets while you sit back (literally as we have backrests on all Vespas!), relax and enjoy “The Ride of Your Life”. The traffic in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand is chaotic and the road rules are different from what you are used to back home. In fact, very few drivers observe the road rules! But there is an element of controlled chaos to the streets and learning to navigate them takes years of practice. At Vespa Adventures, safety is one of our highest priorities and therefore we have selected and trained the best local drivers to take you around town!

On all Vespa Adventures day tours you will be provided with a helmet, local snacks, drinking water, a rain poncho if needed and there is always a first-aid kit on hand. This means you don’t need to bring much. We suggest bringing sunscreen and sunglasses and wearing closed-toe shoes for day tours. Dresses and skirts can be uncomfortable when getting on or off the scooter, so it’s a good idea to opt for shorts or long pants on the day of your tour. In many of our locations, we enter temples or other houses of worships and respectful dress is strongly suggested (shorts near knee length or longer, shoulders covered) of course be sure to bring your camera or smartphone to snap photos along the way!

 

Vespa Adventure tours run even if we only have one guest signed up! So if you are a solo traveler, don’t be shy to book- our tours are a great way to meet fellow travelers or, if you are the only one, you’ll get a fabulous private tour! We cap our tours at a maximum group size of 7 guests, which we find is the sweet spot for giving that personal touch and attention from the guide. If you’d like to guarantee a private tour for you or your group of travelers, we can arrange this at a 50% surcharge. And if you do have a special request for a larger group size, contact us and we’ll make it happen!

Vespa Adventure tours are great for all ages! Whether you are toddler or a great-grandparent, you’ll have “The Ride of Your Life” as you explore Asia on the back of our scooters. The Vespas are extremely comfortable, with cushioned wide seats and a backrest to lean against and large handles to hold on to. We have padded, safe helmets that adjust to fit any adult head and child helmets for smaller riders. Last but not least, safety is a top priority. A full safety briefing is provided at the beginning of the tour, including tips for getting on and off the scooter and your guides will drive with the utmost care from start to finish.

Our multi-day tours grew out of Vespa road adventures we used to embark on ourselves from Saigon. We've long known that it’s impossible to truly experience a place - its culture, its geography, its smells & tastes, and most of all its people - from behind the windows of a crowded bus, stopping only where package tours drop off huge crowds of desensitized ‘travelers’ every hour of every day of the year. So we made our trips spontaneous events, believing fully that the journey is much more important than the destination. We bring that same sense of spontaneity and discovery to our tours with Vietnam Vespa Adventures - the idea of letting these trips happen to us, instead of forcing them to fit a set schedule and itinerary.

We typically spend four hours a day or less riding; the rest is open to our guests' whims and suggestions, our guide's recommendations, and to those serendipitous events and happenings that can't possibly be planned. We like to say that at Vietnam Vespa Adventures we have set destinations, but not set tours.

There are three ways to book a multi-day tour with us:

1. Join one of our existing, currently scheduled tours (you can find those schedules here and here).

2. Create a new tour date for yourself for which we'll try to find additional passengers, up to a maximum of 8 total travelers

3. Create a new exclusive tour date for your group of less than 8 travelers at a slight additional charge

We have scheduled tours, but we’re also happy to book tours according to our guests' travel schedules. We understand that itineraries can be tight when traveling abroad, and we do our best to work within them. We require a minimum of 4 people for a tour to go forward (unless you book an exclusive tour for fewer than that), but for those booking well in advance, there's rarely any problem with finding additional passengers for a given tour. We can lock in any date with a small 20% deposit, which is fully refundable up to two weeks prior to departure.

The main idea of the tour is obviously to have fun, but safety is of paramount importance for us.

On day one of the tour we spend as much time as necessary orienting our guests on the Vespas and automatic scooters. We reserve the right to qualify each rider for satisfactory safe driving ability on these vintage scooters. If we are not fully satisfied with a guest's demonstrated ability, we will provide an automatic scooter in order to assure his/her safety and that of the entire group. (Guests are also welcome to ride pillion behind one of our experienced drivers or behind another guest driving his or her own Vespa. Alternatively, we can also provide automatic scooters for you to drive on the trip instead of Vespas.)

We spend considerable time going over the document we provide our guests entitled ‘How To Drive Safely in Vietnam,’ which explains at length the very different driving conditions to be found in Vietnam and how to navigate them safely. We also provide high-quality full-faced helmets for all our guests.

Our Terms and Conditions make very clear that we expect guests to follow our guide and crew’s instructions to the letter throughout the tour. We are not flexible on this condition.

Because of all these precautions, our accident record is essentially zero. We've had the occasional unavoidable minor mishap but none of our passengers have ever been injured beyond a scrape or two and slightly bruised pride.

It would be false to suggest that our tour is as safe as sitting at home on a sofa and watching the Travel Channel on TV. The name of our company has the word Adventures in it, and an adventure is what we aim to provide -- but in as reliable, secure and comfortable a manner as is possible in Vietnam.

It's a very good idea to have motorbike riding experience, even better to have driven a manual clutch before (motorbike or automobile). But it’s not strictly necessary. Before departing Saigon, we'll spend plenty of time orienting all riders on the proper and safe operation of the Vespas. We reserve the right to qualify each rider on a Vespa for your own safety. For those guests uncomfortable with driving a vintage, manual-clutch scooter, we will happily make automatic scooters available instead. We take safety very seriously.

All the Vespas on our tours in Vietnam are 1960-1970 original, collectible-quality Italian scooters. Each of these classic 150cc motorbikes has been restored to near perfection using original parts. We ride these bikes ourselves every week, and a support crew is available to repair any minor mechanical problem we may encounter.

Not with us. There are 90 million Vietnamese people in the country and approximately 40 million motorbikes. The vast majority of those riders are clustered in the big cities, which can certainly make a ride through Saigon or Hanoi a hair-raising experience. But we don't like heavy traffic any more than the next person. Our multi-day tours are well outside these high-traffic centers. And rather than taking the busy (and unsightly) Highway 1, we keep to back roads and non-commercial routes on our trips. This results in not only a much more pleasant and scenic ride but a much safer one.

The condition of the roads is generally fine, but there are occasional rough spots with potholes or sand of the road. We travel these roads almost every week, so we have very good idea where we’ll need to take extra care. Also, our guide in front will always warn passengers before we approach one. Again, your safety is our highest priority.

Not normally. However, if your group is all arriving at the same time and on the same flight, we can arrange an airport transfer for the group as a whole. A taxi from the airport into District 1 should not cost more than about 150,000 VND (about $7.50 USD)

Absolutely. We can make all the arrangements for booking hotels and trains outside the tour.

To begin with, remember that, unlike other Southeast Asia countries, in order to enter Vietnam you'll need to secure your entry visa before you arrive at the airport or border. We'll take care of just about everything you'll need on the tours. But you may wish to make sure you bring some good driving sunglasses, closed-toe shoes, jeans or cargo pants, long sleeve shirts, a light jacket for the hills, and a high SPF sunscreen.

Anytime is best. We run our tours year-round, as in Southern Vietnam we’re lucky to have a relatively consistent climate all year. The temperature rarely rises above 32 degrees and rarely falls below 22 (at night). Vietnam has only two seasons: wet and dry. In Southern Vietnam, that means that May through October usually get an hour or two of rain every day (peaking in September). November through April, on the other hand, are typically dry and warm. In the Central Highlands around Dalat, it can get quite cool, especially at night. In the wet season, it simply means we may stop for a drink or a snack. It's all part of the adventure! Rain also tends to happen in the late afternoon here, and we're usually at our destination by the time it starts, if it starts. When necessary, we do provide wet weather gear.

Helmets are required by law in Vietnam, and we provide certified, open-faced motorcycle helmets for all our guests.

Not at all. You may choose to ride pillion behind another member of your party or behind one of our crew. There’s also the support van.

No problem. We're happy to provide current-model automatic scooters for those who prefer a less 'vintage' option.

Nearly all our costs on the tours go toward accommodating our guests, not the Vespas themselves, which we own. Therefore our rates, which are already a great bargain anywhere in the world, won't be reduced significantly if a guest wishes to ride only pillion with another guest. (This is true also of guests who wish to accompany a Vespa-driving partner by remaining in the support van.)

We usually drive for no more than four hours (roughly 120-150 km) per day. We stop often for photos, conversation, leg-stretches, drinks, road-side lunch, and almost anything interesting or unusual.

Our tours are shadowed by a support van at all times. Guests are welcome to keep their luggage in the van while they're riding. The van's also a popular place for sunburned riders, chatty riders, tired riders, and hungover riders.

Our team will be happy to help guests arrange hotel bookings in Saigon or Nha Trang before and after the tour. We also can help any guests arrange train or flight transportation back to Saigon if necessary. The best options from Nha Trang are an hour flight (about $50 US) or an overnight sleeper berth on a train, which runs about US $24/person, departing around 6:30pm and arriving in Saigon around 5am. From Mui Ne, one of the twice-daily buses ($12) is the best option.

We’re happy to have children accompany the longer tours. With parent's permission, they are allowed to ride pillion with a parent, our guide or driver. The rate for children 7-12 years old sharing a room with parents is 40% of the single room rate ($1656) - or $662 each.

No, you don't need a Vietnamese driver's license. Any official driving license issued by your country of residence is fine.

Travel insurers will not provide coverage to anyone driving a motorcycle above 49cc in Vietnam without a locally issued licence. However, riding pillion behind any other operator is fully covered. If that condition is an insurmountable concern for you, then we would certainly not recommend driving your own motorbike or scooter in Vietnam - though we're happy to have you join us as a pillion passenger, which many of our guests choose to do.

Our multi-day tours run with a minimum of four (4) and a maximum of eight (8) persons. Above that it becomes difficult for us to provide the individual level of personalized attention and care that we feel makes our tour so special - though we have done bigger tours and can make special arrangements for them. Tours are often comprised of more than one group, so prepare to make some new friends along the way.

Certainly. One of the things we most like seeing is different groups of travelers meeting for the first time on the tour and becoming friends during this unique shared experience. But we also understand not everyone always wants that kind of shared adventure. Our online booking process will allow you to choose an exclusive adventure for a slight premium.

We require a 20% deposit to lock in a group and date, payable via PayPal or any major credit card (VISA, Mastercard, American Express). The deposit is fully refundable up to one month before the tour if you choose to cancel for any reason. The remainder of the balance is due no later than one month before your arrival in Vietnam.

A better question might be, What doesn't the tour price include?

The Mui Ne Coastal Adventure and Nha Trang Coastal & Highland Adventure include three and six nights (respectively) of hotel/resort accommodation, all food and drink, our road crew and tour guide, a support van, Vespa rental, petrol and several days worth of spectacular scenery and memories to last a lifetime. (Airfare and alcohol are not included).

A minimum 20% deposit on the total tour cost for all travelers -- fully refundable up to one month prior to departure -- is required at the time of your booking in order to lock in your tour date. The full balance of the tour must be paid no less than one month prior to the date of your arrival in Vietnam.

Please don't hesitate to contact us vie email, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or telephone:

From within Vietnam: 01222993585 or 0938500997

From outside Vietnam: +84 1222993585 or +84 938500997

lets@ridevespas.com