Key Takeaways
- The advertised day rate is not what you pay. Insurance is a separate line on the price list, and it adds roughly 29% to 36% on top.
- All in, the range runs from about 280,000 VND a day at the cheap end to about 800,000 VND for the bike most people are steered towards. That is a 2.9x spread.
- The cheapest bike is not the 50cc. A 50cc costs more per day than a 110cc that handles this road better.
- The three bikes most often recommended for the Loop are all over 125cc, which puts them in a different licence class and a much higher fine bracket.
- Ask what the deposit is, in what form, and what counts as damage, before you hand anything over. That conversation costs nothing and is where the real money is.
Disclosure, before any numbers
This site sells you nothing. No bookings, no rental, no affiliate links. But you should know two things before you read a price list from me. I still own a share of Jasmine Tours, a Ha Giang operator I co-founded and no longer run, so I benefit if you book with them. And the price table below is their own list, given to me for this page. It is real, first-party and current, which is exactly why it is worth publishing, and also exactly why you should read what I say about it rather than only what it says.
Most pages answering this question give you a range with no bikes attached, no date, and no mention of insurance. Here is an actual price list instead, and then the three things it shows that a range would hide.
How much does it cost to rent a motorbike in Ha Giang?
This is a real Ha Giang rental list, checked August 2026. Prices are per bike per day, in VND, with a rough USD conversion.
| Bike | Type | Rental / day | Insurance / day | All in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honda Wave Blade 110cc | semi-automatic | 180,000 (~$7) | 100,000 (~$4) | 280,000 (~$11) |
| Honda Cub 50cc | semi-automatic | 250,000 (~$10) | 100,000 (~$4) | 350,000 (~$13) |
| Honda Wave / RSX 110cc | semi-automatic | 250,000 (~$10) | 100,000 (~$4) | 350,000 (~$13) |
| Automatic 50cc | automatic | 250,000 (~$10) | 100,000 (~$4) | 350,000 (~$13) |
| Winner 150cc | manual | 300,000 (~$12) | 120,000 (~$5) | 420,000 (~$16) |
| Honda Airblade 125cc | automatic | 350,000 (~$14) | 150,000 (~$6) | 500,000 (~$19) |
| Yamaha PG1 125cc | semi-automatic | 350,000 (~$14) | 150,000 (~$6) | 500,000 (~$19) |
| Future 125cc | semi-automatic | 350,000 (~$14) | 150,000 (~$6) | 500,000 (~$19) |
| Winner R 2026 150cc | manual | 400,000 (~$16) | 200,000 (~$8) | 600,000 (~$23) |
| XR 150cc | manual | 550,000 (~$21) | 250,000 (~$10) | 800,000 (~$31) |
First-party rental price list from a Ha Giang operator, supplied for this article and current in August 2026. USD conversions are approximate. Other shops in town will differ, sometimes by a lot. This is a real list, not a market average.
Is insurance included in the rental price?
Look at the two middle columns again. The insurance is not in the rental price. It is quoted alongside it, and it adds between 29% and 36% depending on the bike.
That is the single most useful thing on this page. When somebody quotes you “180k a day for a Wave”, the number in your head is 180. The number that leaves your wallet is 280. Over four days that gap is 400,000 VND, which is a night’s accommodation.
When you get a quote from any shop, ask one question: “is insurance included in that, or on top?” If the answer is vague, get it in writing before you pay. A price list that separates the two is being honest with you. A quote that leaves it unsaid until you are at the counter with your bag packed is not.
And be clear about what this insurance is and is not. It is cover on the bike, arranged by the rental shop. It is not your travel insurance, and it is not Vietnam’s compulsory third-party certificate. Three different things, and only one of them covers your hospital bill.
Why is the 50cc more expensive than the 110cc?
Here is the thing that jumps out of the table and that I have never seen written anywhere.
A Honda Cub 50cc costs 350,000 VND a day all in. A Honda Wave Blade 110cc costs 280,000. The 50cc is 70,000 VND a day more expensive than a bike with more than twice the engine.
Why would anyone pay more for less? Because of the line that usually sits next to the 50cc on these lists: no driver’s licence required.
That line is legally accurate. Under Vietnamese law a machine under 50cm³ is classed as xe gắn máy, and there is no licence class covering it. Class A1 begins at 50cm³. So the shop is telling you the truth.
But look at what you are actually buying.
- You pay a premium of about 70,000 VND a day over a 110cc, for a smaller engine.
- You get the weakest bike on the list for a road built on climbs and long descents, where engine braking matters as much as power.
- Your travel insurer may not care about Vietnamese licence classes at all. Plenty of policies require a full motorcycle licence for any powered two-wheeler, regardless of engine size. Being legal in Vietnam and being covered by your insurer are two separate tests, and people conflate them constantly.
So the honest version is this. If you have no licence and you want to be legal, a sub-50cc is genuinely the legal route. But read your policy before you assume it makes you covered, and be realistic about whether that bike suits Mã Pí Lèng with a passenger and luggage. The full picture is in whether you need a licence here.
The licence bracket hiding in the price ladder
Now line the table up against Vietnamese licence classes, because they map onto each other and almost nobody points this out.
| Engine | Licence needed | If you ride without it |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50cc | None. Classed as xe gắn máy | Not applicable |
| 50cc to 125cc | A1 | 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 VND |
| Over 125cc | A | 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 VND |
Licence classes come from Luật số 36/2024/QH15, Điều 57, in force 1 January 2025 (retrieved 2026-08-02). Fine brackets come from the full text of Nghị định 168/2024/NĐ-CP, Điều 18 khoản 5 and khoản 7 on the government policy portal (retrieved 2026-08-02). The under-50cc classification is set out at Thư viện Pháp luật (retrieved 2026-08-07). All three are Vietnamese, and all three outrank anything a rental shop or a travel blog tells you about this.
Now look at which bikes sit where. The Winner 150, the Winner R 150 and the XR 150 are all over 125cc. Those are the three bikes most often recommended to visitors for this route, because they are the most capable on it. They are also the three that require class A, the higher licence, and that fall in the 6 to 8 million VND bracket if you do not hold it.
The 125cc machines, the Airblade and the PG1 and the Future, sit under the line and need A1.
Nobody at the counter is going to walk you through that. The price list is a price list. But it means the bike you are pushed towards on capability grounds is also the bike that carries the biggest paperwork consequence, and those two facts belong in the same conversation.
The deposit, and the question to ask
The day rate is the visible cost. The deposit is where the arguments happen.
Practices vary between shops, and I am not going to pretend there is one standard. What does not vary is which questions protect you, so ask these four before money or documents change hands.
What is the deposit, and in what form? Cash and passport are not equivalent. A cash deposit is a sum you can argue about. Your passport is your ability to leave the country, and handing it over changes the balance of any later disagreement completely.
What counts as damage? Get the answer before you ride, not after. There is a large gap between “you broke it” and “that was already there”, and the gap is where the disputes live.
What does the insurance line actually cover? You are paying 100,000 to 250,000 a day for it. Find out whether it covers the bike only, whether there is an excess, and what voids it.
What happens if it breaks down two hours from town? Ask who pays for recovery, and get a phone number that will be answered.
Photograph the bike before you ride away. All four sides, the tank, both mirrors, the seat, and anything already scratched, with the shop’s frontage visible in one frame. Two minutes, and it ends most damage arguments before they start.
The physical check itself, what to actually test on the bike, is a longer job and it gets its own article. For where rental sits against the whole trip budget, see the full Ha Giang Loop cost breakdown.
A note on method: the price table is one operator’s real list, supplied first-party and dated. It is not a survey of the town and I have not presented it as one. The licence classes and fine brackets come from Vietnamese law rather than from any rental shop, because a rental shop is not a neutral source on whether you need a licence to rent from it. That includes the one I hold a share in.
Renting is only one of the three ways to do this. If you are weighing a packaged trip instead, how to choose a Ha Giang Loop tour covers what a guided price has to cover and where a cheap one usually gives.
Ha Giang motorbike rental: common questions
How much does it cost to rent a motorbike for the Ha Giang Loop?
On a real August 2026 list, from 280,000 VND a day all in for a Honda Wave Blade 110cc to 800,000 VND a day for an XR 150cc. Those totals include the insurance line, which is quoted separately from the rental rate and adds roughly 29% to 36%.
Is insurance included in Ha Giang motorbike rental?
Usually not. It is a separate line, typically 100,000 to 250,000 VND a day depending on the bike. Always ask whether a quoted price includes it. It is also cover on the bike, not on you, and it is not your travel insurance.
What is the cheapest bike to rent in Ha Giang?
On this list, the Honda Wave Blade 110cc at 280,000 VND a day all in. Notably that is cheaper than either 50cc option, which cost 350,000 despite having smaller engines.
Can I rent a motorbike in Ha Giang without a licence?
A machine under 50cm³ needs no Vietnamese licence class, so a shop offering one is not misleading you. But your travel insurer may still require a motorcycle licence regardless of engine size, and a 50cc is the weakest bike on the list for a road of long climbs and descents. Read your policy before you treat legal as covered.
Which rental bikes need the higher licence class?
Anything over 125cc, which on this list means the Winner 150, the Winner R 150 and the XR 150. Those need class A rather than A1, and riding them without it falls in the 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 VND bracket under Nghị định 168/2024.
Should I leave my passport as a deposit?
Ask whether a cash deposit is possible instead. A cash deposit is a sum you can dispute. Your passport is your ability to leave the country, and handing it over changes the balance of any later disagreement about damage.
Ask what the insurance line is, ask what counts as damage, and photograph the bike before you ride away. Those three habits are worth more than finding the shop that is 20,000 VND a day cheaper.
Written by Jasmine (Thuy Bui), born and raised in Ha Giang. This site sells nothing and carries no affiliate links. I co-founded Jasmine Ha Giang, a licensed local tour operator, and I still hold a share in it; the team there operates it without me, and the price list above is theirs. My work now is free advice for travellers and social projects in the province.
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