On foot or on two wheels, and which suits you

Side by side

Both tours eat where the town eats rather than in the night market, and both are dinner-sized, or in the case of Morning Bites breakfast-sized. The differences are in how you get between kitchens, how long the evening is, and what it costs at your party size.

Pick the walk if

• You want the longest, slowest evening of the two, with more dishes - seven against three to five.
• You are travelling with children between about seven and eleven. The scooter tour does not take anyone under twelve.
• You are three to six people. At that size the walk costs USD 32 to USD 36 each, less than either scooter option.
• You want a beer or a soft drink with dinner and some of you would otherwise be riding a scooter. On the walk nobody is riding.
• Traffic makes you nervous even as a passenger. The walk keeps you on the pavement.

The walk is evenings only. If evenings are already taken, it is not an option, and that alone settles it for some people.

Pick the scooter if

• You want a morning food tour. Morning Bites from 07:00 is the only one we run, and it eats a completely different menu - bun quay, banh canh, bun ken, bread or sticky rice - before most visitors are awake.
• You have three hours rather than four, or you want to be back at your hotel by ten in the morning or nine at night.
• You ride a scooter at home, hold a licence Vietnam recognises and want to ride yourself. Self-ride is the cheapest way onto the scooter tour, at USD 39.
• You are one or two people and would rather sit behind a local rider than walk. The scooter covers more of town between stops.
• You want sea urchin and crab at night. Night Bites aims for both; the walk has neither, and eats squid and sea snails at the harbour instead.

The prices, at the party sizes people actually book

Shared prices per person, paid in full at confirmation. The walk gets cheaper per head as the party grows, because a guide costs the same for two people as for six. The pillion price does not, because every guest has their own guide-driver and bike. Self-ride is flat, but it carries six conditions and is for adults with the right licence only.

Pick-up for the walk is included in Duong Dong, Long Beach and Ong Lang. For the scooter tour it is included at hotels in Duong Dong, with a supplement quoted when you book elsewhere. Full figures for both are on the prices page.

The rules that decide it for some people

Licences. Riding your own scooter needs an International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention, carried with your original home licence showing a motorbike category, or a Vietnamese motorbike licence. Many countries issue permits under the 1949 Geneva Convention, which Vietnam does not recognise. Without a valid licence your travel insurance will usually not pay, so we check at pick-up. If that rules you out, book pillion or the walk.

Alcohol. Vietnam's 2024 road traffic law bans riding with any alcohol in the breath or blood. Self-riders on the scooter tour drink nothing alcoholic. Pillion guests may have a beer at the final cafe. On the walk the included drink can be a local beer for any adult.

Allergies. Both evenings are seafood-heavy. The walk has a vegetarian route at the same price; the scooter tour has a lower-seafood version. In either case tell us when you book, not on the night. Morning Bites is the easier choice for anyone wary of seafood.

Doing both

Because they run at different times and eat different things, the two tours do not repeat each other. Morning Bites one day and the night walk another gives you the island breakfast and the harbour grills without eating the same dish twice. What we would not do is book Night Bites and the walk on consecutive evenings - both evening menus include the herring salad and a sweet che.

Questions travellers ask most

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