Routes & Day Trips
Tra Que Vegetable Village by Motorbike: The 2026 Riding Guide
Three kilometres of quiet lanes, rice paddies and a river bridge. Riding to Tra Que Vegetable Village by motorbike takes under ten minutes — and it is the single easiest countryside ride in Hoi An.
This is a riding guide to Tra Que Vegetable Village by motorbike: the exact route out of the Ancient Town, where to park once you arrive, whether you legally need a licence, and how to link the village into a half-day loop with the beach. It opens with a short briefing on what Tra Que actually is, including figures from its national heritage listing that rarely appear in English. For the full story of the place, we have a separate guide.
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- Tra Que in five minutes: the facts most guides miss
- The route: two ways out of the Old Town
- Where to park at Tra Que
- Do you need a licence to ride here?
- Which vehicle suits you best
- The best hours to ride
- The half-day loop: Tra Que, An Bang, Cam Thanh
- Riding the village lanes without upsetting anyone
- What the morning actually costs
This page covers the ride. If you want the village itself — 400 years of history, why UN Tourism named it one of the world’s best tourism villages in 2024, the river-algae farming method, the Cau Bong festival and what to eat nearby — read our complete Tra Que Vegetable Village guide instead. The two pages are meant to be read together.
№ 01Tra Que in five minutes: what you are riding out to see
Most guides describe Tra Que as “a 400-year-old organic vegetable village”. True, but thin. Here is what the heritage record actually says — and most of it does not appear in English anywhere.
Not just a pretty farm — a nationally listed craft
On 4 April 2022, Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision 784/QĐ-BVHTTDL, entering Tra Que vegetable growing on the national list of intangible cultural heritage, in the category of folk knowledge and traditional crafts.
That is a legal designation, not a tourism slogan. It protects the method — the knowledge of how to grow this way — rather than the land. The UN Tourism “Best Tourism Villages” award in 2024, which gets far more coverage, came two years later.
The village runs on numbers smaller than most visitors expect:
- About 18 hectares of growing beds — you can walk the productive heart of it in fifteen minutes.
- 207 households and roughly 345 people working the land. This is a village, not a plantation.
- 55 vegetable and herb varieties recorded — with the heritage file noting that some heirloom varieties have already been lost.
- 792 tonnes harvested in 2018, worth about 10.73 billion dong. Roughly two and a half tonnes per household, per year, grown almost entirely by hand.
- The herbs double as folk medicine — locally prepared as remedies for flu, rheumatism and skin rashes, a use that predates the tourism entirely.
The village was once called Nhự Quế. The story recorded locally is that in the 18th century a royal visitor tasted the produce and found it carried two aromas at once — trà (tea) and quế (cinnamon). The village has been Trà Quế ever since. The herbs really do smell like that, incidentally: crush a leaf of the local basil between your fingers when you get there.
Why the vegetables taste different — and it is not marketing
Tra Que uses no chemical fertiliser at all. Instead the beds are fed with algae dredged from the Tra Que lagoon and the De Vong River, carried up by hand and worked into the sandy soil. It is heavy, wet, unglamorous work, and it is done before dawn.
That single practice is what the 2022 heritage listing protects, and it is why Hoi An chefs insist on Tra Que herbs specifically for cao lau, mi quang and tam huu rolls. The leaves are smaller and tougher than commercial herbs, with a far stronger scent — grown slowly in poor sandy soil rather than pushed with nitrogen.
A village of fishermen who became farmers
The founding story is stranger than the usual telling. Roughly 400 years ago the first settlers here were fishermen, not gardeners. The farming families — the Pham, Mai, Nguyen and Le clans — established the vegetable village a little over 300 years ago. So the often-quoted “400 years of vegetable growing” is a compression of two separate chapters: the fishing settlement first, the herb beds after.
Different official records give different figures — 18 hectares of cultivated beds against roughly 40 hectares for the wider village area, and 300 versus 400 years depending on whether you date the settlement or the farming. The figures above come from the national heritage dossier compiled by the Hoi An heritage authorities, which is the most rigorous source available.
№ 02The route: two ways out of the Old Town
Tra Que sits roughly 3 km north of Hoi An Ancient Town, on the flat stretch of farmland between the town and An Bang Beach. There is no hill, no highway and no complicated junction. Both routes below are easy for a first-time rider.
Route A — the direct one (Hai Ba Trung Street)
- Start at the north edge of the Old TownPick up Hai Ba Trung Street. It runs north from the pedestrian zone, so you never have to ride through the restricted streets.
- Ride straight for about 2.5 kmHai Ba Trung turns from town street into open farmland surprisingly fast. Rice paddies on both sides is the sign you are on track.
- Watch for the Tra Que signboard on your rightA brown tourism sign marks the turning. Miss it and you will end up at An Bang Beach — which is not the worst mistake to make.
- Turn right and slow downFrom here the lane narrows and the surface changes. Farmers, bicycles and delivery carts share it. Walking pace is the correct speed.
Total: 8 to 10 minutes on a scooter from the Old Town, riding gently. This is the route to take if it is your first time on a bike in Vietnam.
Route B — the scenic one (along the De Vong River)
Slightly longer, considerably prettier. Head northeast towards Cam Chau and follow the smaller lanes that run near the De Vong River — the same river whose algae fertilises the Tra Que herb beds. You will pass fishing boats, bamboo baskets drying on the bank and almost no traffic.
The trade-off: several unmarked junctions. Download the offline map before you leave. Mobile signal is fine here, but stopping in the middle of a narrow lane to load a map is how minor collisions happen.
Hoi An’s Ancient Town closes to motorbikes during pedestrian hours. Riding out of your hotel, always aim north or east first, then loop around — do not try to cut through the walking streets. Our team marks the current restricted hours on your map when you collect the bike.
№ 03Where to park at Tra Que
You do not ride into the village. The herb beds are separated by narrow earth paths barely a metre wide, and they are working ground — farmers are carrying water and produce along them all morning. Riding in is both impractical and rude.
Park at the entrance area near the ticket point and walk in. The village is small enough to cross on foot in fifteen minutes.
- Expect to pay a small parking fee — around 5,000–10,000₫, the standard rate for a guarded spot in the Hoi An area.
- Take the ticket if one is handed to you. Lose it and you may have to prove the bike is yours.
- Nothing loose in the under-seat storage. Standard practice anywhere in Vietnam, not a comment on Tra Que.
- Point the bike out, not in. Leaving is much easier when the lane fills with tour bicycles at nine in the morning.
If you plan to leave the bike in the Ancient Town instead and cycle out, our own guarded parking lot at 84 Phan Chau Trinh charges 10,000₫ per motorbike and is free for rental customers.
№ 04Do you need a licence to ride here?
This is the question we are asked most often at the counter, and the honest answer has two halves.
Under 50cc: no driving licence required
Under Article 57 of Vietnam’s Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety 2024, in force since 1 January 2025, a vehicle classified as a xe gan may — engine under 50cc, or an electric motor under 4kW, with a top design speed of 50 km/h — does not require a driving licence.
Article 59 of the same law sets the minimum age at 16.
This is why a 50cc bike or an electric scooter is the straightforward legal choice for most visitors doing a short countryside run like Tra Que.
Above 50cc is a different matter. For anything larger you need a valid licence from your home country plus an International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention. Vietnam recognises that convention. Permits issued under the older 1949 Geneva Convention — which is what many travellers from the United States are given — are not officially recognised here.
Riding without the correct entitlement is not only a traffic offence — it is also the most common reason travel insurance refuses a medical claim after a scooter accident. Check the exact wording of your policy before you ride anything over 50cc. If in doubt, take the 50cc.
Rules change. This reflects the law as it stands in August 2026 — confirm the current position before you travel, and ask us at handover if you are unsure.
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№ 05Which vehicle suits you best
Tra Que is close enough that the vehicle you choose matters less for the journey than for what you do afterwards. Riding three kilometres is easy on anything. The question is whether you want to carry on to the beach.
| Option | Ride time | Licence | Best for | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bicycle | ~15 minflat the whole way | None | Sunrise trips, slow mornings, riders who do not want an engine | From ~30,000₫/day |
| Electric scooter | 8–10 min | Noneunder 4kW | Quiet lanes, nervous first-timers, short hops | From ~120,000₫/day |
| 50cc motorbike | 8–10 min | Noneage 16+ | The legal sweet spot — Tra Que plus An Bang in one go | From ~90,000₫/day |
| 110cc+ scooter | 7–8 min | Home licence + 1968 IDP | Two riders, luggage, longer day trips | From ~120,000₫/day |
| Taxi / Grab | ~10 min | — | Rain, heat, travelling with small children | 80,000–100,000₫ each way |
Prices above are typical Hoi An daily rates as a guide, not a quote — see current motorbike rental prices in Hoi An for exact figures.
For Tra Que alone, a bicycle is genuinely lovely — three flat kilometres, and you arrive at the same speed as village life. For Tra Que plus the beach, take a 50cc: no licence paperwork, enough range for the whole loop below, and light enough to feel safe on a narrow lane.
№ 06The best hours to ride
Tra Que opens at 07:00 and closes at 17:00. Within those hours, two windows are worth planning around — and one is worth avoiding.
- Early morning, 07:00 – 08:30Farmers are watering by hand, the light is low and gold, and the lanes are empty of tour groups. This is the version of Tra Que the photographs are made of. It is also the coolest part of the day.
- Late afternoon, 16:00 – 17:00The second watering round, softer light, and a short ride onward to An Bang for sunset. Note the village closes at 17:00 — arrive by 16:00 to have any time at all.
- Avoid 11:00 – 14:00Central Vietnam midday sun on open farmland with no shade. The herbs look flat, the farmers are resting, and you will not enjoy it.
From roughly September to December, Hoi An gets heavy rain and the low-lying farmland around Tra Que floods more readily than the town itself. The lanes turn to soft mud, and in bad years sections go under water entirely. If it has rained hard overnight, ask at your hotel before setting off — and consider the bicycle or a taxi instead of a scooter on a slick, narrow lane.
№ 07The half-day loop: Tra Que, An Bang, Cam Thanh
Tra Que on its own is a one-hour stop. The reason to have a bike is that it sits at the start of the best half-day loop in Hoi An — all of it flat, none of it more than fifteen minutes between stops.
- 07:00 — Tra Que Vegetable VillageArrive at opening. Walk the herb beds, watch the morning watering, buy a bunch of basil for almost nothing. Allow one hour.
- 08:30 — An Bang BeachRoughly 2 km further on, the same road. Breakfast facing the sea, a swim before the sun gets serious. Beach parking is signposted and cheap.
- 10:30 — Back through town, then southeast to Cam ThanhThe coconut water-palm forest, about 6 km from the Old Town on the other side. Basket boat rides run all day. This is the busiest of the three — go last, expect crowds.
- 13:00 — Return to Hoi AnYou are back before the worst of the afternoon heat, having covered farmland, coast and wetland in one morning on one tank.
Total riding distance is roughly 20 km — well inside the range of any 50cc bike or a charged electric scooter. Distances here are approximate; treat them as planning figures rather than precise measurements.
Do the first two stops and skip Cam Thanh. Tra Que at opening followed by breakfast at An Bang is, for our money, the single best short morning in Hoi An — and it costs less than a coffee and a taxi in most cities.
№ 08Riding the village lanes without upsetting anyone
Tra Que is a working farm that happens to accept visitors, not an attraction built for them. A few things make the difference between being welcome and being a nuisance.
- Helmets are compulsory in Vietnam — rider and passenger, on every road, including the small ones. Police do check the road to An Bang.
- Do not ride onto the earth paths between the beds. They are irrigation banks. A scooter wheel breaks them and someone has to rebuild it by hand.
- Give way to anything carrying water. A farmer with two full cans on a shoulder pole cannot step aside; you can.
- Ask before photographing faces. A gesture at the camera and a smile is enough — refusals are rare and the portraits are far better when they are consented to.
- Buy something small. A bundle of herbs costs a few thousand dong and goes directly to the household whose garden you just walked through.
- Sound your horn softly on blind corners. In Vietnam a short beep means “I am here”, not “get out of my way”. Use it, gently.
№ 09What the morning actually costs
| Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 50cc motorbike, 1 day | from 90,000₫about $3.50 | Delivered to your hotel, helmets included |
| Petrol for the full loop | ~20,000–30,000₫ | 20 km uses very little |
| Tra Que village entry | 35,000₫/personabout $1.35 | Includes garden access and basic farming activity |
| Parking at the village | 5,000–10,000₫ | Guarded, pay on collection |
| Optional: farming & cooking experience | 250,000–400,000₫ | Half-day, booked through village households |
A morning at Tra Que on your own bike comes to roughly 150,000–180,000₫ per person including the day’s rental — against 500,000₫ and upwards for a seat on an organised tour that arrives when the light has already gone flat.
Still hungry when you ride back?
Tra Que shows you where the herbs come from — a guided food tour in the Old Town shows you where they end up. Three hours, small group, ★5.0 from travellers.
Riding out to Tra Que tomorrow morning?
Motorbikes, 50cc bikes, electric scooters and bicycles delivered free to hotels, homestays and resorts across Hoi An. Helmets, phone mount and a marked map included — and we will show you exactly where to turn.
Zalo 0935 439 306 · 84 Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An
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Planning more riding around Hoi An? See our Hoi An cycling routes, the Hoi An to Da Nang scooter run, and current Hoi An entrance ticket prices.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to ride to Tra Que Vegetable Village from Hoi An?
About 8 to 10 minutes by motorbike or electric scooter from Hoi An Ancient Town, covering roughly 3 kilometres north. By bicycle it takes around 15 minutes on completely flat ground. The simplest route is straight up Hai Ba Trung Street until you see the brown Tra Que signboard on the right.
Do I need a driving licence to ride to Tra Que Vegetable Village?
Not for a vehicle under 50cc. Under Article 57 of Vietnam’s Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety 2024, effective 1 January 2025, motorbikes under 50cc and electric motors under 4kW do not require a driving licence, and the minimum age is 16. For anything above 50cc you need your home licence plus an International Driving Permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention. Permits issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention are not recognised in Vietnam.
Can I ride my motorbike inside Tra Que Vegetable Village?
No. The paths between the herb beds are narrow irrigation banks used by farmers carrying water and produce, and riding on them damages the beds. Park at the entrance area near the ticket point, expect to pay around 5,000 to 10,000 dong, and walk in. The whole village takes about fifteen minutes to cross on foot.
How much is the entrance fee at Tra Que Vegetable Village?
35,000 dong per person, roughly 1.35 US dollars, which includes garden access and a basic farming activity. The village is open daily from 07:00 to 17:00. Half-day farming and cooking experiences run separately through village households and cost around 250,000 to 400,000 dong per person.
What is the best time of day to ride to Tra Que?
Early morning between 07:00 and 08:30, when farmers are watering by hand and the light is low. Late afternoon from 16:00 also works, but the village closes at 17:00. Avoid the middle of the day, roughly 11:00 to 14:00, because the farmland has no shade and the light is harsh.
Can I combine Tra Que with An Bang Beach on the same ride?
Yes, and it is the reason to take a bike rather than walk. An Bang Beach is roughly 2 kilometres further along the same road. A common half-day loop is Tra Que at opening, breakfast at An Bang, then the Cam Thanh coconut forest about 6 kilometres from the Old Town on the other side of town. The full loop is around 20 kilometres.
Updated August 2026. Prices, opening hours and distances are approximate and recorded at the time of writing — village entry and parking fees are set locally and can change. Licence information reflects Vietnamese law as it stands in August 2026 and is provided as general guidance, not legal advice; confirm the current requirements before you ride. Spotted something out of date? Message us and we will correct it.
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