Ha Giang loop in December and January: worth the cold?

We would send experienced riders, and anyone happy on the back of an easy rider's bike in a down jacket, in December. We would tell first-timers without warm gear, and anyone whose trip only works in January, to look at the autumn months on the loop or at another trip in the north instead.

This is the loop in late December and January, pieced together from riders who wrote about it on r/solotravel. You are up at six or seven to get ahead of rain that the forecast shows every day but that falls for only a few hours. A merino jumper under a down jacket still leaves you cold on some stretches, though the days stay dry and fairly clear. In January, gloves and a windproof jacket get you through the riding, but most buildings are not heated, and one rider's tip is a better hotel with a hot shower to warm up in. One traveller who had planned a tour for 28 to 30 December 2022 saw a forecast of 13°C by day and 9°C at night, with cloud and rain, and decided to save the loop for another trip.

"You really need a proper, warm jacket. I was wearing a merino jumper and a duck down jacket, and there were still parts of the loop where I was quite cold."

u/HansProleman on r/solotravel, 25 December 2022 (user opinion)

December against January at four stations near the loop

There is no weather station on the loop itself in Vietnam's building climate code, QCVN 02:2022/BXD. The nearest are the town station in Ha Giang city at 118 m, Bac Me at 74 m to the east and Hoang Su Phi at 553 m to the west. Sa Pa, at 1,570 m in neighbouring Lao Cai province, is the code's high-mountain station in the area; we use it as a guide to cold on high ground, not as a reading of the plateau. These are long-term averages and records, not a forecast.

In town, December has the fewest rain days of any month and January the least sun of any month. Rain days rise by about three from December to January and drizzle days from about one to nearly three, while the totals barely change, so January's rain comes as more frequent light rain. December is also the town's foggiest month, which the fog-days comparison sets beside Sa Pa and Ha Long.

The higher stations get more sun than the town in both months: Hoang Su Phi about three and a half hours a day in December, Sa Pa nearly four, against under three in Ha Giang city. In January the town's average falls to under two hours a day while Sa Pa barely drops. That fits the rider who found the loop "cold, but dry and pretty clear" in December, though no station in the code sits on the plateau to confirm it.

How cold the plateau gets: frost reports from Dong Van

Daytime is mild in town, in the low 20s °C (about 71°F) in December. The numbers that matter for packing are the lows and the records. Bac Me and Hoang Su Phi have both recorded -0.1°C in December, and Sa Pa's records are -3.2°C in December and -4.2°C in January. The town's own record lows, 2°C and 1.5°C, understate the high ground.

Dated reports from the plateau fill the gap. On 12 January 2025, in the coldest spell of that winter so far, the national forecasting centre's figures carried by VnExpress put Dong Van at 0°C, the lowest reading in the north alongside Trung Khanh in Cao Bang (VnExpress); the day before, the first day of that cold air, it was about 5°C. On 29 November 2025, VTC News reported frost over fields around Lũng Cú as the temperature on the Đồng Văn plateau fell below 1°C, and -1 to 3°C in Meo Vac and two other nearby communes (VTC News). VnExpress's guide to Lo Lo Chai, a village about 1.5 km from the Lung Cu flagpole, says winter there can go below zero with frost.

The plateau's villages now sit in Tuyên Quang province: Ha Giang was merged into it in 2025, which is why recent reports place Lung Cu and Dong Van there. The Ha Giang destination page keeps the old name, as travellers still use it, and the coldest places in Vietnam ranks these stations against the rest of the country.

This winter's outlook: milder on average, short cold snaps still likely

The national forecasting centre's seasonal outlook of 15 October 2026 expects El Niño to stay very strong through January, at 96% probability (NCHMF). For December and January it forecasts mean temperatures generally 0.5 to 1.5°C above normal, weaker cold air than usual, and severe cold spells arriving later and on fewer days in the north. It still warns of short spells with sharp temperature drops, and lists frost and ice among the hazards.

For rain, it forecasts northern Vietnam 10 to 20 mm wetter than normal in December, which would be a quarter to a half again on the town's December average if the town followed the regional figure, and near normal in January, at roughly 30 to 60 mm a month. Our reading: a milder winter on average does not change what goes in the bag. Both plateau readings above came from single cold spells, and the outlook still expects short, sharp ones, so pack for the record lows above, not for the outlook.

Short days and foggy passes

By our calculation from the sun's position at Ha Giang city, the sun rises around 06:24 and sets around 17:15 on 1 December, and on 21 December it is up from about 06:36 to 17:20, under 11 hours. Sunset only moves past 17:45 at the end of January. Dong Van is within a few minutes of those times.

Distances on the loop are short, but they take time. Vietnam's tourism board notes that Meo Vac is only 24 km from Dong Van and still takes most of a morning with stops (vietnam.travel). VnExpress's Ha Giang guide warns that the Heaven's Gate viewpoint at Quan Ba, about 40 km out of the city, can be in cloud in winter (VnExpress). We would plan winter days to arrive by about 16:30, under an hour before sunset, and leave slack for a pass that is in cloud when you reach it.

What you give up in winter, and who should skip it

The flowers are the trade. Vietnam's tourism board puts buckwheat in October and November; VnExpress's Lo Lo Chai guide stretches the buckwheat season to December and marks January and February for peach, plum and pear blossom, "still quite cold". December catches the end of one, January the start of the other. If you were going to push into February, Tet falls on 6 February 2027, with the government holiday from 4 to 10 February; the Tet 2027 dates page covers what closes and what stays open.

Skip a winter loop if you have never ridden and have no warm gear. That is the call the traveller with the 13°C forecast made, with jeans, a sweatshirt and a waterproof jacket in the bag. Skip it too if your licence is not valid in Vietnam: our international driving permit guide says which permits count. For mountains in December without a motorbike, Sa Pa in winter and the Hanoi to Sa Pa buses and train are the easier choice. If you are still set on Ha Giang, the closest airport to Ha Giang guide covers getting there from Noi Bai.

How we checked this

On 1 November 2026 we read the Ha Giang, Bac Me, Hoang Su Phi and Sa Pa rows of QCVN 02:2022/BXD from the government PDF, the NCHMF seasonal outlook of 15 October 2026, the VnExpress and VTC News cold-spell reports and one r/solotravel thread. Sunrise and sunset come from NOAA's solar position equations at the station coordinates.

What we could not confirm

The building code does not give the years behind its station tables, and there is no station on the Dong Van plateau in it. The 29 November 2025 frost figures come from one report; another outlet ran the same text. We did not find a road-closure record for frost or ice on the loop.

References

• QCVN 02:2022/BXD, Vietnam building code climate data, tables A.1 to A.32
• NCHMF seasonal outlook, 15 October 2026
• VnExpress: frost on the high peaks, 11 January 2025
• VnExpress: Lo Lo Chai travel guide, 30 November 2025
• Vietnam National Authority of Tourism: Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang
• Báo Lào Cai: Lung Cu flagpole now in Tuyen Quang, 2 July 2025
• NOAA solar calculation equations

Photo (cover): Q. Hưng Phạm / Pexels