On July 22nd, Jackfruit welcomed two families, one from Belgium and one from the Netherlands, for a family cycling tour through Ho Chi Minh City. At 1:30 pm, everyone arrived at the station, buzzing with excitement for the ride ahead under the city’s midday sun. Today, they’d chosen the Off-the-Beaten-Path cycling tour to explore the city. The first family, four of them, came from the Netherlands: Veerle and Erwin and 2 kids. The other family was a Belgian couple, also named Veerle and Erwin. Two countries, one afternoon, and neither family had any idea how close they’d end up.
Two Very Different Starts to a Family Cycling Tour
For Kira and Scott, cycling is simply part of life. In the Netherlands, bike culture runs so deep that even abroad, it’s still how they choose to experience a new place. “For us,” Kira said, “the best way to discover somewhere is by bike. A motorbike moves too fast to catch the everyday moments, a car keeps you behind glass staring at the main roads, and walking wears out your legs. Riding it myself, steering it myself, so I can see exactly what I want to see, that’s what I’m after.”
For the Erwins, it was the opposite story. None of them were used to cycling through a city as busy as Vietnam’s, and Saigon traffic, as anyone who’s ridden it knows, doesn’t go easy on beginners. That only added to the pressure. But it didn’t shake their determination. Getting a family through it together was never going to be a one-person job; it took the whole group, and it showed.
Almost like they’d known each other for years, Scott slowed down to ride beside the Erwins’ son, showing him how to shift gears going uphill. With that kind of encouragement, plus a support guide who never let up on the care, the family ended up enjoying every minute of it.
Off-the-Beaten-Path Tour Through Saigon’s Back Alleys
At the first stop on this Saigon cycling tour, Curly, a guide with energy to spare, started telling the group about the first district on the route: District 4. A little unexpected, right? Most tourists stick to District 1, but District 4 is the real hidden gem Jackfruit is proud to bring guests to. It’s small, but it’s packed with stories; would you believe it used to be a river?
Get lost in its alleys, and you might not find your way out, not without a local’s help. If you think Ho Chi Minh City is just wide roads and heavy traffic, you’ve missed District 4 entirely. It’s built from alleyways, and every alley holds a slice of someone’s daily life.
Riding through them, the two families, strangers only hours earlier, leaned into every turn like it was nothing new. When locals called out “xin chào,” they were caught off guard by how friendly everyone was, and just as quickly, called it back. They laughed at a lane so narrow that two bikes going opposite directions had to take turns passing. Near a pagoda, a dog wandered by, and they pulled out their phones to show off their own dogs back home. That kind of easy, unplanned connection kept building, and by the next stop, both families were even more eager to see what came next.
And after that stretch of District 4, this family cycling tour rolled on further into District 4, a Chinatown in miniature. They wound past apartment blocks decades old, watched the “umbrella market” go about its business, and listened to Curly tell stories about the district’s history, the kind of stories, he said, that even most Vietnamese people don’t know. By then, six people from two families weren’t just hearing the story. They were living it.
A Family Cycling Tour Stop for Bánh Mì and Salt Coffee
After a cup of Chinese ginseng tea brewed the District 5 way, hunger caught up with the group fast, and Curly switched roles, becoming the designated bánh mì orderer for everyone. When asked if they’d ever tried it, the Erwins said, “We’ve never had bánh mì. What’s it even like?” That settled it for Curly. Coming to Vietnam without trying bánh mì, he said, is like visiting Korea and skipping the kimchi.
Between the vegetarian order, the no meat order, and everything in between, the stall kept up without missing a beat, and the sandwich that came out of it turned into the most memorable bite of the day. They finished every last piece in minutes.
By the time lunch wrapped up, it was around 4 pm, right when Saigon settles into its afternoon coffee hour, so Curly led the group to a café to sit inside that ritual for a while.
Over coffee, there was more time to talk, and that’s when the details came out: the Erwins were flying home the very next day, while Kira and Scott still had five more days in Vietnam. Seasoned travelers, they’d already been to Thailand, Malaysia, and a few other countries in the region, but this was their first time in Vietnam, same as the Erwins, and their first time joining a Saigon city tour like this one.
Sticking to what felt familiar, they’d been ordering safe drinks like juice the whole trip. Then Curly, a coffee person through and through, ordered a cà phê muối, salt coffee. Something as ordinary as salt coffee in Vietnam turned out to be a total curiosity to them. “What is salt coffee?” they asked. It’s a small thing, but it stuck with me: how something so unremarkable here could be the most interesting part of someone else’s day. That was the moment it felt like they’d truly stepped into local life, not just visited it.
What This Family Cycling Tour Left Behind
By the end of the ride, Kira and Scott admitted the traffic still scared them a little. But that’s not what stuck with them at dinner. What stuck was that two families who didn’t know each other’s names that morning had spent the whole afternoon riding, eating, and laughing together. One of them said it plainly: “this is the first time I felt alive on a trip”.
Book Your Own Family Cycling Tour
Sometimes a trip looks like just a trip, until you’re actually in it, and you realize it’s built from memories that belong to no one but you. It only takes a few hours, but what you take from it can stay for a lifetime, and that’s exactly what Jackfruit wants for every guest who rides with us. We just open the path. You’re the one who gets to feel it, in ways you never expected.
A family cycling tour might sound like a lot to coordinate with a bigger group, but don’t let that worry you. Kira, Scott, the Erwins, and their kids all made it through, and every one of them said it was worth it. So we’re confident you will too, because after more than 200 Saigon cycling tours, we’ve proven it again and again.
Don’t know how to ride a bike? No problem. Our Saigon electric tour gives you the same full experience. Still have questions? Chat or call us anytime; we’re always happy to help.