Destinations: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi tunnels – Mekong Delta – Hoi An – Hanoi – Ha Long Bay.
Duration: 10 Days
Arriving at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel in the city centre. After checking in, you’ll be free for a preliminary wander around District 1. Your overnight will be in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi tunnels – Ho Chi Minh City tour (B, L, G)
After breakfast, your guide will take you to visit the famous Cu Chi tunnels, a Byzantine maze of underground passages, chambers, rooms and booby traps used by both the Vietminh and the Viet Cong to suddenly materialise as if from nowhere, launch a lightning ambush, and vanish equally rapidly. After lunch, you’ll return to Ho Chi Minh City for the afternoon city tour.
Your guide will show you around Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll visit the Notre Dame Catholic Church and Centre Post Office. You’ll also call in the Reunification Hall – an early colonial masterpiece constructed to accommodate the Governor –general of Indochina. The Binh Tay market and the China Town are worth a stroll to explore the local daily life and the culture mix.You’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City – Ben Tre – Ho Chi Minh City – Danang – Hoi An (B, L, G)
In the afternoon, you’ll wander around to see the rice fields and vegetable farm with an opportunity to join with their daily work of planting and watering vegetables. Thence, “Xe loi” – a three wheels bike will take you to Nhon Thanh village for a rowing boat ride to visit the traditional family run brick–inn and the salt processing. You’ll then return to Tan Son Nhat airport for your departure flight to Danang. When you arrive, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel in Hoi An. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.
After breakfast, your guide will mfeet you to show you the Ancient Town and explain its considerable significance in the history of Vietnam. You’ll be free in the afternoon. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.
Day 5: Hoi An – Danang – Hanoi (B, DP)
After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to Danang airport for your departure flight to Hanoi. Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.
Day 6: Hanoi city tour (B, L, G)
After lunch, you’ll drive to the excellent Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam’s 54 distinct ethnic groups. Then you’ll visit Hoa Lo Prison – better known by captured US pilots as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’. You’ll also visit Hanoi Train Street, one of the most famous and adventurous tourist spots in Hanoi. This narrow street, hidden in one of Hanoi’s back alleys, is flanked by tall, closely packed houses. The railway, which runs through the backyards of these homes, sees trains passing by a few times each day. The bustling Old Quarter is a magnet for visitors, it’s noisy and hectic, but definitely a ‘must-see’ attraction. The Old Quarter is a maze of shopping streets and restaurants with a hotchpotch of architecture – traditional tube houses, religious buildings, artisfans’ workshops and cottages, colonial houses and modern concrete edifices.
In the evening, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry (an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture). You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.
Day 7: Hanoi – Ninh Binh (B, L, G)
In the morning, you’ll be driven to Ninh Binh. Upon arrival, you’ll relax on a local rowboat trip in Tam Coc (three caves), a peaceful valley among limestone ‘karst’ hills, There, you’ll be rowed along a gentle river between paddy fields and through the caves.
You’ll come to a host family to enjoy a special lunch prepared by the home chef with the local cuisine featuring the yin-yang balance of the Asian culture. In the afternoon, you’ll pick up your bike to ride along a scenic canal with walking around open rice fields and looking around at the amazing folds of the rock formations. You’ll have a chance to learn about Vietnamese agriculture and cycle through different villages and a unique area known for its magnificient limestone peaks. Then you’ll visit Mua Cave, the most beautiful place to view in Ninh Binh, where can see the city far from the standing in front of Tam Coc in back and the limestone mountain along to the south of Vietnam. In the late afternoon, you’ll be driven to your hotel in Ninh Binh for overnight. You’ll spend the nigfht in Ninh Binh.
Day 8: Ninh Binh – Ha Long (B, L, D, G)
After an early breakfast, you’ll leave for Ha Long Bay, one of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Areas and the world’s largest marine limestone ‘karst’ landscape. There you’ll board a deluxe junk to take you round the Bay before stopping off at a beach on an island. Weather permitting, you’ll be able to swim, fish, and climb a hill (not a mountain!) for an overview of the Bay’s remarkable seascape. From there, you’ll continue your cruise to visit a fishing village – you’ll also have an opportunity to investigate one of the bay’s sea level caves in a small sampan or a kayak. Back on board, you can enjoy cocktails while watching the sunset. Later, unwind with a lavish dinner before an overnight stay on the board. The route is designed to avoid the busy areas and includes a very quiet location for your overnight stay.
Day 9: Ha Long – Hanoi (Brunch, G)
You’ll wake in the fresh air on the bay with a swim and/or a Yoga or Taichi session on the large sundeck (beginners welcome!). After a light pastry and a tea or coffee for breakfast, you’ll dock to visit one of the most famous caves in the Bay. You’ll return to the junk for a brunch while cruising back to dock around noon whereupon you’ll be picked up back to Hanoi. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.
What’s included
- Breakfast and accommodation sharing double/twin rooms.
- Pick-ups and transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle as specified in the itinerary above.
- Boat cruises as specified in the programme. All Ha Long Bay boats will be fully licensed and comply with current safety regulations.
- Domestic flight tickets: Ho Chi Minh City – Danang and Danang – Hanoi, including airport tax.
- Travel in an appropriate private air-conditioned vehicle with an experienced safe driver.
- The services of experienced English-speaking guides as indicated in the itinerary.
- Where necessary, entry fees for all visits as mentioned in the programme.
- Lunches and dinners (as specified in the itinerary) in the local restaurants, and full board on the boat in Ha Long Bay.
What’s excluded
- Other international flight tickets and airport tax.
- Visas
- Lunches and dinners, except as specified above.
- Drinks, tipping and personal expenses.
- Insurance.