Day 1: Arrival at Hanoi (D,
G)
Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi,
you'll be met and driven to your hotel.
17.15: You'll be picked up to
watch the Water Puppet show an art form
unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted
introduction to its rural culture.
18.30: Your Welcome Dinner will
be served at one of the best local restaurant.
You'll spend the night in
Hanoi.
Day 2: Hanoi city tour (B, L,
G)
9.00: Pick
up at your hotel
9.30 -
10.30: Visit
Ho Chi Minh's
Mausoleum, his simple stilt house
where he lived
10.30 -
11.00: You'll visit the
Tran Quoc
pagoda, the oldest pagoda located on
West Lake
11.00 - 12.00: Visit
Temple of Literature - the first university in
Vietnam
12.00 -
13.15: Lunch at local restaurant
13.15 -
15.30: Visit the
Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam's
54 distinct ethnic
15.30 -
16.15: Visit Ngoc Son Temple and
Hoan Kiem Lake,
the heart of city.
16.15 - 17.15: You'll have around 1
hour to walk around the Old Quarter. You'll drive back to your
hotel. You'll spend the night in Hanoi.
Day 3: Exploring villages
around Hanoi (B, L, G)
8.30:
Drive and guide will pick you at your hotel to Van Phuc silk
village
9.30 - 10.30: You'll arrive
in Van Phuc village,
a small village where families have specialised in weaving and
dying silk over centuries.
10.30 - 12.00: Drive to
Bat Trang -
a
village famous for its fine ceramics.
You can stroll
through the narrow streets to watch the manufacturing process
and meet the craftspeople.
12.00 - 13.00: You'll have lunch box
in the village.
13.00 - 14.30: You'll then be
picked up to drive to
visit the
Dong Ho
handicraft village,
famous for its traditional wood-paintings.
14.30 - 17.00: You'll
visit the But Thap
pagoda and one of a typical local agriculture village near by. You'll
then be driven to visit
Dong Ky village where most of the local families produce
furniture inlaid with mother of pearl.
You'll return to Hanoi to spend the
night.
Day 4: Hanoi/Ha Long/Cat Ba
(B, L, G)
7.30:
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.
9.30: You'll take a short break at Hong Ngoc Embroidery
workshop.
10.00 - 11.30: You'll continue driving to Ha
Long Bay.
11.30:
You'll board your boat, a wooden junk built from the model of
the old Vietnamese court vessels. It will take you first to the
World Heritage area where you'll visit Amazing Cave. You'll have
time for swimming on the emerald water in Ha Long Bay.Your
lunch will be provided on board, usually
based on fresh seafood.
17.00: On arrival to Cat Ba Island,
you'll picked up by bus to your hotel. You'll spend the night in Cat Ba.
If
you don't like seafood during this trip, please let us know what
you like so we can arrange for you.
Day 5: Cat Ba/Hanoi/Lao Cai
(B, G)
8.00 - 8.30: Breakfast at your
hotel, you'll then be free to relax at Cat Co Beach.
15.00 - 16.00: You'll take a short
walk to the other harbour where you'll take a hydrofoil
to Hai Phong
16.00 - 18.00: Arrive in Hai Phong,
you'll take a vehicles back to Hanoi for a free dinner.
21.00: You'll be
taken to the railway station for the overnight train at 10.pm to Lao Cai
You'll spend the night on the
train.
Day 6:
Lao Cai/Sapa (B, L, G)
5.15 - 6.30: You'll be met by your
tour guide at Lao Cai Station and have a breakfast at the local
restaurant.
6.30 - 11.30: You'll be picked
up to visit a market frequented by ethnic minority peoples. You'll enjoy
the customs of the minorities people. You'll have time for
shopping in
the market.
11.30 - 12.30: You'll have
picnic lunch at local restaurant.
12.30 - 15.30: Drive to
Sapa,
a scenic mountain area with high peaks, rivers, valleys and
hillside terracing. The villages are traditional and are
typically tucked away at the bottom of the hill slopes. Most of
the villagers wear traditional costumes. Rest of the day will be
free to explore Sapa town by yourself. You'll spend the night in Sapa.
Day 7: Sapa/Lao Cai (B, L, G)
8.00 - 8.30: Breakfast at your
hotel
8.30 - 11.30:
You'll hike down a scenic valley calling in at the H'mong ethnic
minority villages on the way.
You'll then be
driven by Jeep to visit Lao Chai village - the village of Black H'mong people.
11.30 - 12.30: You'll have
picnic lunch.
12.30 - 14.30: You'll take a
Russian Jeep to visit Ta Van village - the village of Day
people and then visit Giang Ta Chai village - a village of Red Dzao people.
14.30 - 15.00: You'll return
to Sapa to refresh at a local standard hotel.
16.00 - 17.00: Escorted to Lao Cai station. You'll have dinner by yourselves.
You'll then take an
overnight sleeper train at 21.15 back to Hanoi. Your accommodation
will be on the
train.
Day 8: Hanoi free (B)
5.30: You'll arrive in the
station and be escorted to your hotel. The rest day will be free.
You'll spend the night in Hanoi
Day 9: Hanoi/Hue (B, G)
Your time will be your own until
you'll escorted to Noi Bai airport for your flight to Hue. On arrival, you'll check in
your hotel in the city centre and have a Hue city tour in
the afternoon.
14.30 - 16.30: You'll be
picked up to visit Imperial Citadel,
once the seat of
the Emperors of the powerful Nguyen Dynasty that ruled Vietnam
from 1802 to 1945.
16.30 - 17.30: You'll visit
the bustling
Dong Ba market, which is one of the most famous markets in the
Centre areas.
You'll spend the night in Hue.
Day 10: Hue (B, L, G)
.30 - 8.30: Breakfast at your hotel
8.30 - 10.00: You'll be taken by
car to visit Thien Mu
Pagoda,
a tranquil pagoda in the banks of the Perfume
River.
10.00 - 12.00: Take a
cruise along the
Perfume River to the
Royal Tombs of Minh Mang,
the most majestic
emperor and a staunch follower of Confucianism with many wives,
concubines and a small army of children. Planned by the Emperor
and built shortly after his death in formal Chinese style, it's
opulent and exotic, and a good example of classic
Sino-Vietnamese architecture.
12.00 - 13.30: Drive back to
Hue for lunch at a typical Vietnamese restaurant.
13.30 - 16.45: In the afternoon,
you'll drive to visit
Royal Tu Duc tomb,
the "poet
Emperor", is set in an elegant garden with a magnificent lake
and pavilion complex. The simplest of the actual tomb (a
monument - he was buried elsewhere to thwart grave robbers) is
at odds with the lavish opulence of his reign. You'll then be
picked up to visit
the Royal Khai Dinh tomb
is
an unprepossessing concrete construction on the side of a wide
valley. Its interest lies in the uneasy combination of
Vietnamese and European features, the use of fragments of
ceramics and glass for decoration, and the striking views from
the courtyard in front of the mausoleum.
16.45 - 17.30: The last famous site
in your programme will be Tu Hieu
pagoda, which is one of the most famous pagodas in Hue.
Day 11: Hue/Danang/Hoi An (B,
L, G)
7.30 - 8.30: Breakfast at your
hotel, you'll then be picked up to travel to Hoi An.
8.30 - 12.00: You'll drive to
Lang Co Beach and
the
lagoon far below. You'll then cross the high mountain pass of
Hai Van with excellent view to see Danang spread out.
12.00 - 14.00: You'll have
lunch at local restaurant and have a brief to visit
Cham
museum, a
remarkable Hindu statuary.
14.00 - 15.45: Driver and guide
will take you to visit
Marble Mountain, Stone Carving village where you can admire
the stone products of local people and Non Nuoc Beach.
15.45 - 17.30: You'll continue
driving to Hoi An and have a visit
Hoi An Town,
and
enjoy
its considerable significance in the history of Vietnamtown.
You'll spend the night in Hoi
An.
Day 12: Hoi An/My Son/Hoi An
(B, G)
8.00 - 8.30: Breakfast at your
hotel
8.30 - 11.15: Drive to visit
the
World Heritage
My Son Sanctuary,
the guide will show you the remains of the remarkable brick
towers, and explain their origins and purpose.
11.15 - 12.00: You'll return to
Hoi An. Rest of day will be free perhaps
to stroll around the Old Quarter of relax on the beach. You'll spend the night in Hoi
An.
Day 13: Hoi An/Nha Trang (B)
Your time will be your own until
you'll escorted to Danang airport for your flight to Nha Trang. On arrival, you'll
driven to your hotel to check in
at the hotel overlooking the bay. The rest day will be free on the
beach.
You'll spend the night in Nha
Trang
Day 14: Nha Trang boat tour (B,
L, G)
You'll have a breakfast at your
hotel before your vehicles comes to pick to you to the
harbour for your Nha Trang boat tour.
9.00 - 11.30: You'll take a
cruise to Mun Island where you'll anchor
off for swimming and snorkeling, relax on the beach
and enjoy the beauty of the corals in the sea.
11.30 - 14.00: You'll cruise
to Mot Island for lunch on the boat, you'll then have an entertainment such as
dancing and singing together with other passengers on the boat. A floating mini bar will served
some of Vietnamese wine with fruit.
14.00 - 16.15: You'll
continue cruising to Tam Island for swimming or relaxing on the beach.
You'll have a
fruit party on the boat on the way to Mieu Island. You'll be
rowed in a circular bamboo-basket boat to visit a fishing village
on Mieu Island.
16.15 - 16.30: You'll return
to Nha Trang to spend the night.
Day 15: Nha Trang city tour
(B, G)
After breakfast at your hotel,
your car and driver will take you to the Nha Trang city tour.
8.30 - 9.30: You'll be driven
to visit Long Son Pagoda and hike up on steps to the mountain
where you'll have good view to sea Nha Trang city. You'll also
visit the one of the biggest Buddhist statues in Vietnam on the
top of the mountain.
9.30 - 12.10: You'll travel
to visit to the impressive Ponaga Cham tower.
You'll then be taken to the hot spring spa for your
relaxing in the mud baths and mineral water
pools.
In the afternoon, you'll be free to
stroll around Nha Trang's beach. You'll spend the
night in Nha Trang.
Day 16: Nha Trang/Ho Chi Minh City (B,
G)
You'll be free
and then be picked up to Nha Trang airport for your flight to
Ho Chi Minh City. On your
arrival at the Tan Son Nhat airport, you'll be driven to your
hotel. You'll
spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 17: Ho Chi Minh City tour
(B, L, G)
8.30: Your car and
driver will come to take you for your Ho Chi Minh City tour
8.30 - 10.30:
You'll be
driven to visit History Museum, an
exhibition of the 5th century Oc Eo civilisation.
10.30 - 12.00: You'll visit
the Museum of War Remnants
provides a very partial, but riveting, perspective of the
American War
12.00 - 13.15: Lunch will be
served at the local restaurant
13.15 - 14.00: You'll visit
Centre Post Office with colonial building and the
Cathedral Church.
14.00 - 14.45: Drive to visit
the Jade Emperor Temple.
It's one of the best Taoist temples in Vietnam
14.45 - 17.00: You'll have
approximately two hour to visit the
Ben Thanh market,
one of the liveliest areas of Ho Chi Minh City
and
a visit to lacquer workshop.
You'll
spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 18: Ho Chi Minh City/Tay
Ninh/Cu Chi (B, L, G)
8.30 - 12.00: You'll be
picked up to Tay Ninh to visit the Cao Dai Holy
See in time to watch the mid-day ceremony.
12.00 - 13.30:
You'll be driven to local
restaurant to have lunch.
13.30 - 14.30:
You'll visit the 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.
14.30 - 15.45: You'll drive
back to Ho Chi Minh City to spend the night.
Day 19: Ho Chi Minh City/Vinh
Long/Can Tho (B, L, G)
8.30 - 10.30: Drive to Vinh
Long, a city famous by the Mekong River and floating market
10.30 - 15.30:
You'll cruise to visit
Cai Be floating
market, fruit orchards, some
traditional cottage industries. You'll have a lunch at one
of the local family and have a shot show of traditional
music in Mekong Delta which is operated by the local people.
15.30 - 16.00: You'll have
time to wonder around the fruit market to buy some kind of
famous tropical fruit such as banana, pomelo, dragon fruit and so on.
16.00 - 17.30: You'll be
driven further into the Mekong Delta to Can Tho where you'll spend
the night.
Day 20: Can Tho/Ho Chi Minh
City (B, L, G)
8.00 - 10.45: You'll have breakfast at your
hotel and then be picked up to Ninh Kieu Harbour. You'll then take
about two hour boat trip to cruise along the Mekong River to Cai
Rang and Phong Dien floating markets. You can enjoy the Mekong
rural lifestyle.
10.45 - 13.15: You'll travel
back to Vinh Long to have lunch at local restaurant.
13.15 - 15.15: You'll return
to Ho Chi Minh City for overnight accommodation.
Day 21: Ho Chi Minh City
departure (B, G)
You'll be free until you'll
be picked up to the airport for your international departure
flight.