DAY 1,   Arrive in Hanoi

Welcome to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam!

Upon arrival at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, welcomed by our tour guide and transferred to your hotel in the city center to check in.

Relax after a long journey. 

Please note that check in time is 14:00 and check out time is 12:00. Early check in/Late checkout is subject to availability of the hotel and with an additional cost.

Overnight: Hotel in Hanoi

DAY 2,   Hanoi 

Breakfast at your hotel. Pick-up time from hotel: 08:30 AM

The city of Hanoi is a fascinating blend of Asian vibrancy and French colonial elegance. Today we enjoy a guided tour of the city’s highlights. We explore one of the peaceful villages admit the bustle city, hang around its narrow road, market, and meet the villagers, a great way to start knowing about a country.

Visit Tran Quoc pagoda, located on Westlake, one of the oldest pagodas in Hanoi. Next, stop is Temple of Literature, known as the first university of Vietnam built in 1070 by the Ly Dynasty to honor Confucius, sages and outstanding Vietnamese scholars.

Visit Hanoi Train Street, a global top attraction. The railway was first built in the Vietnamese city in 1902 by French Colonists. Over the years, houses have cropped up alongside the tracks. Witness the train rumbles through the old-styles houses.

Stop at the Opera House for photos while your guide will provide a quick glance of the French architecture, visible by the many colonial monuments scattered throughout the downtown. Hanoi’s urban layout of spacious boulevards and beautiful common spaces was strongly influenced by the French occupation.

Experience the cyclo (rickshaw) ride. This is an excellent way to experience Hanoi at close hand as the atmosphere is lively, hectic, and sociable. Your local driver will pedal you off, behind your guide, into narrow streets of the Old Quarter, known for its ‘36 streets of 36 wares’. Within the Old Quarter, as they had since the 15th Century, the narrow 36 streets of the Old Quarter bear names that reflect the business once conducted there; silk street, rice street, paper street, lacquer ware street, and jewelry street. Explore the fascinating maze of back streets, discover your bargaining power, and come away with unusual items that will always remind you of this memorable afternoon. 

Late afternoon we will enjoy a unique fascinating show of Water Puppetry, a traditional stage art of Northern Vietnam.

Overnight: Hotel in Hanoi 

DAY 3,   Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Overnight Cruise

• Meal: Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

 

 

DAY 4,   Ha Long Bay - Hanoi - Flight to Ho Chi Minh City

DAY 5,  Ho Chi Minh City - Free Day

Today is free day at leisure or you may select our optional excursions to Mekong or Cu Chi Tunnels. 

Optional 1:  Classic Mekong Delta Tour – Ben Tre Province (08:00am – 17:00pm)

Notes: The cycling distance is 3-4km, depending on the physical ability and length your desire

This morning, drive 2 hours towards Ben Tre province in the Mekong Delta, famed for its tropical fruit gardens, coconut groves traditional products made of coconuts. Upon arrival, board a local wooden boat to enjoy countryside scenery and river life. Then stretch your legs a bit at a local family-run workshop to learn how local traditional methods utilize every bit of the coconut. Hop on a bicycle for a short ride of about 3-4km (over easy, level terrain) along narrow village lanes, past fruit orchards, and local cottage industries. Locals will often greet you with a hello or “xin chao” as you pedal by. Stop en route at local families and chat with the local farmers to understand their daily farming activities while enjoying the opportunity to taste fresh fruits and local tea with honey. Board a traditional rowing sampan for close up views of the water palm-lined waterways of the Delta. After feasting on Mekong Delta specialties, you may wish to take a stroll around the orchard to see how the fruit is cultivated. Then, transfer back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Optional 2:  Half day Cu Chi tunnels excursion (08.00-12.30 or 13:00 – 17:30) 

Originally dug as a base to organize guerrilla-style actions against the French, the Cu Chi tunnels were expanded during the Indochina War to become an ingenious and incredible underground network to protect the Viet Cong guerrillas from the French air and ground sweeps. There are more than 200 kilometers of subterraneous complexes containing storage rooms, kitchens, hospitals, sleeping quarters and even schools, once occupied by more than 10,000 people.

Today, depart Ho Chi Minh City for 1.5-hour drive northwest to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, passing through urbanized areas and a typically lush southern Vietnamese countryside. Tour the vast network of underground passageways to gain an insight into the tunnels’ history, life in the tunnels as well as the tenacity and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese during combat.

Notes: The Cu Chi Tunnels have been widened in places for western visitors, however they can still be dark, hot and claustrophobic inside so please bear this in mind if you do not like enclosed spaces. For those who choose to stay above the ground there are plenty of easily accessible rooms and excavated areas to visit.

Overnight: Hotel in Saigon

 Meal: Breakfast 

DAY 6, Ho Chi Minh - Departure