South To North In Vietnam

Arrive at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, welcome by our guide and transfer to your hotel. Ho Chi Minh City formerly named Saigon is the largest city and economic center of Vietnam always bustled with activities of modern life. It is where businesses converge and shoppers indulge themselves into unlimited choices. However, the city also carries with it a rich historical legacy in contrast with its dazzling glamor.

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and transfer about 75 km northwest of downtown Ho Chi Minh City to visit the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, which were once a major underground hideout and resistance base of Viet Cong forces during the two wars against the French and the Americans. The tunnels, entirely hand-dug, formed a highly intricate network of interlinked multilevel passageways at times stretched as far as the Cambodian border and totaling over 120 km in length. Its complexity was beyond imagination containing meeting rooms, kitchens, wells, clinics, schools, depots, trenches and emergency exits all aimed for guerrilla warfare. The tunnels were deep and strong enough to withstand destructive bombings and self-contained enough to outlast prolonged sieges.

Afternoon, tour in the city starting first with the Reunification Palace, which was formerly the South Vietnam President’s residence and symbol of the Southern Administration’s reign until end of April 1975. Next, stop at Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, a neo-Roman cathedral built over 130 years ago by the colonial French with materials entirely imported from Marseilles. Call in Saigon Post Office, a fine colonial building which was designed and built in the early 20th Century by the famous French architect Gustave Eiffel. Move on to Cho Lon or the city’s China Town where you will visit the Jade Emperor Temple (Phuoc Hai), a rare Taoist structure in Vietnam built in 1909 in dedication to the Lord of Heaven.

Today, meet our guide at your hotel to transfer to Vinh Long, a riverside town in the vast Mekong Delta. Then embark a boat cruise to lively Cai Be floating market where sellers and buyers bargain and exchange goods from their boats. Stop at some local workshops to see how people make rice paper, coconut candy and pop-rice, pop-corn. Lunch will be served at a local house.

After lunch at a local house, continue travel by boat to go deeper into the country side through maze of canals, visit some local famers’ homes, interact with warm-hearted hosts and learn about their trade and daily life. Have some fruits and tea while enjoying the traditional music at a local house.  Another activity is biking around the village. And you can also join in some cooking with the host.

Check in Ut Trinh homestay (or other similar home-stay on An Binh Island) for overnight.

After breakfast, free at leisure before continue your boat trip to visit the brick kilns where you can see how the local people create beautiful potteries from clay. Move on to visit a floating village and the local market in the town. The cruise will end at Vinh Long city.

You are free until our guide & driver pick you up at the hotel and transfer to Tan Son Nhat airport for flight to Da Nang. Arrival at Da Nang airport, you are transferred to Hoi An ancient town by private car & guide.

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and transfer out for a full day city tour to discover the charm of Hoi An as a renowned World Heritage Site. Once a bustling maritime commercial port of Asia between 15th and 19th centuries, Hoi An is now a peaceful town of exceptionally well-preserved architecture, lifestyles and traditions. The town exemplifies a fascinating fusion of cultures between Vietnam and the outside world including China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Highlights for sightseeing include the town’s iconic 400-year-old Covered Bridge with a small temple attached to one side as a prominent example of Japanese architecture, the Museum of Trade Ceramics which is an elegant Vietnamese style wooden house built in 1858 showcasing antique ceramic artifacts, the 200-year-old Tan Ky House typifying an ancient Chinese merchant residence, the Ong Temple built in 1653 by Chinese settlers to worship Guan Yu, an ancient Chinese general whose character stands for loyalty, bravery and justice and the local market vibrant with colors and activities. 

Afternoon, take a boat cruise on the Thu Bon River to enjoy the countryside landscapes. Land on Kim Bong village where carpentry has been practiced since the 16th Century as the village’s trademark to visit some old-fashioned boatyards using timber as the main material. Move on to Thanh Ha village to see its traditional ceramic production trade still alive and thriving despite the 500-year passage of time. 

Morning meet our guide at your hotel and transfer out to a local market. A guide from the local cooking school will take you on a tour through the market to learn about the ingredients to be used in your recipes. After the market, board a boat to ride along the Hoi An river for about 25 minutes, watching local fishermen casting nets as part of their daily routine. Arrive at a small township and walk to the cooking school. The class starts in an open-air pavilion by the river under the instruction of an experienced chef. Observe, practice, sample and bring out a good lunch cooked the local style to your own taste. Enjoy it yourself. 

Afternoon, transfer to Hue via the Hai Van Pass (Ocean Cloud Pass). Enjoy a stunning headland-and-bay panoramic view from the pass, which for miles hugs the mountainside along the shoreline and overlooking the Pacific Ocean

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and take a full day tour of Hue City, the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam for the 1802-1945 period and the last refuge of Vietnamese feudalism. The city’s beauty is characterized by a natural scenic landscape and an extensive variety of historical relics. Begin with Hue Citadel, a well-known UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site which is a 520 ha fortress-like grand complex built in the early 1800s and featuring three enclosures separated by heavy ramparts namely Kinh Thanh Hue (Civic City) as the outer, Hoang Thanh (Royal City) as the middle and Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden City) as the inner. Continue to Khai Dinh Tomb, the burial site of Vietnam’s second-to-last king, and the most elaborate compared to other kings’ tombs. The tomb shows a vivid European influence in architecture despite its Asian style. 

Afternoon, take a boat cruise along the Perfume River to enjoy the open view of the river and its surroundings. Stop along the way and land on shore to visit two prominent historical landmarks namely the Minh Mang Tomb, where the 2nd Emperor of the Nguyen dynasty was buried, and Thien Mu Pagoda, an active Buddhist monastery overlooking the river from a vantage point with its origin dating back to 1601. Last, stop for shopping at Dong Ba market, which is the city’s traditional commercial center. 

You are free until transfer to airport for flight to Hanoi. Arrival Hanoi airport, warm welcomed by our guide & driver then transfer to the city.

Hanoi or “River-bound City” as its name literally means is Vietnam’s capital with a thousand-year-old history dating back to 1010. The city’s fascinating beauty which is characterized by unique cultural relics, ancient streets of antique houses, elegant French colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and romantic lakes has made it one of the most charming cities of Asia.

Afternoon, take half day city to visit outside Ho Chi Minh complex included Ba Dinh square, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, then transfer to visit Temple of Literature, continue the tour to one of following Hanoi's museums: Fine Art, History, Revolutionary, War, Ethnology (of your choosing), then head to Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple. Experience a one hour cyclo ride. Finish your day off at Thang Long Opera Theatre for a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show

Today you will travel out of the city to Ky Son village in Son Tay Town, 35km west of Hanoi. Arrive at Moon Garden Homestay, enjoy welcome drink with local fresh green tea then free time to explore around the village. You can join in preparing your lunch with the family. After lunch, treat yourself with a hand spa in fragrant lime water and traditional herbal hand massage. Then, free time for relaxing or chatting with locals about their life and customs. If possible, you can learn some Vietnamese words.

In the afternoon, you will have two choices of a 6km ride or a long ride of 12 km round trip. Option 1 is cycle to discover Ky Son, Van Minh and Cham farming communities. You can stop over at some local house, visit kindergarten, and observe local daily life and their farming work. If possible, you can help them in some activities like plowing, transplanting seedlings…. Option 2 is a long ride with local guide to discover Ky Son, Tam Son, Van Minh, and Cham farming communities, Duong Lam ancient village and visit Mia Pagoda, Mong Phu Communal House... On the way back, stop at the tomb and temple of Ngo Quyen, a national hero of Vietnam. Return to the Moon Garden for happy hour, enjoy a traditional foot spa and taste some of the local products such as traditional dessert, maize, sweet potato, cassava, peanuts depending on season. Then transfer back to hotel in Hanoi for overnight.

Morning, our guide and driver will wait for you at hotel lobby then transfer to Sapa through the expressway. This Vietnam’s longest expressway opens, cutting Hanoi-Lao Cai travel time in half. The time to Sapa is shortened to 4-5 hours, making your journey faster, safer and much more comfortable than by train.

Arrival Sapa, travel out by car for about 10 minutes to Ta Phin village. Also referred to as a brocade village for its traditional trade of making embroidered fabric items, Ta Phin is home to two different ethnic minority groups, the Black Hmong and the Red Dao. Despite living together in the same place, each group has maintained their own customs over generations allowing now cultural mix. Though both groups wear colorful clothes, the Red Dao women are often most recognizable for their signature bright red turbans.  Walk around the village, and learn about how they live and honor their traditions by interacting with them and visiting their houses. 

A 6 km car ride from Sapa will take you through a scenic landscape to Lao Chai village, a settlement of the Black Hmong ethnic minority people. From a vantage point on the main road, you can catch a panoramic view of the village located right in the Muong Hoa valley at one of its ends and backed by mountains. Enjoy sighting fields, streams and interact with hospitable villagers. Continue by trekking about 4 km to Ta Van village which is clusters of rural houses embraced by the wavy curves of the terraced paddy fields. Villagers here are the Giay ethnic minority people, a small group only inhabiting Northern highlands of Vietnam. Take a break and have a fine lunch in a local household. After lunch, hike for 3 km over hills and through a bamboo forest. Stop at a waterfall to rest before entering Giang Ta Chai village, home to the Red Dao ethnic minority people. Explore the village and observe villagers in their daily life activities. You will be picked up and return to Sapa by car.

A 30-minute drive takes you to Silver Waterfall (best seen in the rainy season from May to November), take a short walk to the waterfall where great views are offered of the surrounding mountains and lush forests of the Hoang Lien National Park. Along the way your guide will explain about this special part of Sapa, where many tree species are grown such as plum and peach trees. Continue by car 10 minutes up to Heaven's Gate, from here you can see Fansipan Mountain ‘the roof of Indochina’ at the height of 3143 meters above sea level.

Transfer from Sapa to the train station in Lao Cai with a private vehicle and driver. The transfer is approximately 1 hour.

Arrival Hanoi in very early morning, meet our guide & driver then transfer to Ha Long Bay, which is about 160 km or 3.5-hour drive away. On the way, you will see some rural areas of the Red River Delta with plenty of chances to take photos of Vietnamese farmers working in paddy fields. Stop half way to visit a handicraft workshop of fine clothes and embroidered paintings. Arrive in Ha Long City at 11:30 AM and check in aboard the booked junk right after the welcome drink is served. Start cruising while having lunch on board and enjoy the mighty bay view.

Ha Long Bay meaning Descending Dragon Bay in Vietnamese as legend has it that it was where a holly dragon landed down from sky. The bay, famous as one of the world’s wonders and heritage sites whose formation dates back 500 million years, consists of around 2,000 karst islands and islets scattered over an area of 1,553 km2. The bay cruise will continue with up close sighting of Dinh Huong Island, Ga Choi Island, Dog Island, Sail Island, a visit to Sung Sot Cave and swimming stop at Titov Beach. Relax to enjoy the bay view at sunset, have dinner after, go fishing at 09:00 PM and spend a night on board.

Wake up at 06:30 AM and refresh your body and mind with a Tai Chi exercise on the sundeck. Tai Chi is an ancient internal martial art often practiced in soft and gracefully slow moves to enhance internal harmony and vitality. Have tea and coffee onboard before proceeding to Titov Islet or SoiSim Island to trek and swim. Check out at 09:30, have a buffet brunch while cruising back to shore. Disembark at 11:00 AM to transfer to Hanoi capital. 

Free at leisure until meet our guide then transfer to airport for flight to departure.