DAY 1: EVENING ARRIVAL IN HANOI
After you collect your luggage you will clear custom and immigration formalities before making your way to the Arrivals Hall where you will meet your Tour Guide. You will then be transferred by Private Car to your hotel in the city where you will be assisted with check-in. Balance of evening at leisure.

Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country on the South China Sea known for its beaches, rivers, Buddhist pagodas and bustling cities. Hanoi, the capital, pays homage to the nation’s iconic Communist-era leader, Ho Chi Minh, via a huge marble mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) has French colonial landmarks, plus Vietnamese War history museums and the Củ Chi tunnels, used by Viet Cong soldiers.

DAY 2:  HANOI CITY TOUR
After breakfast, your tour guide will pick you up for your visit to the Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (outside visit, it’s closed on Monday & Friday) and his former residence, One-Pillar Pagoda, Ethnology Museum and Hoa Lo prison, (Hanoi Hilton). Afternoon Lunch at local restaurant.

After lunch, leisure walking tour in the Old Quarter, have a chance to stop for a coffee at the old house 28 Hang Gai, here you will find the coffee shop with full of antique collection.

DAY 3: HANOI – PU LUONG DEPARTURE
After breakfast, commence your overland transfer to Pu Luong, it takes around 4-hour drive with beautiful landscape en route.   Arriving in Pu Luong Retreat, have lunch & check-in.

Afternoon, descend into the beautiful valley facing the Retreat where you walk around tumbling rice terraces. Trek through small paths shrouded in vegetation to slowly reveal a picturesque village sitting at the base of a towering mountain. Your camera will not be able to sit still!

Continuing to the base of the valley, you weave between roads and farmland, villages and wild fields, ponds and rivers, mountains and open land

DAY 4: PU LUONG – NINH BINH DEPARTURE
After breakfast, commence your overland transfer just over 3 hours to Ninh Binh where you will visit the famous Tam Coc Caves (110 km south), also called “the Dry Halong Bay” and row a sampan along the limestone rocks lying on rice fields and forming a landscape similar to that in Guilin, China.   Afternoon Lunch at local restaurant.

After lunch, continue to visit Bich Dong pagoda. Visit the ancient capital of Hoa Lu with temples of Dinh and Le dynasties.

DAY 5: NINH BINH – HA LONG DEPARTURE
After breakfast, overland transfer just over 3 hours to Ha Long where you will be Welcomed aboard and sail through the World Heritage Site-Halong Bay, visit Tien Ong Cave, pass through ancient Cua Van Fishing Village and sharpen your culinary skills at a cooking class.   A delectable lunch is served shortly after boarding.

Guests will first make a visit by tender to the Tien Ong Cave.  The voyage continues with the arrival at the Cua Van Fishing Village. The village is explored via a pleasant boat ride (a maximum of four persons per boat).
Cooking class in the late afternoon.

07:30pm another delicious meal – dinner is served! After dinner the night is yours; kick back on a comfy pillowed chair or watch the stars from the sun deck and inhale the surreal beauty whilst sipping a glass of wine.

DAY 6: HA LONG – HA NOI – HUE DEPARTURE
This morning, Cruise to another island to enjoy the view from the hill top above over Halong Bay.  For early risers, complimentary tea, coffee and pastries are served in the restaurant followed by-if you so desire – a Tai Chi Class on the sun deck (07:00am).

Then it is time for an early morning swim – in the Bay. By tender boat guests are brought to a natural white sandy stretch. Sporty ones can also climb up to a hill top to have a last view from above over Halong Bay before we return to the boat and cruise slowly back to Halong City.

The trundle breakfast is served before arrival at the shore at around 11:00am. The crew will bid you farewell and you will disembark at Heritage Line Lounge in Tuan Chau New Marina and transfer back to Hanoi airport for the flight to Hue.

Huế is a city in central Vietnam that was the seat of Nguyen Dynasty emperors and the national capital from 1802 to 1945. A major attraction is its vast, 19th-century Citadel, surrounded by a moat and thick stone walls. It encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home; and a replica of the Royal Theater.

Fly: HANOI/HUE
Arriving in Hue airport, you will be picked up for your transfer to hotel for check-in.

DAY 7: HUE – CITY TOUR – FOODIE TOUR WITH CYCLO
After breakfast, take a boat cruise along the romantic Perfume River to visit Thien Mu Pagoda, one of the most ancient architectural structures for religious worship in Hue., continue to mausoleums of emperors Minh Mang, transfer to visit the splendid Imperial city from where the Nguyen Dynasty ruled between 1802 to 1945.
Afternoon Lunch at local restaurant.After lunch, visit the elaborate mausoleums of emperor’s Tu Duc, a conical hat and incense stick-making workshop.

Evening, Explore slow living through slow food and an evening slow tour on cyclo. Warm up with a welcome drink and light finger food at a charming bar. Your guide will give some basic introduction about Hue cuisine, as well as teach you some survival Vietnamese before moving to a vegetarian restaurant, where you can see Buddhist traditions imprinted in Hue’s food art. Farther and farther away from the tourist quarter, in a laidback cyclo, the night tranquility will show you the inner soul of Hue. Suddenly, the street food stalls come into sight and a crispy Hue styled pancake or lemongrass skewers will be worth a try with both your hands and your tongue. Sweet soups may not be your favorite desserts, but Hue’s varieties of colors and flavors, will be a promise of a sweet ending for a sweet night! Take it easy and make it funny.

DAY 8:  HUE – DA NANG (BY TRAIN) – HOI AN DEPARTURE
After breakfast, you will be transferred to the railway station.

Train: HUE /DANANG

Arriving in Danang, pick-up at railway station to transfer to Hoian ancient town, take a walking tour of Hoi An, discover the historic town which used to be a prosperous seaport city during the 16th to 18th centuries. Visit Hoi An colourful local market, Tan Ky old house, Fukien Assembly Hall, and the 400-year-old Japanese covered bridge.  Travellers can also see local residents raise silkworms and produce silk for Hoi An’s burgeoning textile industry.

Hoi An Ancient Town is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect the influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce this unique heritage site.

DAY 9: HOI AN –FREE & EASY
After breakfast at hotel, your day is Free at leisure for own arrangement.

DAY 10: DANANG – SAI GON DEPARTURE
After breakfast, transfer to airport for the flight to Saigon.

Fly: DANANG/SAIGON
Arriving in Saigon, airport pick-up and transfer to hotel for check-in.

Afternoon, city tour to visit China town including Binh Tay Market, Thien Hau pagoda, Phuoc An Hoi Quan (Fujian Assembly Hall) and Father Tam (Fracis Xavier) Church which show a close relationship of Chinese communities and Colonial Government, also the architecture is intriguing mixed of Western and Eastern characteristic.

DAY 11: MEKONG DELTA – BEN TRE
After breakfast, commence your Ben Tre tour, a small town, hidden within the Mekong Delta, has recently stepped out to be a destination in its own right. This peaceful retreat offers many charming surprises besides the lush vegetation, snaking canals, and enchanting smiles.

A day to Ben Tre is a day when you are no longer a tourist but a true resident embarking on a sensory voyage of discovery. Enjoy observing how bricks and grass mats are made with age-old traditional techniques as well as how products are extracted from coconuts. Admire stunning panoramic countryside pictures made of green coconut palms, yellow river streams and colorful local products. Feel the warmth of the tropical breeze and the coolness of water currents whilst exploring the earthy trails. Taste and smell local exotic fruits, “garden-made” cuisine or stop to observe and satisfy your palate with just-made wet rice paper or coco candies married with green tea. Complete your experience listening to the sounds of boat, and certainly the banter and laughter of local people, modest yet hospitable.

DAY 12: SAIGON – CU CHI TUNNEL –DEPARTURE
After breakfast, you will drive 70 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City passing through picturesque rice fields, gardens, rubber plantations. Upon arrival in Cu Chi and after a short introduction to the tunnel network of more than 200km, you will have a chance to crawl into a short section of the tunnels to feel the oppressive narrowness and heat inside. Documentaries and displays of bloody traps will give you a vivid idea of the life and struggle in the tunnels. Drive back to Saigon for lunch at local restaurant.

Transfer to airport for the departure flight.

Fly: SAIGON/USA