Wonders of Vietnam

Hanoi – Halong – Hue – Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh City – Can Tho

10 Days & 9 Nights

Duration
10 Days & 9 Nights
Group Size
Max 5 people
Place Visited
Vietnam
Minimum age
Travellers need to be at least 18 years old
Transport
Airplane
Best time to go
From February to May

Highlights

  • A cruise in world famous Halong Bay.
  • A morning in the less frequented Tam Giang lagoonbefore heading to Hoi An
  • A visit in the famous Mekong delta with rice fields and coconuts plantations

Itinerary

Discover the beauty of Vietnam – 10 Days & 9 Nights

Welcomed by your local guide at the airport, followed by a car transfer to the hotel for check-in. In the afternoon, you will have the chance to experience the life of an Hanoian in the 1950’s and travel through the Old Quarter on a cycle rickshaw to understand what makes the Old Quarter of Hanoi such a captivating place. Then take a stroll around the Sword Lake before going back to your hotel.

Today, start to visit Hanoi in a funny way, a Polaroid Tour! You will heading to the old city gate before walking through an old neighborhood, a small, bustling market. Then, after visiting one of the oldest temples in Hanoi, you will stroll through the small alleys of the Old Quarter. Occasions to use the Polaroid are countless, but keep in mind that you will have to snap a few specific places mentioned in your “Polaroid Pack” to get free tea or coffee.
Keep your photos souvenirs and then you will continue to explore the highlights of Hanoi with your guide : the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature, also known as the first university of Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (exterior).

Later on, you will visit the Ethnology Museum, it is both a research center and a public museum featuring the 54 ethnic groups found across Vietnam.
In the evening, enjoy a traditional water puppet show, an art form which was invented a thousand years ago by the farmers of the Red River Delta area.

In the morning, you will travel to Halong and arrive around noon. There, you will embark on a cruise in the must-see Halong Bay. This world-famous bay is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Vietnam, with its giant rock islets covered in luxuriant vegetation overlooking the waters. Halong Bay includes some 1,900 islands and islets of rocky peaks, often uninhabited and unvisited.

This scene creates a spectacular marine landscape, which earned it UNESCO World Heritage status in 1994. You will be served lunch and dinner aboard with excellent and freshly caught seafood from the bay. At the end of the day, you will have the chance to enjoy a night fishing session on the boat.

Early in the morning and depending on the season, you will wake up to enjoy sunrise over the aquamarine waters of the bay. Then the cruise will tour around the bay until you disembark at the end of the morning. After that, you will then return to Hanoi for your flight to Hue. Upon arrival transfer to your hotel.

This morning, start your trip with a visit to the Imperial Citadel. Then continue to explore a garden house typical of Hue city, which was built according to precise rules of geomancy. The peacefulness of this home will offer you a chance to experience the true serenity of such a place.

In the afternoon, continue your journey to discover Tu Duc mausoleum, a model of traditional Vietnamese art and one of the most beautiful sights in the city. Then, you will explore Tu Hieu pagoda nearby, nestled in a vast pine forest and home to a community of monks who remain very active in their day to day existence. In the garden, you will be able to see the tombs of some royal mandarins. Return in the late afternoon to Hue.

In the morning you will depart from Hue to Danang city, taking the spectacular “Hai Van Pass” route. This road, which overlooks the bay, will offer you an incomparable panorama. You will make several stops along the way, including one at the paradise beach of Lang Co. You will arrive in Hoi An at the end of the morning.

In the afternoon, discover the old town of Hoi An, a World Heritage Site classified by UNESCO.

During your visit of Hoi An, have a stop at the Reaching Out Teahouse, a branch of the Reaching Out brand – which is a retail outlet in Hoi An selling home décor, clothing, bags, jewellery, lacquer ware and other customized and unique products.
The smells, the tastes, the atmosphere and the people will awaken all of your senses and refresh the body, mind and Within the Teahouse soul. At the end of the afternoon, relax during a boat trip on Thu Bon River and enjoy the sunset.

This morning, you will travel by boat on the Thu Bon river and arrive at the Kim Bong village (or the “carpenter’s village”) where you will have the opportunity to learn about the local traditions and techniques from one of the village’s carpenters at his workshop. Then, take a bicycle ride to visit a village, famous for its sedge mats weaving and certainly the most beautiful village in the neighborhood. While cycling to the village you will find yourself in the middle of luxuriant greenery: rice, corn, sedge fields, areca nut trees and bamboo…

Upon arrival, you will have the chance to meet a local family and watch the techniques used to weave the sedge mats. You will then continue your exploration by visiting a part of the village where most of the people do fishing for a living. After this visit, you will take a 1-hour boat trip on Thu Bon river before heading to another local family’s house to enjoy a local lunch.

In the afternoon you will travel by car to My Son (which mean: “The beautiful mountain”) – the most important Cham archaeological site in the center of Vietnam. After exploring the area, you will return to Hoi An.

In the morning you will travel to Danang airport and embark on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival you will start the sightseeing and will notice that the architecture in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City is still representative of the colonial era and Chinese influence : the central post office, whose metal structure was designed by Gustave Eiffel; Notre-Dame Cathedral, constructed from red bricks and resembling Notre-Dame in Paris; the Reunification Palace and Dong Khoi Street.

Note: Notre-Dame Cathedral is closed for renovations until early 2020-View Exterior only

You will start the day with a transfer from Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta. Upon arriving at Ben Tre, you will embark on a boat and start cruising on one of the arms of the Mekong River. You will make different stops during the day , such as a local coconut candy factory, a brick factory, a coconut factory, coconut gardens of a local house, where you will be able to taste some tropical fruits.
You will continue on a smaller boat through the canal rowed by a local oarsman and then hop on a bicycle to discover the countryside by land, before stopping for lunch to taste some traditional dishes of the Mekong region.

In the afternoon, you will walk on a small path before cruising back to Ben Tre and then traveling to Can Tho and arrive in late-afternoon.

Distance & duration of the cycling tour : 6 kilometers – 30 minutes
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In the morning, you will depart for a discovery tour of the activities on the Mekong Delta. Visit a Local market, to see all sorts of fruits and fish from the Delta. Then it will be time to travel back to Ho Chi Minh City and embark on your international flight in afternoon.