HIGHLIGHTS OF VIETNAM

You will be warmly welcomed upon arrival at Hanoi airport and transferred to your hotel. Free st your leisure before we have a welcome dinner at a local restaurant and an overnight stay in Hanoi.

Our first visit is to the most well respected site of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, which includes the Presidential Palace, One Pillar Pagoda and Ho Chi Minh Museum. We continue on with a short drive to visit the 11th Century Temple of Literature, Hanoi’s first University. After lunch, continuing on with a 25minute drive to the very interesting Ethnology Museum. Here you will learn of the traditional cultures of 54 different ethnic minority groups in Vietnam through articles, stories, displays of traditional houses, costumes, hunting equipment and much more wares used in day to day life. Returning to the center of Hanoi, we finish our day with a ‘mind blowing’ and most unforgettable ‘Xich Lo’ ride through the charming 36 Street Old Quarter and introduce you to the hustle and bustle of the city streets, discovering the real Hanoi. You will stay overnight in Hanoi.

After breakfast at hotel, driver picks up and transfer to Halong Bay, listed as a World Heritage of outstanding natural beauty, known in Vietnamese as “Dragon descending to the sea”. Upon arrival, the boat crew welcome you and check in then enjoy a cruise around Halong Bay with a delicious local seafood lunch served on board. You can also behold thousands of limestone islands and grottoes rising from the clear, emerald water. Following break, depending on each cruise’s itinerary of the day, you’ll join some activities on boat to discover the beauty of the bay such as visit a cave, doing kayaking or enjoy swimming in the sea before getting back to the junk for relaxing and dinner. Overnight on board. Note: Our tour guide will not escort you on the cruises, and be replaced by crew members who are fluent in English.

You’ll wake up on the bay to the sounds of waves and birds welcoming the new day. You will have an opportunity to view the sunrise over the bay and after breakfast, visit a beautiful limestone grotto. You will have a walk back to the boat for a final glimpse of Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock. Then you will drive back to Hanoi. Overnight at your hotel.

Have breakfast at your hotel before heading to airport for short flight to Hue (1h10 flight). Arrival Phu Bai domestic airport, you will be met and greeted by our local tour guide. Check in hotel, dinner at local restaurant. Overnight in Hue

Breakfast at hotel. Enjoy full day tour with the boat trip to visit Thien Mu pagoda then proceed to visit Royal Citadel, built on 1804. The tour of imperial City features Flag Tower, Noon Gate, Nine Dynastic Urns, Nine Holy Cannons, Thai Hoa Palace, Forbidden Purble city. Leave the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Hue for Hoi An. We will travel over the Hai Van pass, before arriving in Hoi An. Once in Hoi An, we will check into our hotel and have some free time to explore the town. Overnight in Hoi An.

From the 16th to 18th centuries, Hoi An was a thriving international commercial port for Chinese, Dutch, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Arab traders. These people came primarily to trade in the high-grade silk, which is still produced in the area, as well as ceramics. Today, Hoi An is a quaint riverside town, popular with tourists for its eclectic architecture, tailors shops, and numerous cafes. Some of the buildings in the narrow streets have remained unchanged for more than a century. We enjoy a half-day walking tour through the narrow winding streets of the Ancient Quarter visiting Chua Ong Pagoda, Chinese Assembly Halls, the 200 years old Tam Ky ancestral house, and the Japanese Bridge. Following the tour, there will be free time to shop or relax. Overnight in Hoi An.

You will then leave Hoi an for Da nang Airport to take a one-hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport, you will be met by Tour guide and Driver and transferred to hotel for check-in. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City

This morning, we commence our exploration with a visit to Vinh Nghiem Pagoda, which was built in 1964 and is one of the biggest pagodas in Saigon. We then head to visit Ben Thanh Market. Close by, we make a stop to one of the most active temples in Chinatown, Thien Hau Temple. Thien Hau Temple was built by the Cantonese Congregation in 1760 in order to express their gratitude to this Goddess for her protection during their immigration trip to Vietnam by sea. We drive back to the centre of town to visit the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral, built in 1877 and the City Post Office, often mistaken for a railway station by foreign visitors. After lunch, we will explore the historical sight of the ‘Reunification Palace’, (Former Presidential Palace), built in 1963, an outstanding example of 1960’s architecture, as well as the ‘War Remnants Museum’ or more formally known as the ‘War Crimes Museum’. The museum displays tanks, helicopters, planes and firearms, however, what draws most visitors to the museum are the images on display, seeing the effects the weapons of mass destruction used by the Americans during The Vietnam War had on the country. Overnight at your hotel.

We set out this morning for our 100km spectacular drive to Tay Ninh, The Great Temple of Caodaism (a famous local religion). The Temple was built on nine levels that represent nine steps to heaven at which you will see a prayer session at noon with beautiful music prayer with Vietnamese folk instrument in a very spiritual environment. We have some lunch in this great little local town before our 30 km journey, heading back towards Ho Chi Minh City, to visit Cu Chi Tunnels. The famous Cu Chi Tunnel system was created to assist the Vietnamese Revolutionists against the French in 1948. It was an underground city with living areas, kitchens, storage, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers etc and in certain areas, housed up to 10,000 people, who virtually lived underground for years. You will have the opportunity to take part in the unique experience of guerillas living underground during the war, with a crawl through 20/30/50 meters of the tunnel system. We return to Ho Chi Minh City late afternoon. Overnight at your hotel,

Heading out of the town, we travel by roads to the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s largest rice bowl. On arrival in My Tho, we embark on a boat navigating around the intricate small canals in the delta region, which is a great way to observe the local lifestyle close-up and catch a view dotted by many islands. The exciting excursion will pass the lush green vegetation before arriving at the famous Unicorn Island. Here we have opportunities to stroll around an orchard, taste many seasonal fruits and enjoy wonderful traditional music. The next stop of our trip is Ben Tre Province to visit some fascinating local industries. After feasting on a huge lunch we return to Ho Chi Minh, stopping off along the way to see the beautiful Vinh Trang Pagoda. Overnight in Sai Gon.

There is no activity planned for today so you are free to enjoy your free time souvenir shopping until transfer to the airport for your onward flight.