Welcome to Hanoi!
Upon arrival at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport, you will be greeted by our guide and transferred to your hotel.
You will have a welcome dinner followed by a water puppet performance and an overnight stay in Hanoi.

This morning, your guide and driver will transfer you 40’ to Nom Village. This ancient and quaint rural village is a gem for cultural and historical experiential appreciation; a wonderful example of a village in Vietnam’s northern delta that follows traditional structural layout. Highlights cover a spectrum of interests.
Here are a few examples for you to consider: spend time with the villagers and learn about their personal and village stories, choose from ten ancient houses and seven places of worship, and understand and see the typical village layout (communal house, market, entrance gate, pond, wet market, and stone bridge). As a popular spot, if you are fortunate, you may even catch a glimpse of a Vietnamese movie being filmed. Then drive back to Hanoi to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before exploring Hanoi City by Vespa.

Explore the charming city of Hanoi, often referred to as the ‘Paris of the East’, with its yellow ochre colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and scenic lakes from the back of a Vespa scooter. Visit the historic Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, an imposing monument of marble and granite built to house the preserved body of beloved revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, affectionately known to the Vietnamese as “Uncle Ho”. Tour the One Pillar Pagoda, a Buddhist temple built in 1049 of wood in the shape of a lotus blossom and set on a single stone pillar, considered by many to be one of Vietnam’s most iconic pagodas. Visit Ho Chi Minh's House nearby, a simple wooden house in a tranquil setting where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked. Continue to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first national university built in the late 11th century. Enjoy the Vespa ride back to the city centre to visit the scenic Hoan Kiem Lake (literally, “Lake of the Returned Sword”) named after a magical sword once used by a legendary Vietnamese emperor to defeat the Chinese Ming Dynasty. On an island in the middle of the lake sits the Ngoc Son Temple, accessible by the classical Huc Bridge. Conclude the tour with a visit to the famed Old Quarter, known for its ’36 streets of 36 wares’ named after the original 36 artisan guilds that date as far back as the 13th century. Explore the fascinating maze of back streets, fronted by narrow houses known as “tunnel” or “tube houses”, built to avoid taxes based on the width of their frontage onto the street, a wonderfully eclectic glimpse into Hanoi street life. Then return to the hotel.

After pick-up from your hotel, you will leave Hanoi by private car/van at 8:30 am, arriving at the jetty around 12:30 pm. You will be welcomed aboard and set sail through the bay while lunch is served. You will pass through the magical bay, where thousands of sculpted limestone islands rise from the waves like dragons' teeth. After lunch, you will take a short trek to a nearby summit for a panoramic view of the bay dotted with golden sails, and then go swimming on a quiet beach or sunbathing on the sundeck. Later in the afternoon, you will visit an interesting fishing village with the opportunity to interact with fishermen who have been living in the bay for almost three generations. Back on board, you can enjoy cocktails while watching the sunset. Later, you will unwind at a lavish dinner before an overnight stay on the deluxe junk.

Greet the day with a morning tai chi session, with an opportunity to view the sunrise over the bay. After breakfast, you will visit a beautiful limestone grotto and then go back to the boat for a final glimpse of Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock. After Brunch on board: Checkout is at 11:45 am and the boat arrives at the harbor by noon for the drive back to Hanoi.

Transfer to Hanoi Airport for flight to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) City.

Pick up on arrival and transfer to hotel. Overnight in HCM City.

Depart from Saigon for a 2.5hr drive to Cai Thia in Tien Giang Province. Exchange vehicle for bicycle as you cycle on a 1-2hr trip along quiet paths around the village of Hoa Loc, past rural scenes of wooden homes thatched with palm fronds, and local fishermen and farmers. Take a 45-minute cruise to An Binh Island in Vinh Long, where you will enjoy a lunch of Mekong Delta specialities at the Ut Trinh home restaurant to the soundtrack of traditional folk music. Transfer to a rowboat for an up close and personal experience of the network of narrow canals typical of the Mekong Delta. Shore excursions include workshop visits: a brick kiln where locals make lovely clay pottery and bricks, and the Viet Artisans craft workshop, a non-profit project benefiting unemployed women in the rural Delta. Cruise back to Vinh Long, where your car awaits for the drive back to Saigon.

You will leave HCMC to lush My Tho, where you will board a private boat to go through the green vegetation of the canals to an orchard, where guests are treated to a delicious lunch in a local restaurant in the heart of the Mekong, complete with succulent tropical fruits. You also visit the snake farm, Dong Tam, that breeds snakes for, among other things, snake wine. Then you will head back to HCMC for an overnight stay.

In the morning, you will enjoy a half-day private excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels consist of more than 200km of underground tunnels. This main axis system has many branches connecting to underground hideouts, shelters, and other tunnel entrances. The network included innumerable trap doors, specially constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centres, and kitchens. Today, the remaining tunnels have become a major tourist attraction, giving the visitor a unique experience and a feel of what underground life was like during the U.S.-Vietnam War.

In the afternoon, you will visit the Reunification Palace, the Opera House and the Hotel de Ville. You should also visit the powerful War Remnants Museum. You'll stroll through the city's main shopping boulevard with fashionable boutiques and hill tribe crafts, high-quality linens and housewares. You will have an overnight stay in HCMC

On this day, you are free to relax and enjoy your leisure time until you are picked up and transferred to the airport (without a guide) for your departure flight.
Meals will be for your own account.
End of services.