HANOI ARRIVAL & ORIENTATION
Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. Time for relaxing after the journey.
With time permits, you may have time for a leisure ride by small electric carts (or rickshaw) around the Hoan Kiem lake and the Hanoi Old Quarter. This bustling is of Hanoi is a maze of shopping streets and restaurants with a hotchpotch of architecture - traditional tube houses, religious buildings, artisans’ workshops, and cottages, colonial houses and modern concrete edifices.
HANOI CITY AND BAT TRANG POTTERY VILLAGE
08:30 AM – Pick up from your hotel, we'll start the day with a visit to the excellent Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam's 54 distinct ethnic groups and an enjoyable performance of traditional Water Puppetry (an art form unique to northern Vietnam) at the museum outdoor stage. You’ll have time for the Temple of Literature - Vietnam's first university, which was established in 1070 before lunch at KOTO restaurant.
In the afternoon, you’ll head to Bat Trang village – a premier ceramics centre 15 km northeast of the city centre. While the upper side is quite commercialized and focuses on glazed ceramic items, the riverside 'ancient' village leans more towards earthenware and pottery products. There’re opportunities to try your hand on making our own products, or wandering around its large ceramics market.
The day program includes a visit to a religious architecture; it’s advisory to wear long trousers/blouse (enough to cover your shoulders/knees)
HANOI - HALONG BAY
7:45 – Pick up from hotel and transfer to cruise for tour check-in procedure.
8:00 - Depart from Hanoi for a 3.5 hours drive to Halong City through the Red River Delta. Upon arrival, get on board of the Treasure Junk and start the cruise to the boundaries of Halong bay while lunch with fresh seafood is served (vegetarian and kids menus available).
After lunch, just make yourself at ease and relax. Limestone rock formations will parade all around us for about 2 hours before our first stop. We reach the perfect spot, where the waters of Halong and Bai Tu Long hit and wave together. Let's get ready for a closer look to the water and explore the bay in depth with your own kayak & paddle.
We’ll get back on the Treasure board before sunset refresh and an aperitif on the sundeck. The boat cruises to its anchorage area. Dinner is served either inside or outside depending on weather conditions. Overnight on board in a cozy air-conditioned cabin with en-suite bathroom facilities.
The transfer from Hanoi to Halong is by shuttle bus. On the way to Halong we will stop at a place with food, beverages and souvenirs for sale. This is not to trick you and that will be the only times of the whole trip you may feel in the tourism mass. But that is the only place on the way, where you, your driver and your guide can use clean toilets without being forced to buy anything. Thanks for your understanding.
HALONG - NINH BINH - TAM COC
6:30 - Coffee, tea and cakes will be served. Wake up smoothly while witnessing the silence of beautiful misty bay. A 30-minute Tai Chi session will be organized, energize your body and soul or just allow yourself some leisure time on a sunbath with a cup of coffee.
About 7.45am, we hop on bamboo boats to go visiting a secluded floating village surrounded by the mountains. We trace our way between numerous floating houses and small rowing boats that serve the everyday life as vehicle, itinerant shops, fishing utility, sometimes overnight shelter.
Back on treasure before 9am, we start cruising back to the pier. From 9.30am, a brunch will be served. Take a last glance at the rocks, standing still as the eternal guardians of a kingdom, we are about to reach the pier.
11:30 – Transfer from Halong to Ninh Binh. The driving takes around 5 hours, you’ll reach Tam Coc (known as one of the most scenic spot of the region) in the late afternoon.
TAM COC EXPLORER
In the morning, we hop on bicycles for an easy-paced to the local pier for embarking on a rowing sampan for about one hour on a less travelled canal of the region. It goes through caves and along the border with the natural site of Trang An.
Afterwards, you continue our cycling route through scenic rural landscapes in Tam Coc and have a closer look to the villages’ rural life with opportunity to stop en-route and help a local farmer in his daily work. Lunch will be served at one of the village’s houses.
Back to your hotel in Tam Coc, the rest of day will be free for your family relaxing.
TAM COC - CUC PHUONG - HA NOI - HUE
10:00 AM - depart from Tam Coc for a transfer to Cuc Phuong, the oldest National Park in Vietnam. We’ll start with a visit the renowned Endangered Primate Rescue Centre to see some of the rarest apes and monkeys in the world and learn about the conservation efforts to save them.
After lunch, we take short transfer to the park center with a stop en-route at the Cave of Prehistoric Man. In the afternoon, you’ll wander through a subtropical forest, rich in flora and fauna with thousand-year-old trees draped in vines.
Late in the afternoon we head back to Hanoi airport for boarding a flight to Hue.
HUE'S HERITAGE AND LOCAL ARTISAN
09:00 AM – pick up from hotel, the day starts with a mini class of making your own paper kite. You’ll be introduced to a kite maker whose family has been practicing this skill for generations. Under his guidance, the pre-prepared bamboo framework soon becomes a beautiful kite after your gluing and shaping. Next stop will be Thuy Bieu village. The village is a real maze of narrow alleys giving access to ancient garden houses all more beautiful than another. But the real treasures of this village are the people, descendants of the Mandarins. Lunch will be served at a local house.
In the afternoon, we’ll take a boat trip crossing Perfume River to Thien Mu pagoda, and then a quick transfer to the Imperial citadel – the most well-known of Hue ancient capital. If weather permits, we end the day with kiting your own product at the South Gate of the Citadel. Another night in Hue.
HUE - DA NANG - HOI AN ANCIENT TOWN
In the morning, time will be on your own until our guide arrive and take you to Hue railway station for boarding a noon train to Danang. This local experience offers an excellent view of Lang Co beach, Hai Van mountain with the city of Da Nang spread out before you to the south.
A quick transfer brings you from Danang station to Hoi An. In the afternoon, our guide will show you the Ancient Town and explain its considerable significance in the history of Vietnam.
HOI AN RURAL & RIVER LIFE
Morning will be free at your leisure.
In the afternoon, at around 2:00 pm - our guide picks up from your hotel with bicycles; we’ll then set off towards Duy Vinh – the country side of Hoi An. The picturesque cycling route is highlighted with rice fields, local garden and market... Stop as often as you wish for taking photograph or some easy chat with locals. There’s also time for a visit to a local family who are making sleeping mats in traditional way or a local carving workshops nearby.
After around 1 hour cycling, you’ll meet your water gear, let’s explore Cam Thanh coco palm forest in your own way by kayak or SUP (stand-up-paddle). The area is a unique mangrove ecosystem to Hoi An and the scenery is spectacular. The Coco palm forest provides the locals with products such as fish, shells and Nipa leaves which are commonly used as a roofing material for local homes.
You’ll back to the boat pier after 1-1.5 hours paddling. Cool down with some local snack before getting back to hotel by a taxi.
HOI AN FREE LEISURE
The day will be free for strolling in the town, lazing on the beach, or whatever takes your fancy. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.
HOI AN - DA NANG - HO CHI MINH CITY
Morning/noon flight from Danang to Ho Chi Minh city (so-called Saigon) with private airport transfers.
In late afternoon, how to better explore Saigon than from the back of a scooter? Even if you’re not familiar with riding on a two-wheel machine, this journey will charm you and surely remain as a highlight of your
HO CHI MINH CITY - CU CHI TUNNELS
8:00 AM - We depart from your hotel to visit Cu Chi - a byzantine maze of underground passages, chambers, rooms and booby traps used during the war. You'll be able to get an idea of what it would have been like to live, sleep and eat in the underground passages and bunkers during the fierce battles above and below the surface. Return to the city for lunch at a tasty restaurant in the city centre.
In the afternoon, you'll discover Binh Tay market and its surrounding area – known as Cholon or China town. The market is always busy, crowded and messy with small aisles selling all manner of goods, our main point is not for shopping but to enjoy the authentic Chinese atmosphere that has existed here for hundreds of years. There’s also time to visit Thien Hau pagoda before heading back to your hotel.
In the evening, you’ll have tickets for an outstanding cultural performance at the Saigon Opera Theatre Featuring a blend of acrobatic acts, circus stunts, traditional music and contemporary dance, the lavish production embraces various elements of performance art to paint a uniquely Vietnamese picture.
HO CHI MINH CITY - MEKONG DELTA
8:00 AM – pick up from your hotel and make our way through Saigon traffic. We exit the bustling metropolis and enter the Mekong delta and its rural sceneries. At about 9.30am, we reach Cai Lay town and visit its market. We discover a colorful array of products, and stop by the fruits area to buy some for our dessert later today.
We then hop on a boat and transfer to our cycling playground. It is a narrow lane of about 12 km going along waterways and traditional houses. Many “hellos” on the way, some stops for pictures, at crafting and rice processing workshops; and to visit a family. Our hosts will offer us local cake and some tea. We take the time to wander around and try catching fishes in the very traditional way, using the “vo ca”.
We then get back on the waters of the mighty River and cruise at easy pace along the rice fields and other agricultural scenes. We reach a local home at about 1pm to enjoy a home-made lunch (and the fruits we bought earlier). Follow a digestive stroll around and the visit of carpenters in their workshop. Time to say farewell to our hosts and head back to Saigon.
HO CHI MINH CITY DEPARTURE
Your time will be your own until your private car and driver arrives to take you to Tan Son Nhat airport for your departure flight. End of our services.
