Through Beautiful Vietnam

Warmly welcome on arrival Hanoi airport. Transfer to hotel.

Afternoon, take 1hour cyclo tour around the Old Quarter, visit the local market. Enjoy the evening water puppet performance. Overnight in Hanoi.

Full-day private city tour. The post-colonial capital city of Hanoi is a unique Asian city with tree-lined boulevards, French colonial architecture, numerous lakes, pagodas and temples. This full day tour takes you around Hanoi’s most interesting sights, including the Ho Chi Minh Complex: Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and his Stilt House, Presidential Palace and the One Pillar Pagoda nearby. Also visit the Old Quarter known for its 36 streets and former craft guilds. Also on the tour – the Lake of the Restored Sword and Ngoc Son Temple, the Temple of Literature, peaceful West Lake with lovers’ street Thanh Nien, the sedate Tran Quoc Pagoda and Quan Thanh Temple and one of the city’s museums, either the History Museum or the Ethnology Museum. In the evening, transfer to the Hanoi Railway Station for the overnight train to Lao Cai. Overnight on train.

Arrive in Lao Cai in the early morning. After breakfast, drive to visit one of the famous markets here where you can meet many ethnic minorities such as Flower Hmong, Black Dao, Phu La, Tay, Nung …These markets gather only one time per week and they offer its variety of local products, which could not be found in others areas (Bac Ha market & Muong Hum market on Sundays, Coc Ly market on Tuesdays, Lung Khau Nhin market on Thursdays & Can Cau markets on Saturdays only). After visiting the market, we will drive to Sapa for hotel’s check in. Overnight in Sa Pa.

Today you will trek to visit scenic villages Ta Van of Zay hill tribe people and Lao Chai of Black H’mong people, where you discover the traditional lifestyle of welcoming people who are proud of their culture and keep their traditions and way of living. They have their own language. Zay women still wear traditional shirts with a purple, blue or green color. The Zay houses are built of wood and bamboo with a clay floor. Black H’mong women wear traditional indigo blue clothing.

Late afternoon, transfer to the Lao Cai Station for an overnight train to Hanoi.

Overnight on the train.

Morning pick-up from Hanoi railway, have breakfast at the local restaurant, you leave Hanoi for Halong Bay. Welcome on board for a junk cruise and set sail in the bay while lunch is served. Passage into the magical bay, where thousands of sculpted limestone islands rise from the waves like dragons’ teeth. After lunch, take a short trek to a nearby summit for a panoramic view of the bay, swimming on a quiet beach or sunbathing on the sundeck. Late afternoon, visit an interesting fishing village with an opportunity to interact with fishermen who have been living in the bay for almost three generations. At sunset, kayak or simply take a bamboo row boat to discover a water tunnel with many coral reefs in a scenic lagoon. Back on board your jun, enjoy watching the peaceful sunset and later unwind at a restaurant. Overnight on cruise.

Wake up on the bay to the sounds of waves and bird welcoming the new day. You will have an opportunity to view the sunrise over the bay. After breakfast, visit a beautiful limestone grotto then walk back to the boat for a final glimpse of Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock. Drive back to Hanoi. Overnight in Hanoi.

Transfer to airport for your noon time flight to Hue. Upon arrival at Phu Bai Airport you will be transferred directly to your hotel. This afternoon we embark on a tour of Hue City including the Citadel and the Forbidden Purple City, the Imperial Museum and Dong Ba market. Overnight in Hue.

Rising up in the ancient land, enjoy your breakfast in the hotel. Then, board a private boat for cruising the romantic Perfume River, visit Lady Pagoda (Thien Mu Pagoda), the ornate Minh Mang’s tomb. We will enjoy lunch on the boat before disembarking the Dragon boat. Leave the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Hue to Hoi An, We will travel over the Hai Van pass, stop in Danang for a visit to the Cham Museum and handicraft villages on the foot of Marble Mountain before arriving in Hoi An. Once in Hoi An, we will check into our hotel and have some free time to explore. Overnight in Hoi An.

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- year old Tam Ky ancestral house, and the Japanese Bridge. Leaving Hoi An for Danang   Airport to take one-hour flight Buon Me Thuot. Continue visit the Trung Nguyen Coffee Village (regarded as the Coffee Museum), a weasel (civét) coffee farm which is located at 2 km from BMT city’s heart and the Ethnographic Museum –

The first museum in Vietnam which there are 4 different languages are used for legends: English,

French, Vietnamese and    Ede. Visit Ako D’hong Village (Ede) and BMT Central Market.

After breakfast, depart for YokDon National Park – One of the biggest parks of Vietnam with the covering of 115.545 hectares, trek (2 hours) in the forest to discover its diverse fauna and flora system. Have a picnic lunch. Go up stream of the

S’repok River (1 hour) by boat to enjoy the beautiful landscapes and to wit the daily routine activities of the residents along the river-sides. For this route, you might have opportunities to see some bird species like king-fisher, drongo, oriole,…

Afternoon, visit Yang Lanh Village in order to interact and share with local people by exploring the  cultures and the traditional customs among the different groups of the Ede, M’nong, Laotian,… Visit the Elephants’ cemetery. Spend the night in the bungalow (Ede’s traditional long house-on-stilts) nearby the S’repok’s riverside. After dinner, free for your own to discover the charming Don Village.

After breakfast, leave Don Village for visiting Lak Lake, make stops along the road-sides for taking pictures and sightseeing,… Especially, ride elephant to cross Lak Lake (1 hour), do dug-out canoe on Lak Lake (1 hour) for both charming the beauty of the nature of this amazing lake and learning how to fish with the   indigenous M’nong R’lam. Have lunch with special dishes at Lak Lake Resort Restaurant. Afternoon, walk (2 hours) to visit the 03 different villages of Yang La, Le and Jun to discover the multi-cultures and the traditional customs of the M’nong R’lam ethnic group. After dinner, enjoy Gongs Show (2 hours) and jar-wine (special home-made wine with 12-14% of alcohol, very helpful for digestion), dance with local boys & girls surrounded by a camp fire,… After the show, free for your own to enjoy the nature.

After breakfast, continue the tour to visit plantations of pepper, rubber and a coffee farm (about 12 km far away from BMT City to the East) for getting to know how the local people grow, take-care and process the coffee (robusta & arabica). Have

lunch with special dishes at a local restaurant in BMT. Afternoon: Continue the trip to visit 2 famous waterfalls in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: D’ray Sap and D’ray Nur Falls. Go back to BMT, check-in. After dinner, you are free for your own activities or you might visit any coffee bar near by the hotel for tasting the best coffee in Vietnam.

Morning transfer to the fabulous sunny weather, turquoise water surrounding a string of offshore islands and white sandy beach stretching the whole length of the city make Nha Trang one of Vietnam’s premier beach resorts. Upon arrival, pick up

and transfer to the hotel for check in. In the afternoon, we will visit the Long Son Pagoda with its enormous white Buddha statue, and the impressive Ponagar Cham Towers, a secret Hindu site dating back to the 2nd century AD.

Overnight in NhaTrang.

Enjoy a whole day free on the blue clear water enjoying swimming, scuba diving, snorkeling or lazing on the beach.

Overnight in NhaTrang.

Leave Nha Trang for Da Lat, the “City of Eternal Spring”. The charming town Da Lat is set around a lake and surrounded by evergreen forests, gardens, meadows, lakes, waterfalls and rolling countryside. On arrival in Da Lat we visit the Love Valley, the Xuan Huong Lake, the Lake of Sighs and the Flower Garden.

Overnight in Da Lat.

Morning visit the summer residence of Vietnam’s last Emperor Bao Dai, the Lam Ty Ni Pagoda, Hang Nga Guesthouse and Truc Lam Thien Vien Pagoda.

Afternoon we depart to Ho Chi Minh City. This bustling metropolis, contradiction of its northern counterpart, is crowded with bikes and motorbikes, excited by numerous shopping area and sidewalk cafes.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Today we visit the Reunification Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Old Sai Gon Post Office and Ben Thanh market. In the afternoon continue to visit this dynamic city including the China town with Thien Hau pagoda and Binh Tay wholesale market where we have 30 minutes free time for shopping. Then visit a lacquer ware factory and Vinh Nghiem pagoda to see the 4p.m ceremony. Late afternoon stroll down the fashionable Rue Catinat of old Saigon. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh city.

This morning we drive to Cao Dai Temples in Tay Ninh to observe the midday service. Tay Ninh , near the Cambodian border, is home to the unique Cao Dai sect, whose patron saints include Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo and Winston Churchill to name a few. The religion is a hybrid of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Christianity. The Cao Dai Temple at Tay Ninh has been described as a Walt Disney fantasia of the East.

The trip to Tay Ninh is combined with a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. At its height, the tunnel system stretched over 250km. from Saigon to the Cambodian border and was three levels deep. The network included innumerable trap doors, specially constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers 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 during the U.S.-Vietnam War must have been like. Overnight in HCMC.

Journey to My Tho (65 km). Upon arrival we take a boat trip visiting the fish wharf, the 4 famous islands of Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle and Phoenix. Take a short tour by “xe loi” (motorized rickshaw) to the bank of Mekong River visiting a rice farm, candy workshop and honey bee farm, then journey by small sampan through the canals and mangrove forests where we watch the fishermen lay their fish traps. Enjoy time on the Unicorn Island visiting the fruit orchards, taste diverse types of tropical fruits, tea mixed with bee’s honey. Experience a wonderful show of Mekong Delta’s traditional music and songs.

You enjoy the free time until transfer to airport for your departure flight. End of services.