Vietnam Highlights with Francesca Barbetta

Day 1: Saigon Arrival

Arrive at Saigon airport, meet the guide with the welcome signboard. Transfer to hotel for check in with an orientation tour of Saigon city to have an overview of Saigon.  If time permits, dinner at one of the finest local restaurant in Saigon. Free at your own leisure.

Day 2: Saigon – Cai Be – Vinh Long – Saigon (B/L/-)

Leave your hotel at 7.30 for a 3-hour drive to Cai Be with stop en route at Trung Luong Bonsai garden for a tea break. Upon arrival, board a motorized boat to visit the popcorn cake, rice paper making family before visiting the lively floating market of Cai Be. Then continue by boat towards Vinh Long province to see the diverse fish traps in order to learn a kind of lazy fishing. After cruising along small shady canals, we step ashore and take a chance to watch a typical and interesting music show of the Mekong cultural life. Lunch is at the home/ bonsai garden. Afternoon, take a walk for about half an hour to enjoy the rural peaceful atmosphere of the countryside life, on the way we can also stop en route to learn more about fruit trees. Continue by boat to visit the brick and pottery factories. Back in the car at about 3 pm to drive to Can Tho. On arrival in the capital city of the Mekong Delta, do a walking city tour, including the local evening market to take photos of the busy trading activities before checking in the hotel. 

Day 3: Saigon –  Cu Chi – Saigon visit – flight to Danang – Hoi An (B/L/-)

After the breakfast at hotel, we depart at 8.00AM from your hotel. Drive 70kms Northwest of Ho Chi Minh city to Cu Chi with stop en route to visit a rice paper making village.

Before entering Cu Chi Tunnels, we watch a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed. Also on displaying are various mantraps and the remains of an American tank as well as numerous bomb craters made by 500 pound bombs dropped by B52 bombers. We then spend the next hour exploring the maze of tunnels to see the first-hand how the Viet Cong communists were able to survive in this underground network.

Lunch at local restaurant. Afterwards, transfer back to Saigon for ½ day city tour.

We will visit the Reunification Palace, the former residence of the President of South Vietnam until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

The nearby Notre Dame Cathedral. Next to the cathedral stands the Saigon Post Office. End the tour and transfer to the Tan Son Nhat  airport to take a short flight to Da nang. Upon arrival you are welcome by the guide and transfer to hotel in Hoi An.

Day 4: Hoi An – My Son – Hoi An (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel. Early morning we will drive to My Son, the Holly land of Champa kingdom date back from 4th to 13th century. Arrive to My Son before it getting crowded by the other tourists, you will have great chance to discover and feel the great ancient atmosphere of the complex of nearly 70 difference towers there, where  you can find the best brick sculpture in the world. My Son also had been recognized to be culture world Heritage in 2000. Afternoon free for shopping and further discovery of Hoian on your own.

 Day 5: Hoi An – Biking tour at Tra Que village – Danang – Hue (B/L/-)

Depart at your hotel at 8:30AM, you will ride by bicycle to Tra Que Vegetable Village (or private car) experience a day of living and working with the local farmers in this village. A tour of the organic vegetable and herb gardens can include some time working in the field if you like, or merely observing and learning about the system and the fresh ingredients.

Upon returning to the house, we were all treated to an herbal foot massage followed by a session of cooking various local dishes such as: Tam Huu Spring Roll, Banh Xeo or the local pancake of the people from the middle region.

After cooking class continue to the charming historic city of Hoi An, known to early Western merchants, Hoi An was one of the major trading centers of Southeast Asia in the 16th century. Hoi An has a distinctive Chinese atmosphere with low, tiled-roof houses and narrow streets; the original structure of some of these streets is still virtually intact. Many of the houses were constructed of rare timbers and decorated with lacquer panels engraved with Chinese characters and pillars carved with ornamental designs. After that transfer to Da Nang, you will visit Cham Museum at Danang: this houses probably the best collection of Cham art to be found anywhere in the world. There are more than 300 artifacts in the museum, many dating to the 4th century. There are beautiful sculptures reflecting the 1000 year Cham period. Arrive in Hue and overnight at your hotel.

Day 6: Hue –  Tam Giang lagoon – Hue visit – flight to Hanoi (B/-/-)

08.00. Breakfast at hotel and then transfer to Tam Giang – the largest lagoon  in Southeast Asia  with  a length of 24 kilometers on an area of 52 square kilometers.. Your guide and driver pick you up and transfer you to the wharf for your boat ride on the Perfume River. During the boat trip, you will stop to visit the iconic Thien Mu Pagoda, a symbol of Hue – the oldest ancient architectural structures for religious worship. Then you go to visit the Imperial Citadel of Hue with the Purple Forbidden City – once the Emperor’s private residence. You will be having lunch at a local restaurant. The Hue Citadel is situated on the Northern bank of the Perfume River. It covers an area 500 ha and has a system of three circles of ramparts: Kinh Thanh Hue (Hue Capital Citadel), Hoang Thanh (Royal Citadel) and Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden Citadel). The Hue royal complex has been officially recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.You may continue to visit a tomb monument of King Tu Duc which is located in a very special area. More than just a tomb visiting, it’s the great chance to learn more about Nguyen King and the landscape is spectacular.

At 18:55PM you will go to airport for your flight from Hue to Hanoi.

Upon your arrival, your guide  and driver would meet you at Noi Bai international airport and take you to hotel for check-in. Overnight at your hotel  in Hanoi

Breakfast at hotel. You would have the full day to explore the charm of Vietnam’s capital.  

Day 7: Hanoi city tour

Morning:

9 am: Your guide and driver would wait for you at the lounge of the hotel.

You would be taken to highlight sites of Hanoi: the Presidential Palace (formerly Palace of the Governor-General of French Indochina), Ho Chi Minh house-on-stilt, One-Pillar Pagoda. You may also have chance to visit Vietnam’s very first university dated back in the 11th century. It is well-known in Vietnam for a combination of Confucian sanctuary and academy clearly proved by stone tablets which you may see.

Afternoon:

After having lunch at a nice restaurant, upon your request, we would plan to visit Hanoi History Museum or the Museum of Ethnology – the space just for you to spot past events and turning points of Vietnam people along with the identity of 54 recognized ethnic groups of this S-shaped country.

Following by the Old Quarter Walking tour, you would have time at Café Giang  for some bitter sweet coffee, enjoying the local life at the oldest home-made coffee brand in Hanoi.

The day ended up with a Water Puppet Show which had been maintained there in Vietnam for around 1000 years.

Overnight at your hotel in Hanoi 

Day 8: Hanoi – Ninh Binh: Hoa Lu Temple –  Tam Coc – Hanoi (B/L/-)

Often referred to as “Inland Ha Long Bay ”, the area of Tam Coc and Hoa Lu is characterised by the limestone geology that gives rise to the towering karsts that make this picturesque area so unique. On this enjoyable day trip, the atmosphere is relaxed as you casually pedal and paddle your way past green rice fields, along waterways and through underground passages.

8.00 AM leave Hanoi by coach to Hoa Lu (2.5 hrs). Visit the historic capital of Viet Nam and the famous ancient temples of Le and The Dinh Dynasties. Bus transfer or cycle for an hour on picturesque quiet roads through villages, rice fields, rivers and rocky outcrops to Tam Coc (12km) for lunch. 

Boat trip to visit TamCoc to see the beauty of the karst formations as you pass along their base and row into one of the many caves carved through the limestone. Dive back to Ha Noi. Tour ends around 6pm.

Day 9:  Hanoi – Ha Long Bay (B/L/D)  

Morning

07.45 – 8:30: The shutter bus will pick you up from your hotel and heading to northeast of Vietnam setting out on a 3.5 hour drive to the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Halong Bay. Then you would have 24 hours on a traditional style Vietnamese Junk Cruise which would set sail at noon and board your junk. Lunch with diversified fresh seafood would be served on board.

Afternoon

Aboard the cruise, you would take time to visit several highlight locations:

• 3 largest caves: Thien Cung, Dau Go, Sung Sot
• Titop beach for swimming (weather permit) or being on the deck for sunbathing
• Nearby summits where you can take short trekking to watch over the bay from the high.

Back on the junk, the stunning sunset time is on your view and a dinner awaits with cocktails available for purchase from the bar. Passing the night on your junk, the gentle rocking of calm waters will lull you to sleep.

Day 10: Ha Long Bay – Hanoi (B/L/-)