8-Day Vietnam Discovery

Arrive Hanoi anytime (hotel check in starts at 2 pm). After going through immigration formalities, meet your guide who will transfer you to your hotel. Overnight in Hanoi.

*** Please note that this itinerary can be reversed, with a start in Ho Chi Minh city, ending in Hanoi.

Meals included: n/a
Mid-Range Accommodations: Golden Lotus Luxury Hotel, Deluxe room
Luxury Accommodations: Silk Path Hotel, Deluxe room

This morning at 8 am, pick up at your hotel for a 4-hour journey by road to Halong City. Arrive in Halong City, embark on your wooden junk at Hon Gai pier. Have a welcome drink and cruise briefing before checking in your cabin.

Your junk will then start cruising to the magnificent Bai Tu Long Bay with countless number of stunning islets of different sizes and shapes. Lunch will be served on board.

By mid-afternoon, we will explore the well-hidden Thien Canh Son Cave and enjoy relaxation on the white sandy beach at Hon Co Island. We'll have the opportunity for sea kayaking and swimming as long as the weather permits. Afterwards, we return back to the junk for refreshing before having dinner.

After dinner, have time for relaxation, enjoy the fresh air and overnight on the Prince Junk (an intimate 3-4 cabin boat or "junk"). The Prince Junk is exquisitely modeled after traditional fishing boats, with attractive private deluxe cabins featuring private bathroom, air-conditioning, and picture windows for fantastic views of the islands. Each boat comes with its own professional chef and spacious public areas to relax amidst the gleaming teak and oak decks.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Luxury Accommodations: Prince Junk

In the morning, join your guide for a visit to the historic Ba Dinh Square, see the monolithic Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum from the outside, plus visit the One-Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature, known as the first university of Vietnam and built more than 1,000 years ago. Following our Hanoi city tour, you'll be transferred to Hanoi airport with a stop en route to the Museum of Ethnology for anyone interested.

Fly to rapidly modernizing Danang. Pick up and transfer to historic Hoi An. From the port town of Danang we drive the short distance south past famous Non Nuoc Beach onto the enchanting town of Hoi An listed by UNESCO as a World Culture Heritage and was once a well-known trading center in Southeast Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries. Its sizable community of foreign merchants resulted in a unique architectural style with Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese influences.

Check in the hotel, enjoy some time to refresh, then your guide will take you on a stroll through the ancient town. Its friendly inhabitants, narrow streets, old houses, temples, and wooden bridge still stand as charming reminders to its ancient character. Dinner tonight will be served at the Secret Garden, a wonderful restaurant nestled in a narrow alley typical to Hoi An. After dinner, drop off at your hotel or you may want to enjoy exploring Hoi An night life on your own.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Mid-Range Accommodations: Golden Lotus Luxury Hotel, Deluxe room
Luxury Accommodations: Silk Path Hotel, Deluxe room

In the morning, join your guide for a visit to the historic Ba Dinh Square, see the monolithic Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum from the outside, plus visit the One-Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature, known as the first university of Vietnam and built more than 1,000 years ago. Following our Hanoi city tour, you'll be transferred to Hanoi airport with a stop en route to the Museum of Ethnology for anyone interested.

Fly to rapidly modernizing Danang. Pick up and transfer to historic Hoi An. From the port town of Danang we drive the short distance south past famous Non Nuoc Beach onto the enchanting town of Hoi An listed by UNESCO as a World Culture Heritage and was once a well-known trading center in Southeast Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries. Its sizable community of foreign merchants resulted in a unique architectural style with Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese influences.

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner
Mid-Range Accommodations: Boutique Hoi An Resort, Superior room
Luxury Accommodations: Hoi An Trails Hotel, Superior room

In the morning, tour the scenic Hoi An countryside on a leisurely bicycle ride along picturesque country roads outside Hoi An to a local farm in Tra Que vegetable village, a traditional farming community on the edge of Hoi An. Tra Que village was named after the sweet scented vegetables that spice up local dishes. We will take a short tour around the vegetable gardens and learn more about local food, traditions, and life. Afterwards, we will cycle back to Hoi An and take advantage of the endless photo opportunities along the path.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and then your guide will transfer you back to your hotel. The rest of the day is at your leisure to enjoy. The beach is nearby and a great place to swim, relax with a drink and enjoy the sunset over the South China Sea.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Mid-Range Accommodations: Boutique Hoi An Resort, Superior room
Luxury Accommodations: Hoi An Trails Hotel, Superior room

After breakfast, check out and transfer to Danang airport for the morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival, pick up and transfer to your hotel. Drop off the luggage and begin your Saigon city tour. Formerly known as Saigon, today's Ho Chi Minh City is the bustling and vibrating economic heart of the South. Over the past few centuries, Saigon was called the 'Pearl of the Far East' and was an important trading center for Chinese, Japanese and Western merchants who travelled along the Saigon River.

Your Ho Chi Minh City tour includes visiting of the former Presidential Palace, renowned for its symbolic role in the fall of Saigon in 1975, the colorful Ben Thanh Market. Notre Dame Cathedral inaugurated in 1880 became the spiritual and cultural crucible of the French presence in the Orient as was the Post office designed by Gustav Eiffel and resembling a grand railway station.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Mid-Range Accommodations: Liberty Central hotel, Deluxe room
Luxury Accommodations: Sanouva Hotel, Deluxe room

In the morning, drive to visit Cu Chi Tunnels (70 km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City), an amazing complex of underground tunnels used during Vietnam War. There are more than 200 km of tunnels, comprising a main axis system with many branches connecting to underground hideouts, shelters and other tunnels. You have the chance to crawl through this amazing system of tunnels. Proceed to Tay Ninh, center of the Cao-Dai religion founded in 1926, a combination of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism.

You will have the opportunity to watch the worshippers in their long white tunics during noon mass. Have lunch at local restaurant and then drive back to Ho Chi Minh City.

In the evening, take an evening street food adventure by Vespa scooters. Your first stop is at Cafe zoom to "watch the world goes by" and enjoy a cocktail and appetizers (inclusive) before adventuring into favorite local eating spots. You will experience the nightlife of Saigon the way locals do, all from the back of a vintage Vespa scooter.

The tour will start with a ride to part Chinatown and then heading to District 4 through busy streets and alleys to see the night life of locals and enjoy street seafood and cold drinks, places that foreigners would hardly venture to. Leave district 4 for district 3 through downtown district 1 to a famous Banh Xeo shop to enjoy the specialty of Saigon, and southern food with the locals. Then continue to a hidden Vietnamese-style coffee shop to have a taste of Vietnamese music. Afterward venture to a lively bar to enjoy drinks along with live music.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch
Mid-Range Accommodations: Liberty Central hotel, Deluxe room
Luxury Accommodations: Sanouva Hotel, Deluxe room

Today, transfer to the airport for your flight.

Meals included: Breakfast