General Information
Tour Route: Hanoi – Halong Bay – Hue – Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta – Cu Chi Tunnels
Duration: 15 Days/ 14 Nights
Departure Date: Any Time You Wish
Start/ End: Hanoi/ Ho Chi Minh City
Brief Itinerary
Day 1: Hanoi arrival
Day 2: Hanoi City Tour (B, L)
Day 3: Hanoi – Ky Son & Homestay (B, L, D)
Day 5: Hanoi – Bai Tu Long Bay (overnight on deluxe junk cruise) (B, L, D)
Day 6: Bai Tu Long Bay – Hanoi – Flight to Hue (B, L)
Day 7: Hue – The World Cultural Heritage (B, L)
Day 8: Hue – Transfer to Hoi An – Free and easy in the afternoon (B, L)
Day 9: Hoi An Cooking Class and walking tour (B, L)
Day 10: Hoi An Ancient Town – Ho Chi Minh City (B)
Day 11: Ho Chi Minh City Exploration Tour (B, L)
Day 12: Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta Exploration (B, L, D)
Day 13: Mekong Delta – Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (B, L)
Day 14: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnels – Free Afternoon (B)
Day 15: Free Day in Ho Chi Minh City – Departure (B)
Full Itinerary
Day 1: Hanoi Arrival
Welcome upon arrival by Hanoi Local Tour’s guide, we will transfer to the hotel for relaxing after a long flight. Free and easy on your own. Overnight in Hanoi
Day 2: Hanoi City Tour (B, L)
Today we will venture out to explore Hanoi. First up, we will drive to the Ho Chi Minh complex where we will spend time at Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, his former stilt-house, the Presidential Palace, the Ho Chi Minh Museum and One Pillar Pagoda. Next, we visit the Temple of Literature, originally built as a temple to Confucius.
After lunch, we visit the Museum of Ethnology, widely acknowledged as the best in the country. It has an extensive display dedicated to Vietnam’s 54 Ethnic minority people or the infamous Hoa Lo Prison Museum. Hoa Lo, known as the ‘’Hanoi Hilton’’, was the place where former US presidential candidate John McCain was incarcerated for over 5 years.
Later this afternoon, we enjoy a 1-hour cyclo tour of the French-inspired “old quarter”. We have time for free shopping in the Old Quarter ranges from markets through to designer boutique stores to amazing contemporary art galleries. After dinner, we sit down to enjoy the performance of the city’s famous Water Puppets.
Day 3: Hanoi – Ky Son & Homestay (B, L, D)
After breakfast, we will pick you up at the hotel and transfer to Moon Garden homestay. At around 10:00 AM, we arrive at Moon Garden Homestay in Ky Son village. Welcome drink with local fresh green tea. Free time for discovering Moon Garden Homestay and Ky Son village by yourself (local market, kindergarten).
After lunch, enjoy Hand Spa- Enjoy having your fingers dipped in a fragrant lime bowl and the traditional herbal hand massage. Then, free time for relaxing or further conversation with the host family about local snacks, sharing cultures, and learning about traditional customs. If you want to learn Vietnamese, one of the members of families can teach you. Afterward, you can have a choice of a short ride of 6 km or a long ride of 12 km round trip:
For short ride: Take a bicycle ride to discover the Ky Son, Tam Son, Van Minh, and Cham farming communities to and stop at any home you like for a cup of tea. Visit the kindergarten (if open). Listen to the local people about their daily life and farming. Or (if required) you can help with plowing or transplanting seedlings, harvesting rice (or cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, cucumber…) depending on the harvest season.
For long-ride: Take a bicycle ride with a local guide to discover the Ky Son, Tam Son, Van Minh, and Cham farming communities, Duong Lam ancient village and visit Mia Pagoda, Mong Phu Communal House… Then bike rides back along the ritual paths of Thang Thac village to discover the Ngo Quyen tomb, Phung Hung temple.
Return to the Moon Garden to enjoy happy hour. Relish in the traditional, refreshing steam bath with fragrant herbs (Lemon grass, pomelo leaves, holy basil leaves). Before dinner, spend your time to observe the evening Buddha worship.
Have dinner and then, enjoy your foot bath in warm water with ginger, salt, and mugwort medicinal herbs before bedtime, which brings you a deeper sleep. Stay overnight at Moon Garden home-stay in Ky Son village
Day 4: Ky Son – Hanoi (B, L)
Get up early in the morning and join Yijinjing traditional exercises before savor the tasty breakfast. Walk around Ky Son village for further discovery of countryside, interact with the locals to learn about their daily life and farming. Visit the villager’s bee house. Or (if required) you can help with plowing or transplanting seedlings, harvesting rice (or cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, cucumber…) depending on the harvest season. You can visit the kindergarten (Closed on Sat, Sun, and Holidays) and go to the village market, then back to Moon Garden for savoring lunch.
In the afternoon, you can make yourself at home relaxing on the hammock in our garden, taking pictures with Vietnamese traditional clothes and chatting with people or further discovery of the Ky Son village and around until your departure time getting back to Hanoi.
Day 5: Hanoi – Bai Tu Long Bay (overnight on deluxe junk cruise) (B, L, D)
Pick up at the hotel by shuttle bus, then transfer to Halong Bay and head to Hon Gai Tourist Wharf, check-in The OS Lounge and then get on the tender to transfer to Oriental Sails. Listen to cruise briefing and check-in.
In the early afternoon, savor a delectable lunch as Oriental Sails cruises further along the limestone islands of Bai Tu Long Bay, heading to Vung Vieng fishing village – one of the largest fishing villages in Halong Bay to witness the life of fishermen.
In the late afternoon, return to Oriental Sails and have a bath then relax as the sun starts to set. Enjoy Happy Hour at the bar and on the sun deck while cooking demonstration is organizing. Dinner with seafood mainly and spend the night on board at Cong Do area.
Day 6: Bai Tu Long Bay – Hanoi – Flight to Hue (B, L)
Start our day with Tai Chi exercise on the sundeck. After that, catching a morning view of seascapes with a cup of tea or coffee, have breakfast while cruising toward Thien Canh Son Cave. Take a visit to Thien Canh Son Cave – the medium size and less visited the cave in Bai Tu Long Bay.
Around 9.30 Am, check-out room and our luggage can be delivered to the reception area and then, head back to the Harbor. We’ll enjoy early lunch on board and then disembark the Oriental Sails Lounge at 12.00. Get on the shuttle bus and transfer back to Hanoi.
Arriving in Hanoi at around 05:00, we will then transfer to hotel for picking up luggage then transfer to a local restaurant nearby the station for your own dinner. After that, we transfer to the airport for our flight to Hue.
Day 7: Hue – The World Cultural Heritage (B, L)
Pick up at the hotel at 8:30 AM, we will board the Dragon Boat on the romantic Perfume River heading out for the countryside. Hue – the ancient capital is surrounded with ancient tombs of emperors past, and a visit to the most beautiful tombs will be on the itinerary for today. The stunning Lady Pagoda (Thien Mu Pagoda) will be the first stop of the day. We will enjoy great scenery on the Perfume River (Huong River) and the surrounding area. Thien Mu Pagoda is actually considered the symbol of both Hue and Buddhism in Vietnam. From here, we rejoin our van and go visit King Khai Dinh’s Tomb or King Tu Duc’s Tomb.
In the afternoon, visit the Imperial Citadel where the Nguyen Dynasty ruled between 1802 and 1945, after exploring the ruins of this wonderful monument. We will then embark to the Hue Royal Fine Art Museum, which is housed within the former Dien Long An Royal Palace. Finish the day with a short visit to the local Dong Ba Market to witness the daily life of local people. Overnight in Hue.
Day 8: Hue – Transfer to Hoi An – Free & Easy in the afternoon (B, L)
After enjoying breakfast, we travel by vehicle to Hoi An along stunning highway 1A. Along the way, we stop to contemplate the scenic views North, to Lang Co Beach and South to Danang city.
On arrival in Danang, we will have a brief visit at Cham Museum – the houses of the most complete collection if Cham Artifacts anywhere in the world; the Marble Mountain – five elements of the Mother of Nature (water, wood, air, fire, and earth). Arrive in Hoi An in the afternoon. The rest of the day will be free for strolling in the town, lazing on the beach, or whatever takes your fancy. We’ll spend the night in Hoi An.
Day 9: Hoi An Cooking Class & Walking Tour (B, D)
We start the day (8.15 am) with a drink at Hai Scout Café – our meeting point to join with group cooking class. Visit Hoi An’s colorful main market, and experience its amazing sights, sounds and aromas. We will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers, to see and taste the wonderful variety of foods on display.
We take the Red Bridge boat for a leisurely cruise (about 25 minutes) along the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. It is a great chance to view the local river life, so make sure your camera is handy.
Upon arrival, we take part in the cooking school’s herb and vegetable garden, before learning about some of Hoi An’s and Vietnam’s renowned dishes. The cooking demonstration will run for about 2 hours, dishes are first demonstrated by the Red Bridge chef’s before we prepare the same dish ourselves. The class is a brief introduction to the Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration) to foreign friends. After the lesson, we sit down and taste exactly what we have cooked. Finish at approximately 1 pm and then transfer back to central Hoi An.
After short rest, we will join in private walking down to the downtown for our walking tour. Embark on the walking tour around the town to visit the picturesque Japanese Covered Bridge, the Pottery Museum, Tan Ky old house, the Cantonese congregation, the silk street of the ancient town in Hoi An, the temples and pagodas of Chinese appearance. Then we are back to our hotel.
Day 10: Hoi An Ancient Town – Ho Chi Minh City (B)
Enjoy time to relax or shopping in the morning in Hoi An, then transfer back to Danang for a short domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh City – the heart of the South and also the largest city in Vietnam. Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), we will be met by another local tour guide who will take us to our hotel for check-in and relax. Overnight at the hotel in Saigon.
Day 11: Ho Chi Minh City Exploration Tour (B, L)
Today, the tour will start at 08:30 and end at 18:00. Firstly, depart our hotel for the Reunification Palace, the former Presidential Palace for the president of the South of Vietnam. Then, we will visit the War Remnant Museum, where you can witness countless artifacts, photographs, and pictures documenting in the second Indochina war. Next, we will stop at Notre Dame Cathedral and Saigon Central Office to get our stunning shots for the unforgettable memory of the biggest and modern city in Vietnam. Savor the tasty lunch served at a nice restaurant in the central city.
Our first destinations in the afternoon are Ben Thanh market, Cho Lon, Chinese town and local market where we can experience our Vietnamese Southern daily life. Overnight in Saigon.
Day 12: Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta Exploration (B, L, D)
This morning, we take a visit to Cai Be where we will enjoy the boat trip around Cai Be colorful floating market with various local barges full of fruits and vegetables.
Then, we stop at local workshops or the handicraft village where the locals make special products of rice-net for spring rolls, fish sauce, soya sauce, cooking salt, sewing coconut-leaves for cottage proof…. After lunch, the rowing boat will take us deeper into the countryside along the canals. Relish in the tranquil air while passing traditional houses all made of wood, palm tree leaves; farmers catching fishes or picking up fruits by the ancestral way in Mekong Delta area.
Arriving at the homestay, check-in and enjoy the last but interesting activity of the day, that is biking. It will be so mesmerizing to bike on village paths to see the local farms, houses, real-life and the ancestral ways to pick up fruits in Mekong Delta. Overnight in a private room of a local house.
Day 13: Mekong Delta – Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (B, L)
Enjoy breakfast and stroll around the village to enjoy the fresh air in the morning; after that, take a boat trip to visit the brick kilns where we can see how the locals create delicate potteries from clay. Our boat will go along the floating village where we will see how the people farm catfish on Mekong River. We will stop en route to visit Vinh Long market in the town. This is the best choice for us to take pictures of fish, shrimps, prawns, crabs, snakes, rice-field rats, tropical fruits, vegetables…We will then transfer back to Saigon.
Day 14: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnels – Free Afternoon (B)
In the morning, leave Ho Chi Minh city for the Cu Chi tunnels – the best highlight to explore ancient artifacts since the Vietnam-US war, also known as the “Iron Triangle” or “Iron Land”. On the way there we will drive through the peaceful countryside; rubber plantations and stunning rice paddies. After watching a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed, followed by an exploration of the maze of tunnels, we will enter the tunnels. Also on display are the variety of mantraps and the remains of an American tank, as well as numerous bomb craters made by 500lb bombs, which all dropped by B52 bombers. Later on, we transfer back to Ho Chi Minh City for overnight accommodation.
Day 15: Ho Chi Minh City Departure (B)
Free at leisure in the morning until our awaiting car will transfer us to the airport for our departure flight home. Your amazing 15-Day Vietnam Tour ends.
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