Travel dates:
- 1st October 2019 - 27th April 2020
Includes:
- All transfers in quality air-conditioned vehicles
- Accommodation in a double room including daily breakfast
- Tours with local English Speaking Guide/other language is available on your request
- Meals as mentioned in the itinerary (Breakfast: B ; Lunch: L ; Dinner: D)
- Airport transfer at destination
- Domestic flight from Hanoi – Sai Gon (Vietnam airlines or VietJet Air, with 20kg baggage allowance)
- Cooking demonstration
- Boat trip Mekong Delta/ Tonle Sap
- Sunset party/welcome drink
- Entrance fee for all destinations as tour itinerary indicates
- Bottle of water available on the coach (2 bottles per-person, per-day)
Excludes:
- International airfares
- Drinks and other meals not indicated
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses
- Tipping/gratuities
Itinerary:
Day 1: Fly to Hanoi – Private Transfer
Fly to Hanoi. Upon arrival, a shuttle bus and guide will be holding a sign with your name and welcome you at Noi Bai International airport, you will be transferred to your hotel for check-in. The rest of the day is free at leisure or explore the city by yourself.
Day 2: Hanoi City Tour (B/L) – Group Tour
A guide will pick you up at the hotel at 8.00am and start a sightseeing tour. Visit Vietnam’s charming capital. With its wide tree-lined boulevards, French colonial architecture, peaceful lakes and ancient oriental pagodas, start at Hanoi’s key sites: the Ho Chi Minh Complex (Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and stilt house), the Presidential Palace, the nearby One Pillar Pagoda; the Temple of Literature; West Lake including the sedate Tran Quoc Pagoda; and one of the city’s museums (a choice between the History Museum and the Ethnology Museum). End the day’s explorations, by shopping at the Old Quarter.
Day 3: Hanoi – Halong Bay – Overnight Cruise (B/L/D) – Group Tour
The guide and a shuttle bus will pick you up at the lobby of the hotel at 8.00am and start journey east to Halong Bay, through picturesque rice-farming villages of the Red River Delta, where you will see every day Vietnamese village life. On arrival, board a beautiful traditional junk (a boat) and spend a full day and night cruising the bay’s 3000 magnificent limestone islets. In the evening when the boat is anchored in the middle of the stunning lagoon, enjoy a wonderful seafood meal and later there is an opportunity for an evening swim from the side of the boat.
Day 4: Halong Bay – Hanoi (B/L) – Group Tour
Awake early and participate in Tai Chi on the top deck or simply relax and enjoy the sunrise over the bay’s towering islands. Enjoy a morning cup of coffee or tea, before setting out to explore nearby islands by rowboat. Return to the junk for breakfast then take advantage of the sundeck and admire the amazing rock formations of Halong. Have brunch on board the boat before returning to Halong pier to get back Hanoi.
Day 5: Hanoi – fly to Ho Chi Minh (B) – Private Transfer
Free at leisure until transfer to airport for flight to Ho Chi Minh. Upon arrival at Ho Chi Minh, you will be welcomed by a tour guide/ driver and transferred to hotel for check in.
Day 6: Ho Chi Minh – City Tour – Cu Chi Tunnel (B/L) – Group Tour
Breakfast at hotel then you will be picked up at 8.00am, you will take a short sight-seeing tour: visit Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office, the War Remnants Museum. Then, a half-day excursion 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 centres and kitchens. Today, the remaining tunnels have become a major tourist attraction, giving you a unique experience and a feel of what underground life during the U.S.-Vietnam War must have been like. Return Ho Chi Minh late afternoon and free to leisure in your own way.
Day 7: Ho Chi Minh – Mekong Delta (B/L) – Group Tour
Be picked up at the hotel at 8.00am. You will then depart for My Tho, where you will take a boat ride along the river. View the stilt houses and the fruit plantation along the river bank as you approach the My Tho village. Proceed to Tortoise Island and have lunch in the orchard. Enjoy a boat ride through Tan Thach natural canal in Ben Tre, cruising under the shadow of the water coconut trees. Next visit a family business that epitomizes the idyllic rural lifestyle. Enjoy a row boat ride along the creeks. After trekking through the fruit plantation, return to the village. The full day of activity will conclude with a relaxing drive back to Ho Chi Minh.
Day 8: Ho Chi Minh – Transfer to Siem Reap by BUS (B)
6.30am transfer to bus station to take a local bus from Sai Gon to Siem Reap. Upon arrival Siem Reap 20.30, meet your driver and transfer to hotel for check in.
Note: Flight is available at your request, surcharge is required
Day 9: Siem Reap – Village Walk & Floating Community (B) – Private Tour
Morning transfer out of the Siem Reap town to a beautiful village in the countryside, you will start to walk through the village houses, witnessing very nice and different activities from the locals for their daily life. Just as some examples: how the locals wash vehicles, selling gasoline in whiskey bottles or the small shops where the locals sell food on the side of small streets.
Hop in your van for driving onward to the next destination, a floating community. Arrive at the quay and embark on a motorized boat to visit floating houses offering an incredible natural phenomenon of making their lives from the lake in a respectful and meaningful way. This is a great chance to witness one of Cambodia and the world’s most amazing natural wonders. Drive back to Siem Reap.
- Kayaking is available on request on Tonle Sap Lake at additional cost
Note floating community is recommended from September to February
Day 10: Siem Reap – Angkor Highlighted Temples (B) – Private Tour
Beat the crowd early morning by 7.00am; visit the picturesque Ta Prohm that had nearly disappeared into the jungle and remains overgrown, an oddly haunting and exotic scene. The magnificent roots of a tree, pushing between the huge stone blocks of the temple in a sort of embrace, evoke feelings that you may remember forever. And continue to visit the intricately carved Khmer ruins at Angkor Wat - one of the world’s most impressive ruins. The temple still owns fine Apsara carvings in Angkorian era art. Lunch on your own account.
Afternoon, explore the mysterious Royal city Angkor Thom and Bayon. Its 54-tower temple is an awesome sight. At first glance it seems a shapeless mass of stone, but further scrutiny reveals a face, and then another and another one, until suddenly you are engulfed by the silent, heavy, enigmatic and silent gaze through half-closed eyes, staring out from a primitive and remote time. Further, visit the surroundings of the complex including the Baphuon, Elephant Terrace, Lepper King Terrace and Royal Place area.
Day 11: Angkor Outlying Temples (B/L) – Private Tour
Drive to the rural outskirt 35km from Angkor area to visit the smallest, but magnificent, Banteay Srei built in the 10th Century and dedicated to Shiva. The temple was the birthplace of Khmer classical style architecture and the bas-relief work is the best example of Khmer classical art remaining. The pink sandstone structure bears a series of striking and beautiful sculptures, lintels, pediments and friezes. Khmers say the temple must have been carved by women for the details are too fine for the hands of a man. Drive on to Chau Srei Vibol which is a small charming temple on top of a hill which hardly sees any visitors - very few non-locals have heard of it, and it is set just far enough away from the main tourist routes. Lunch on your account.
Continue to the ancient Khmer civilization site of Hariharalaya which flourished in the late 9th and earlier 10th centuries. These are the earliest temples in the Angkor area and are referred to the Rolous group you will visit the main one called Bakhong temple.
Day 12: Siem Reap - Departure (B) – Private Transfer
Free at leisure until transfer to airport for flight back home. Tour ends.
Accommodation:
Hanoi
- Paradise Boutique Hotel 3*- superior room
- Rex Hotel 4* - super room
- Melia Hotel 5* - deluxe room
Halong Bay cruise
- Swan Cruise 3* - deluxe cabin
- Glory Legend Cruise 4* - deluxe cabin
- Dragon Legend Cruise 5* - deluxe cabin
Ho Chi Minh
- Gk Central Hotel 3* - super room
- Silverland Jolie hotel 4* - pre dlx room
- Rex Hotel 5* - deluxe room
Siem Reap
- Sokha Roth Hotel 3* - deluxe room
- Tara Angkor 4* - sup room
- Sokha Angkor Hotel 5* - deluxe room
Please note:
- All the above points of interest are open for visit based on current updates. In case of closure for construction or any other reason, they will be replaced with a similar point of interest.
- The itinerary and schedule are subject to change due to weather, road condition, flight, type of class and operating conditions.
- Meals are fusion on local Vietnam food, or Indian food, or Western food, or Halal food (Muslim’s type) with daily normal breakfast. Guests should advise any special food preferences, allergies or dietary requirements at least one week prior to the arrival date.
- It is your responsibility to check any health and vaccination requirements applicable to your booked arrangements.
- Tipping is not compulsory and is at your discretion. Should you wish to tip, you can give this to your guide and driver when you leave them in each place. This will be collected at the end of each destination visited for your convenience. Tipping for the porters at your hotels and the crew during the Halong Bay Cruise will be at your discretion. Tips are accepted in the local currency, US dollars and Vietnam dong.
