Hanoi,Halong Bay,Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Mytho, Mekong delta 10 days/ 09 nights

After breakfast this morning, we start our full day tour of Hanoi including Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the national leader whose memory is honored here. We will also visit The House on stilts behind where Ho Chi Minh lived on and off from 1958 to 1969, as well as to see the Hanoi landmark - one pillar Pagoda, a symbol of purity, rising out of a sea of sorrow. We’ll visit the Temple of Literature, where Vietnam’s first university was established here in 1076. After lunch at local restaurant, continue our city tour with visit to the Museum of Ethnology, where we'll learn about the fascinating cultural diversity of this ancient land, Hoan Kiem Lake, Opera House. Then take an hour cyclo (trishaw) tour for visiting the Hanoi’s Old Quarters. We’ll see Vietnam’s history reflected in the French-influenced lakes, public parks, and tree-lined boulevards. After dinner at local restaurant, enjoy the Water puppet show at Thang Long theater. Afterwards transfer back to hotel for the night. 

After breakfast we set off for Halong Bay, the Emerald Bay of Vietnam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some of the roads to the bay are rough, but the journey offers quiet views of the flat green countryside dotted with rice paddies and small villages. We arrive in the early afternoon and transfer to a pier for our overnight cruise. Our vessel is of particular interest—we embark a junk, a wooden sail in the traditional Vietnamese style. We drop anchor at an island pierced with surreal grottoes, then enjoy lunch onboard ship. We resume our cruise in the afternoon and also enjoy dinner on our boat, where we will spend the night.

Rising early you may have a chance to see the sunrise in Halong Bay. We’ll stop on an island this morning for a short walk and a visit to one of the bay’s many limestone caves. You’ll have the option to paddle a kayak if you like. Then we’ll return to our junk for brunch onboard and an afternoon of driving back to Hanoi for refreshment. Dinner tonight is on your own.  

After a buffet breakfast at our hotel, we depart for the Noi Bai airport for our short flight to Hue, the royal city of Vietnam’s last ruling dynasty located on the central coast of Vietnam, north of Danang. Upon arrival in Hue, pick up and transfer to check in to hotel. If the time permits, we will tour the Citadel, find the Imperial Enclosure, and see its inner Forbidden Purple City, a private area reserved for the emperor. After lunch at local restaurant, visit tomb of Tu Duc who had the longest reign of any Nguyen monarch, lived a life of ultimate imperial luxury. Then visit the tomb of Khai Dinh built from September 1920 and lasted for 11 years. It is the result of the interminglement of many architectural trends: European and Asian, as well as ancient and modern. Rest of the day is time for shopping. We tonight have dinner at local restaurant accompanied by Royal music and traditional Hue folksongs. 

After breakfast at our hotel, we will spend the half day to discover Hue city, the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site in Vietnam. We take a dragon bGolden Tour  upstream to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue’s most reserved religious monument built on a hillock overlooking the Perfume River and the tomb of Minh Mang who ruled from 1820 to 1840. After lunch at local restaurant, drive to the ancient town of Hoi An, an ancient, well-preserved port town that’s changed in the past two centuries. After check into hotel, we take a walking tour of the ancient quarter and see its historic streets and mossy houses such as Phuc Kien Congressional House and Japanese Bridge, historic houses with brick exteriors and wooden interiors... We enjoy tonight dinner at local restaurant.

This morning you are free to explore the town of Hoi An on your own. After lunch at local restaurant, we head to Danang airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, a modern seaport and the country’s largest city, you will be picked up and transfer to hotel for check in and refreshment. This evening we dine together at a local restaurant.

After breakfast this morning, drive out to Cu Chi Tunnels, 70 km from Saigon to spend some time examining this 250 km long underground maze where thousands of fighters and villagers hid and fought during Vietnam war. The networks, parts of which was several stove deep, included innumerable trap doors, constructed living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories... After that, we return to Ho Chi Minh City in time for lunch at local restaurant. Afterwards, our city tour will be started with visits to Independent Palace, The Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame. We also see the architecture of Central Post Office, City Hall, Opera House. Go shopping at Ben Thanh market. Rest of the afternoon and evening are yours to discover Ho Chi Minh City at leisure. Dinner tonight is on your own.

We have breakfast at our hotel and then depart for My Tho in the Mekong Delta, one of Vietnam’s scenic treasures. Upon arriving in My Tho, we board a bGolden Tour  for a cruise on the upper part of the Mekong River visiting the flGolden Tour ing fish market. Then we’ll board a sampan to cruise a narrow canal that will take us to a small orchard and apiary where we can sample some of tropical fruit and honey-flavored sweets, coconut candy factory. In the afternoon, travel back to Ho Chi Minh City for your own dinner.