Majestic Vietnam – 9 days

Day 1: Hanoi – city tour (L)

Arrival in Hanoi. Our driver welcomes you at the airport and transfer you to hotel. After check in the hotel.

After a refreshment, our tour guide and shuttle bus will arrive to pick up you to join Hanoi city tour at 8.30am. You will start the tour by visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh Museum. Enjoy the architectural and historical aspects of Uncle Ho’s final resting-palace. Just next door is Ho Chi Minh’s house on stilts where he used to live in the past. Lying to one side of the Mausoleum is the One Pillar Pagoda, built by King Ly Thai To in 1049 the structure has become an important symbol for the people of Hanoi. Continue to visit the Temple of Literature (Quoc Tu Giam) – Vietnam’s first University constructed in 1070. Its gardens and well-preserved architecture offer a relaxing glimpse into Vietnam’s past.

Have lunch at local restaurants. Proceed to visit the Ethnology Museum. After that we will take you to Hoan Kiem Lake, see the peaceful water, and visit Ngoc Son Temple. Take an hour cyclo tour around the bustling old quarter to see ordinary life in Hanoi.

(Read more about these attractions)

At 18.00, back to your hotel. Stay overnight at hotel in Hanoi.

Day 2: Hanoi – Mai Chau (B,L,D)

“Mai Chau is a mountainous area of outstanding natural beauty, inhabited by a Thai and H’mong ethnic minority groups. This trip offers an easy trekking combined with homestay in villages of Thai , where you have experienced with the local lifestyle of these minority people”

Pick up from your hotel at 8.00 and head west towards Hoa Binh. Refreshment in Hoa Binh. Leave Hoa Binh for Mai Chau Valley, about 2hrs away, stop for snapping pictures. Around 12.00, arrive in Mai Chau and have lunch in a family house in the local village. After lunch, biking around the surrounding villages of White Thai Ethnic people. Learn more about their lives and cultures as your guide can help answer any questions.

Dinner with the family, get a closer look into their real life. Drink “ruou can” (traditional alcohol) with your new family.

Sleep in the village, in the stilt house, the most interesting part of the trip. Stilt houses are unique to Mai Chau and you cannot find this experience in other tour. You can sleep in the large communal room.

Day 3: Mai Chau – Hanoi (B,L)

The early morning is the most peaceful time to walk around the villages. Feeling the fresh air and seeing women prepare foods on the wooden fire while the sun is rising over the beautiful mountains which you can not feel in the crowed cities.

Breakfast in the village then walk to Mai Chau market. After that, you will climb to 1000 step Cave which is breathtaking and is the view of the area from the entrance of the cave. Have lunch in the village before getting on the bus back to Hanoi at 17.00.

Arrival in Hanoi and stay overnight at hotel in Hanoi.

Day 4: Hanoi – Halong bay (B,L,D)

Around 8.00am: Our guide Pick you up at your hotel and go to Halong bay on a shuttle bus. Take a rest at Humanity center and enjoy local specialties after 2h. Arrival in Halong at 11.45. The captain and crew welcome you aboard. Savor the delicious lunch as boat pass through thousands of Islands and Islets with different shapes.

After the lunch, explore the biggest and the most amazing cave in Halong Bay –Surprise Cave. Then Kayaking for an hour around the fishing village and discover the life of community there. Then back to boat for Sunset Party, get to calm, clean water place for swimming. Enjoy delicious and romantic dinner with some barbecue courses.

In the evening, free time for entertainment with the funny plays such as squid fishing, karaoke program, stars watching on sundeck… Spend romantic night on board and overnight on board.

Day 5: Halong bay – Hue (B,L)

Early morning, start your new day on Halong bay with doing morning exercises,Taichi or hunting photos. Breakfast with coffee or tea. After breakfast, our bus takes you to Cai Beo harbor, get on “Day Boat”, back boat. Then visit Ba Hang Fishing Village by tender to experience the lifestyle of local people. Back to boat restaurant to join cooking class and enjoy lunch.

Around 11.45 AM, Disembark and transfer back to Hanoi. Transfer you directly to Noi Bai airport (in Hanoi) for the flight to Hue.

Arrival in Hue. Check-in room at hotel and stay overnight at hotel in Hue city.

Day 6: Hue – City tour (B,L)

AM: After breakfast, at 08.00, Our guide and driver pick up you at your hotel and then take a full day to discover Hue: visit Emperor Minh Mang’s Mausoleum, Emperor Khai Dinh’s Mausoleum, Performing Programs Of VO KINH VAN AN – Vietnam Traditional Kungfu and Emperor Tu Duc ’s Mausoleums. Stop on the way to see how conical hats and incense sticks are made. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant.

PM: Visit Imperial capital during Nguyen Dynasty and the seven – storey Thien Mu Pagoda on the riverbank. Return by boat on the gentle Perfume River and do not miss the sunset on the river. You will come back your hotel at 17.30pm to pick up your luguage.

Transfer to Hoi An and stay overnight at hotel in Hoi An.

Day 7: Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh city (B,L)

Morning, your leisure time to go around Hoi An for sight-seeing and shopping. After lunch, transfer to Da Nang airport for theflight to Ho Chi Minh city. Stay overnight at hotel in Ho Chi Minh city.

Day 8: Ho Chi Minh city – My Tho – Ben Tre (B,L)

Leave Ho Chi Minh city, enjoy the scenic journey along the National Highway bordered by green rice fields. On arrived at My Tho, visit Vinh Trang pagoda, take a leisurely boat ride along the river, view stilt houses, fruit plantations and fishing villages along the river bank. Proceed to Tortoise islet, have lunch in the orchard garden. Then a boat ride to An Khanh – a less touristy attraction in Ben Tre, enjoy cruising on a hand-rowed sampan under the shade of the water coconut trees along natural canals. Have a short cycling tour (applied for private tour/if time permitted) then enjoy seasonal fruit & honey tea to the sound of “Southern Vietnamese folk music”, performed by the locals. Visit a family business which epitomizes the idyllic rural lifestyle, taste delicious coconut candy & observe the pastoral life as you roam through fruit plantations and villages.

Back to the city and stay overnight at hotel in Ho Chi Minh city.

Day 9: Ho Chi Minh city – Departure (B,L)

Breakfast at hotel. Around 8.00am, our guide comes to your hotel to pick you up for visiting some famous place in Ho Chi Minh city: Visit the Re-Unification Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the War Remains Museum, Jade Emperor Temple.

After lunch, we transfer you to airport for your departure flight.

End of the trip!