10 Days | Sights and Sounds of Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh - Mekong Delta - Danang - Hoi An - Hue - Hanoi - Halong Bay
8 Nights Accommodation in 4 Star Properties
Enjoy an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay!
Discover the cities of Ho Chi Minh, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi
Domestic Flights Included!
From $1,899 Typically $2,699 pp twin share
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Disover the extraordinary sights and vibrant culture of Vietnam on this comprehensive 10-day tour from the country’s cosmopolitan south to its traditional north.
Itinerary Downloadable Itinerary
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10
Ho Chi Minh City
Welcome to Hochiminh City - Saigon! Upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN), a tour guide will meet you and guide you to your driver for your transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day and evening is yours at leisure.
Meals: None
Accommodation: Central Palace
Ho Chi Minh Mekong Delta Ho Chi Minh
At 730AM your tour guide will welcome you at your hotel in District 1 before heading to My Tho city by bus. Enjoy the scenery and green rice paddies during the one-and-a-half-hour bus ride. Along the way, we will visit Vinh Trang Pagoda, the biggest pagoda in the Mekong Delta. Continue to My Tho, where we take a boat trip along the Mekong River, where you can see fish cages and floating houses on the river.
The boat takes you to a small canal, escaping the hustle and bustle of the town. We disembark at a coconut island in Ben Tre and enjoy a walk around the village. Stop at a local family home to enjoy tropical fruit, taste the honey tea and honey wine and listen to Vietnamese traditional music performed by the villagers. Check out the coconut candy shop and learn how to make candy, and see handicrafts made from coconuts.
Take your time snapping photos and enjoy the natural scenery before we head to the local restaurant. Lunch is set with special Vietnamese food. Enjoy your lunch outside under the shade of the trees. After lunch, enjoy your time relaxing, walking around the village, or perhaps going for a short bike ride. Travel back to Saigon and arrive around 5PM for the end of the tour. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh.
Alternate Tour to the Cu Chi tunnels
Cu Chi Tunnels is a legendary underground system of over 220 km of tunnels, a must-see for both Vietnamese and foreign travellers who are interested in the history of the Vietnam War. The tunnels are now a historical structure of Vietnam and considered a heroic district for the role they played in the resistance to US forces during the Vietnam War. The tunnels are located approximately 60km from Ho Chi Minh City. The tour departs at 8AM or 1245PM from Vietnam Adventure Tours office or from your hotel in District 1. Enjoy the scenery along the way, as we pass the lush, endless rice fields where you will see local ducks and water buffaloes swimming in the rivers. You might find it hard to imagine that once the area was almost destroyed by bombs and mines from the war, when Cu Chi was a “free target zone “.
Once we arrive, you will get a chance to walk through some of the tunnels, discover the hidden corners and imagine what life was like here for the resistance soldiers. If you like, try to cook with the smokeless stoves used by Vietnamese soldiers to cook during the war. You can even try foods that the soldiers lived on. If you’re feeling brave, or curious, you can even try your hand at shooting at AK-47, one of the guns used during the war.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodation: Central Palace
Ho Chi Minh Danang Hoi An
Flight time today will be between 10AM and 12PM. This morning, we will transfer you to the airport to take a flight to Danang. Upon arrival at Danang Airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel in Hoi An. The rest of the day and evening is yours at leisure.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Lantana Riverside
Hoi An
Today is a free day to explore Hoi An.
Optional tour to Bana Hills
740AM – 8AM your tour guide will pick you at your hotel. After picking all visitors, the bus will depart for Sun World, Ba Na hills.
930AM Arrive at Ba Na, you will rest and take photos while your guide arranges the cable car tickets. You will spend 20 minutes onboard the cable car. After finishing the cable car experience, follow the guide to visit Golden Bridge – the famous attraction in Vietnam, Le Jardin Garden and old wine cellar. You will use the next cable car line to come to the French Villages. Here, you can take photos with the Gothic-style castles at Du Dôme Square and join in the lively street festivals.
12PM Enjoy a buffet lunch. Then play more than 100 free games at Fantasy Park and try the superfast slide.
3PM You will regroup and follow the guide to journey back down on the cable car.
430PM – 5PM You will be returned to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Lantana Riverside
Hoi An Hue
This morning, you will be transferred to Hue, Vietnam’s last feudal capital. This small and quiet city is widely known for its magnificent architecture, pagodas and royal tombs laid in many small villages and surrounding hills. The scenic road hugs the coastline before crossing over the winding Hai Van pass. A view from the top of the pass is one of Vietnam’s most impressive panoramic scenes of Lang Co Beach. On arrival Hue, check in to your hotel. The rest of the day and evening is yours at leisure.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Emm Hue
Hue
Today you have the choice of two tours to embark on.
Option 1
In the morning, we will take a short drive to explore the massive Hue Citadel built in 1832 – Western architecture combined with Eastern the citadel containing the Imperial City and the Purple Forbidden City. This Royal Residence was destroyed during the 1968 Tet Offensive but renovations by a great work of local artists have restored most of it to its former glory.
In the afternoon, you will enjoy a boat cruise downstream to visit the charming pagoda of Thien Mu built in 1601 lying on the top of Ha Khe Hill, hidden behind 7 layers of Phuoc Duyen tower. Then you will visit the Dong Ba market for some souvenir shopping before an evening at leisure. Overnight in Hue.
Option 2
Thanh Toan village and Nhu Y River and cooking class.
After breakfast, we will transfer to Thanh Toan Village where the famous “Thanh Toan Tiled Roof Bridge” is located. On the way, you can’t help but be surprised to catch the images of the bustling morning local market, the green rice fields, majestic family temples as well as the daily life of local people crossing the zigzag path of the village.
10AM Arrive at Thanh Toan Tile Roof Bridge – a truly unique ancient bridge in Vietnam and visit Thanh Toan Museum with a wide variety of agricultural tools exhibited to explain the details of Vietnamese life and culture.
1015AM Row boats with the villagers on Nhu Y River to enjoy spectacular sceneries and explore how they catch the fish by using some old tools such as fishing traps, casting nets, etc. After observing, you can join in and catch your own fish.
We will then return to our host where you can walk around the vegetable garden with many varieties grown by local farmers such as malabar spinach, gourd, fiber melon, winter melon, fig and more!
12PM Join in a cooking class to learn the traditional ways of preparing and cooking Hue specials such as fig salad with shrimp and meat, pancake or spring rolls. Then after the class, enjoy what you have just cooked and some other local dishes. Then return back to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Emm Hue
Hue Hanoi
Your flight today will be between 12PM and 2PM.
There is some free time for your own exploration in Hue until you are transferred to the airport to take your flight to Hanoi.
Hanoi is a charming and richly historic city of lakes, shaded boulevards and verdant public parks. The city center is like an architectural museum, with blocks of ochre buildings retaining the air of a provincial French town from the 1930s.
Optional tour: Hanoi Street food
This tour into the Old Quarter will begin from your hotel in the early evening. Your English-speaking local guide will give you an insight into the intricacies and traditions of Vietnamese food culture, including details on ingredients and historical backgrounds of popular northern dishes. Walk through the maze of bustling streets that is Hanoi’s Old Quarter and tempt your tastebuds with the famed Hanoi dish Banh Cuon at a local eatery. Watch as the skilled chefs demonstrate to you how this tasty dish is put together. Continuing onwards, wander past street stalls and quiet residential lanes where you can discover how the locals live in the old quarter. Afterwards, you will stop at the barbeque stalls. Settle down with the locals and sample various meat, vegetable and bread specialties grilled over hot coals for extra flavor. The search for dessert will take you down to a small alley, where you will find fruit served in a cup and smothered with crushed iced and condensed milk – this specialty is one not to be missed! Your local guide will then take you to one of Hanoi’s best-kept secrets, a hidden street food restaurant to taste the top ten street foods in Hanoi including Banh My Hanoi, Vietnamese Rice Wine and famous Egg Coffee along with many other specialties. Follow these delicious meals with an ice-cold local beer. Your trip ends in the middle of the Old Quarter, and you will continue onwards to discover Hanoi by night at your own leisure, or the tour guide can arrange a taxi for you to go back to your hotel (taxi not included). Inclusions: English-speaking tour guide, all food and drink as mentioned above
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: The Q
Hanoi Halong Bay
After breakfast, you will be transferred to Halong Bay – the number one destination in Vietnam!
Calypso Cruise (4 star)
1215PM – 1PM From Tuan Chau wharf, Tuan Chau island of Ha Long city, we go to Calypso Cruise by small boat. Welcome drinks will be served upon arrival on board, followed by your check-in process. You will then get a brief introduction and safety guidelines before making your way to your room.
Enjoy lunch while cruising in the magnificent Ha Long Bay, admiring the fascinating nature, then anchor at Lan Ha Bay area.
3PM Join a guide to explore hidden parts of the bay, the area of Dark and Bright cave where you will adventure through caves, under the mountain to a lake which is formed by a Karst – resembling a dragon eye inside the mountain. This is a highly sought after sight! You can share a sampan with other tourists with a local rower or take a kayak on your own.
Return to Calypso Cruises for free time to swim in the bay or in the swimming pool on the sundeck.
530PM Enjoy happy hours with various drinks at discounted prices. Take in the sun set from the sundeck.
6PM Take part in a cooking demonstration and food décor with our Chef.
7PM Join fellow passengers for dinner at Calypso Cruises Restaurant.
830PM – 10PM Relax after your adventurous day on the sundeck, leisure room where you can watch films, sing karaoke in the restaurant or try your luck in fishing for squid with the cruise staff.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Accommodation: Calypso Cruises
Halong Bay Hanoi
6AM Welcome a new day with an amazing sunrise on the Legendary Gulf of Tonkin. Refresh your body & soul by taking a Tai-chi lesson on the sundeck.
645AM – 730AM Enjoy breakfast in the restaurant.
730AM – 830AM Join a guide and get your hands on some Kayaking to explore Tra Bau area. For those who do not fancy kayaking you can swim in the swimming pool on the sundeck or take another swim in the bay.
830AM – 930AM Return to Calypso Cruises for a shower and then check out of your room.
930AM – 1030AM Enjoy an early lunch onboard.
1045AM – 11AM After settling your onboard account, a small boat will take you to Tuan Chau wharf.
11AM – 1145AM Your Calypso Cruise ends at Tuan Chau wharf where you will be returned to Hanoi where the rest of the day is yours at leisure.
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Accommodation: The Q
Hanoi
After breakfast at the hotel, your time is free at leisure until your transfer to the airport for your return flight back home.
Meals: Breakfast
Inclusions & Exclusions
Inclusions
- Domestic flight ticket from Ho Chi Minh – Danang – Hanoi
- 8 nights accommodation in shared twin room with air-conditioning and private bathroom
- 2 day/1 night cruise in Ha Long (shared cabin on shared Cruise) with transfer by shuttle bus
- Private vehicle with air conditioning for airport transfers in Ho Chi Minh, Danang and Hanoi
- Local English-speaking guides
- Meals as stated in the program
- Tour to Mekong Delta or Cu Chi
- Drinking water and cold towels available on the vehicles
Exclusions
- International airfare from/to Australia
- Optional tours
- Surcharges for other language guides
- Surcharges for Lunar New Year (TET) holiday
- Travel Insurance
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Personal expenditure, such as drinks, souvenirs, laundry, camera fees, communications,
postage, gratuities etc - Meals and services other than those mentioned in the program
- Drinks with meals
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Compulsory gala dinners during festive seasons and peak season surcharges will be
advised at the time of booking - Early check-in and late check-out at hotels, if not mentioned in the program
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Visa application and visa stamp fees at Vietnamese embassies overseas and/ or upon arrival
Visas: Australian passport holders need to apply for a visa to visit Vietnam. The visa-free stay period is counted from THE DATE OF ENTRY. Please apply E-Visa to Vietnam at least 15 days before the date of entry. Vietnam e-Visa validity is 90 days, with multiple entries.
Vietnam visas can be easily obtained online via this LINK.
Accommodation Upgrades: Available at check-out.
Single Supplement: Available at check-out.
