10 Days Exploration in Vietnam and Cambodia

ITINERARY

Day 1: Hanoi | Arrive in Hanoi

International Flight: Excluded
Welcome to Vietnam! Upon arrival in Hanoi, our guide will greet you at the airport welcome area and transfer you to your hotel in the Old French Quarter for check-in.

After check-in, enjoy a stroll on your own around the French Old Quarter outside your hotel. Feel free to also pick up a souvenir at the night markets or at one of the many trinket shops in the alleys and small roads of this historic part of town.

Accommodation: Silk Path Boutique Hotel

Day 2: Hanoi | Hanoi Temples | Leisure Afternoon

Meals: Breakfast
In the morning, you’ll be escorted to see the Tran Quoc Pagoda. This 1,400-year-old temple features ten tiers surrounded by gardens and which also hosts a bodhi tree grown from a cutting of the original Buddhist tree under which Buddha sat. Next, you’ll take a stroll around the Hoan Kiem Lake where you can see the Tortoise Tower sitting on the water. Then you’ll enjoy a half-hour cyclo tour through the Old Quarter in Hanoi. The cyclo is a historic mode of transportation in the cities of Vietnam where a cyclist escorts you while you sit in a seat affixed to the front with a canopy over top.

Trang Quoc Pagoda – 10 Days Exploration Vietnam Cambodia

Next, you’ll visit the One Pillar Pagoda – a pagoda situated on a pillar made of a single stone, in the middle of a lotus pond. This pagoda was built by a 9th-century emperor who saw it in a dream and regarded this as divine inspiration to recreate the structure in the vision.
You’ll pass by the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum before visiting the highlight of this tour – The Temple of Literature. This ancient university was erected almost a millennium ago and has hosted many of the most prominent scholars through Vietnamese history. The site features many gardens, pools, buildings, and ancient trees where the best and brightest of Vietnam studied under the guidance of Confucius’s teachings. After the tour, return back to the hotel for the afternoon leisure.

Accommodation: Silk Path Boutique Hotel

Day 3: Hanoi – Lan Ha Bay | Lan Ha Bay by Orchid Cruise

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning, take a shuttle transfer to Haiphong(1h40m) where you’ll enjoy some time at Orchid’s Private Lounge for refreshments until boarding. Then board Orchid Cruise.

Receive a safety briefing and check in your cabins. The boat sets adrift for Da Chong islet, home to an old French lighthouse. Enjoy a sumptuous feast in the panoramic dining hall while enroute to the isles of Con Vit and Gia Luan. The bay opens up to you with stunning green karsts towering above the water. This area receives very few cruise ships as it has just been newly opened up. Continue to Ba Trai Dao beach of Lan Ha Bay. A paradise with perfect beaches and natural beauty. Stop at one of the beaches for swimming or kayaking during the afternoon.

As dusk approaches, welcome the sunset with a local specialty – “Ba Kich”(a liquor made from Noni fruit). Back on board, you’ll join a cooking demonstration to learn a few Vietnamese culinary secrets. Enjoy your creation! Then time for supper in the dining hall. Delicious Vietnamese cuisine and seafood in a romantic setting. After dinner, you may enjoy watching the stars from the sundeck, watching a movie in the restaurant, or give night squid fishing a try with the staff(subject to seasonal availability).

Accommodation: Orchid Cruise

Day 4: Hanoi | Sunrise in Lan Ha Bay | Return to Hanoi

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Rise early for one of the top best sunrises in the world. Then head to the sundeck for an invigorating Tai Chi session amongst a picture-perfect backdrop of karsts, sea, and nature. Enjoy breakfast in the dining hall before taking the journey to explore the area around Sang Tai sea cave via canoes.

Then, you will transfer to Hanoi.

Accommodation: Silk Path Boutique Hotel

Day 5: Hanoi – Saigon | Flight to Saigon | Impressions of Saigon

Internal Flight: Included
Meals: Breakfast
Today, take a flight to Saigon. Upon arrival, our guide will greet you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel for check-in.

Saigon(officially Ho Chi Minh City) is a bustling metropolis of the South and the economic muscle of Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, it was the main base center of the US military with the largest airport in the region. Prior to that, it was under French colonial rule and was an Asian hub of sea trade. The city is based in the Mekong River Delta region – the rice basket of Southeast Asia and where many exotic fruits are cultivated. Full of history and culture, Saigon will certainly be an interesting visit.
See the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City today while enjoying the culture, history, and iconic landmarks.

In the afternoon, our private guide and car will greet you to see some of the most important places in Ho Chi Minh. You’ll start by visiting the War Remnants Museum. This museum provides an interesting perspective of the Vietnam War. The museum shows the realities of the war from the Vietnamese point of view.

The next stop is the Reunification Palace. This residence was the home of the president of South Vietnam during the war. The war ended when a tank from the North came through the gate.

Then you’ll visit the Notre Dame Cathedral constructed by French colonists during their settlement. Crossing the road is the Old Saigon Post Office, a neoclassical architectural building that is considered one of the main tourist attractions in the city.

Accommodation: Edenstar Saigon Hotel

Day 6: Saigon | Culinary Class and Cu Chi Tunnels

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Learn southern Vietnamese cooking in Cu Chi province.

After you’ve finished breakfast at the hotel, your private guide and car will greet you and escort you to visit a lush green Vietnamese Medicine Garden full of herbs, vegetables, and spices used in local cuisine. Your chef will teach you how to identify various plants and when is the right time to pick them. The chef will also educate you on the various mints used in the Vietnamese kitchen and which herbs are believed to have certain healing properties.

After you’ve learned about the various vegetation used in Vietnamese gourmet, you’ll be taught how to make your own masterpiece dishes.

Then you’ll have the opportunity to eat your creation for lunch.

Next, you’ll take your adventures underground for an adventure in history you won’t forget with a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Discover these amazing systems developed by the guerrillas fighting in the Vietnam War.

Underground Tunnels of Cu Chi – 10 Days Exploration Vietnam Cambodia

You’ll have an opportunity to see the various weapons used in the war on display. Then you’ll be taken to see the innovative ways the guerrillas survived and fought back in the war. See how they built an impressive underground system as your tour guide tells of the stories and history of the Vietnam War.

Then you’ll have the chance to see rice paper and coconut candy being made. After, you’ll enjoy jasmine tea and a boiled cassava root snack that was a common food eaten by guerrillas during the war.

You’ll return back to Ho Chi Minh.

Accommodation: Edenstar Saigon Hotel

Day 7: Saigon – Siem Reap | Flight to Siem Reap | Kompong Phluk Floating Village

Internal Flight: Included
Meals: Breakfast

Today, you’ll transfer by flight to Siem Reap. Upon arrival, our guide will greet you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel for check-in.

Siem Reap is a quaint town in Cambodia and the gateway to the vast remains of the Angkor empire. Discover the Royal Gardens on your own with ancient trees home to a colony of giant fruit bats. Take a stroll along the scenic riverside and visit the night markets to find unique souvenirs. You may also want to spend the evening with a visit to Pub Street with several restaurants and bars that stay open late into the night. Many restaurants have live entertainment in the evening.
In the afternoon, continue with an ox cart ride through Cambodia’s green countryside where you’ll see many coconut trees, rice fields, and water buffalo. After that, continue the trip to the largest lake in Southeast Asia, the Tonle Sap. You’ll take a boat ride to Kampong Phluk which means, Harbor of the Tusks due to its history in the elephant trade several centuries ago. You’ll also see the mangrove forests nearby. After the tour, you’ll return to your hotel to relax for the rest of the day.
Accommodation: Saem SiemReap Hotel

Day 8: Siem Reap | Angkor Thom by Bicycle | Water Blessing Ceremony | Killing Fields of Wat Thmei

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Enjoy a relaxing cycling tour in the morning in ancient Angkor Thom – a stone city built around the time of Angkor Wat.

The biking tour will start at the South Gate – a photogenic bridge at the gateway of the stone city of Angkor Thom which has made its way into many Hollywood movies. Angkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer Empire. Enter the stone city and explore shaded trails and ancient monuments. Visit Bayon Temple where you will be surrounded by 216 gigantic stone faces which fame as “Khmer Smile”, you will also visit the Terrace of Elephants, the Royal Palace, and the Terrace of the Leper King. Stop your cycling trip with a visit to the local monastery to chat with monks and see their daily life. Then take part in a Water Blessing Ceremony. We will provide a change of clothes for you – a traditional Sarong which you will wear during the ceremony.

In the afternoon, go to visit Ta Prohm Temple – a jungle monastery with trees overcoming stone. This temple has been featured in many Hollywood films, including Tomb Raider and Transformers 3. On the way back, stop to see the Killing Fields of Wat Thmei. Our guide will relay to you the history of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and the war. Cambodia is still healing from these atrocities.

Accommodation: Saem SiemReap Hotel

Day 9: Siem Reap | Angkor Wat Sunrise | Banteay Srei: The Citadel of Women | Palm Candy Village

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Before the light of the day, our guide will pick you up from the hotel and transfer you to the front of Angkor Wat Temple. From here, you’ll watch one of the most revered sunrises in the world. Our guide will arrange a light picnic breakfast for you to enjoy in front of the world’s #1 Heritage Site. Then in the early hours, you’ll explore the vast temple with your guide bringing to life the stories of Angkor. In the morning, the rays of the light play through the chambers as the morning haze settles and giving the temple a mystical ambiance while there are few tourists who visit during this time of day.
Then, you’ll visit Banteay Srei, the Citadel of Women. This smaller temple in the jungle features some of the most intricately preserved carvings of all the temples in Cambodia. Continue through the rice fields and give Palm Sugar and Palm Wine a try if you fancy. Then enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before heading forward to the next destination.

Banteay Srei Jungle Temple – 10 Days Exploration Vietnam Cambodia

Accommodation: Saem SiemReap Hotel

Day 10: Siem Reap | Farewell!

Meals: Breakfast
Today, our guide will transfer you to the airport to catch your flight back home and to bid you a fond farewell. Thank you for traveling with us!

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