Includes internal flights, twin shared accommodation, English speaking guides, private cars, sightseeing and meals listed. Excludes visa and travel documents, travel insurance, international flights, local tipping, etc.
This itinerary is to give you a flavor of what is possible. We can tailor this trip to suit your specific needs and expectations. You may alter any aspect of the itinerary from excursions to accommodation.
Welcome to Vietnam! Upon arrival in Saigon, our guide will greet you at the airport welcome area 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.
Accommodation: Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon
Day 2: Saigon | Impressions of Saigon
Meals:Breakfast, Dinner See the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City today while enjoying the culture, history and the iconic landmarks.
After you’ve finished breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred 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 which is considered one of the main tourist attractions in the city.
As dusk is setting, take a cyclo tour around 45 minutes to the Dang Pier on Saigon River, where you’ll enter a replica of the emperors Saigon Boat Cruise for a magnificent and memorable dining and entertainment spectacle along the Saigon river. The dinner cruise features soft traditional ethnic music while you enjoy the passing lights of the city. The captain will welcome you onboard and introduce you to the specialties which have made this boat a culinary experience in Ho Chi Minh City. While on board, relax on the upper deck and enjoy a panoramic view of Saigon lighting up the evening sky.
Accommodation: Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon
Day 3: Saigon | Cu Chi Tunnels and Vietnamese Culinary Class
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.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
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.
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: Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon
Day 4: Saigon | Mekong Delta of Vinh Long
Meals: Breakfast Discover the Mekong River, essential to life in the heart of Vietnam.
After you’ve finished breakfast at the hotel, we will take you to Vinh Long where you’ll embark on a boat cruise to the vibrant Cai Be floating market. Be prepared to see fresh spices, mints, and local fruits. If you’re adventurous, you can take one of the many colorful fruits in season.
The next stop is the Hoa Binh Phuoc islet, full of local homes where the families produce tiles and ceramics. You’ll visit the rice-paper kiln and coconut candy kiln where you can walk around and observe daily country life. You can have the opportunity to taste fresh made coconut candy which has a soft and chewy consistency.
When the tour is finished, you’ll return to Ho Chi Minh.
Accommodation: Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon
Day 5: Saigon – Danang | Flight to Danang | Relax on the Beach
Internal Flight:Included Meals: Breakfast In the morning, board a flight to Danang. Upon arrival, our guide will greet you at the airport and transfer you to your resort next to the beach. Check in your villa and enjoy the leisure for the rest of the day.
Accommodation: Fusion Maia Danang
Day 6: Hoi An – Danang | 4th Century Cham Ruins
Meals: Breakfast Today you’ll explore the My Son Holy Land, a UNESCO Heritage site and Vietnam’s most important Cham site.
In the morning, your tour guide and driver will escort you from your hotel to the My Son Holy Land. Tucked in the mountains up winding roads with serene views lay the 1,100-year-old My Son Holy Land Ruins. The surrounding mountains are strictly forbidden from living or development. The ruins lay in a beautiful surrounding mountainous landscape. You’ll enter the temples while your tour guide gives you the history and stories of the Cham and the site. Afterward, you’ll watch an Apsara show nearby the site, passed through the Cham tradition. The show features live music and colorful costumes.
The afternoon is at your leisure to relax.
Accommodation: Fusion Maia Danang
Day 7: Hoi An – Danang | Hoi An Ancient Port Town | Floating Lantern on River
Meals: Breakfast
Morning is at your leisure to relax. Hoi An Ancient Town. This town features the 16th-century Hoi An port town in it’s preserved state. You’ll start the day visiting the Museum of Trade Ceramics. This museum houses art and pottery dating from the 1,500s to the 1,700s.
Then you’ll briefly visit the Chua Ong Pagoda, a temple from the 17th century which features China’s influence in the region. You’ll continue through the Ancient Town as the streets take on a magic of their own with old lanterns, French-style houses, intricately carved wooden doors and more. You’ll take a stroll through the Old Tam Ky House to see it’s imperial styles meshed with French overtures. Continue on to stroll along the river and see traditional boats and locals on bicycles passing by. You’ll then approach the Japanese Covered Bridge. This bridge has connected the Chinese and Japanese sides of town over the waterway for centuries. The old wooden structure has shown amazing resilience for more than 400 years.
Hoi An Ancient port town
In the evening, continue by car to a restaurant located next to the Thu Bon River for dinner. After dinner, enjoy your night tour though Hoian Ancient Town under sparkling lanterns all around. You can wander along these glistening streets and enjoy the surreal atmosphere of this 17th-century port town. By night, Hoian transforms into a dazzling paradise glimmering with brilliant silk lanterns, paper luminaries and warm candlelight. With the sky cloaked in darkness, stroll the riverside while watching the twinkling lanterns dance on the water. You can join this beloved scene by sending your own lanterns with some wishes onto the river.
Accommodation: Fusion Maia Danang
Day 8: Danang | Relax on the Beach
Meals: Breakfast Enjoy a full day leisure to relax on the beautiful beaches of Danang. Simply relax or indulge your self with the hotel’s spa and other luxurious facilities.
Accommodation: Fusion Maia Danang
Day 9: Danang | Relax on the Beach
Meals: Breakfast Today is also at your leisure to relax. Simply relax or indulge your self with the hotel’s spa and other luxurious facilities.
Danang Beach
Accommodation: Fusion Maia Danang
Day 10: Danang – Hanoi | Flight to Hanoi | Leisure
Internal Flight:Included Meals: Breakfast Morning is at your leisure to relax.
After check-in, enjoy a stroll on your own around Hoan Kiem Lake 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: Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
Day 11: Hanoi | Best of Hanoi
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.
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 a 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 teachings.
Accommodation: Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
Day 12: Hanoi – Halong Bay | Voyage to Emerald Halong Bay
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner In the morning, our guide and chauffeur will transfer you to Haiphong 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 en route 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 13: Hanoi – Siem Reap | Sunrise Halong | Flight to Siem Reap
Internal Flight:Included Meals: Breakfast 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 a breakfast in the dining hall before taking a journey to explore the area around Sang Tai sea cave via canoes.
Halong Bay at dawn
Then disembark for a road transfer to Hanoi Airport. Then board an evening flight to Siem Reap. Upon arrival, our guide will greet you at the airport and transfer you to your 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.
Accommodation: Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa
Day 14: Siem Reap | Angkor Thom Vintage | Meet Bayon Temple Expert
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch
After breakfast, the chauffeur and the 1930’s Citroen car will be ready to transfer you to explore the ancient capital city of Angkor Thom. 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. Take scenic jungle trails with our guide to visit much of the ancient city, saving Bayon for last. At Bayon Temple, a renown scholar will join you to share with you the epic stories she has discovered her research. Explore the ruins as she brings the carvings and stories to life, discussing both the politics of the Angkor period and the advances in human rights Next is the Ta Prohm. Worn by time, rain, and overpowered by the jungle, this immaculate structure is hidden under canopy will leave you feeling like you’ve stepped into the movie set of a treasure hunt adventure. Your private tour guide will give you the history and stories passed through oral tradition.
monks at Bayon Temple
After you’ve had lunch, your exploits will continue as you visit Banteay Kdei(“Citadel of Chambers”). You’ll also visit Victory Gate, Terrace of the Leper King, the Royal Palace, Baphuon and Bayon. Bayon sets itself apart with its almost 200 smiling faces, sure to make you feel welcome on your second day to the Kingdom of Wonders. With its winding tunnels, chambers, and daring climbs, Bayon will give you many picturesque moments to keep your camera busy.
As the sun approaches the horizon, you’ll enjoy a sunset from the top of the pyramid-shaped temple of Pre Rup. After sunset, you’ll be taken back to your hotel for the evening.
Accommodation: Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa
Day 15: Siem Reap | Khmer Culinary Class
Meals:Breakfast, Lunch In the morning after your breakfast, you will be picked up by your tour guide from your hotel and escort you to the venue where you will commence a half day cooking class. Each class commences with a visit to a local family. Along the way, you will learn about the herbs and vegetables grown at most Khmer households and used in daily cooking. The visit to a families home is an opportunity to learn about food preparation in a Khmer home. Who does the shopping and the cooking! Your guide will also let you know about food customs, superstitions, and beliefs. A gift of rice is provided to the family as thanks for their participation.
Following this visit, you return to the pavilion to commence cooking. Together with your chef and guide, you will create several dishes which you can then reproduce at home. Learn about the typical ingredients in Cambodian cooking and have the opportunity to see Cambodian cooking first hand.
Classes are completely hands on. Each participant has their own cooking station and equipment. Classes include a number of Cambodian dishes and a recipe card will be provided.
Accommodation: Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa
Day 16: Siem Reap | Angkor Wat Sunrise
Meals: Breakfast Before the light of day, your guide will pick you up from your hotel and escort 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. After your explorations, you’ll return to the hotel for some rest and leisure time.
Angkor Wat Sunrise
Accommodation: Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa
Day 17: Siem Reap | Traditional Khmer Spa Treatment | Sunset Cocktail on Gondola Ride
Meals: Breakfast Morning and afternoon are at your leisure.
As evening approaches, enjoy a relaxing spa treatment at Bodia Spa – an award-winning spa in Southeast Asia. You can experience traditional Khmer massage or your favorite treatment of choices. Then stroll nearby Psar Chas, the central market, to see local life or look for some local-made souvenirs.
As the sun approaches the horizon, enjoy Canape with Champagne on Gondola Boat through the moats of Angkor Thom to see the vast ruins of the Khmer Empire at its peak. Close your eyes and smell the sweet perfume of the Romdoul flowers growing wild on the shore mixed with the scent of lotus flowers bobbing in the water. Then see the Sunset at Corner Temple.
Accommodation: Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa
Day 18: Siem Reap | Farewell!
Meals: Breakfast Today our guide will transfer you to the airport before your onward flight and will bid you a fond farewell. Thank you for traveling with us!
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One of our Travel Experts will reach out to you and assist you with an itinerary and quote. Also, feel free to leave your phone number and we will give you a quick call just to say hello and clarify any questions we have about your inquiry.
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