Full Exploration of Vietnam

Upon arrival in Hanoi, you’ll meet your professional tour guide and driver at the exit of the airport and then be escorted to the well-selected downtown hotel. After a short rest, follow your guide to visit the colonial-era Opera House, which was modeled after Paris Opera House in neo-Baroque style, the peaceful Ngoc Son Temple on a little island in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake, as well as the busy Old Quarter, where the soul of Hanoi's history and culture unveils. The 36 old streets in the Old Quarter each dedicates to a specific product, such as a street to fabrics and another to salt. You’ll see galleries, musical instrument shops and theaters along our way, local women wearing bamboo hats selling snacks, as well as iconic swarms of motorcycles forming a vivid cultural atmosphere. Enjoy unique charms emanating from the chaos and immerse in the aroma from fresh-made Vietnamese coffee. Motorcycle is the major means of transportation for Vietnamese, so people consider the country a motorcycle kingdom. When you walk on the crowded street, you’ll exclaim over how skilled bypassing Vietnamese drivers are, thrilling you while keeping you safe.

By nightfall, enjoy an authentic Vietnamese dinner we have prepared for you, and maybe try classic beef noodle soup “pho”, spring rolls and shrimp cakes. Vietnamese food has a balanced blend of light flavors, mainly tasting sour, sweet or a little bit spicy, and usually using more vegetables than meat. The dishes are often fried, steamed or stewed with spices like fish sauce, curry powder and bean paste. Let’s get firsthand experience of Vietnamese culinary culture on the first day of your 22 days Vietnam vacation package!

Meal: Dinner
Accommodation: Pan Pacific Hanoi (5 stars) or Hanoi La Siesta Hotel & Spa (4 stars)

After breakfast, head to the extensive Ba Dinh Square and visit the nearby Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Presidential Palace, and Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House to know about Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's founding father. Next is the One Pillar Pagoda, which is unique for standing on a pillar in the center of a lotus pond.

In the afternoon, we’ll go northwards to the West Lake area, which will enchant you with natural beauties and many ancient buildings, like Quan Thanh Temple and Tran Quoc Pagoda. Then, continue to Temple of Literature, a typical Chinese-style architecture which enshrines Confucius and many Confucian sages, to see how Confucian culture has influenced the country. Then visit the Ethnology Museum, where you can gain as many as insights within just a short time into distinct cultures of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups. Inside the museum, examine colorful costumes, musical instruments and daily supplies, and learn about dyeing and conical hat making techniques of the minorities. Meander around the outdoor area and get inside of those well-maintained replicas of tribal houses. Why not climb into and check out the Bahnar communal house - a stilt house 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) above the ground with a narrow wooden ladder.

At last, we’ll enjoy a traditional Vietnamese folk performance - Water Puppet Show, which embodies the local rice culture and is a national treasure of Vietnam. Puppeteers in waist-deep water skillfully manipulate puppets with long strings and bamboo poles, being in harmony with live traditional music played alongside. The show is based on Vietnamese mythology and daily lives, like fishing and rice transplanting. Please book the tour in advance so that we can book you a front seat in case you can't see the small puppets from the back seat.

After today's trip, your guide will accompany you to Lao Cai via an overnight train - the Vietnamese traditional meter-gauge train. The cabins are in different styles, clean and tidy. The space in the 4-berth cabin is small, and you may feel hard to stretch if you’re tall, but taking the train is really an exotic experience. Besides, it’s cost-effective for not only saving money on accommodation but also saving your day-time for pure fun. It’s recommended that you wear a pair of earplugs to avoid noise caused by the moving train. You’ll arrive early the next morning.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Overnight Soft Sleeper Train

Your guide and driver will pick you up at Lao Cai Railway Station and take you to the hotel in Sapa, a town located in a valley. You’ll be amazed at the spectacular landscape - thousands of acres of rice terraces, mist-shrouded mountains and bamboo forests, as well as cascading waterfalls. More than half of Vietnam's ethnic minorities, such as Hmong and Dao, are living here. Their unique folklore has injected vitality to this beautiful land. After you’re settled in, you’ll be escorted to Cat Cat Village, whose rural idyll with incessant terraced fields, green hills and streams makes it suitable for hiking. En route, browse local handicrafts if you are interested in shops lining along the road. Take the steep downhill trial until you see the Cat Cat Waterfall at the bottom of the valley, and you can rent a local costume to have photoshoots at your own expense. Then, continue to Sin Chai Village to experience more primitive natural landscape and village life. Here, you’ll pay a visit to a local villager's home to watch the locals printing and dyeing by the ancient way and weaving cloth on an original handloom. They use the woven cloth to make scarves, handkerchiefs, little bags, etc., which are good and cheap as souvenirs. Afterwards, we’ll return to the hotel.

Tips: The weather in Sapa is capricious. The temperature difference between day and night is large and it may be cool even in summer, so you’re advised to bring a coat. Besides, sunscreen and rain gear are necessary, too.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Silk Path Grand Resort & Spa (5 stars) or Pistachio Hotel Sapa (4 stars)

After breakfast, your guide will accompany you to explore the hill tribe villages to see distinctive dwellings, pass local people wearing traditional costumes and experience their unique lifestyle they’ve maintained for hundreds of years. You may encounter traditional markets where an array of workshops are selling handicrafts and embroidered clothing and bags, if today falls on a weekend. Some traditional customs remain, too, like “wife-catching” in Hmong. It allows a man to take home a random girl he meets on the road during the Lunar New Year (late January to early February). Their parents then negotiate the marriage, and the girl has no right to make her own decision. In the late afternoon, you’ll be transferred to the railway station for an overnight train back to Hanoi.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Overnight Soft Sleeper Train

In the morning, your guide will pick you up at the railway station and take a scenic drive to the UNESCO-honored Ha Long Bay. Being one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, it’s famous for the typical karst landscape with nearly 2,000 limestone islands standing in the turquoise sea. Ha Long Bay’s beauty never dimmed over the change of seasons - it’s an aquamarine gem surrounded by karsts under gleaming sunlight, and a mist-wreathed wonderland when shrouded in light fog.

★ Privilege of Our Guests:
Ha Long Bay is divided into Ha Long Bay, Lan Ha Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay. We’ve arranged for you a luxury cruise away from the heavily commercialized coast and take a free kayak to explore the serene and pristine Lan Ha Bay or Bai Tu Long Bay, where you’ll see wooded island and fine beaches for swimming. If you choose the Indochine Cruise, you’ll admire magnificent karst caves on the island in Lan Ha Bay; if you take the Signature Royal Cruise, you’ll visit a local fishing village and get to know their life on the sea in Bai Tu Long Bay. In addition, both cruise ships have interesting onboard activities including Vietnamese food courses, night squid fishing, etc. Or you can just bask in the cozy atmosphere on the ship - chat with friends, if you have brought any, on your luxury balcony if you stay at Indochine Cruise, for instance.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Indochine Cruise - room with balcony (5 stars) or Signature Royal Cruise (4 stars)

This morning, you’ll attend the Tai Chi class, enjoy morning tea or coffee, view the charming scenery of the glistening sea and explore nearby isolated villages by rowboat. Then after a hearty brunch, we’ll disembark and drive to Hanoi. The rest of the day is free for you to stroll around the city.

➤ Free-time Recommended Activities upon Arrival in Hanoi
You’ve experienced a panorama of Hanoi's rich history and unique cultural ambiance in the first 2 days, why not make the most of this free afternoon to explore for more details, such as to see Hoa Lo Prison Relic, the largest prison in North Vietnam used to jail prisoners during the Vietnam War. It got its name from the local pottery village, was renovated after decommission, and displays war relics and historical materials. Then head south of the museum to the restaurant Ngon Sai Gon for iconic dishes, such as coconut shrimps and xoi chien phong, deep-fried sesame balls shaped like full moon. It costs ₫200,000-300,000 ($8-10) per person on average.

Meal: Brunch
Accommodation: Pan Pacific Hanoi (5 stars) or Hanoi La Siesta Hotel & Spa (4 stars)

You will have a whole free morning to explore the eclectic Hanoi at your own pace. Walking or riding are both good ways to get a nice glimpse of the colonial era from the old French buildings alongside the neat streets. Or you can visit Imperial Citadel of Thang Long by yourself, which served as the imperial city from Ly Dynasty until Nguyen Dynasty (1010 - 1945), Vietnam’s last feudal dynasty. Its large number of archaeological sites enabled it to be listed as a world cultural heritage. Unfortunately, the imperial buildings were destroyed to varying degrees during the turmoil of the colonial period at the end of 19th century. Although very little of them can be seen now, you can still imagine the former grandeur from the ruins.

In the afternoon, you’ll be escorted to the airport for a flight to Dong Hoi. After landing, you’ll be picked up by the local guide and then be escorted to the downtown hotel. We have two handpicked hotels for you to choose from. One is Vinpearl Hotel Quang Binh, a luxury neoclassical high-rise on the river side, where you can have a cozy moment on the beach. There are also a bunch of historical and cultural sites nearby to pay a visit to, like Quang Binh Citadel, Quang Binh Museum and Mother Suot Monument. Another is Phong Nha Lake House Resort, a traditional-style eco-resort by the lake. Maybe you can enjoy grilled chicken with glutinous rice at the nearby Thung Do Restaurant, 10 minutes' walk from the resort, while enjoying the serene lake from a lovely hammock-equipped lounge area. It costs ₫100,000-200,000 ($4-8) per person on average.

Meal: Breakfast
Accommodation: Vinpearl Hotel Quang Binh, Dong Hoi (5 stars) or Phong Nha Lake House Resort, Dong Hoi (3 stars)

After breakfast, we’ll drive to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, a UNESCO-honored scenic region featuring diverse karst landforms, numerous familiar and unfamiliar forms of lives, as well as deep, enigmatic limestone caves. Along the way, you’ll pass verdant farmlands and undulating weathered limestone hills, unique and stretching to the park’s karst terrain - the park is so large that it has no clear boundary. To avoid pollution, we’ll take a hand-rowing boat to explore the Phong Nha Cave, which boasts an underground river with a total length of 7 kilometers (4.35 miles). The cave got its name, “Phong Nha” meaning “wind and teeth”, from the wind that flows out of it and a huge, teeth-shaped stalactite that once at its mouth, unfortunately blown up during the war. The cave is home to countless creatures and a blind fish inhabiting here cloaks the cave in mystery. After that, visit the Paradise Cave, a dry cave where you’ll admire giant stone columns and exquisite stalagmites. After the visit, we’ll drive back to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Vinpearl Hotel Quang Binh, Dong Hoi (5 stars) or Phong Nha Lake House Resort, Dong Hoi (3 stars)

In the morning, follow your guide to the Vinh Moc Tunnels, not only an underground shelter at the war time but a home for the villagers due to the protracting of the war. Explore this 3-floored tunnels, which boast halls, living rooms, wells, toilets, exits to the sea, and even maternity rooms, where a total of 17 babies were born during the 6 years of residents’ living here. Then, head to Ben Hai River to visit the graceful Hien Luong Bridge, which sits on the line that separates Vietnam into north and south parts. After that, visit the 200-year-old Quang Tri Citadel, once a vital military fortress. Walk to the martyrs monument, in the heart of the Citadel, to show respect to the thousands of soldiers who died fighting for national liberation for 81 days and nights during the war in 1972. Take a look at the historical relics left over from the war in the museum. You’ll see a bronze bell on the bell tower, which is struck on holidays and full-moon days to commemorate the soldiers. Round off your trip in Dong Hoi with a visit to the La Vang, a holy church and a famous pilgrimage site for Vietnamese Catholics.

In the afternoon, we’ll drive for around 3 hours to Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam. Upon arrival, your guide will help you check in at the hotel and you can have a good rest.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Indochine Palace (5 stars) or Moonlight Hotel Hue (4 stars)

Today you’ll have a full day sightseeing in Hue city. After breakfast, we’ll visit the grandiose and well-preserved Royal Tomb of King Minh Mang. Afterwards, take a short boat trip to admire Thien Mu Pagoda, the oldest temple in Hue aged over 400. Unlike most travel agencies that drive you to the Pagoda and in order to make the most of its location facing the Perfume River, we’ve arranged a dragon boat trip for you to enjoy the spectacular view. You’ll look up to the seven-story tower while boating on the river, and then embark and climb the tower to have a panoramic view of the serene river.

Then visit the Imperial City, former capital of Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) and the largest and most complete group of ancient buildings in Vietnam preserved by UNESCO, as well as the Forbidden Purple City in central Hue. You’ll see a deep influence of Chinese and European cultures from the overall design, which imitates the layout of the imperial palace complex in Beijing, China, and incorporates Baroque elements on the façade. Finally, go to the bustling Dong Ba Market to wander about narrow hallways flanked by stalls selling fruits, souvenirs, spices, local delicacies, etc.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Indochine Palace (5 stars) or Moonlight Hotel Hue (4 stars)

After breakfast, we’ll drive for around 3 hours to Hoi An. En route, stop to have a panoramic view of the sea and appreciate surrounding rolling mountains at Hai Van Pass and then reach Da Nang to enjoy coastal beauties at Non Nuoc Beach. Later, proceed to Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture to admire stone and earthen carvings. The Chams is an ancient flourishing people in Indochina Peninsula, mainly distributed in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, etc. It’s they who once established the Champa Kingdom in southern-central Vietnam. Then stretch your legs to Marble Mountains, the sacred sites for Hindus and Buddhists, to marvel at naturally formed limestone caves, many of which contain small temples or divine figurines. Be more amazed by Huyen Khong Cave, the largest one, and bask in the sunlight pouring through the five openings in the roof. Upon arrival in Hoi An Ancient Town, check in at the local hotel and the rest of the day is free for you.

➤ Recommended Activities upon Arrival in Hoi An
Maybe visit Precious Heritage Art Gallery Museum to get insight into Vietnam's 54 minority groups and their traditional costumes. Each portrait in the museum tells you a unique story, and the comparison of the photos and mannequins dressed in these costumes will give you more impressions. Then by nightfall, head to the south bank of Thu Bon River to stroll around Hoi An Night Market, which is filled with stalls and colorful lanterns, an iconic scene of Hoi An. Sit at a table to enjoy street food; fish out some unique souvenirs; take a boat tour and float a handmade water lamp with blessing.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: La Siesta Hoi An Resort & Spa (5 stars) or Little Beach A Boutique Hotel & Spa (4 stars)

As Hoi An was once the seaport for foreign trade, many foreigners, especially Chinese and Japanese, settled here as early as the 17th century. As a result, buildings here reflect a combination of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese architectural styles. Today, we’ll tour Hoi An Ancient Town on foot to visit the Chua Ong Pagoda, the Chinese Assembly Hall, the Tan Ky Old House, and the Japanese Covered Bridge one by one.

 Hoi An is a gourmet paradise and you will enjoy authentic Vietnamese cuisine for lunch. The must-try dishes include Hoi An rice noodles (Cao Lau), fried wonton (Hoanh Thanh Chien), fish cake noodles (Bun Cha Ca), chicken rice (Com Ga), and White Rose Dumplings (Banh Bao Banh Vac). The last is a kind of savory dumpling made by rice paper wrapped with minced shrimp and kneaded into rose shape, and then sprinkled with fish sauce and chopped chives.

Then, we’ll take a short boat trip to explore an island village nearby to enjoy the island landscape and experience unique local lifestyle. You may enjoy browsing a miniature world with terracotta-made famous buildings, like Pizza Tower, White House, and the One Pillar Pagoda you’ve visited, in a pottery village. Some of the shops provide hands-on experiences, and maybe paint a pottery or create a bowl if you wish to.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: La Siesta Hoi An Resort & Spa (5 stars) or Little Beach A Boutique Hotel & Spa (4 stars)

After breakfast, your guide will take you to attend a join-in cooking class to learn about Vietnamese food culture in a hands-on way. Here’s the time list:
[08:00 - 08:15] Your guide and driver will escort you to Hai Scout Café to meet your cooking class teacher.
[08:15 - 09:00] Your teacher will accompany you to Hoi An Market to buy some ingredients and explain Vietnamese food culture to you.
[09:00 - 10:00] Take a boat to Red Bridge Cooking School and visit Herb Garden upon arrival.
[10:00 - 11:30] Learn 4 - 6 kinds of Vietnamese dishes like Fresh Rice Paper Rolls of Shrimp, Crispy Hoi An Pancakes with shrimps, herbs, bean sprouts and a peanut sauce, as well as Seafood Salad with Tra Que Herbs. Then learn how to carve tomato roses and Vietnamese fans.
[11:30 - 12:30] Taste the dishes made by yourself and prepared by the chef.
[12:30 - 13:00] After lunch, return by cruise and meet your guide.

After that, follow your guide to unveil the UNESCO-preserved My Son Sanctuary, the largest Champa religious site in Vietnam, known as "the Angkor Wat in Vietnam". It was once magnificent, but with the decline and collapse of Champa Kingdom (137 - 1697), this place was gradually abandoned and now is hidden in tropical rainforests. You would marvel at the unique brick carving of the Chams, and the remains as red and seamless as they were hundreds or even thousands of years before, which is because of Champa people’s superb brick masonry technology. While their red bricks are somewhat immortal, which still remains a mystery, the modern restored parts have been moss-covered. After the visit, you’ll be escorted to the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: La Siesta Hoi An Resort & Spa (5 stars) or Little Beach A Boutique Hotel & Spa (4 stars)

Today, your guide will see you off at Da Nang Airport and you’ll take a flight to Nha Trang. Upon arrival, you’ll be warmly welcomed by your Nha Trang local guide and then be escorted to check into the hotel. After a short rest, you’ll be guided to visit two Hindu architectures - the Po Nagar Cham Towers, which is dedicated to Po Nagar who protects fishermen, and the Long Son Pagoda, guarded by a large white Buddha which can be seen anywhere in downtown Nha Trang. Then head to Dam Market, the city's central market where you can experience local flavors. Afterwards, the rest of the day will be free for you.

➤ Free-time Activity Recommendations in Nha Trang
You can enjoy yourself on the 6 km (around 3.7 miles) long beach sided with crystal clear sea water, coconut trees and specialty cafes across a road. Watch the sunset on the beach, sample seafood at our handpicked seaside hotel, or join in activities the hotel offers - maybe book Nha Trang's famous mud bath, which has such benefits as pore cleansing as the mud here contains extremely high mineral silica, at Mia Resort. If you are staying at Havana Nha Trang Hotel, you can book online in advance and go to I-Resort for a mud bath. Bathing suits are not easy to clean after the mud bath, so old swimsuits or disposable swimsuits are highly recommended. Attend a Vietnamese cooking class the hotel holds if you are interested.

Meal: Breakfast
Accommodation: Mia Resort Nha Trang (5 stars) or Havana Nha Trang Hotel (5 stars)

Today you’ll have a full day to enjoy your beach time freely. You can take sunbath, swim, dive, play beach volleyball, and do many other entertainment activities here. You can also head to the adventurous Hon Ba Nature Reserve on your own to enjoy beautiful waterfalls and hike in mountains and forests. Get an incredible experience of cliff-jumping and swimming in the lake. Be aware that the rocks here are slippery, so you will need to wear non-slip shoes. Then head to Hon Chong Promontory, Nha Trang’s rare granite coast, to admire the charming sunset and take romantic pictures. Standing on the protruding rocks towards the sea, you’ll feel the shock of the waves. At night, go to the affordable and acclaimed I Like Buffet Restaurant for a delicious seafood meal. There is a huge selection of fresh seafood, omelets, fruits, etc. It costs ₫200,000-300,000 (about $8-10) per person on average.

Meal: Breakfast
Accommodation: Mia Resort Nha Trang (5 stars) or Havana Nha Trang Hotel (5 stars)

Today is still free for you. After breakfast, you can wander around the city, enjoy the beautiful environment and soothing music in a café, cycle along the beautiful coastline, or go island hopping! Book a one-day island hopping tour in the reception beforehand. First head to Black Island (Hon Mun), off which you will discover the richest corals and fishes. You can see them even when you snorkel in shallow water. Then go deep diving or undersea walking off Swallow Island (Hon Yen) and marvel at lovely fishes and corals around you. At last, experience exciting activities on Hon Tam Island, such as submarine walking, diving, motorboating, and parasailing.

Meal: Breakfast
Accommodation: Mia Resort Nha Trang (5 stars) or Havana Nha Trang Hotel (5 stars)

In the morning, you’ll be transferred to Da Lat, a summer resort for Vietnamese. En route, stop in the idyllic countryside of Nha Trang to experience local farmers' life. Although Da Lat is known as “city of eternal spring”, it has a large temperature difference between morning and night due to its high altitude, so you’re advised to take a thin coat, and even a thin down jacket around January. Upon arrival, check into the hotel and then your guide will accompany you to appreciate the refined Bao Dai Summer Palace, the summer residence of the last Emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai (reigned in 1926 - 1945). Afterwards, proceed to the retro Old Da Lat Railway Station, the most beautiful railway station in Vietnam. Although the narrow gauge railway station was designed by French architects, you’ll see its ginger façade incorporating architectural style of local minorities. It was once stopped operating during wars, but now is reused for sightseeing and connects Da Lat to a village named Trai Mat which is 7 km (4.35 miles) away. Feel free to take some pictures in those well-preserved carriages. After a relaxing stroll around Xuan Huong Lake, we’ll visit the Central Market, where you could taste many delicious snacks, among which roast pork is a favorite of many tourists. Then we’ll come to the nearby Lam Ty Ni Pagoda to see artworks created by the owner or the “crazy monk” living there.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa - Villa Suite (4.5 stars) or Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa - Villa (4.5 stars)

This morning, transfer to the Tanung Village. You may admire a rural landscape woven with colorful flowers, lush pine trees and terraced vegetable plantations on the way. Besides, we’ll make short stops at a rice wine factory and a coffee plantation. After two more weeks travelling, you must have noticed that coffee is deeply rooted in Vietnamese daily life, and may have sipped their specialty coffees like drip coffee, coconut coffee and egg coffee. The humid and hot climate in southern area provides a suitable condition for cultivating Robusta, the coffee bean that makes Vietnam the largest producer in the world. With original pure aroma and a strong, bitter flavor, Saigon coffee is slightly different from traditional Vietnamese coffee, which you’ll find out in the coffee plantation. If your visit falls in the right season, stop by a cricket farm and a silk processing factory as well.

Upon arrival in the Tanung Village, visit Elephant Waterfalls and Linh An Pagoda, where you’ll honor the big white statue of the Smiling Buddha and the seven-story-high statue of Bodhisattva of Compassion, the tallest in Vietnam at 71 meters (233 feet). Take a circle around the Bodhisattva to pray for good luck, and climb inside it to the top to marvel at the stunning views of the waterfalls and the forest around it. After the visit, you’ll be driven to airport to catch the flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

➤ Recommended Activities in Ho Chi Minh City
If you're staying at Hotel Nikko Saigon, walk 10 minutes west to the century-old Ho Thi Ky Flower Market, next to which lies its namesake food street running until 2 a.m. where seafood is a must-try. If you choose the Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel, walk 15 minutes southwest to Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, which boasts a large number of war-related artworks. Although it carries a slightly gloomy tone, it’s a good place to review history and appreciate present-day peace. It’s a beautiful yellow French-style building with a refined spiral staircase and the first elevator ever built in the city.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

After breakfast, your guide will accompany you to the Cu Chi Tunnels - a massive underground shelter for Viet Cong guerrillas in war times. It was also served as a communication and supply route, as well as a storage for medicine, food and weapons. Enter through a cleverly designed entrance to marvel at a new if narrow world with living area, medical area, military defense and all.

In the afternoon, we’ll tour the city and visit War Remnants Museum, which mainly displays exhibits including lots of photos and various armaments from the Vietnam War. Then head to the charmingly symmetrical Reunification Palace. It’s interesting to note that we will pass the symbolic tank which burst into the Palace in the war - the mark of the unification of Vietnam. You’ll see the tank gun is still facing the main building. After that, take a stroll around the French Quarter to appreciate the Central Post Office, the Opera House, Notre Dame Cathedral and the bustling Dong Khoi Street, one of the most famous commercial pedestrian streets in the city.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

Today, we’ll drive for around 2 hours to My Tho to board a cruise ship sailing down the Mekong River Delta. To get away from crowded and heavily commercialized waterways, we’ll accompany you to explore more pristine areas of Mekong River via a hand-rowing boat. While floating on the narrow waterway, you’ll see lush water coconut trees standing along the banks, with feathery leaves spreading out and hanging down above your head and their fruits, meteor-hammer-shaped, sticking out of the water. Local life will slowly come into view - stilt houses and church are standing along the banks, village women busy washing on the shore, and children playing aside. We’ll also go ashore halfway through to visit a coconut candy factory and a rice paper factory. Lunch will be specially arranged on an island. You may try fried elephant ear fish, a moreish specialty of Mekong River. The fish is fried to a point that the bones can be eaten. Wrap a slice of flesh and some vegetables in a rice paper, dip it in sauce and take a bite. It’ll amaze you. Afterwards, we’ll disembark and then continue to drive to Can Tho and check in at the hotel.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Victoria Can Tho Resort - Superior Room (4 stars) or Victoria Can Tho Resort - Deluxe Room (4 stars)

After breakfast, you’ll visit the famous Cai Rang Floating Market to watch how local people make deals on boats. The hard-working people, thriving trading, as well as coming and going ships will give you a real sense of the local life. The market embraces its peak time between around 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. We’ve arranged a motorboat for you to start off at 6 a.m., different from most travel agencies who arrange a crowded shuttle boat departing at 4 a.m. There are large cargo ships and small wooden boats loaded with fruits and vegetables shuttling back and forth, among which some vendors are hawking breakfasts like Vietnamese baguettes, spring rolls and even handmade coffee. You’ll see poles on the bows hanged with samples of goods, isn’t that interesting? You can wave to the vendor and pick some to have a taste on your own. Go on to visit a tropical fruit orchard, where you could taste the freshest fruits. After finishing the visit, we’ll drive back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: Hotel Nikko Saigon (5 stars) or Liberty Central Saigon Riverside Hotel (4 stars)

Your 22 days private Vietnam tour package ends today. After checking out of the hotel, you’ll be escorted to the airport to take your flight home. Wish you a pleasant journey.

➤ Recommended Place to Go for a Late Departure
If time permits, wander around Ho Chi Minh City's Book Street, which has existed since the French colonial era. You’ll exclaim over how such a laid-back street can be preserved in this fast-paced downtown center. Grab a cup of Vietnamese specialty egg coffee and stroll along the a-hundred-meter-long street lined with bookstores selling Vietnamese, English and French books, cafés, as well as stationery shops. You’ll see the Red Church in the end of the street.

If you want to visit other nearby countries like China, Thailand, Cambodia, etc., please feel free to contact us to tailor-make this itinerary for you.

Meal: Breakfast