Vivid Vietnam

Arrive in Saigon, where you will be met and transferred to your centrally-located hotel for check in. You will have a pre-trip briefing.

Head out of town today to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. Cu Chi is actually the name of the district that covers an extensive underground network (approx. 200 km/125 mi) of tunnels dug initially by the Viet Minh, and later expanded by the Viet Cong. The tunnels contained hospitals, accommodations, and schools. They were used extensively for refuge and storage, and also as a military base for the Viet Cong close to Saigon. The 1968 Tet Offensive was launched from Cu Chi with surprising effect. A section of the tunnels have been widened to allow tourists to get a feel for what the life underground must have been like. Your afternoon city tour takes you to Saigon’s historic landmarks, including the Reunification Palace and its striking modern architecture, the War Remnants Museum, and Notre Dame Cathedral. This visit allows you to admire many French colonial buildings such as the main post office and the former Hotel de Ville (city hall). Return to your hotel in the late afternoon.

Leave for My Tho early in the morning for a two-hour drive past paddy fields and river tributaries. Arrive in Mytho and board a private motorized boat for a river cruise on the upper part of the Mekong River for a taste of agricultural life on the mighty Mekong, visiting a fish-raising village, then entering Vam Xep canal with its beautiful scenery of water palms. Disembark and stroll around Quoi An fruit orchard, visiting fruit-drying kilns and a village family that makes coconut craftware in their home. Enhance your trip with a short horse-drawn cart ride along the village road. Upon arrival at Ben Truc and Phong Phu Gardens, you will sample Mekong delta fruit, enjoy local traditional music, and have the opportunity to interact with the local people who earn their livelihood on the river. Complete your trip with a rowboat trip to explore the water palm canals. Return to the main boat and transfer back to My Tho. After docking, you will have lunch at a local restaurant that serves some great Mekong specialties. A further two-hour drive takes you to Can Tho for the night.

After breakfast, check out of the hotel and board the boat for a two-hour cruise to visit Cai Rang market, a unique style market in this location. Check out hundreds of boats laden with fruit, vegetables, and fish, all jostling for trading space and advertising their wares by crying out across the waters. You then visit My Khanh orchard garden, where you will have the opportunity to try some delicious seasonal fruits. Depart Can Tho and drive back to Saigon with a lunch stop at My Tho. Upon your arrival back in Saigon, immediately transfer to the airport for your flight to Da Nang. On arrival in Da Nang, you will be met and driven to your hotel in Hoi An.

Hoi An was originally a Cham port town, but has since been influenced throughout the centuries by myriad traders from various cultures. There is a distinctly Chinese appearance with pagodas and assembly halls scattered along the small streets. The tranquility and charm of this town, with its low tile-roofed houses, makes it one of the most delightful places to visit in Vietnam and an enduring favorite of our travelers and staff. Enjoy a walking tour of the ancient town center and take in the former merchants’ houses, the 400-year-old Japanese covered bridge, and the colorful market with its stalls brimming with tropical specialties. There is an optional afternoon visit to the Thanh Ha pottery-making village to interact with locals and see how they have preserved their traditional craft over generations.

A three-hour drive to Hue will take you through the city of Danang, before a climb over the hills. The scene from the top of the Hai Van Pass is one of the most impressive panoramic scenes in Vietnam with views over Lang Co Beach. Upon arrival in Hue, you will visit the Citadel and the Dong Ba Market.

After breakfast, embark on a dragon boat cruise upstream on the romantic Perfume River to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue’s well-preserved religious monument standing on the riverbank with its seven-floor tower. You then drive to the elaborate Tu Duc Royal Tomb, designed to blend with the natural setting of the landscape, and Khai Dinh Royal Tomb with its different architecture and atmosphere of eastern art mixed with western designs. Enjoy a lunch of royal cuisine at the home of a local family before boarding a flight to Hanoi, where you are met and transferred to your hotel.

Hanoi is one of Asia’s most enchanting cities. This northern capital is a quiet contradiction of its southern counterpart. Its relaxed ambience is a joy best explored on foot or by bicycle. Today you will spend the day on a guided tour beginning with Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, an imposing monument built from a lavish amount of marble and granite. This is where the preserved body of “Uncle Ho” lies in state for public viewing. On exiting the mausoleum, walk to the One Pillar Pagoda, fashioned in the form of a lotus flower on its stalk, emerging from the water and resting on a single stone pillar. Inside there is a statue of the Goddess of Mercy with its legendary “thousand arms and thousand eyes”. You then visit the Temple of Literature for an overview of Hanoi culture and history. In the afternoon, visit the beautiful Museum of Ethnology to enhance your understanding of Vietnam’s diverse culture through its unique presentation of objects and dress from a variety of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups. Experience another cultural aspect of Vietnam, its art, at Art Vietnam gallery, owned by an American art consultant. This evening, attend a traditional water puppet show, a uniquely northern Vietnamese art form that depicts scenes of rural life and national history. Overnight in Hanoi at a centrally-located hotel.

Leave your luggage behind at your Hanoi hotel, and pack an overnight bag for a 3.5-hour drive, sometimes on bumpy roads, to Halong Bay, one Vietnam’s most impressive scenic sights. Views of rocky outcrops in the bay and sailing junks navigating past 3,000 limestone islands are nothing short of spectacular. Arrive around noon at the quayside and board your private junk for a four-hour cruise through Halong Bay, stopping along the way to explore limestone caves or just relaxing on the deck. While on board, indulge in a delicious seafood lunch and dinner. Overnight on the boat.

You will need to get up early in the morning in order to catch sunrise on the bay. After breakfast, explore and cruise around the bay for fabulous photo opportunities. You will have brunch on the boat before returning to port and driving back to Hanoi with a stop en route in the ceramic making village of Phu Lang to observe a century-old method of ceramic production. Return to Hanoi and immediately transfer to the airport in time for your late afternoon or early evening flight.  Or, if your schedule permits, consider lingering longer in Hanoi.