11-Day Taste of Vietnam From North to South

Upon arrival, you will be met outside the baggage claim area by your friendly driver who will escort you to a waiting vehicle for your transfer to downtown with a brief introduction en route. 

Your guide will be holding a welcome signboard with the Sun Getaways Travel Logo & your name. During the drive, your guide will provide an introduction to Hanoi. Hanoi is Vietnam’s capital city and home to seven million people. 

Traditional and refined with French colonial architecture, tree-lined boulevards, scenic lakes, and a bustling Old Quarter, Hanoi has a sophisticated charm. Observe locals practicing Tai Chi by the lake, with barbers and food vendors plying their sidewalk trade. 

Night 1: Overnight in hotel in Hanoi

After breakfast at your hotel. At about 8:00 am, our friendly tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and then visit the capital of Vietnam, a city that celebrated 1.000 years in 2010 and has countless fascinating cultural and historic sites and our day tour will visit the highlights.

Firstly visit Tran Quoc pagoda then go to visit Ho Chi Minh Complex; Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, (Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum is closed on Monday and Friday and from 15th June to 2nd Oct, you can view it from outside). This used to be the residence of the Governor of Indochina. After 1954 it was named the Presidential Palace and became the place where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked until he passed away in 1969. On the way out visit the One Pillar Pagoda. The pagoda was constructed in 1049 by King Ly Thai Tong according to his dream of Bodhisattva sitting on a lotus flower and leading him to the pagoda. In 1954, the pagoda was destroyed by the French before their withdrawal. 

Arrive at the Temple of Literature. This is the combination of the Confucius Temple which was built in 1070 and the first Royal National University in Vietnam built 6 years later in 1076. Considered as ‘an escape’ from the bustling city, this temple and its beautiful garden provide an opportunity to learn more about education in Vietnam since 1000 years ago until recent times. Enjoy a delicious lunch in a local restaurant with traditional local Vietnamese Cuisine. After lunch, continue to visit more interesting museums. 

Then visit Hoa Lo Prison Museum. Located west of the city centre, all of the museums offer informative and well-documented displays of the country’s heritage. Visit Hoan Kiem Lake (Restored Sword Lake) and Ngoc Son Temple. 

In the afternoon, visit Train Street. We will return to your hotel. You will have free time and overnight at hotel in Hanoi. 

Night 2: Overnight in hotel in Hanoi

Following breakfast at the hotel, Sun Getaways Travel will come to pick you up around 08h00 am with our shuttle bus to start the 3-hour-and-a-half drive to Halong Bay through the paddy fields in the Red River Delta.

Arrive at Tuan Chau Island – Take a break and a Welcome drink at the Cruise Lounge.

Welcome drink – receive cruise briefing, safety instructions and check-in. Start cruising and explore Halong Bay – one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. Enjoy a buffet lunch with Vietnamese dishes served while cruising through the bay, passing the most beautiful and quiet areas, such as Incense Burner, Dog Stone Islet, Fighting Cock, Soi Sim Beach, and Coconut Three Island.

Visiting the Tung Gau area is covered by leaping rocks and cultured pearl fishery. You can watch the process of the jewel, from culturing to harvesting and sculpting, Moreover, you have a chance to do kayaking based on your preference. Enjoy a busy space with a pearl maker, you can experience the completion of a pearl.

Visiting the beautiful Ti Top beach for swimming (if the weather permits), Ti Top Beach is especially famous for its fresh atmosphere, clean water, and smooth white sand that create a great ambiance for tourists to relax or passengers can take steps to reach on the top of  Ti Top beach to have a whole panorama view of Halong Bay. Back to the boat and free time while sailing to the Luon Bo area, and anchor overnight.

Attend the Cooking class on sundeck – How to make Vietnamese spring rolls – traditional Vietnamese food. Then enjoy Happy Hour (Buy one drink-get one free). It is time for relaxing. Watch the magnificent sunset over Halong Bay. 

Dinner – Deluxe Vietnamese BBQ Set Menu Dinner

Evening activities include Leisure time to enjoy a chat around the bar, watching movies and many sorts of Vietnam cultural films, relaxing and spending a romantic night on Pelican Halong Cruise’s music, playing cards, chess are available, reading magazines in the room and dining room. You may also try your luck at squid fishing & fishing from the boat. End of Program for Day One. 

Night 3: Overnight on board

The day starts early onboard with a Tai Chi session on the sundeck. Tai chi also called Tai chi chuan, combines deep breathing and relaxation with slow and gentle movements. Coffee, tea and pastries for breakfast are served in the dining room with a morning view of the bay’s landscape.

Transfer by tender to Sung Sot Cave. Walk up about 100 steps to the cave entrance. It takes approximately 45 minutes for cave visiting. Visit Sung Sot Cave, one of the most biggest cave in Halong Bay with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. Return to the boat by tender. Proper shoes are highly recommended.

Back to Cruise. Check out and have a buffet brunch while cruising back to the Tuan Chau Wharf. Relaxing on the sundeck or in the dining room enjoying the bay scenery while approaching the wharf.

Disembark to Tuan Chau Wharf. Say goodbye to the crew.

Return to Hanoi by minivan. Stop over the middle to visit a traditional workshop and refreshment about 30 minutes.

About 16.30 -17.00 arrive in Hanoi. Take a daily use room for relaxing and a quick shower.

About 7:00 pm: the guide will pick you up and transfer you to the railway station for a night train to Hue.

Night 4: Overnight on train

In the morning, arrive in Hue, the guide will pick you up and bring you breakfast, and then you’ll begin your day in Hue with a visit to the ruins of the Imperial Citadel, the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. 

Then take a bicycle trip through the Old City to Tinh Tam Lake, the ancient gardens of the emperors. In the afternoon you can head to the Mu Pagoda, overlooking the emerald Perfume River. 

Your last stop will be to explore Khai Dinh’s Tomb, a traditional Vietnamese temple with a European touch, making it a particularly unique tomb among the ancestral ruins of ancient Hue. Then Free time for visiting the city. 

Night 5: Overnight in Hue

Breakfast at your hotel. Pick you up and transfer to Hoian. You can stop to visit Lang Co Beach. 

Drive through the Pass of Ocean Clouds for a stunning panoramic view of the mountains and sea. Arrive in Hoian, check-in and free time. 

Night 6: Overnight in Hoi An

Option 1 – Basket boat & Cooking class:

Our local guide will pick you up at your hotel (in Hoi An city). Move to local market to buy some cooking ingredients.

Our guide will introduce you to the different ingredients of the dishes.

Afterwards, you will be warmly welcomed at Manh Tran Restaurant with drinks.

Experience with the locals learning how to row a basket boat.  Participate in activities (crab fishing) in the coconut forest with the people. Go back to a restaurant for a cooking lesson organized by a family member.

After the lesson, you will enjoy the dishes cooked by yourself.

At the end of the tour, the guide will take you back to the hotel

Option 2 – Vegetable village:

Breakfast at your hotel and then it’s time for a little bit of exercise and riding a bike to Tra Que Village and a visit to a local farm. This is a very special involvement in true Vietnamese rural life. You will learn about the history of the village and then be shown the daily practices of growing vegetables. You will learn how vegetables are used in traditional Vietnamese medicine. 

You will join in the activities of the farmers – collecting seaweed fertilizer, sowing, raking, watering and picking. Your cultural immersion continues as you join the family to prepare and eat the lunch you have helped grow. You will also taste other local specialties such as Tam huu (spring roll) and Banh xeo (pancake). 

Of course, you must also join in the after-lunch nap before returning to the field to learn how to harvest and wrap the produce. Mid-afternoon we wave goodbye to your new friends and go back to Hoian to visit Hoian Old Quarter. Return to your hotel for relaxing 

Option 3 – Farmers and Fishermen’s Tour:

Taking this tour will give you the opportunity to get up close and personal with both the local farming and fishing communities. Take a bike ride with our guide along country roads to enjoy rural life Witness in Vietnam – visit a beautiful organic vegetable village, buffalo ride in the fields Photo opportunities is endless. And especially, you can also experience fishing with traditional nets. Learn how to row the unique basket boat in Vietnam to discover coconut paradise. This tour gives you a cultural window into the lifestyles of both our farming and fishing communities.

Night 7: Overnight in hotel in Hoi An.

Breakfast at your hotel. You will have free time until our driver comes to pick you up and transfer you to the airport for a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. 

Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, pick you up and transfer you to your hotel. Free time. 

Night 8: Overnight hotel in Ho Chi Minh

We’ll pick you up in the morning and take you to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a major part of the Vietnam-American War and a fascinating day trip, explore the mysterious tunnels, and find hidden doors and once-deadly traps. 

After lunch, we’ll go back to Ho Chi Minh City and spend the afternoon either visiting the War Remnants Museum or the Reunification Palace Palace, whichever you prefer. Then stroll around the city’s colonial streets in the evening to the Old Saigon Post Office, Dong Khoi Street, Continental Hotel, Opera House and City Hall. 

Night 9: Overnight in hotel in Ho Chi Minh

Following breakfast at your our tour guide will come to pick you up at about 8:00 am to depart for a 1.5-hour drive from Saigon to Ben Tre, one of the country’s southern provinces, situated in the Delta of the Mekong River.  

Take in the highway as you leave behind the busy city. Pass Rach Mieu bridge before reaching Huu Dinh hamlet. Get on a tri-motor cycle (xe loi) ride to enjoy the lush surroundings of rice paddies and fruit farms alongside the narrow village roads. 

Arrive at the waterfront, and board the charming cruise for a glimpse at the Delta scenery while enjoying coconut juice. First stop for a visit at the coconut processing, then back to your boat and the boat will stop at a brick-making shop, where the locals still use centuries-old traditional methods to make the bricks by hand where you will start a Bicycle trip around Phong Nam village around 4km, through gardens and stop at the rice noodles factory “hu tieu”, one of most popular breakfast dishes in the region. Walk about 3 minutes to visit a local home. 

The family live on fishing, shrimp and farming. Enjoy the tropical fruits and honey tea in her garden before taking the rowing sampan, be paddled by a personalized rower trip to discover the maze of small canals. After the visit, the boat will be waiting for you at the pier nearby to bring you back to Ben Tre city where your car will be ready to take you back to Saigon.  

Night 10: Overnight in hotel in Ho Chi Minh

Your time will be your own until your private car and driver arrive to take you to the airport for your flight to your next destination. 

Note: Check-in time- 2.00 pm and check-out time- 12.00 pm

Finish an unforgettable Vietnam Tour with Sun Getaways Travel. Goodbye & see you the next time!