Best of Vietnam and Laos 15 Days Tour

Once you have arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Incredible Asia Journeys' guide will collect you and take you into the city to your comfortable hotel. You are free to spend the first day of the Best of Vietnam and Laos 15 Days tour at your leisure. Maybe you would like to discover the incredibly rich history of the country through Ho Chi Minh City’s museums, or simply relax with what will likely be the first of many Vietnamese coffees.

Enjoy breakfast in your hotel before our guide picks you up at 08:00. We will take the two-hour drive to the Cu Chi Tunnels through pretty countryside and arrive to a video introduction about the construction and use of the 250km underground network of tunnels. We will spend about an hour exploring the tunnels, which were enlarged by 30% to accommodate foreign tourists, but still give a realistic account of the difficulties of life for the Viet Cong here. 

We head above ground to discover the multitude of nightmarish booby traps used to defend the tunnels, and see the casualties of war in the burned-out American tank and the several bomb craters still left from the 500-pound bombs dropped by B52 bombers.

We head to a local restaurant for lunch and return to Ho Chi Minh City by car in order to begin the city tour. We start at Giac Lam Pagoda in the west of the city. This is the oldest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, standing proudly as a bastion of Buddhism in the city since 1774.

After this, we drive to Cho Lon, the city’s Chinatown, which has been an enclave for Chinese culture since the decision to merge it with Saigon, as it had previously been a separate city in its own right. We visit the stately Thien Hau Pagoda and spot other examples of Chinese traditional practice on a brief walk. We finish the Cu Chi Tunnels and Ho Chi Minh City Tour at Ben Thanh Market, the city’s central hub for trade.

The private car will meet you at your hotel at 08:00 for your boat tour to Ben Tre . From here, we drive south to Ben Tre to begin our full day tour of this beautiful coastal province in the Mekong Delta.

We arrive and take a local boat across the Ham Luong River, one of the wide-spanning run-offs of the Mekong River. We stop along the way at a few humble villages, where locals work tirelessly to produce pottery and process the region’s ubiquitous coconut flesh and fiber into a multitude of products. You can also have a try at weaving your own reed mat after a brief lesson on the loom by a local.

At another village, we take a Xe Loi (motorised rickshaw) through lush jungle and around abundant fruit orchards and rice paddies. At a restaurant overlooking the Ham Luong River, lunch will consist of national classics and local specialties, including freshwater shrimp and elephant-ear fish.

We delve into true relaxation after lunch, once we board a sampan boat and are rowed through the gorgeous backwaters of Ben Tre. These are narrow, watery alleys where we drift between thick greenery on both sides, as overhanging coconut trees and nipa palm create an intensely magical atmosphere.

After this, we return to Ho Chi Minh City at about 17:00 for your final evening in the capital of South Vietnam.

Take your last chance to enjoy South Vietnamese culture before being transferred to the airport for your flight to Da Nang in the centre of the country.

Once you have arrived, your new guide will collect you and take you to your hotel in the stunning, UNESCO-recognised town of Hoi An.

Make your own arrangements for lunch and dinner and stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

At 08:00, we head to My Son Sanctuary – once the most important site for the civilisation of Champa, now an attractive set of temple ruins settled into an evocative location of thick jungle and tall mountains. We will take a tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, finding many intricately decorated Hindu temples, built to honour the gods that were such a significant presence in daily Champa life. On the way back to Hoi An, we visit the Sa Huynh Champa Culture Museum, which gives a good account of the Champa Kingdom and the Sa Huynh culture that came before it. 

We arrive back at Hoi An at noon. The rest of the day is free for you to discover the beauty of Hoi An at your own pace. The rich history of the ancient port town reveals itself through its buildings and the individual stories within them, which you can access via an Ancient Town Pass, purchasable from any of the counters around the old town. Alternatively, you can make use of the fabulous and very affordable tailors within the town to stock up on clothes and souvenirs.

Make your own arrangements for lunch and dinner and stay overnight in Hoi An.

At 08:00, our tour guide will arrive at your hotel with bicycles and safety equipment. We will cycle south to the Thu Bon River, where a 15-minute ferry will carry us to Kim Bong village. Here we will find a community specialising in carpentry, evident in all the shipbuilding, mosaic, statue and furniture workshops. We visit one in particular, Mr Kha’s workshop, with its 85 years of experience in crafting Hoi An’s famous basket boats, which his staff are eager to display.

We continue cycling to Tra Nhieu, a village specialising in creating reed mats, but also the site of a surprising war history, as its surrounding jungle was a popular hiding place for local villagers and soldiers alike.

We go island hopping over pretty wooden bridges and cycle along paths running parallel to the river’s banks. After a brief walk around Bay Mau Coconut Forest, keeping an eye out for wild storks, we return to Tra Nhieu and press on to the village of Tra Que.

The 40 hectares of land comprising Tra Que are completely free of pesticides and GMOs as local farmers prefer to use the naturally fertilising seaweed from the  river. We are greeted to this organic village by Mr Minh, who welcomes us with a traditional basil juice and takes us around the village where 3 generations of his family have resided.

We learn a lot about Vietnamese agriculture by helping the locals to engage in the ancient farming techniques still used here today, such as ploughing the fields and transplanting the rice. After that, return to Mr. Minh’s house for a relaxing herbal footbath and to help in the preparation of lunch, which will consist of regional specialties such as bánh xeo (crispy pancakes) and tam hữu (spring rolls).

Wave goodbye to Mr. Minh and cycle back to your hotel, where you will also wave goodbye to your tour guide and spend the rest of the afternoon at your own leisure. Perhaps today you would like to try to relax on the beaches of An Bang or Cua Dai, or simply unwind in the beautiful town.

Make your own arrangements for lunch and dinner and stay overnight in Hoi An.

Have breakfast in the hotel and await pick-up from our guide, who will take you to Da Nang airport. Once you have arrived here, our local Hanoian guide will collect you and take you to your hotel in the wonderful Old Quarter.

You will have time to refresh and find lunch before the guide returns and takes you to the magnificent Temple of Literature, the country’s first university founded in 1076. This university focused on the study of Confucius and his principles and immortalised the names of successful graduates on stone slabs atop statues of turtles.

Following this, we head to the enormous West Lake, which offers great views of the city skyline over the water. On a small outcrop here, we will find the picturesque Tran Quoc Buddhist Pagoda, built in the 6th century and just metres away from where Senator John McCain’s bomber plane was shot down during the American War.

Our final visit is to a water puppet show around Hanoi’s tourist hotspot, Hoan Kiem Lake. This is an ancient Vietnamese art that stemmed from post-harvest celebrations in the countryside to become popular nationwide.

Make your own arrangements for lunch and dinner and stay overnight in Hanoi.

After breakfast, a guide will collect you from your hotel lobby and transfer you to Halong Bay, taking around 3.5 hours from Hanoi and passing through idyllic scenes along the Red River Delta. Arriving at the harbour, we board the traditional junk boat and begin sailing into the maze of limestone rocks comprising Halong Bay.

Sit down in the dining room to a delicious seafood lunch as we take in the initial sights of Halong Bay’s gorgeous seascape, where tree-topped mountains soar above placid, emerald waters. Over the course of this cruise, we will go kayaking around the bay, reaching hidden alcoves and shimmering lagoons, as well as visiting a cave to learn more about the unique geology of the bay.

Aboard our splendid junk boat, we will engage in a cooking demonstration led by one of the talented chefs, before the red light of a gorgeous sunset graces the sundeck upstairs. This is the perfect time to grab a cocktail from the bar and reflect on this midway point of your Best of Vietnam and Laos 15 Days tour.

A splendid dinner in the dining room gives you a great introduction to northern Vietnamese cuisine, as well as the chance to socialise with other guests. For after dinner entertainment, there will be an open bar, board games and squid fishing. Alternatively, there is always the option of heading back early to your cabin to enjoy the complete tranquility afforded by Halong Bay.

Stay overnight on cruise in Halong Bay.

The second day of your overnight cruise begins on the sundeck, with a wonderful sunrise heralding a new day in majestic Halong Bay. On the languid cruise back to the harbour, we have a delicious breakfast and make a stop en route to Titop Island, where there are options for swimming in the water, unwinding on the beach or hiking the 400 stone steps to the summit and its rewarding panorama of Halong Bay.

After returning to the cruise and checking out, you will have an early lunch and disembark at the harbour. There will be another 3.5-hour ride back to Hanoi, arriving in the late afternoon. End of your overnight Halong Bay Cruise.

Make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Hanoi.

Enjoy your final breakfast in Vietnam before being transferred to the airport for your flight to Vientiane, Laos. Upon arrival, meet your new Laotian tour guide and head with them to the centre of the capital city.

Unwind at your hotel and find some lunch before the guide returns in the early afternoon, ready to start your city tour. Vientiane is a city with Buddhism at its heart, so we will begin at Wat Sisaket, a beautiful piece of architecture housing over 2,000 images of the Buddha within its walls. We follow with a tour of Wat Prakeo, the former royal temple famous for guarding the revered Emerald Buddha, a statue of immeasurable importance to practicing Buddhists in Laos.

We stop at the beautifully ornate Patuxay Monument, built to honour the Laotian lives lost during World War II and in claiming independence from France. Our final stop is That Luang Stupa, the national symbol of Laos, with one large golden stupa surrounded by 30 smaller stupas, creating an emblematic image for the country and for Buddhism worldwide.

At a local restaurant, we eat dinner and experience the difference in culture between Vietnam and Laos by watching a traditional Laotian dance and folk song performance.

Make your own arrangements for lunch today. Stay overnight in Vientiane.

Following breakfast at the hotel, we will head north towards Vang Vieng, passing spectacular mountainous scenery on the way that will give us an indicator of what is to come at our destination. We stop at the KM52 market, a collection of H’mong stalls where colourful clothes and foods are sold, along with scenic stops at the Hin Heup Bridge and Ban Tha Heua fishing market.

Once we have reached Vang Vieng, we check into our scenic hotel and have lunch in a nearby restaurant. This small town covers one side of the Nam Song River, while the other side is reserved for soaring limestone mountains, creating an incredible natural backdrop to activities along the riverbanks.

After lunch, we proceed along the sides of rice paddies to the Tham Phoukham Cave, a fantastic cavern in a completely natural setting of a forested lagoon. We can swim in the clean water around the cave or opt to explore the beautifully verdant surroundings of tropical trees draped in vines.

Back in Vang Vieng, we take a sunset cruise along the Nam Song River, watching the last of the day’s light dip gracefully between the mountain peaks.

Make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Vang Vieng.

We rise early to catch a glimpse of the daily Laotian scenes at the morning market, watching the day start to unfold and seizing the many photo opportunities to be realised here.

We return to the hotel for breakfast and head to the impressive Tham Jang Cave, used to fight off Chinese invaders to Laos in the early 19th century. After this, we take another scenic drive, this time to Luang Prabang, passing tiered rice paddies rising out of valleys, with dramatic mountain ranges acting as their backdrop. We will stop at a few hill tribe villages en-route to chat with the locals, who we can support by buying authentic and beautiful souvenirs directly from the source. We stop at a peak reaching over 2000m for wide-spanning panoramas of the road and the undulating scenery below us. 

Upon reaching Luang Prabang, we check into the hotel and you can settle into the stunning city at your own pace.

Make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Luang Prabang.

Following breakfast, we start our tour of Luang Prabang at the Royal Palace, built in 1904 for King Sisavang Vong, now acting as a museum about the royal family. Along the neighbouring Mekong River, we embark on a boat tour, affording grand, sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and the splendid greenery that makes up much of the city.

We reach the Pak Ou Caves, two interlinked caverns containing hundreds of statues of the Buddha, brought individually by devout Buddhist pilgrims to the area. After this, we stop at the riverside village of Ban Xang Hai to try out the local rice wine, famous throughout the region.

We arrive back to Luang Prabang and are greeted by the magnificent site of Wat Xiengthong, the pinnacle of Laotian architecture, with a wonderfully contoured three-tiered roof and a sparkling mosaic of the ‘Tree of Life’ across a wall at the back of the temple.

We follow this trip with a walk around the Traditional Art and Ethnology Center, reading many personal accounts of the hill tribes of Laos and getting a feeling for the ethnic diversity within the country. After this, we will conclude the afternoon’s events at Wat Prabath, in order to soak up the views of a vivid red sunset.

Our final stop is at the Luang Prabang Night Market, where you have the chance to peruse textiles and handicrafts lovingly created by the hands of ethnic minorities throughout the region.

Make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Luang Prabang.

We leave at sunrise to observe a truly ancient and magical tradition, the acceptance of residents’ alms by robed monks along the streets of Luang Prabang.

After refreshing with breakfast at the hotel, we climb the 329 steps of Phousi Hill and are rewarded with an astounding view of the city, which demonstrates its scale as well as its gorgeous natural surrounds. If we have time afterwards, we will take a brief look at the UXO Visitor Center to learn of the ongoing efforts to deactivate unexploded bombs left after the Laotian Civil War.

We make a brief stop at a buffalo dairy farm before continuing to the gorgeous Kuang Si Waterfalls, the largest in the Luang Prabang region and undoubtedly one of the most attractive. The flow of the river descends three tiers before one final drop into large circular pools of turquoise water, before it continues its downstream flow. We will spend the rest of the afternoon swimming and hiking around the waterfalls, enjoying a picnic lunch beforehand in the neighbouring jungle.

There are another set of gorgeous waterfalls at Ban Thapene, which are nearby but well hidden from tourist eyes. We have the option of going there, at your discretion, as well as to the Bear Rescue Center, where many happy animals roam after a hard previous life.

Returning to Luang Prabang, we stop at our final destination of the Ock Pop Tock Living Craft Center, a wonderful emporium of handmade textiles and handicrafts from respected artists and locals around the region. From the terrace at the back, we can observe the final sunset of your Best of Vietnam and Laos 15 Days tour as it descends on the Mekong River.

Make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Luang Prabang.

Take your final breakfast in the hotel and stroll around the city before your driver takes you to Luang Prabang International Airport. You will catch your return or onward flight from here and the Best of Vietnam and Laos 15 Days tour will officially conclude. We thank you unreservedly for choosing this extensive tour of Vietnam and Laos; we sincerely hope to have your company on a future tour!