Vietnam’s Twin Cities

Exit the arrival gates of Noi Bai International Airport to meet your driver and start your tour. Take the transfer into the city’s centre, the Old Quarter, where you will be able to check into your hotel at any time after 14:00 PM.

You can use your free time today to explore Vietnam’s ancient capital through the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake, which both have a lot of history and beauty between them.

There are no meals included on the first day. Please make your own arrangements for your meals and stay overnight in Hanoi.

In the morning

After breakfast, we begin your tour of Vietnam’s beloved capital. We will meet between 08:00 and 08:30 and proceed to the Ho Chi Minh Complex in historical Ba Dinh District. Our first stop is Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the treasured hero of Vietnam has his body preserved, followed by a stroll around the Ho Chi Minh Museum to learn more about his eventful life. We move onto the One Pillar Pagoda after this; one of the enduring symbols of Hanoi along with the attraction next to it – Ho Chi Minh’s former stilt house residence. 

We take a look at the Taoist Quan Thanh Temple and the Buddhist Tran Quoc Pagoda located on beautiful Thanh Nien Street, wedged between two of Hanoi’s iconic lakes. We enjoy a local lunch after this to savour the flavours of northern Vietnam.

In the afternoon

We start the afternoon’s proceedings at the Ethnology Museum, where we can get a better understanding of the fascinating cultures of the 53 ethnic minority groups located throughout Vietnam (if your tour falls on a Monday, we will have an alternative trip to Hoa Lo Prison Museum or the Vietnamese Women’s Museum).

After this, we take a walk around the Temple of Literature, where we can see the beautiful architecture and garden of Vietnam’s first university, dating from 1070. We end the tour in the Old Quarter, taking a look around Hoan Kiem Lake with its Ngoc Son Temple before heading into the bustling streets of Hanoi’s central district. Our guide will point out and explain the fantastic mixture of architecture before finishing the tour at your hotel or a local café.

Please make your own arrangements for meals and stay overnight in Hanoi.

Note: This is merely an example itinerary of an overnight cruise around Halong Bay. The itinerary of Halong Bay cruises that you select during your booking with us might differ slightly in the activities offered.

In the morning

At some point between 08:00 and 08:30, the driver will show up to your hotel and help you to load your luggage onto the bus. From here, we begin our trip to Halong Bay across the stunning and traditionally inclined Red River Delta.

In the afternoon

Once we have boarded the boat at the harbour, we head into the bay and have a delicious lunch to accompany our cruising. For the remainder of the day, we will cruise at a languid pace through the outstanding scenery of Halong Bay, stopping twice for activities. Our first of these is at Titop Island, where we can enjoy a slice of paradise on the white-sand beach and in the calm ocean. After this, we head to Cua Van fishing village, where we will be able to kayak or take a sampan boat around the floating community of colourful houses and their fishing family residents.

In the evening

The sun will set as we re-board the cruise and happy hour at the bar will give us a chance to relax on the sundeck. Dinner will be plated up in the dining room after this, followed by an evening at your leisure, with squid fishing and board game available.

Stay overnight in Halong Bay.

Wake up early to enjoy a beginners’ tai chi class on the sundeck. Once you have absorbed the majesty of the bay in the morning, head to the dining room to enjoy breakfast. We will head to Luon Cave after this to revel in the serenity of an enclosed lake on the other side of the cave’s entrance, accessible via kayak or a sampan boat rowed by one of the bay’s residents.

We cruise back to the harbour after this, enjoying lunch on the way and heading back to Hanoi once we have disembarked. We pick up your luggage from your hotel before taking you to the airport, where the driver will wave you off onto your flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

Upon arrival to Ho Chi Minh City in the evening, your new driver will transfer you to your hotel in the city centre.

Please make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Take your first breakfast in southern Vietnam before the driver arrives to the hotel at 08:15 and transfers you to the departure point for the tour. We will start the trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels from here, located about 50km to the northwest of Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arriving, we will watch a short video to learn more about the outstanding accomplishment of the tunnels’ wartime engineering, where 250km was built over 25 years by the rural population.

After this, we head down into the tunnels to explore a part of its impressive length. We get an idea of what life was like for the Viet Cong soldiers as they stored weapons, healed the sick, fed the hungry and plotted the fall of Saigon below the jungle floor. We emerge after this to have a look at the unbelievably well-disguised entrance holes and trap doors around the jungle.

Around midday, we will head back to Ho Chi Minh City, giving you a chance to enjoy the rest of your day as free time. Perhaps you could take the opportunity to advance your understanding of the American War at the Independence Palace, where the war came to a forceful end in 1975. For afterwards, The War Remnants Museum next door gives a good account of the war.

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

The driver will arrive to your hotel after breakfast at 08:30 and transfer you to the tour departure point. Our destination from here is My Tho, one of the larger cities of the Mekong Delta.

The Bao Dinh canal winds its way through My Tho and a boat trip through here will give us a fascinating look into how people have been living in this land of rivers for thousands of years. After this, we make a stop at My Tho Market to have a look at the tropical produce and comprehensive selection of authentic souvenirs. We pull up to Tortoise Island and disembark before having an excellent lunch in the pristine nature around us.

We rejoin the boat and end in Ben Tre, a province known for its incredible greenery and abundance of coconuts. We see this best at the Tan Thach canal, where a cruise through will be one flanked with nipa palm and waving coconut trees on both sides. We head to Thoi Son Island after this, for a look at ancient farming techniques in the region and a small trek through some of the evocative nature of the island.

Our transfer back to My Tho will come before another transfer back to Ho Chi Minh City, where you will be spending your final evening with us.

Please make your own arrangements for dinner and stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Savour your final breakfast of the tour and pack up the rest of your items. You may have some free time before you flight, so take the chance to reflect on the tour over a Vietnamese coffee. The driver will collect you 3.5 hours prior to your departure time and take you to Tan Son Nhat airport for your onwards flight.

Incredible Asia Journeys is very grateful to you for selecting our services. We hope that you can return with us at some point in the future!