This package is dedicated to people eager to discover an authentic Vietnam while enjoying some of the best treats en route. From North to South, travel the country in style. You'll get immersed in culture, tradition, charm and exoticism all along. We've picked for you the best gastronomic spots and made a selection of hotels, resorts and lodges that all mix harmoniously tradition and luxury. The "crème de la crème" of Vietnam served with our usual excellence of services.

DESTINATIONS

• Hanoi, Vietnam's vibrant 1000-year-old capital and one of Asia's loveliest cities
• Mai Chau area, a mountainous circus inhabited by white Thai ethnic people
• Ky Son and Duong Lam villages, the best preserved villages in Vietnam in terms of its ancient architecture and the unique character of its people
• The breathtaking natural splendor of the World Heritage Halong Bay archipelago
• Hue, a journey into the magnificence of an imperial past
• The World Heritage ancient port town of Hoi An and its seductive atmosphere
• The always bustling, never sleeping, perpetually changing Ho Chi Minh City
• The Mekong Delta, feel the pulse of the life generated by the mighty Mekong river

HIGHLIGHTS

• Stay every night at the most charming hotels
• Taste exquisite cuisines of Vietnam
• Interact with friendly locals and share a good time with them
• See the very best of the world's nature and culture heritages in Halong, Hue and Hoi An
• Cruise along the rivers maze of canals for a taste of the lush and lively culture in Mekong delta
• Relax in a seaside paradise

ITINERARY

[Day 1] Hanoi Arrival
Meal: N/A | Accommodation: hotel in Hanoi

Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you'll be met and driven to your hotel. Time for relaxing after the journey. You'll spend the night in Hanoi.

[Day 2] Hanoi Orientation
Meal: breakfast, lunch | Accommodation: hotel in Hanoi

8:00 AM – Start from you hotel for a full day getting orientating to Hanoi. Your guide will take you to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam dating back to the 11th century. After that, you'll drive to the excellent Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam's 54 distinct ethnic groups.

We take you to one of the best fusion-cuisine restaurants for lunch. High-end gastronomy inspired by traditional Vietnamese cuisine. In the afternoon, you'll discover the bustling Old Quarter, is a magnet for visitors - it's noisy and hectic, but definitely a 'must-see' attraction. The Old Quarter is a maze of shopping streets and restaurants with a hotchpotch of architecture - traditional tube houses, religious buildings, artisans' workshops and cottages. Refresh yourself at a French cafe and enjoy one of the most beautiful views of colonial corner in Hanoi.

[Day 3] Hanoi – Mai Chau
Meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner | Accommodation: Mai Chau Lodge

On the morning drive to Mai Chau, we'll leave the city behind and pass through the craggy, mountainous landscape until you arrive and check in to the Mai Chau Lodge.
In the afternoon, you can cycle/walk through the lovely villages in the Mai Chau valley letting your guide point out and explain the wonders along the way. Afterwards, we return to Mai Chau for dinner and overnight. You'll spend the night in Mai Chau Lodge.

[Day 4] Mai Chau – Ky Son
Meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner | Accommodation: Ky Son house

After breakfast with a view, you can wander around the houses to glimpse the daily life of local people. They specialize in weaving brocade products and they're happy to show visitors their skills. The village is operated as a community co-operative, set up by the people themselves.

We'll leave Mai Chau after lunch and head to Ky Son village. Upon arrival, take a short introduction to the house, kitchen and garden before soaking in traditional, refreshing steam bath with fragrant herbs. After enjoying a home-cooked dinner, we help the host to prepare offerings for ancestor worship, a Vietnamese tradition to honor and show deep gratitude to their ancestor and enjoy a traditional therapy for your legs using all the herbs found in the village before going to bed.

[Day 5] Ky Son – Duong Lam
Meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner | Accommodation: Ky Son house

Wake in the peaceful morning with fresh air, join the host for a 30 minute Taichi if you like and enjoy a breakfast. This morning, we'll take an easy cycling to some temples and pagodas nearby, or more time to join with local farmers in their rice field before returning to the house for a cooling class at 11.00
Lunch is followed by free time relaxing on the hammock in our garden, taking pictures with Vietnamese traditional cloths, fishing and chatting with people or further discovery of the Ky Son village and around. Another night stays at Ky Son.

[Day 6] Ky Son – Ha Long
Meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner | Accommodation: Indochina Sails Junk

8.00 am – Say goodbye to your local host and drive about 4 hours to Halong Bay through the Red River Delta with countryside scenery of rice paddies fields, water buffalos, local villages.... you'll arrive Ha Long city at noon, in a good time for embarking a traditional wooden boat which will take to the World Heritage area and then to an island beach. Weather permitting, there's time to swim, relax or climb a hill for a view over the Bay's remarkable seascape. From there, continue your cruise to visit a fishing village and have a closer look at local life with a rowboat or kayak. A multi-course, luxurious Vietnamese dinner is served on board. You'll spend the night in a comfortable cabin of Indochina Sails Junk.

For your two-day Ha Long excursion, you'll board the Indochina Sails Junk - one of the best quality boats on the Bay, a wooden junk based on the model of the old Vietnamese court vessels with. The boats can accommodate up to 28 people, so you're likely to be joining other travellers for the cruise. All your meals, usually based on fresh seafood, will be provided on board.

[Day 7] Ha Long – Hanoi – Hue
Meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner | Accommodation: hotel in Hue

You'll wake up in the fresh air of the bay with a Tai Chi session on the large sundeck (beginners welcome!). After a light breakfast pastry and tea or coffee, you'll dock to visit one of the most famous caves in the Bay. You'll return to the junk for a delicious brunch buffet while cruising back to the dock around noon. You'll then be transferred to Noi Bai airport, in a good time for boarding a flight to Danang, then private car to Hue. Upon arrival at Phu Bai airport, you'll be met and driven to a hotel in the city centre for your overnight accommodation.

[Day 8] Hue Explorer
Meal: breakfast, lunch | Accommodation: hotel in Hue

Your morning will begin with a cruise along the Perfume River to visit to the Thien Mu Pagoda. From there, we take a short drive into a lush valley of the river where seven tombs were built for seven Nguyen emperors. Each is an expression of the unique personality of the man whose remains it holds. We will visit two of the tombs of emperors Minh Mang and Khai Dinh.

Lunch will be served with Hue cuisine at a restaurant in a beautiful garden setting. In the afternoon, you'll have a guided visit to the Imperial Citadel – the most well known and iconic site in Hue, and then the Dong Ba market before returning to your hotel before sunset.

[Day 9] Hue – Hoi An
Meal: breakfast, lunch | Accommodation: hotel in Hoi An

Your car now heads to Hoi An via the dramatic Hai Van pass. The panoramic views are excellent - you should be able to see Lang Co beach and village, and the lagoon far below, with the city of Da Nang spread out before you to the south.

You'll visit the Cham Museum in Da Nang which houses the largest displays of Cham art anywhere in the world. We will also drive to the nearby Marble Mountains: five limestone peaks with marble outcrops known for their beauty and their cave network.
After lunch, your guide will show you the Ancient Town and explain its considerable significance in the history of Vietnam. You'll be free after lunch. You'll spend the night in Hoi An

[Day 10] Hoi An Free
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: hotel in Hoi An

The day will be free for strolling in the town, lazing on the beach, or whatever takes your fancy. You'll spend the night in Hoi An.

Hoi An town is three kilometres from Cua Dai Beach - part of what was once known as China Beach and used for rest and recreation by American GIs during the Vietnam War. The beach is composed of white sand fringed with palm trees and overlooks the South China Sea.

There are plenty of good restaurants offering a variety of cuisines and price levels. The town is also a good place for shopping for silk. You can have your clothes tailor-made within a day or two at reasonable cost.

[Day 11] Hoi An – Ho Chi Minh City
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: hotel in Ho Chi Minh city

Time will be on your own until our driver arrives and take you to Danang airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh city.

Upon your arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh city, you'll be met and driven to your hotel in the city centre. After checking in, you'll be free for a preliminary wander around District 1. Your overnight will be in Ho Chi Minh City.

[Day 12] Ho Chi Minh city – Mekong Delta – Panorama Cruise
Meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner | Accommodation: Mekong Eyes cruise

8:00 AM – Pick up from your hotel and leave the city noise behind and drive into the green delta to board the Mekong Eyes around 12:30. Check-in to your cozy wood-finished cabin and chill before a delicious lunch which is served as the boat begins its cruise. Through the panoramic windows of either your cabin or the dining room, a variety of daily Mekong life scenes can be witnessed as you cruise along. While the boat anchors, in the late afternoon we'll take a leisurely stroll around an island's orchards and farms for about 2 hours. The day ends with a multi-course on-board dinner and perhaps a sunset on the top deck while you sip a cocktail and trade stories with fellow travellers.

[Day 13] Mekong – Can Tho
Meal: breakfast, lunch | Accommodation: hotel in Can Tho

We set course at 6:30am for a sunrise cruise. After breakfast while watching the palm trees stretching along the riverbanks, we'll take a sampan boat tour of Mekong floating markets (in Cai Be or Can Tho), in one of the region's busiest areas for local agriculture. We'll wind our way slowly through the jostling maze of other boats for talking and bargaining with the merchants. The boat trip ends at the pier where we'll share lunch town before driving to your hotel in Can Tho.

[Day 14] Can Tho – Phu Quoc
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: resort in Phu Quoc

After breakfast, we transfer to Can Tho airport for the flight to Phu Quoc, a sleepy tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand, 45km south-west of the Vietnam. Upon your arrival on the island, you'll be picked up and transfer to your resort where a hide-away beach break is awaiting.

[Day 15] to [Day 17] Phu Quoc Beach Break
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: resort in Phu Quoc

Free days beach break in Phu Quoc.

Phu Quoc's interior is still mostly covered in dense tropical forest and its coastline is fringed with deserted sandy beaches. The centre is new, and developing, so there are opportunities to explore new areas. The coral is pristine, and the scattering of small islands at the bottom of Phu Quoc is home to a rich variety of marine bio-diversity. Apart from its unspoiled beaches, Phu Quoc is also known for producing the best fish sauce and black pepper in Vietnam

[Day 18] Phu Quoc – Ho Chi Minh City
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: hotel in Ho Chi Minh city

Time will be on your own until your driver arrives to take you to Phu Quoc airport in a good time for boarding a flight back to Ho Chi Minh city, where you'll be transferred to your hotel and spend the last night in Vietnam.

[Day 19] Ho Chi Minh City Departure
Meal: breakfast | Accommodation: not any

Time will be on your own until your driver arrives to take you to Tan Son Nhat airport in a good time for your homeward flight.

Note: Hue’s airport will be closed for upgrade until October 2013. Until then you have two main options to reach Hue from Hanoi:

1) Take a flight to Danang and then an overland transfer to Hue (from your hotel in Hanoi to your hotel in Hue, it is an approximately 6-hour journey by day) or

2) Take the night train to Hue (from your hotel in Hanoi to your hotel in Hue, it is an approximately 15-hour journey by night).

The night train option allows you to save some day time in transportation. It is also a nice insight into local travel atmosphere. You spend the night in a 4-berth cabin with air-conditioner. It is an economic choice and also a real travel experience. For night train option, please contact our sales staff at Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla

PRICE PER PERSON (Valid from 01/01/2013 to 31/12/2013)

For 2 participants: $3990
Single supplement: $1803

Included

• Visa on arrival arrangement fee to Vietnam
• Accommodation at all destinations
• Meals as specified in the program
• Travel in an appropriate air-conditioned vehicle with an experienced driver
• Boat cruise in Halong and Mekong
• Domestic flights: Hanoi - Hue - Danang – Sai Gon, Can Tho – Phu Quoc – Sai Gon, including domestic airport taxes
• The services of an experienced English-speaking guide
• All entrance fees
• VAT and other taxes

Not included

• International flight tickets and airport tax.
• Visa stamp fee
•Visa on arrival arrangement for passport holder from India; Sri Lanka; Pakistan; Middle East countries; Turkey; African countries... that needs special arrangement.
• Beverages, gratuities and personal expenses.
• Gala dinner (if any)
• Insurance
• Surcharge in peak season (Christmas & New Year)

ACCOMMODATION

• Hanoi: Sofitel Metropole hotel – Premium room
• Mai Chau: Mai Chau lodge – Deluxe Pool & Mountain View
• Ky Son: Moon Garden
• Ha Long: Treasure Junk – Suite cabin
• Hue: Pilgrimage resort – Villa Deluxe
• Hoi An: Victoria Hoi An resort – Deluxe
• Ho Chi Minh city: Majestic hotel – Deluxe River view
• Can Tho: Victoria Can Tho resort – Deluxe
• Phu Quoc: Chen Sea – Beach font villas