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Highlight: Shopping in Saigon (Hochiminh city) – relaxing on the beach in Nhatrang – visit Hanoi capital – enjoy the beauty of Halong bay from your junk cruise
Departure: Daily
Price: US$795/person
Flexibly upgrade to Deluxe, Luxury if requested
Arriving at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey before a Welcome dinner on Saigon river. You’ll spend the night in Saigon.
After breakfast, your guide will arrive to show you around Saigon. You’ll visit the Reunification Hall. The huge Ben Thanh market, one of the liveliest areas of Saigon, is packed with every conceivable commodity. You’ll also call in at the Jade Emperor Temple. It’s one of the best Taoist temples in Vietnam, with superb effigies, remarkable carved panels of the descent to Hell and somewhat incongruous terrapin and tortoise sanctuaries. You’ll finish your day with a visit to a lacquer workshop to see the complex processes and meticulous workmanship involved in this traditional Vietnamese craft product. You’ll spend the night in Saigon.
After breakfast, your time is your own until your car arrives to take you to Tan Son Nhat airport for the flight to Nha Trang.
Arrival Nha Trang, car will transfer to your hotel. Free at leisure.
Free days in the hotel – relaxing, scuba diving, snorkelling, beach sports, swimming pool games, etc. There’s a comprehensive programmes of activities on offer. Nha Trang offers a variety of activities for a short break. You can take a boat trip up the River to visit some of the craft villages and communities along its banks. The beach is long, busy in front of the town but almost deserted further away. For diving, we usually direct visitors to the PADI 5-star Rainbow Diving Centre (because they’re good - we don’t ask for, or receive, commission). There are many restaurants along the beach offering a variety of cuisines: the Louisiana Café is good, and has a large swimming pool free of charge. There are many more restaurants and cafes, both international and Vietnamese, in the town itself, quite a few bars and a few ‘night clubs’ (i.e. disco’ in Vietnam), and some interesting shops. Other places to visit are the museum devoted to Dr. Yersin (a much-loved foreigner who created the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang and founded the city of Dalat) and the Long Son Pagoda. Climbing the steps behind the pagoda takes you to a massive statue of Buddha and spectacular view of Nha Trang and the bay. The cathedral and the Oceanographic Institute are also worth a look. Nha Trang’s Thap Ba spa is well worth a visit. You can wallow in mud in an outdoor bath, shower in spring water, and bathe for as long as you like in a large hot mineral water swimming pool set in beautiful gardens. There are two bath options – private and communal. The private bath accommodates two people and is shielded by a bamboo screen. The communal bath takes up to six or eight people, is cheaper, and is much more fun. It’s surprising how quickly strangers become friends when you’re slipping about in the goo! Bathing costumes (functional, but definitely not fashionable) and towels are supplied. The baths are on terraces on a rocky slope, and the gardens are bedecked with colourful ‘paper trees’. A relaxing massage can be included if you wish.
Free morning until you’ll board a ten minute speedboat back to Nha Trang for an afternoon flight to Hanoi. Upon arrival, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey. In the evening, after dinner, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry, an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.
You’ll have the whole day to explore Vietnam’s capital city. Your guide will take you to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam dating back to the 11th century, and a popular attraction, as is Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, his simple stilt house where he lived and worked, and the museum dedicated to his memory. After lunch, you’ll call in at the serene Tran Quoc Pagoda, the oldest in Ha Noi, on the banks of Hanoi’s Ho Tay (West) Lake. The centre of Hanoi, including Hoan Kiem Lake, the Ngoc Son temple and 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, colonial houses and modern concrete edifices. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi. We’ll arrange your programme to avoid the busy times at popular destinations, but if there’s anything you particularly want to see, let us know.
After an early breakfast, you’ll leave for Ha Long Bay, one of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Areas and the world’s largest marine limestone ‘karst’ landscape. There you’ll board your boat, a wooden junk built from the model of the old Vietnamese court vessels with sails, a wide transom and rectangular superstructure, that will take you first to the busy World Heritage area and then to some of the less well-known grottoes and caves. Weather permitting, you’ll be able to swim, fish, climb a hill (not a mountain!) for an overview of the Bay’s remarkable seascape, or venture into some of the sea level caves in a small sampan. All your meals will be provided on board, usually based on fresh seafood, and you’ll sleep in a twin cabin with an en suite toilet and shower. For your two-day Ha Long excursion, you'll board one of the best quality boats on the Bay, a wooden junk based on the model of the old Vietnamese court vessels, with sails, a wide transom and rectangular superstructure. The boats vary in size, accommodating between ten and eighteen people, so you're likely to be joining other travellers for the cruise. Your cabin will be about six metres square, and furnished with twin bunks, two fans, an air-conditioner, pillows, white cotton sheets, and an en suite toilet and shower. All your meals, usually based on fresh seafood, will be provided on board.
You’ll spend the morning cruising Ha Long Bay, followed by lunch just before docking around noon and leaving for Hanoi. You should arrive in the late afternoon and spend the night in Hanoi.
After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to Noi Bai airport for your departure flight. Home sweet home.
End of services.
In the case you want to flight back to your country from Saigon, please inform us to book flight back to Saigon from Hanoi. Then you can get flight back to your country.
Inclusive of:
Excellent English speaking tourist guides
Internal flight tickets: Saigon – Nhatrang – Hanoi
Private vehicle
Accommodation: 2nights in Saigon, 3nights in Nhatrang, 3nights in Hanoi & 1night on Junk boat on Halong bay
Meals as indicated
Full admission fees in Saigon, Hanoi, Halong bay
Exclusive of:
International airfares & airport taxes.
Travel insurance
Meals not indicated on itinerary
Other personal expenses
Tips & gratuities
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