8-Day Exploring the Best of North and Central Vietnam – Highlights & Activities

Arrive at Noi Bai Airport. You will be warm welcomed & picked up by private driver then transferring to a hotel in Hanoi. Check-in registration (2pm). Relax and stay overnight at hotel.

Meal: N/A

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

Our guide will pick you up between 08h00 and 08h30

08h30: Arrive Tran Quoc Pagoda –  the oldest pagoda in Ha Noi built in the 6th century.

09h30: Visit Ho Chi Minh Complex, you have a chance to see the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh then walk around the garden to see 2 houses where he lived & worked from 1954 to 1969. Then visit One Pillar Pagoda where worships the Goddess of Mercy – It is the most unique padoga in the world.

• Should dress modestly by covering from shoulders to knees when visiting Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, temples, pagodas…
• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays.
• Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed at least 2 months (15thJune -15thAugust) for the annual maintaining but still can take picture Mausoleum and visit around that area

11h00: Visit Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to learn about the culture of 54 ethnic groups living in Vietnam.

– Special Note: we will visit Women Museum instead of Ethnology Museum closed on Mondays

12h45: Have lunch at our restaurant. You have an opportunity to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine with 8 delicious dishes.

14h00 – 14h15: Continue visit Temple of Literature – the first university of Vietnam, established in the 11 centuries.

15h15: Leave for Hoa Lo Prison Museum which originally used by the French colonists in Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later period, it was known to American POWs as the “Hanoi Hilton.

16h15 -16h30: Return to hotel

(Option: Add on “Water Puppet Show” + taxi return to your hotel.)

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

07:00 – 07:30 – Our guide will meet you at your hotel/stay located the Old Quarter and start 110km modern Bus-journey through verdant landscape of country side. Short-brake en route.

10:45 – Visit Hoa Lu Ancient Citadel with Dinh King Temple and Le King Temple dating back to the 17th Centuries.

12:00 – Enjoy the lunch at our restaurant with the great local cuisines.

13:30 – Leave for the Trang An Grottoes, an out-standing natural beauty of majestic limestone

massif at 20 square kilometer rise dramatically out from rice paddy fields. Deep into the linked

chains of towering mountain are pristine places of mystical valleys, numerous fresh water ponds, and jungle. Embark on a traditional sampan gently rowed down the exquisite river through numerous caves: Lam Cave, Vang Cave, Dai Cave, Thanh Truot Cave,… and Cao Sơn Temple, Suoi Tien Temple, Vu Lam Temple…

15:30 – Arrive Mua Cave and start an amazing trek up to the top of Ngoa Long Mountain for

watching the spectacular rice valley with specious view of the nature.

Transfer another car to bungalow in Ninh Binh. Free at leisure. Have Dinner with host.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Bungalow in Ninh Binh

After Breakfast, our Limousine Shuttle Bus will come to see you at 7am to transfer to Halong Port. Arrival Halong around 11h30 – 11h45. Check in the cruise. Boat crew will greet your special seafood lunch while boat cruising around the Bay to visit Islands, the limestone rocks and enjoy activities: swimming, cooking class, sunset sightseeing. Have dinner on board with Vietnamese wine and overnight on boat.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: On Cruise

After breakfast, you can relax on deck to enjoy the beauty of the bay, boat passing the most beauty of karsts islets, visit cave by small bamboo boat or kayaking. Have lunch on the boat while cruise returns to Halong wharf for transfer back to Hanoi and take other car to transfer the airport for the flight to Da Nang. Upon 01-hour flight, you will be greeted at airport and transfer to hotel in Danang. Explore the life style of city. Stay overnight at hotel.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Danang

8.00 Pick up at hotel in and transfer to Ba Na hills. Take a Cable Car which gains 5 world scores to Ba Na hills station.

Stop at By Night station to visit Vong Nguyet hills, Linh Ung pagoda, The Old Villas of French. Continue moving up by cable car to the Nui Chua Mountain – the top of Ba Na range, visiting Nghinh Phong top, Le Nim Villas, Orchid Garden… Experience hill climbing train (first and unique funicular in Vietnam) and visit an old French cellar (Debay Ancient Wine Cellar), flower garden Le Jardin D’amour and Linh Ung Pagoda.

Have buffet lunch at restaurant.

Afternoon: Free for joining games in Fantasy Park – the third biggest indoor games zone in Vietnam with series of interesting games: 4 – 5D film, skiver, The death race, dinosaur park… (2 hours).

15h30 Transfer to Danang

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Hotel in Danang

– Free at leisure on the beach in Danang – known for its pristine white sands and crystal-clear waters. It’s a great spot for swimming, sunbathing, and water sports

– 12h00: Check out hotel

– 15h30: Transfer to Five Marble Mountain: a cluster of five limestone peaks in Vietnam

– 16h30: Continue to visit Hoi An – World Heritage – walking tour through the narrow winding streets of the Ancient Quarter visiting Chua Ong Pagoda, Chinese Assembly Halls, the 200-year-old Tam Ky ancestral house, and the Japanese Bridge and free at leisure on the beach or wandering around the town

– Have dinner in Hoi An

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation: Hotel in Hoian

Free at leisure until transferring to the airport to take departure flight onward.

HOME SWEET HOME!!

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: N/A