SAIGON (HO CHI MINH CITY)- MEKONG RIVER- HUE- HOI AN- HANOI- HUONG PAGODA- HALONG BAY 9 DAYS 8 NIGHTS

Day 1: Arrive Ho Chi Minh City

Pick up and transfer to hotel. At Tan Son Nhat airport, car/driver will be there with the welcome board. The drive is about 40 minutes to the center. Check in and free time at hotel

Day 2 : Cu Chi Tunnel and Sai Gon City Tour (B, L, D)

8:00 am, breakfast at your hotel and head to Cu Chi district with a tour guide (approximately 1.5 hours). Start the visit on foot. You will have a short film on the history of Cu Chi tunnels before walking in to the forest where the Tunnels located. There are several choices for distance of tunnel which you can crawl in (NB do not wear your best clothes for this as you will get hot & dirty!). The shortest one is 30 meters and longest one is 100 meters. In total the system measures 250 km, connecting several villages together.

The tunnels will give you a real experience of life during the war. Soldiers and their families fought and lived in the tunnels. There were even schools, health care rooms, special hidden smoke kitchens, meeting rooms and bed rooms underground.

After experiencing the tunnels, take a break with some hot green tea boiled in pandan leaves and try with some steamed tapioka in the forest.

Have a short walk to get back to the car and drive to the Wildlife at risk centre( WAR) where they protect the rare animals of this region and rescued animals from mistreated by local people. Take a walk for a visit and get some fresh air before heading back to Sai Gon for lunch.

Afternoon, we will visit War Remnants Museum. This museum is a collection of the machinery, weapons, graphic photos, and documentation of Vietnam's wars with the both the French and Americans.

After the museum, you’ll visit the Reunification Palace. It was here that the American led war ended on April 30 1975, when the North Vietnam Army invaded the Palace forcing the president to resign.

From here, visit two of Ho Chi Minh's finest examples of French colonial architecture: the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office.

After that, driver will take you back to hotel.

Enjoy your free time.

Day 3 | Sai Gon – Hue (B, L, D)

After breakfast, Car driver will pick you up around 08:00 AM and head south to Ben Tre province, famous for its coconut production and quiet, peaceful waterways.

On arrival, take a xe loi ride through the local village of Huu Dinh to enjoy the green fields and gardens. Continue with a short walk to Huu Phuoc Bridge where you will board your boat and begin your trip through small canals with beautiful tropical scenery. On board the boat, enjoy a welcome drink and tropical fruits while cruising.

The cruise will stop first at a brick making shop, where the locals still use centuries-old traditional methods to make the bricks by hand. Then go back to your boat to cross the An Hoa River, where you will take a sampan trip through narrow canals and enjoy the peacefulness of the region. The sampan will take you to visit one of our friends, Mrs Huong, who lives with her 3 children and grandson – they live on fishing, shrimp and fruit orchards. Enjoy fresh fruits and tea before heading to visit a rice noodles factory which produces Hu Tieu noodles, one of most popular breakfast dishes in the region.

Then switch to bicycle and ride on village roads past green gardens and local houses, and stop at another local house where they live on their traditional family business, sampan boat building. Then continue your cycling trip to My Long to visit Mr Sau Tuong, a former Vietcong soldier who survived two years fighting the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh. Now he and his wife live on making rice paper, which is the most famous specialty of My Long village. Have a chat with him and enjoy the crispy rice paper made by his wife, and observe the process of how it is made.

Then return to the village road to carry on the bike ride to a local restaurant by the river side. It is time for you to relax and enjoy a 5-course lunch of local specialties. Relax and walk around the garden after lunch, and then visit the nearby house of Mr Hung, who is a famous sticky rice maker in the village. You can also feed his stock of catfish and walk through his fruit garden. After the visit, the boat will be waiting for you at the pier nearby to bring you back to Ben Tre city where your car is ready to take you back to Saigon.

Around 7:00 pm, car driver will pick up and transfer to the airport for the next destination.

Arrive Hue city, car driver will be at the airport and transfer to hotel. Free at your hotel.

Day 4 | Hue City tour full day (B, L, D)

Morning, the guide will take you to the perfume river for the boat trip. Stop at Thien mu pagoda for a visit. Its beautiful landscape and holy atmosphere will give you a pleasant feeling of the day.

Get back the boat to the King Tombs of Tu Duc, Khai Dinh who was famous as a poet of the Nguyen dynasty in early 19 century. The Tombs were well designed with green hills, lotus ponds and ornate type of Buildings built together. The King used these tombs before he died as his second home where most of his great works were composed.

After that, take a car drive to a local Buddhist temple to try a vegetarian meal which is cooked by monks.

After lunch, continue your car drive to the Hue outskirts, visit more countryside villages and green paddies. There will be an opportunity to chat with the local people on the way, to learn more of their daily life.

Back and refresh at your hotel.

Day 5 | Hue – Hoi An (B,L)

After breakfast, transfer from Hue to Hoi An. After passing Lang Co beach, you will drive 20 km on Sea Cloud Pass (Hai Van Pass).

On the north to south nation highway, the Hai Van Pass boosts an impressive landscape. This is the highest pass in Vietnam (500 m above sea level). The rugged pass is the final section of the Truong Son Range stretching to the sea. Hai Van means "Sea Clouds", since the peak of the mountain is in the clouds while its foot is close to the sea. Arrival to Da Nang you will

visit the Cham Museum which was first opened in 1919. Many Cham sculptures collected in Da Nang, Quang Nam and elsewhere were brought to the site over the preceding twenty years. The collection was initiated by French archaeologists and experts. Some artifacts were sent to Paris and others to museums in Hanoi and Saigon. The Cham museum today has incomparably the best collection anywhere of Cham materials, mostly sculptures. Continue to Hoi An for lunch. Reaching the hotel freshen up then our driver and guide will meet you again and take you to visit the local market which is bustling and colorful of many kinds of vegetables and food, very interesting fish market which you can’t miss.

The boat trip on Thu Bon river to the Cua Dai estuary is about 2 hours, it will take you to an island called Cam Nam where you can visit a family traditional work of wooden furniture and sculpture. Have an easy work around the village to meet local farmer and school kids.

Continue the boat trip to the estuary where river meets the sea which got amazing view and beautiful fishing nets.

Have free time to enjoy the ancient town in the evening. There plenty of bars and restaurants in town will please all your liking.

Evening – free time in Hoi An.

Day 6 | Hoi An- Da Nang Airport-Ha Noi (B)

Have breakfast at hotel, 08:00 am our driver will meet and transfer you to the Da Nang Airport for your flight to Ha Noi.

Arrive Ha Noi, car driver will pick-up with the welcome board and transfer to Hotel. Afternoon and evening free at your leisure.

Day 7 | Perfume pagoda tour full day (B, L, D)

After breakfast, at 7:30 am, car driver and guide will pick you up and take 2 hours road trip to Perfume Pagoda. Start One Day Tour Perfume Pagoda.

Then you take rowboat trip on the Yen stream "romantic time" about 1 hour to Thien Tru harbor. We relax and breathe fresh air while the boat going through extremely wonderful sites. We can see the many shapes of lime stone mountains rise up from rice field.

Two hours trekking up and down visit the main cave – Huong Tich cave considered as the most beautiful cave in Viet Nam, enjoy the view of Golden-Silver tree, rice stuck.... One hour down.

Have lunch at a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, you will see the Heaven Kitchen pagoda and to know about Buddhism ancient architectural at Le Dynasty.

Then back to the Thien Tru harbor, and return to Ha Noi Center.

Free at your hotel.

Day 8 | Ha Noi – Ha Long (B, L, D)

After breakfast, 8:00am - transfer from hotel to Halong for 2 days 1 night on cruise.

12:30pm Enjoy a warm welcome aboard Halong Cruise, and sit back and drink in the spectacular vista during our passage into this magical bay.

Once lunch has been served and taste buds and tummies thoroughly satisfied, we weigh anchor near a secluded beach. Take a short trek to a nearby summit to enjoy the panoramic view of the bay with Violet’s golden sails arcing elegantly against the skyline before splashing down for a swim, or recline on wicker sun loungers on our expansive wooden sundeck.

Later that afternoon, we visit a local fishing village where you have the opportunity to interact with some of the more colorful locals who have lived and fished in the bay for almost three generations. At sunset, slip into a kayak or board a bamboo row boat to explore water tunnels and discover pristine coral reef in a scenic lagoon setting. once back on board the ship, watch the shimmering sun slip down the sky.

Overnight onboard

Day 9 | Ha Long - Hanoi – flight (B,L)

Greet the day with a morning Tai Chi exercise with an opportunity to view the sunrise over the bay. After breakfast, visit beautiful limestone grotto then back to the boat for a final glimpse of the Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock.

Car driver transfers you to Ha Noi airport. See you next time!

International Standard	*4-6 pax*	*7-9 pax*	*10-12 pax*	*13-15 pax*	*16-18 pax*	*19-22 pax*	*23-27 pax*	*28-31 pax*	*32-34 pax*	*35-38 pax*	*39-43 pax*
3*	800	642	560	540	521	486	482	475	473	463	455
4*	960	798	714	704	695	676	668	659	658	649	638
5*	1380	1228	1142	1124	1118	1085	1083	1060	1055	1050	1041
*Vehicle*	7s	*16s*	*16s*	*29s*	*29s*	*29-35s*	*35s*	*35s*	*38-45s*	*45s*	*45s*