TPT-027 - Highlights of Vietnam 10 days/ 9nights

Day 1: Hanoi arrival

Day 2: Hanoi – Halong

Day 3: Halong – Hanoi / flight to Hue

Day 4: Hue

Day 5: Hue – Hoian

Day 6: Hoian

Day 7: Hoian – Saigon

Day 8: Saigon – Tay Ninh – Cu Chi

Day 9: Saigon – Mekong

Day 10: Saigon departure

Vietnam: Hanoi-Halong-Hue-Hoian-Ho Chi Minh-Tay Ninh-Cu Chi-Mekong

DAY 1: ARRIVE in HANOI (-/-/D)

Welcome to Vietnam!

The tour guide of TandP TRAVEL will be welcoming you at Noi Bai airport; it takes us 35 minutes driving to the centre of Hanoi to check-in hotel. Let’s have an overall view of the capital by a “cyclo” visit, which will start around the Old Quarter of Hanoi, stop at Ngoc Son Temple located on the Hoan Kiem Lake (the “Sword” Lake), and at Quan Thanh Taoist Temple. Late afternoon we will enjoy a unique fascinating show of Water Puppetry, a traditional stage art of Northern Vietnam. Dinner and overnight in Hanoi.

Please note! Hotels’ check-in and check-out time is around 12.00 – 14.00

DAY 2: HANOI – HALONG – OVERNIGHT ONBOARD (B/L/D)

If you wish to see how the Hanoi people rise and shine in the morning, wake up early and run to a lake close by your hotel, you can join an exciting scene of hundreds of locals, passionately attentive in their morning exercises of Tai Chi quan, jogging, martial arts, classical dance and so on. After breakfast at the hotel, we will begin a fascinating day with visits to the Ho Chi Minh Complex, inclusive of Badinh Square, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the simple but elegant House-on-stilts of Ho Chi Minh, and the One-pillar pagoda since 1049 AD. Reach the Temple of Literature and the Fine Art Museum to learn more about the Vietnamese culture, before having a light Lunch in Hanoi. Afternoon we will head to Halong Bay, a Natural World Heritage as designated by UNESCO since 1994 and 2006, and check-in our overnight boat. Enjoy a trip on Halong with stops to visit caves or to swim and enjoy the sunset on the sea. Dinner with fresh seafood! Overnight onboard. 

DAY 3: HALONG – HUE (B/L/D)

The Vietnamese call the “South China Sea” by a point-oriented name “Eastern Sea”, so you may guess how miraculous it is seeing the sunrise over the islets of the Bay. The boat will take us to go about marvelous areas, where almost each islet has its own name, adopting its shape or reminiscent. We can stop to go swimming or visiting a beach before back to the Wharf. Drive to Hanoi airport to take flight to Hue. Dinner and overnight in Hue

DAY 4: HUE (B/L/-)

Being recognized by UNESCO as the 1^st Cultural World Heritage for Vietnam, Hue is highlighted by the old royal architectural works and the most traditional Vietnamese lifestyle. We will discover the charm of the city from the Royal Citadel, Forbidden City, Hue Royal Museum and Dong Ba bustling market. After lunch in a Garden-housed restaurant in “Hue” style, with a boat trip on Perfume, you will reach Thien Mu pagoda and visit the Tombs of King Minh Mang and Tu Duc – two best-reserved monuments of the Nguyen Emperors since early 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Dinner by your own arrangement. Overnight in Hue

DAY 5: HUE - DANANG - HOIAN (B/L/D)

After breakfast and check-out hotel, we will depart from Hue, passing Danang with stops to sightsee the Cham Museum, Marble Mt., enjoy the landscape of Hai Van (the “Ocean Cloudy Mountain Pass”) and Lang Co Beach before reaching Hoian after midday. This afternoon is for Hoian ancient town – when walking over the tile-roofed Japanese Bridge, visit taciturn Chinese Assembly Halls and Trading Houses, Pagodas, and stroll around the market located by Thu Bon river, you may find out the same feelings of the artists, who see the charm of Hoi An a magical old world of Oriental feel and source of inspiration. Overnight in Hoian

DAY 6: HOIAN (B/L/-)

After breakfast, we will depart from Hoian to My Son, where you can discover the hidden treasure of the Cham culture that once brightfully developed in the area of present Central Vietnam. Thanks to the beauty and secrets of building the Cham Towers hereby, My Son had been also designated by UNESCO as one of the five World Heritages in Vietnam. Back to Hoian for lunch. Afternoon we will visit the Hoian Cultural Museum and hang around the ancient town before taking a small boat on Thu Bon river down to the sea. Dinner by your own account, overnight in Hoian.

DAY 7: HOIAN – DANANG – FLIGHT TO SAIGON (B/L/D)

You will be welcomed at the Tan Son Nhat airport and transfer to the hotel to check-in. Lunch before we start the city tour at the Reunification Palace, the witness of the fierce Vietnam War ended in 1975. The grand building today is a Museum and Hall of official receptions. Nearby the Palace are the colonial-styled Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral, built between 1877 and 1883 and one of the city’s major landmarks. The visit will end at Ngoc Hoang (the “Jade Emperor”) pagoda before we back to District 1 to enjoy ice-cream from “Bach Dang” - an ice-cream shop which are very familiar with the Saigon people for long time – and join the night market at Ben Thanh. Dinner with delicious local foods of Saigon. Overnight in Saigon.

DAY 8: SAIGON - TAYNINH - CUCHI TUNNELS - SAIGON (B/L/D)

Our day will begin with a visit to Tayninh, the centre of Caodaism, a local sect of Buddhism founded by a Vietnamese countryman in early 20^th century. Arriving at noontime, we will have the chance to join the daily solemn ceremony at the temple of Cao Dai called Tayninh Holysee. On the way back to Saigon, we can stop to visit Cu Chi Tunnels, one of the few remaining monuments to the fierce Vietnam War. We can even crawl a part of the tunnel to experience the real life of the Vietnamese guerrillas, who used to use and live inside this system during the wartime. Return to Saigon late afternoon. Lunch in Tayninh or en route. Dinner and overnight in Saigon.

DAY 9: SAIGON – MELKONG - SAIGON (B/L/-)

The mighty Mekong flows into the South of Vietnam with its 9 tributaries before unloading a huge water capacity to the Pacific Ocean. It enriches the land of the South, making Vietnam the 2nd World Rice Exporter. It also makes the traffic complicated with a system of ferryboats, rowing boats, motor boats, floating markets, floating villages. It’s also featured by numerous fish farms, where the fish are fed in big ponds or huge underwater cages and under floating houses of the farmers. It's also the cradle of the delicious Basa - a kind of catfish that Vietnam has exported into USA and Europe.
You will drive Southward from Saigon, passing by the newly-built My Thuan Bridge, a pride of the Mekong people since it ease their traffic thru Mekong tributaries. Reach Cat Be exciting floating market with local people being occupied in selling, purchasing, exchanging goods from their boats. Take a walk thru the orchards and visit the rice-paper making and rice crips family factories of the Mekong people. Lunch in an orchard. Afternoon visit another noisy market in Vinh Long and bonsai garden on the way back to Saigon dinner by your own arrangement. O/N in Saigon. 

DAY 10: SAIGON DEPARTURE (B)

At your leisure until your guide comes to meet and transfer you to the airport to take the departure flight.