Day 1: Phnom Penh Arrival
Arrive at Phnom Penh, meet and transfer to hotel. Overnight in Phnom Penh.
Day 2: Phnom Penh – City Tour
After breakfast, take you on a tour of the Royal Palace, still the royal residence. See the amazing royal collection and the beautiful architecture before heading to the National Museum where pre-Angkorean pieces, as well as special pieces from the temples are housed. Take a tour of the museum with a trained museum guide. Lunch at a local restaurant. Head to the Tuol Sleng Prison Museum where your guide will explain the history of the Khmer Rouge and walk you through the different museum displays. After watching the movie they show every day, head out to the Killing Fields, where a memorial stupa and shallow pits remind visitors of the thousands killed under the Pol Pot Regime. Your guide will take you to central market, reported to be the biggest domed market in the world, and to the famous Russian Market where everything from souvenirs to car parts is on sale. Enjoy a shopping spree or just browse along with the locals out doing their shopping. Dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight in Phnom Penh. (B,L,D)
Day 3: Siem Reap – Angkor Wat
Transfer to the airport for the flight to Siem Reap. Arrive at Siem Reap Airport, meet and transfer to hotel. After breakfast, head to Angkor Wat in an air conditioned car, or if you choose by bike, with your guide. Explore this majestic temple throughout the morning while it is still cool and has fewer tourists. Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon head to Angkor Thom, the famous walled city and see the many temples within its borders, including the fascinating Bayon temple. There are several beautiful spots from which to watch the sunset. Discuss with your guide where you would like to be and then relax and enjoy a memorable end to your day at the temples. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Siem Reap. (B,L)
Day 4: Siem Reap – Banteay Srei & Other Temples
This morning set off with your guide to Banteay Srei, the intricately carved temple just 30 km beyond Angkor Wat. Then head back to the temples where you will visit Banteay Kdei and Ta Prohm, two of the prettiest temples in the complex. Overnight in Siem Reap. (B)
Day 5: Saigon Arrival
Transfer to the airport in time to catch your flight. Arrive in Saigon where you will be met and transferred to your hotel. Overnight in Saigon. (B)
Day 6: Saigon – Mekong Delta all Day
Enjoy breakfast in your hotel and then leave Saigon for Cai Be with a stop at a bonsai garden for tea. From Cai Be, take a motorized sampan for a cruise to the floating market, and visit nearby popcorn cake and rice paper making workshops. Have a delicious lunch in a garden restaurant including dessert of an astonishing variety of fruit. Visit brick and pottery villages on your way back to Saigon by car. Overnight in Saigon. (B,L)
Day 7: HoiAn Arrival
Transfer to Tan Son Nhat airport for flight to Danang. You will be met at Danang airport and driven to HoiAn. Overnight in HoiAn. (B)
Day 8: HoiAn – Day at Leisure
Today you are free to explore HoiAn on your own. Overnight in HoiAn. (B)
Day 9: Hanoi Arrival
Drive to Danang where you will transfer to the airport for your onward flight to Hanoi. Arrive at Noibai airport, where you will be met by your guide and transferred to your hotel. Take a one-hour cyclo tour of this charming capital city through the scenic Colonial Quarter, the Restored Sword Lake and the Old Quarter of “36 streets of 36 wares”. Attend a Water Puppet Show to experience a truly traditional Vietnamese evening. Your guide will take you to a local restaurant for dinner. Overnight in Hanoi. (B,D)
Day 10: Hanoi – City Tour all day
Morning sightseeing tour to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and his House on stilt, One Pillar Pagoda, Quan Thanh Temple, Tran Quoc Pagoda. Lunch at restaurant. Afternoon, Visit Vietnam Ethnic Minority Group Museum, Fine Art Museum and Temple of Literature. In the evening, Water Puppets Show.Dinner on your own. Overnight in Hanoi. (B,L)
Day 11: Halong Bay on Ginger Junk
Morning drive to Halong Bay. At the pier, join in with other passengers aboard the luxurious Halong Ginger Junk. Set sail into the bay while lunch is served onboard. Enjoy the stunning views of the magical bay, where thousands of sculpted limestone islands rise from the waves like dragons’ teeth. After lunch, stop at one such island to take a short trek to a nearby summit for a panoramic view of the bay dotted with Halong Ginger golden sails, go swimming on a quiet beach or sunbathing on the sundeck. Later in the afternoon, visit an interesting fishing village where the fishermen who have been living in the bay for almost three generations. Just before sunset, kayak or relax on a bamboo row boat to explore a water tunnel with many coral reefs in a scenic lagoon. Back on board the Halong Ginger, enjoy cocktails while watching sunset and later unwind at Ginger restaurant. Overnight in Cabin Onboard. (B,L,D)
Day 12: Halong Bay on Ginger Junk
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. The private car and guide will take you to return to Hanoi. Spend the afternoon at your leisure. Overnight in Hanoi.( B)
Day 13: Hanoi – LaoCai
Time at leisure until transfer from hotel 8:00 PM to train station for the night train to LaoCai at 9:00 PM.
Day 14: CanCau market (Saturday)
Arrive in LaoCai at 6:00 AM pick up and transfer to SaPa. Check in hotel. Breakfast, Transfer to CanCau market – a small market situated in a valley surrounded by mountains and only 7 km from China. The market deeply shows the typical cultural features of the minorities in remote mountainous areas in Vietnam. Enjoy seeing boys and girls in colourful costumes – different colors of the mountains. They attend the market in the hope of finding “the other halves of their lives” and exchange everything among different ethnic peoples thru cups of wine sold in the market. Say goodbye to the market and transfer to BacHa. Visit a village of the Flower H’mong on the way and Check in hotel in BacHa. Free time to explore the town on your own. (B,L,D)
Day 15: BacHa Market – SaPa (Sunday)
Breakfast, short walk to BacHa market. Enjoy BacHa people’s simple but unique kinds of food with special wines made from rice, cassavas, corn and different sorts of fruits such as plumps, apples, peaches. Talk to the minorities thru the guide’s interpretation. Leave the market for the H’mong King’s house (King Hoang A Tuong) built by the French colonists and the Chinese in 1920. Return the town for lunch. In the afternoon, spend time visiting another village (BanPho village). Then drive back to SaPa. On the way back, stop to see the Vietnamese and Chinese Harbor Mouth in LaoCai. Overnight in SaPa. (B,L,D)
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Day 16: SaPa – Hanoi
After breakfast, check out and then get downhill by jeep to the valley then walk for 2 villages of the Black H’mong and the Dzay people. Lunch at a Dzay family. Drive back to SaPa. Time at leisure until pick you up to LaoCai Station for the night train back to Hanoi. Overnight on train. (B,L)
Day 17: Hanoi
Arrive in Hanoi. Time at leisure until You will be met and transferred to Noi Bai Airport for the departure flight. (B)