DEPARTURE IN 2007
09 Jan , 23 Jan , 02 Feb , 06 Mar , 20 Mar , 03 Apr , 10 Apr , 08 May , 22 May , 05 Jun , 19 Jun , 10 Jul , 24 Jul , 07 Aug , 21 Aug , 04 Sep , 18 Sep , 09 Oct , 16 Oct , 06 Nov , 20 Nov , 04 Dec , 18 Dec
Saigon – Mekong Delta – Dalat - Nha Trang – Quang Ngai - Hoi An – Hue – Hanoi – Halong Bay – Sapa - Hanoi
Itinerary
Day 1: ARRIVE IN SAIGON (-/-/D)
Welcome to Vietnam!
Upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat Airport you will be welcomed by THREELAND tour guide and transferred to your hotel for check-in (maximum 15 minutes driving). At your leisure in the rest of the day to relax and own discovery of Saigon before joining your group for the city tour on the next day. Dinner and O/N in Saigon.
Day 2: SAIGON (B/L/D)
A visit to the History Museum will give you more perception about the Vietnam development before starting your tour of the city today. Go on to sightsee the landmarks of the city – the Notre Dame Cathedral, a Neo-Romanesque styled Catholic Church, and the French-styled Central Post Office. To experience the daily modern life of the locals, the most exciting place may be Ben Thanh market in District 1. Also called “market” (“cho”), Cho Lon (‘the Big Market") is far different from Ben Thanh, with much more typification of the life of a mighty Chinese community, which does not exist in any other town of Vietnam. The bustling Cho Lon is located right near the centre of the China Town, where all the name boards are in two languages – Chinese and Vietnamese -, and so are the common exchanging languages of the residents in this area. The site, in general, can consume your 2 hours or more before you continue the tour to the 150-year-old Thien Hau pagoda to learn about the worshipping rituals of the locals, or visit a lacquer ware factory on the way back to the hotel for researching one of the most well-known craft-making skills of the Vietnamese. Dinner and O/N in Saigon.
Day 3: SAIGON - MEKONG DELTA - SAIGON (B/L/D)
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 for a Farewell dinner. O/N in Saigon.
Day 4: SAIGON – DALAT (B/L/D)
At leisure for your own relax or shopping until you are transferred to the airport to take the daily flight to Dalat at 14.10-15.00. The jewel of the Central Highlands, Dalat, is featured by a park-like environment, with lovely temperature 15°-24°C and sunlight all year round, which create numerous waterfalls, pinewood hills, lakes and evergreen forests and gardens.
Officially established in 1912 as a hill station, Dalat soon became a popular resort of the Europeans. Nowadays, it is a haunt of the honeymoon couples, a vast garden, whose greens and flowers are sold all over Southern Vietnam and exported. After arriving Dalat, spend a visit to the Summer Palace of Bao Dai, the last King of Vietnam, Tuyen Lam Reservoir, Truc Lam grandiose temple and Dalat Flower Garden. A horse cart round the hilly roads of Dalat to the graceful Xuan Huong Lake in the centre of the city is highly recommended. Dinner and O/N Dalat. Evening, if you like to hike around by yourselves, remember that coffee and cake in Dalat are some of the best in Vietnam and easily to be found in any finer cafes.
Day 5: DALAT – NHA TRANG (B/L/D) 200km
The landway from Dalat to Nha Trang (205km) is very sightworthy and photogenic passing pinewoods, waterfalls, farms of tea and coffee, Ngoan Muc Pass (i.e. “the Picturesque Pass”, and known to the French as the Bellevue Pass), lunch break overlooking the magnificent Danhim Reservoir, and spectacular view of the ancient tower Po Klong Garai built by the Cham nation in Phan Rang - Thap Cham, 101km from Dalat.
After visiting all these wonders, you will reach the long sandy beach with emerald water of Nha Trang in the afternoon. At leisure for relax. O/N Nha Trang.
Day 6: NHA TRANG (B/L/D)
Spend your full-day today to visit Nha Trang’s Po Nagar Cham Tower, which was built between the 7th and 12th centuries and remain a significantly religious centre for both Vietnamese and Chinese today. Beside the Cham tower and marvelous beach, Long Son Pagoda built in late 19th century is also impressive not just by its decoration with traditional motifs in modern materials, but by a huge white statue of Buddha meditating on a lotus blossom – the symbol of Buddhism - and visible from all over Nha Trang. At leisure in the rest of the day for swimming and relax. O/N Nha Trang.
Day 7: NHA TRANG – QUANG NGAI (B/L/D) 410km
The South of Central Vietnam, with Highway 1 as a backbone, suffers hot and dry weather, arid and sandy land, though, has so many treats for your eyes: the ruins of Cham Nation visible from the roads, coastline with blue lagoons and odd-shaped rocks, plages with crystal water and boundless sand-dunes, farms of tasty fruits for domestic use and export (esp. dragon fruit and grape), and historical sites from the last fierce war in Vietnam, called the American War by the Vietnamese - and the Vietnam War by the American.
You’ve joined this scenic and historical part since entering Phan Rang – Thap Cham, take a stop in Nha Trang and will be continuing it today till reaching Hoian ancient town.
From Nha Trang drive northward via Quy Nhon, visiting fishing villages with colourful boats and hospitable fishermen, passing high mountain passes with nice-looking scenery and stop for a rest at Dai Lanh beach will excite your long drive today. Lunch in Quy Nhon. Lots of Cham ruins are in the neighborhood of this city and are easily reachable. After the visit to a Cham Tower, you will arrive in Quang Ngai, a town not containing too many things to see but being a convenient stopover on your long Southern Central Vietnam. At Dinner time, you will have a chance to taste the famous com ga` (chicken rice), a local delicacy of Quang Ngai. O/N Quang Ngai.
DAY 8: QUANG NGAI – MY LAI – MY SON - HOI AN (B/L/D)
Overland from Quang Ngai to Hoian ancient town. 14km from Quang Ngai, you will have a memorable visit at Son My, where the painful My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968 and hundreds of locals had been killed by the American army.
Afternoon stop at the most concentrative and impressive combination of Cham Towers at My Son, 45km from Hoian town, where you can learn much about the Cham culture that once brightly developed in the location of present Central Vietnam. Arrive Hoian late afternoon for dinner and overnight.
Day 9: HOI AN (B/L/D)
Hoi An, Danang and Hue form the significant cluster of Central Vietnam, though, each city has its diversified style. Whilst Hue is quiet, traditionally-reserved and poetic, Danang is an ardent seaport guy with more and more constructions growing everyday and somehow more popular for cruiser ships than long-staying guests, whist the ancient Hoian architecture is an enchanting mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese styles. In the early 1980s Hoi An’s ancient quarters and historical monuments came under the protection and restoration efforts of UNESCO and overseas experts.
Spend your full day visiting the town of Hoi An today. Together with your local guide in Hoian, walk over the tile-roofed Japanese Bridge, visit taciturn Chinese Assembly Halls and Trading Houses, pagodas and stroll into the market located by Thu Bon river, you may find out the same feelings of the artists, who see the rooftops of Hoi An a magical old world of Oriental feel and source of inspiration. This is also a wonderful town to shop for lanterns, soft silk, raw silk, or order your clothes to be tailored within a day. Late afternoon is open for your optional tour by boat to a ceramic village in Thu Bon river, or cycling with your guide 3km to Cua Dai (Big Beach) to relax. Dinner and O/N Hoian.
Day 10: HOI AN – HUE (B/L/D) 150km
From Hoi An drive via the Cloudy Pass (Hai Van Pass) with passing Danang with stopovers to sightsee the Marble Mt. and the famous China Beach en route.
Arrive your hotel in the centre of Hue at midday. After lunch, let’s go to discover the Royal Citadel, Forbidden City and Hue Royal Museum, the traces of the last Vietnam feudal dynasty, and Dong Ba bustling market. O/N in Hue.
Hue, originally called Phu Xuan, was built in 1687 and became the cultural, religious and economic capital of “Nguyen” Feudal Dynasty from 1744 to 1945. Undergoing so many rebellions of the peasants against the royal courts and landlords, being destroyed by the conflicts between the landlords themselves and between opposing political powers in 20th century, Hue hardly maintain the architectural works of the citadel, kings’ tombs, Buddhist temples without assistance and aids of UNESCO and overseas organizations, as well as of the Vietnamese archeologists. Yet, the traditions of an ancient Hue with the culinary art, house decoration style, tenderness of young women are well-preserved by the inhabitants.
Not owning an one-millennium history to be the Capital of Vietnam like Hanoi, Hue, however, maintains the citadels and tombs of the feudal kings much better as they were all built within the 19th and 20th century. The Royal Citadel, begun in 1805, is the greatest legacy of the Nguyen emperors. Like the Citadel, the city of Hue itself is a walled city, and was designed by French architects. It has been divided into three parts : the Common City, the Imperial City, and the Forbidden City. Strolling around the citadel and listening to the tourguides’ introduction of Nguyen Dynasty would give you a little knowledge of how the feudal dynasties in Vietnam had reigned in the old time.
Day 11: HUE - HANOI (B/L/D)
More than any other city, Hue reflects the former glory of the nation of Vietnam better. The history of the city goes back to the 3rd century BC, when it was the capital of Nhat Nam District of the Chinese Han dynasty, then gradually became a capital of the Kingdom Champa, a citadel of Vietnamese landlords and a cultural centre of culinary, old values and lifestyle of Vietnam. With Hue’s historical significance, the city was awarded as a Cultural World Heritage by UNESCO in 1994.
With a boat ridden along the poetic Perfume River, you can reach Thien Mu Pagoda, the centre of Buddhism of the city, whose 90% are Buddhists, and the Tomb of King Minh Mang, which is reachable from a river pier. Other remarkable Tomb to visit are the ones of King Tu Duc or King Khai Dinh, with very different architectural styles depending on the tastes of each King. Stop at a Garden House in Hue to enjoy the decoration of the present Hue people before returning to your hotel for dinner. O/N Hue.
Take the flight Hue – Hanoi in the afternoon. Welcomed in Noi Bai Airport and transferred to the hotel in the city centre (35minutes driving). Afternoon visit the Temple of Literature, where the 1st social university of Vietnam founded in 11th century, and West Lake with the Taoist Temple Quan Thanh, where maintain the biggest black bronze statue of the Vietnamese sculpture. The tour will end with a cyclo tour in the famous Old Quarter of Hanoi before you have a delicious dinner and join an evening show of Water Puppetry, a stage art that is unique for Vietnam. O/N Hanoi.
Day 12: HANOI - HALONG – TRAIN TO LAOCAI (B/L/D)
Among the sights of Northern Vietnam, Halong attracts perhaps 95% of the visitors. It will take you 03 hours to arrive by car and at least 5 hours to cruise your private boat to enjoy the unusual seascape with thousand picturesque rocks and islets, deep limestone grottoes and caves and inland lakes. Enjoy a lunch of fresh seafood on board. After about 5 hours, you will be back to the Wharf and take your car to get back to Hanoi. Dinner in Hanoi. Take the overnight train at 21.30 to Lao Cai Station (310km northwest of Hanoi) to start a totally different trip to the Far Northwest. O/N on the train.
Halong may be the very 1st point of Vietnam that gained a worldwide fame simply for its beauty, its unique and the ease to reach from big towns. It’s a pride of the Tonkin Gulf, a World Natural Heritage designated by UNESCO in 1994, and a rendezvous of 90% of tourists coming to Northern Vietnam. Halong appear on “Indochina” (French, 1991), “Tomorrow never die” (US, 1997), “The Quiet American” (US, 2000) and numerous movies of Vietnamese and overseas producers, who are interested in the subjects of Indochina and found the mystery and charm of the Bay an everlasting source of inspiration. Here sprout nearly 3,000 limestone and dolomite islets and odd-shaped rock sculptures, covering some 1,500 square kilometre. Since 1990s, Halong started to attract boat trips with different visiting time, from 4 to 48 hours, and later 20th and early 21st century became a captivating destination for kayaks, parachutes and huge travel cruisers. With a limited time of 5-6 hours, you can explore a small part of marvelous rock gardens of the bay, call on some grand grottoes or stop for swimming, then back to the boat to enjoy tasty fresh seafood. An extended time for 2 to 3 days on the bay will be very suitable to overnight on the boat, attending fishing activities of the crew, or to approach the further islands, lagoons, inland rock-covered lakes by kayaks.
Day 13: SAPA (B/L/D)
Arrive at Lao Cai Station at 06.00. Have a breakfast of local foods before departing to Sapa (40km mountainous road from Lao Cai). Also called mountain, the landscape of Sapa is quite different from what you’ve experienced in the South or Centre of Vietnam. Arrive at Sapa town at about 08.00. Leave your luggage at the hotel and hang around with your guide in Sapa market, where you can intermingle with the local tribes and view their crafts, mainly made of wood, silver, dyed fabrics and so on. After lunch in Sapa, hike downhill 4km to Cat Cat stream and waterfall, visit the Cat Cat village of the hill tribe of H’Mong people. Back to Sapa for dinner and overnight.
NOTE: In high season, the early check-in to any hotels (before 12.00 or sometimes 14.00) may be subject to a little surcharge not included in the Package.
Sapa, elevation 1,650m, a magical combination of alpine landscape, ethnic cultures, and bracing mountain air, was built as a hill station inside a beautiful valley in 1922. It’s home of various hill-tribe communities, it’s the only place in Vietnam that catches extremely rare snow flakes in winter, the base to start any conquest to Fansipan, the highest peak of Indochina (3,143m) via primitive forests and spectacular mountainsides. As in other far mountainous towns, where the hill tribal villages take some days to move to one another, Sapa has a weekend market, during which the town fills up with hill tribal people selling their wares. If you prefer to be apart from crowds of visitors who will also gather in the marketplace in weekend, visit Sapa on weekdays and hike to villages which are easily reached by trekking or a short trip by car, to reach the villages and hamlets of the colourfully-dressed H’mong, Red Zao, Dzay, Tay and Xa Pho people and spectacular green terraced fields along the roads.
Day 14: SAPA (B/L/D)
From Sapa, drive 15km northeast to Taphin, hike thru paddy fields and an old seminary in Taphin Valley, you will reach the villages of the H’mong and Red Zao people, who are skillful in dying and making clothes and embroidery by traditional, old silk thread. The women’s outfits here vary with silver-colored beads and coins, and it’s said that the health of a woman is equal to the weight of the counts she carries. Back to Sapa for a rest and a delicious lunch before heading south to another remarkable area at Lao Chai (10km from Sapa) and walk thru 3km to Tavan with visits to the villages of the tribal people H’mong, Tay and Dzay en route. Take you car to be back to Lao Cai Station for the train at 19.00 or 20.00. Dinner in Lao Cai. O/N on the train.
Day 15: EXPLORING HANOI BY YOURSELVES (B/-/-)
Picked-up by car at Hanoi station. Have a breakfast of local foods before check-in your hotel. At leisure in the rest of the day for your own relax and shopping. O/N Hanoi.
Day 16: HANOI DEPARTURE (B/-/-)
At your leisure until a bus pick-up you to the airport to take the flight leaving Vietnam. We hope that you’ve got a memorable trip and look forward to welcoming you back.
End of services.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
INCLUDES
* English/French-speaking guides. Other languages are available upon request.
* Twin-shared rooms at 2-3 star hotel.
* Meals as mentioned in the Program. Special requirements (vegetarian, diet etc.) could be arranged upon prior notice.
* Land transfer by air-con vehicle
* Two-way Train tickets (sleeping-berth) Hanoi – Laocai – Hanoi.
* Boat trip in Halong Bay and Mekong delta
* Dragon boat in Hue
* Admission
EXCLUDES
* International flight from/to Vietnam and airport tax
* Domestic air ticket from Hue to Hanoi and airport tax
* Visa arrangement.
* Drinks and other personal expenses (laundry, phone calls etc.)
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