Welcome to Hanoi, the Capital City of Vietnam! Our local guide will be welcoming you at Noi Bai airport; it takes us 35 minutes driving to the center of Hanoi. Check in hotel and have a short time to freshen up. Late afternoon, have an overall view of the capital by a “cyclo” visit, which will go through the fascinating network of narrow alleys and shop houses also known as ‘The 36 Streets’ – each street being named after the merchandise traditionally sold there, ranging from fabrics to crafts and from medicines to tombstones. Drop by at Ngoc Son Temple located on the Hoan Kiem Lake. End of the day, we will enjoy a unique fascinating show of Water Puppetry, a traditional stage art of Northern Vietnam. Welcome dinner will be followed at the fine dining restaurant. Overnight in Hanoi. Please note: The normal check in time is 14:00pm.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Dinner

Accommodation:

• Standard Accommodation: Viet Hotel Hanoi
• Mid-Range Accommodation: Flower Garden Hotel
• High-end Accommodation: Pan Pacific Hanoi

Have breakfast at hotel. In the morning, we will start our city tour from Ba Dinh Square where the most solemn ceremonies of Hanoi take place. We first visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where is the last rest place of Ho Chi Minh President, we then visit One-Pillar pagoda nearby with unique architecture first built on 1049 by King Ly Thai Tong. Continue visiting Ho Chi Minh Resident including his simple house-on-stilts and fish pond. Go on to the Temple of Literature, the very first high school of Vietnam Scholars and a temple dedicated Confucious. Have lunch at KOTO Van Mieu restaurant where provides hospitality and life skills to disadvantaged youth in Vietnam. In the afternoon, we visit History Museum where provides a great overview of the history of Vietnam thanks to chronological sequence. The site has two floors, among which Vietnam’s history is divided into 10 different sections, from the prehistoric era to the day when President Ho Chi Minh read out the Declaration of Independence giving birth to Vietnam. Continue the trip to picturesque West Lake to visit Tran Quoc Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Hanoi built from 6th Century. The rest of the day is at leisure. Overnight in Hanoi. Please note: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is closed on Monday, Friday and all the afternoon.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation:

• Standard Accommodation: Viet Hotel Hanoi
• Mid-Range Accommodation: Flower Garden Hotel
• High-end Accommodation: Pan Pacific Hanoi

Have breakfast at hotel and check out. A 90km driving south of Hanoi will lead you to Ninh Binh, the site of the one capital city of ancient Vietnam before Hanoi took its leading role in 11th century. The area is featured by lots of well-known sceneries, which include Tam Coc Caves and Hoa Lu ancient capital with the old temples dedicated to King Dinh & King Le reigned in 10th century. The visit in Ninh Binh starts by a boat trip in Tam Coc where spectacular limestone karsts jut out from the green paddy fields reminding about Guilin (China) and Halong Bay of Vietnam, which gives this scenery the name “Halong-bay-on-land”. Lunch at local restaurant. Afternoon drive back Hanoi, on the way, stop to visit Hoa Lu, the site that used to be the kings’ palace in 10th century and now famous for the wooden relieves of the shady Dinh and Le temples. Late afternoon back to Hanoi and transfer to Hanoi Railway Station to board the night train to Lao Cai, land of the hill tribe people. Overnight on the train at 4-berth wooden compartment with AC.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Arrive at Lao Cai Station at 06.00. Picked-up and transfer for breakfast at local restaurant. If today is Saturday, Sunday or Tuesday, nothing will be better than driving overland to a market of the hill tribal people, mainly from Flower Hmong ethnical group. Depending on the day, you can choose either Can Cau (Sat), Bac Ha (Sun) or Coc Ly (Tues). After breakfast we will drive toward Bac Ha, about 70km from Lao Cai. With a dozen of tribes living in the surroundings, including Flower Hmong, Chinese, Nhang, Dzao, Nung, Phu La, Thai and King (or Viet), the market is extremely exciting especially in the early morning. The winding road to Bac Ha helps maintain the colours (in both literal and figurative sense) of the area. The distance to Can Cau and Coc Ly from Bac Ha is 30 – 50km. In all these markets, we can meet hundreds of beautiful women from Flower Hmong tribe, who are famous for their wonderful craft and hand-made flowering clothes and textile fabrics, or intermingle with people from Black Hmong, Dzay, Dzao and other ethnic groups coming to the market not for purchasing stuffs, but for meeting and chatting – just once a week - like in a real cultural center. After lunchtime, we can hike around or take our car heading to further hamlets in Ban Pho, Trieu Cai, or Na Hoi. Afternoon, driving to Sapa for overnight.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation:

• Standard Accommodation: Sapa Relax Hotel & Spa
• Mid-Range Accommodation: Bamboo Sapa Hotel
• High-end Accommodation: Pao's Sapa Leisure Hotel

After breakfast, take a leisure walk with our guide to visit the Sapa town including the church, walking streets where we can meet the montagnards and admire their handicrafts made of wood, silver, or dyed and embroidered fabrics and clothes. Leave the busy town behind, we start our trekking journey through beautiful landscape surrounded by rice paddy terraces and mountains covered by rain forest under the protection of Hoang Lien National Park. After a couple of minutes, we follow a road going downhill to Cat Cat village. Stop by a waterfall and a hydroelectric station for a while before continuing the trek on a dirt trail through rice paddy terraces. Enjoy spectacular scenery while walking along a narrow river. We arrive in Y Linh Ho village of Black Hmong minority, where we will take a rest and have lunch nearby the river. After lunch, we head toward Muong Hoa valley, pass through Lao Chai village of Black Hmong minority and then Tavan village of Giay minority by following a very popular trekking route. Return to Sapa from Tavan by car. the rest of the day is at leisure. Overnight in Sapa. Approx: 0,5 hour driving / 5 hours walking / 1 hour lunch.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation:

• Standard Accommodation: Sapa Relax Hotel & Spa
• Mid-Range Accommodation: Bamboo Sapa Hotel
• High-end Accommodation: Pao's Sapa Leisure Hotel

After breakfast, we transfer to Sun Plaza Sapa Station, at the heart of the town, to take the Sapa Mountain Train. The views from the train are astounding, making the transport an attraction in its own right. For most of the journey, the Muong Hoa Valley rolls out below, with all of the forested mountains, tiered rice paddies and blue sky buffered by thick white cloud that Sapa is known for. The train even stops for a minute at its most scenic point, giving tourists a chance to get pictures before moving on through tunnels and viaducts on its way to the cable car station. From here, we take a cable car up to Fansipan Mountain. This is the world’s longest and highest cable car, running up from Sapa to the peak of Fansipan Mountain, known as Indochina’s rooftop. The lush green and subtropical vegetation makes this mountain really beautiful. Visit the spiritual cultural complex on the peak, with its many Buddha statues, and take pictures of the surroundings from the top of the mountain. Have buffet lunch at the local restaurant before transferring downhill also by cable car then take the train back to the town centre. Afternoon, it is your time at leisure for shopping around before driving back to Lao Cai Station to board the night train back to Hanoi. Overnight on the train. (4-berth wooden compartment with AC).

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Upon arrival in Hanoi, we will be picked-up at the Station and arrive in a mini hotel for Breakfast and a short relax. At 9am, picked up by shuttle bus and head East for about 3 hours to Halong Bay, the pride of the Gulf of Tonkin, a Natural World Heritage as designated by UNESCO in 1994 and 2006. Upon arrival in Halong, check in the overnight cruise to discover the magnificent beauty of this “Descending-dragon” bay, created by thousands odd-shaped limestone rocks and karst grottoes. After a lunch on board, we can visit the Grottos, stop for swimming or kayaking, passing floating houses and approach islets to enjoy their beauty in close distance. Back to the cruise, enjoy cooking demonstration before having dinner. Evening attend activities on the boat or relax at your own leisure. Overnight on the cruise. Please note the program may be little varied upon the cruise you choose.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You should wake up early to enjoy the dawn on the sea in the early morning. The Vietnamese call the "East Sea" by a point-oriented name "Eastern Sea", so you may guess how miraculous seeing the sunrise over the islets of the Bay. After breakfast our boat will continue to cruise in marvelous areas, where almost each islet has its own name, adopting its shape or reminiscent like Sail Island, Fisherman’s head rock, Butterfly rock or Turtle islet etc. Check out your room and have brunch on board while the cruise coming back the pier. Disembark from the cruise, return Hanoi by shuttle bus. Upon arrival, check in hotel. Your time at leisure. Overnight in Hanoi.

Meals: Breakfast, Snacks

Accommodation:

• Standard Accommodation: Viet Hotel Hanoi
• Mid-Range Accommodation: Flower Garden Hotel
• High-end Accommodation: Pan Pacific Hanoi

Breakfast at the hotel. Time at leisure untul check out time and transfer to the airport for the departure flight back to your sweet home or extending some days for beach relax or next destiantions. The standard check out time is 12:00pm.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast