Day 1 – Fly to Hanoi

Today you will start your adventure by flying to Hanoi International Airport.

Day 2 – Hanoi

Welcome to Vietnam and to Hanoi. Your private guide and driver will meet you at the airport and transfer you to the hotel for early check in and breakfast included.

Hanoi is a beautiful city laid out around forest-lined lakes near the winding Red River. This is one of the oldest human settlements on Earth. Hanoi was a city three hundred years before Roman Britain and a key centre of the Southern Chinese Empire under the Tang Dynasty. When Vietnam became independent of China, Hanoi was known as the City of the Soaring Dragon.

On your guided morning city tour you will visit the Quang Phu Cau incense-making village – a riot of colour and fragrance, stopping at Train alley en route to see commuter trains running a few feet from locals often sat on the tracks, drinking tea and playing draughts. Artisans in Quang Phu Cau have hand-crafted brilliant-red and saffron incense sticks in their village for over a decade; laying them out in vast geometric shapes to dry. Temple fragrance fills the air and the pictures you will get of people working among this sea of red are astonishing. You will visit village workshops to see the whole process from bamboo-chopping, paste manufacture and dye-dipping. Then we will come back to Hanoi city center for lunch on delicious Cha Ca La Vong (Turmeric-marinated Fish with Dill and Noodles); Hanoi’s signature dish. The remainder of the day is at leisure.

Overnight at May Deville

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 3 – Hanoi → Ha Long Bay Cruise

After breakfast you will transfer from Hanoi by shuttle bus (driver only) to Ha Long Bay (2½-3hrs) and a luxurious converted sailing junk decked out in plush wood with big windows to make the most of the landscapes. The views are spectacular: Ha Long is one of Southeast Asia’s greatest natural wonders – a vast bay of limestone karst islands dotted with caves and covered in rainforest.

Mooring close to Cat Ba Island, we explore a floating fishing village, including a stop at a family home. Afterwards we visit Cat Ba national park itself, heading to Viet Hai Village, nestled in a valley surrounded by jungle-cladded mountains. Cycling through this valley offers wonderful insights into the isolated life of the local inhabitants. The community, surrounded by thick forests and mountains, and only accessible by sea, is self-sufficient, cultivating vegetables, fruits, and fishing on the bay. Ha Long is particularly magical at the end of the afternoon. Returning to the ship, you unwind on the sun deck with a cocktail as the sun sinks over the islands into the deep green ocean before arriving at our overnight anchorage spot in Lan Ha Bay. The ship’s chef then invites you to a hands-on cooking class in the dining room, showcasing local ingredients and the preparation of classic Vietnamese dishes. You can then either squid fish by lantern light or soak up the starlight views with a cooling drink from the bar before retiring to your suite.

Overnight at May Deville

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 4 – Ha Long Bay Cruise → Hanoi

After breakfast this morning you will be picked-up from your hotel by your private driver and guide to leave for Mai Chau. This beautiful area is ridges with dramatic limestone mountains that drop to brilliant-green and gold rice-filled valleys. Many Indigenous Tribal people live here and life feels much as it has done for centuries. On the way, we pass over the Thung Khe Pass, one of the most specatuclar mountain roads in Asia, with a vast landscape of villages, fields and forest-swathed mountains at your feet. And you will enjoy a special lunch on local Tai tribal cuisine before driving on narrow roads over, hump-backed bridges and past ancient watermills to get a taste of village life. In the afternoon you will explore the beautiful Pu Luong Nature Reserve – with its seemingly endless forests, stepped valleys of rice paddies, bamboo groves and rivers. You overnight in the heart of this stunning landscape in the peaceful, bucolic Pu Luong Retreat.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 5 – Hanoi → Mai Chau → Pu Luong Rice Feilds

After breakfast this morning you will be picked-up from your hotel by your private driver and guide to leave for Mai Chau. This beautiful area is ridges with dramatic limestone mountains that drop to brilliant-green and gold rice-filled valleys. Many Indigenous Tribal people live here and life feels much as it has done for centuries. On the way, we pass over the Thung Khe Pass, one of the most spectacular mountain roads in Asia, with a vast landscape of villages, fields and forest-swathed mountains at your feet. And you will enjoy a special lunch on local Tai tribal cuisine before driving on narrow roads over, hump-backed bridges and past ancient watermills to get a taste of village life. In the afternoon you will explore the beautiful Pu Luong Nature Reserve – with its seemingly endless forests, stepped valleys of rice paddies, bamboo groves and rivers. You overnight in the heart of this stunning landscape in the peaceful, bucolic Pu Luong Retreat.

Overnight at Pu Luong Retreat

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 6 – Pu Luong Nature Reserve

This morning we explore the country roads of Pu Luong and visit remote, hidden tribal villages like Kho Muong where we dip into local culture. We take light walks through one of the most beautiful valleys in Vietnam – hills shimmering with rice terrace and topped with forest dropping all around. We enter eerie Doi Cave – where thousands of giant towers of limestone have been honeycombed by rushing water over 250 million years. There are thousands of stalactites, stalgmites and flowstones, carved by water into astonishing shapes.

We enjoy a farm to table lunch of typical Indigenous food – all grown in the local area; and

in the afternoon, we take a short hike through more wonderful scenery to small, unspoilt villages before returning to relax in the Puluong Retreat.

Overnight at Pu Luong Retreat

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 7 – Pu Luong Nature Reserve → Waterfall Walk → Ninh Binh

After breakfast your guide will take you to the local market in Pho Doan village where Kinh, Muong and Tai people from the hills come to sell their arts and crafts. You will then talk a short drive through countryside stopping to see the ingenious traditional irrigation system of bamboo water wheels and makeshift wooden aqueducts. A peaceful walk through rainforest brings you tobeautiful Hieu Waterfall, which drops in tiers through myriad pools. In the afternoon you will transfer to Ninh Binh.

Overnight at An’s Eco Garden

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 8 – Ninh Binh → Tam Coc → Bich Dong → Mua Cave

After breakfast, you will explore the wonderful landscapes of Ninh Binh – the inland HaLong Bay; riding by bike next to flat rice-paddy fields with soaring limestone pinnacle-mountains looming all around. You will then transfer to a traditional sampan wooden boat which will take you along a lotus-flower filled river, through limestone caves to the Bich Dong pagoda – set on a tiny island and framed by lush vines. You will visit Mua cave and then walk the steep steps up Ngoa Long Peak, for one of the coutnry’s best views – over endless ridges of limestone hills, winding rivers, forests and rice fields to a distant horizon.

In the afternoon you will have a guided visit of the ancient temple tomb of King Dinh, built in the 10^th Century and set in a series of lakes cut by statue-lined causeways.

Overnight at An’s Eco Garden

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 9 – Hué by Train

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 11 Hué → Hai Van Pass → Hoi An

In the morning you will take a sedate, shaded cyclo ride (Vietnamese cycle rickshaw) around the outside of the World Heritage Listed Hué Citadel and Purple Palace of the Nguyen Emperors, who made Hué their capital in the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries.  The Purple City was modelled on the Forbidden City in Beijing and holds many palaces and temples inside its giant walls. Many of the buildings were damaged, first by French aerial bombing, and then by the Americans during the Tet Offensive in 1968. Now it is gradually being restored thanks to generous funding by UNESCO.

You will lunch on local dishes (Hué is famous in Vietnam for its tangy, spicy food) and then take a boat trip along the Perfume River to visit the astonishing tiered Thien Mu Pagoda, perched over the water like a sacred lighthouse.

In the afternoon you will be driven along one of Vietnam’s most beautiful stretches of road, the Hai Van Pass to the ancient town of Hoi An, enjoying spectacular panoramic views of the coastline and stopping at Lang Co Fishing Village, set on a sand dune surrounded by ocean.

Overnight at Ancient House

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 12 Hoi An

This morning you will be picked up for a small group guided tour of the countryside around Hoi An; cycling or riding pillion on a motor scooter to a local farming village along pretty country trails. You will have chance to share for a short while in the daily working life of local farmers – hoeing the soil, watering the organic herb garden and even riding a water buffalo in the rice fields.

You will then take a relaxing drift on a boat down the river that runs through Hoi An to the South China Sea wher you will try your hand at local traditional fishing techniques using round and cast nets and learn to paddle a coracle-shaped Vietnamese bamboo basket boats. You will return to hotel in the late afternoon and enjoy a walking tour of historic Hoi An. It’s one of Vietnam’s prettiest villages –  with beautiful Japanese bridge, tile-topped Sino-Portuguese houses and many craft and silk shops and markets.

Overnight at Ancient House

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 13 Hoi An

After breakfast you will be picked-up from the hotel for a private cooking class, shopping in the local market with the chef, learning about the different vegetables, herbs and spices used in Central Vietnamese cuisine and then learning how to make great Vietnamese food yourself.

You will have the rest of the day at leisure until the early evening when you will visit to the Hoi An Memories show; a spectacular sound and light performance with music, dance and mime, set on the river and telling the story of Vietnam.

Overnight at Ancient House

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 14 Hoi An → Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

After checking out you will transfer to Da Nang airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh city.

Our guide and driver will meet you at the airport on arrival and transfer you to your hotel. You will then have the rest of the afternoon at leisure, before being picked up in the evening for a Vespa tour (riding pillion) of Saigon by night. You will pass the French Cathedral, Opera House and other must-see sights, stop at city sky bar/café to enjoy a welcome drink and stunning view of the neon spires of Vietnam’s liveliest city. Then it’s time to eat – enjoying great street food, including Vietnam’s famous Banh Mi baguettes – in the city’s most fampus baguette bar, which has been a local favourite for 45 years. You will sample sizzling street-stall seafood and sumptuous Spring Rolls before finishing with live music at a local bar where the best Saigonese bands and musicians showcase their styles.

Overnight at Cochin Sang

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 15 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) → Cu Chi Tunnels

This morning you will have a guided tour of the astonishing Cu Chi tunnels – a vast, sparwling and entirely underground village used as a base for the Viet Cong and never discovered by the Americans. You will see evidence of the fierce battles which took place here during the 1960s when Cu Chi was a designated ‘Free Target Zone’ and watch a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed. You will then have the chance to enter them yourself and should you wish to try shooting with real Vietnam era guns in the firing range.

On the way back to Saigon you will enjoy lunch in a local restaurant and then have the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

Overnight at Cochin Sang

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 16 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) → Mekong Delta River Cruise

Today you bid farewell to the hustle and bustle of Saigon and travel 70 kilometres south to My Tho to embark on a wonderful river cruise through Mekong Delta and into Cambodia. The Mekong is one of the world’s greatest rivers – running nearly 5000 milometres from the Himalayas to the Delta where you begin your cruise and discharges some 475 km3 of water every year. After checking into your very comfortable cabin in what will be your floating home for the next few days you will enjoy lunch, with the villages and landscapes of South Vietnam drifting slowly by. Your cabin has a private balcony and there is even an onboard Apsara Spa, pool and a cinema lounge, and you can take meals in your room if you choose.

In the evening the boat reaches Cai Be, an historic town established in the 19th century by Vietnam’s last ruling family, the Nguyen dynasty.

Overnight on Jayavarman or Jahan

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 17 Mekong Delta River Cruise

This morning you wake for an early visit Southeast Asia’s biggest and busiest floating market. The pictures are stunning – of vendors boat-to-boat trading fruits, veg and even live chickens and pigs. We learn from our guide about the long-lasting trading culture and how each boat has a special marker to let buyers know what goods they are selling.

You then explore the extensive canal network that stretches across the vast Mekond Delta, stopping at villages to see how rice paste, rice paper, rice biscuits and rice wine are made, with plenty of options to sample them.

In the afternoon, the boat reaches Binh Thanh, one of the largest islands in the vast stream of the Mekong. Several communities have settled here and make their living by growing water hyacinths. We visit one of the least spoilt, untouched areas, where local artisans show us how to weave traditional reed mats.

Back on board, you may take a dip in the pool on the sun deck. In the evening, our expert guide offers a presentation on life on the Mekong Delta as the ship continues sailing to Tan Chau, a pleasant, slow-paced border town near the Cambodian border with a sizeable Chinese, Kinh and Khmer community. We moor near the city with views on the riverbanks.

Overnight on Jayavarman or Jahan

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 18 Mekong Delta River Cruise

This morning we tour Tan Chau town on a xeloi, a unique local rickshaw still used as a taxi in the streets. It’s the perfect way to soak up the atmosphere of this little river town, as your xeloi driver slowly navigates through the narrow streets, lined with shop houses and temples. You then climb aboard a small fishing boat for a short river tour and after crossing the border are deep in the  Cambodian countryside, winding towards Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, which we reach in the early evening hours.

Overnight on Jayavarman or Jahan

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 19 Mekong Delta River Cruise → Phnom Penh

Welcome to Cambodia, and to Phnom Penh, one of the most exciting, vibrant capitals in South East Asia. Glistening, glass tours hover over Centuries old steeply gabled royal palaces and pagodas, leafy streets lined with French houses sit alongside buzzing markets. There’s a burgeoning arts scene – with great street art, theatre and live music and the whirligig atmosphere is infectiously vibrant.

Right away you will be immersed in Cambodia’s rich cultural past – with a visit the National Museum, which houses some of the best Khmer art and sculptures in the world. This is followed by the Royal Palace; and its famous Silver Pagoda, built in 1866 by the French for King Norodom. You will also have the opportunity to visit the harrowing Tuol Sleng camp where the Khmer Rouge inflicted their horrors during the Pol Pot era. It is a deeply moving experience; but essential for any understanding of modern Cambodia.

Overnight at The Plantation

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Days 20, 21 Phnom Penh → Cardamom Mountains

It’s time to see some real wilderness. This morning you transfer south to the pristine Cardamom Mountains; the last substantial surviving part of a the huge tropical rainforests that once swathed the whole of Central Southeast Asia from Myanmar to Vietnam. They are a vital preserve of critically endangered, endangered and threatened species, including Clouded Leopard, Siamese Crocodile, Pileated Gibbons, Asian forest elephants, Sun Bears, Indian civets, banteng, dholes, gaur, and Sunda pangolins. They are also home to Indochinese Tigers. You will stay in the Cardamom Tented Camp, set on the banks of the Preak Tachan River.

On arrival you will get a brief introduction on the conservation and protection work of Wildlife Alliance before walking some of the forest trails. The Tented Camp is an important ecotourism location – protecting a private lowland wetland area on the border of the national park; in a buffer zone which would otherwise be vulnerable to commercial development. The owners have been instrumental in re-wilding and recuperating the habitats and providing training and employment for local people, and they rely on tourism entirely for support. Over the next one and a half days, you will explore the forests by boat, kayak and on trails.

Overnight at Cardamom Tented Camp

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Day 22 Cardamom Mountains → Kampot

This morning transfer by private driver to the enchanting French colonial town of Kampot.  It’s a lovely, relazing spot – set on the banks of a slowly-flowing river as it reaches the beautiful South China, surrounded by cave-pocked mountains (filled with ancient Khmer monuments) and fragrant with black pepper. Gourmet chefs come to Kampot especially for the pepper (you will visit a plantation today), which is said to be the finest in the world and the town is filled with great restaurants.

Overnight at River Tree Villas

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 23 Kampot

After breakfast you will take a boat to Koh Tonsay islet,  just south of Kampot. The island has two pristine white sand beaches and the sea is glassy clear and perfect for swimming and snorkelling. As you enjoy the sea your guide will prepare a picnic lunch – with fresh seafood and icy juices. After lunch you will head back to the main land atp visit the astonishing Phnom Chhngok Cave; where a 5^th Century pre-Angkor era Khmer temple sits, encrusted with flowstone and stalagmites. It is the perfect introduction to what you will see tomorrow at Angkor Wat, Bayon and Banteary Srei.

Overnight at River Tree Villas

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 24 Kampot → Siem Reap (Angkor)

Today you will transfer (by car and then plane) to Siem Reap, the gateway town for the famous jungle-swathed ruins at Angkor. You will arrive in Siem Reap mid-afternoon and will have the rest of the day at leisure.

Be sure to eat out in Siem Reap. The food is astonishingly good value and the town has an interesting foodie scene, with a number of local chefs who have crafted their art in the region’s five star hotels, opening their own restaurants offering gourmet takes on traditional Cambodian dishes like Amok.

Overnight at Jaya House Riverpark

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 25 Angkor Wat & Wildlife

Today you will have a full day at the Angkor Ruins – the largest religious strutures ever built by man. They sit in the heart of recovering rainforest, rich with wildlife.

Your visit will be unique – a tailored, guided wildlife walk through the best of the wonderful ruins. You begin early – at the best time for birdlife with a pre-dawn pick-up and a search for crepuscular birds and mammals. You will see sunrise over the temples, with breakfast, brought by the guide. After sunrise you will walk through the beautiful rainforests in search for rare Pileated Gibbons, beautiful brilliant-blue Hainan Flycatchers and huge Hornbills, who have returned to the forests since the pandemic. Your guide will choose the best locations for you. You will see Angkor Wat itself, the astonishing Boddhisattva faces at Bayon, the best carvings and Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm – encrusted with liana vines and giant tree roots and with Red-breasted and Alexandrine Parakeets.

Overnight at Jaya House Riverpark

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 26 Kulen Forest Elephant Tour → Luang Prabang Ancient City (Laos)

This morning you will take a shuttle transfer about one hour drive to the Kulen Elephant Forest – an ethical preserve and retirement home, in natural forest surrounds for former working elephants. You will see how the elephants spend there day, accompanied with a guide – walking with them into the forest (and learning about how they survive in their natural Cambodian rainforest habitat), observing their relationships with each other as they swim and forage. You will enjoy a traditional Cambodian lunch at the camp before heading back to Siem Reap in the early afternoon.

You will then take a flight to Laos and the ancient wooden city of Luang Prabang, set in a steep forested valley high up on the Mekong River.

Overnight at My Ban Lao

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast
• Lunch

Day 27 Luang Prabang

You have a full day today exploring the best of Luang Prabang and the gorgeous rainforest-covered hills which surround the ancient city.

You begin with a guided city walk, starting at Wat Xieng Thong temple – built in 1560 and situated on the banks of the Mekong. It is the most beautiful monastery in Luang Prabang and shows the typical Lao art style with a plunging gable covered in intricate Buddhist lotus and floral carvings. The temple is decorated with some of the masterpieces of Lao art. You will then visit Wat Visunalat temple, built in 1513 and the oldest operating temple in Luang Prabang. It has a pricelss collection of gilt wooden Buddhas dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. You will pass the That Makmo or Watermelon Stupa – so named because of its bulbous appearance and then take a boat onto the Mekong for a visit to the Pak Ou Buddha cave perched in the cliffs overlooking the water. These extraordinary caves are filled with Buddha images of every style and material imaginable. To fortify you you’ll have the chance to sample strong Lao rice whisky at Ban Xang Hai village before climbing to the top of  Phousi hill for the loveliest sunset view in Laos – of the day darkeing over the temple town of Luang Prabang and the sun sinking over the mountains.

Overnight at My Ban Lao

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 28 Luang Prabang

It’s an early rise to see Luang Prabang’s famous Buddhist alms giving ceremony – when dozens of saffron-robed monks hold out brass begging bowls which are heaped full with rice and cooked food by local people.

You will then visit the National Museum housed in the former Royal Palace, a graceful turn-of-the century teak house which mixes traditional Lao and French beaux-arts motifs. The palace has been preserved as it was when the royal family last lived here and provide a unique insights into late 19^th Century Laos life.

You will see some of the country’s most prized pieces of art, including the Phrabang Buddha, cast in an alloy of gold, silver and bronze.

In the afternoon you will take a trip to the Kuangsi Waterfalls, whose milky turquoise waters drop in a series of flowstone terraces to the Mekong. It is a wonderfully restful spot with great swimming. You will see Kuang Si Butterfly Park, where hundreds of Laotian butterflies float like wind-blown petals in a beautiful landscaped garden.

You will return to Luang Prabang late afternoon in time for a final meal.

Overnight at My Ban Lao

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 29 Luang Prabang → Hanoi → Home

This morning you will transfer to the airport for your flight to Saigon and then back home.

• Board Includes:
• Breakfast

Day 30 Arrive Home

Arrival home