Highlights of Vietnam with Cambodia

Arrive at Hanoi airport, meet your local representative and transfer to hotel.

Today you will have the whole day to explore Vietnam’s capital city. First visit to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum from outside and his modest stilt house where he chose to live and work. We continue visit to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam dating back to the 11thcentury. Nowadays, students come and pray for good luck in their exams.  Next, experience the Street Cuisine on foot. You will see other faces of local life in its most authenticity. First take a walk into the old quarter to discover the most charming area of the city to find out how locals live by their traditional work generation by generation. Then, passing by the roadside market where you can see many fresh herbs and local ingredients brought here since the very early morning by the farmers from outskirt areas. Hanoi Street food tour is symbolized as a meal with appetizers, main course, desserts. You will be amazed by the tastes of the local cuisine. The owners of the food stalls will be very helpful to tell you how they prepare the dishes. Your lunch today included some specials of Ha Noi such as Bun Cha, Banh Cuon or Pho (noodle soup).  Don’t forget to take a seat on a small chair and try a glass of Bia Hoi – local draught beer at a small corner and watch how the local life is moving around you and conclude what you have got after a great experience in a little Hanoi Old Quarter.  Next, hop on a traditional bicycle rickshaw and move at a leisure pace that’s perfect for photos and slow-moving sightseeing. Seat back and relax while your driver weaves through the busy streets, dodging speeding motorbikes and rolling past French colonial houses. As the locals do, we sit down at a local café by the Joseph Church, enjoy a cup of ‘Tra Chanh’ green tea with lemon and chat with the youth. Return to your hotel after the tour and enjoy the evening at leisure.

After breakfast, pick up by local guide, depart from your hotel for a three hour and a half transfer to Ha Long Bay – UNESCO World Natural Heritage – where thousands of spectacular limestone islets and grottoes rising from the clear emerald Gulf of Tonkin. Upon arrival, welcome drink on board prior to your check-in. Lunch with fresh seafood will be served while the boat is cruising through many stone islets, floating villages, small beaches. Visit a floating fishing village, talk and meet with local villagers prior to your swimming or free time on your own on the sundeck. Dinner served on board. Overnight stay on board in Halong Bay.

Breakfast is served while the junk cruises around Ha Long Bay, pass by many islets named by their shapes. Stop for a while to explore one of the most beautiful ones of the bay. The junk then continues cruising towards the wharf. Ready to disembark at about 10.30AM. Your vehicle is ready to take you back to Hanoi and then straight to the airport for a flight to Da Nang. Upon arrival, you will be welcomed by our guide and transfer to Hoi An town. Check in your hotel and overnight stay in Hoi An.

After breakfast, leave your hotel, and go on bike to a local farm in Tra Que village.  A short stroll will take you around the vegetable garden and then you can join the farmers in preparing the land and fertilizing it with seaweed from the local lake. The following steps are raking the ground, sowing, watering, and picking vegetables and other gardening activities. After that, you will join the cooking demonstration with some local delicacies including ‘tam huu’ spring roll, banh xeo or local pancake of people in Viet Nam middle region. Enjoy your lunch at Tra Que Village. In the afternoon, explore Hoi An Ancient Town, including the rich architectural fusion of 300 years old Chinese temple, 400 years old Japanese covered bridge, 200 years old Vietnamese former merchant home influences by visiting Hoi A narrow streets where each house façade is dangled with lanterns. Return to your hotel after the tour and enjoy the evening at leisure.

After breakfast, pick up by local guide and take a land journey to Hue Imperial City via the cloudy Hai Van Pass. From the top of the cloudy Hai Van Pass to grab your own Vietnam central coast panoramic view. Upon arrival, take boat trip on Huong River, or better known as the perfume river. The boat drops us off at the beautiful Thien Mu Pagoda which is also home to many young people who want to try out and learn from life as a monk. Continue the boat trip to visit Minh Mang Tomb.

After breakfast at the hotel, enjoy the morning at leisure.

In the afternoon, visit Imperial Citadel of Hue – UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.  After the tour, transfer to airport for flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Upon arrival, meet with the local representative and transfer to a hotel in the city for overnight.

Leave bustling Saigon behind, head out to untouched areas not well-known by tourists in Ben Tre. Board the comfort of your Apricot Cruise, we have a full day of interesting experiences: see how local traditional methods utilize every bit of the coconut, learn how to make local cakes, boat rowing through winding water-coconut canals, bike riding along lush rural roads, sample tasty local cakes, tea with honey, and enjoy lunch served with Mekong specialties at Apricot Riverside Restaurant. Relax, enjoy the tour, and have memorable experiences.

After breakfast, explore Ho Chi Minh City’s historic starting with visit to the War Remnants Museum – originally opened in September 1975, it displays old military equipment and other related items from Vietnam War. We continue to visit the Reunification Palace, former residence of the Indochina Governor General and late President of the Republic of Southern Vietnam until the fall of Saigon on Apr 30, 1975. Walk down to see Notre Dame Cathedral and General Post Office which are beautiful examples of architecture from the French colonial period and the last stop at the bustling Ben Thanh Market for shopping. Return to your hotel about noon time and rest of the day at your leisure.

Breakfast at the hotel and morning at leisure.  In the afternoon, transfer to airport for flight to Phnom Penh.  Upon arrival, meet by local representative and transfer to hotel.

In the morning, enjoy visiting the cultural highlights of Phnom Penh including the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda, and the Toul Sleng Museum, also called Prison S21 by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979.

In the afternoon, transfer to Phnom Penh Airport for a short flight to Siem Reap. Upon arrival, meet with a representative and transfer to your hotel for check-in and relax. Enjoy free time in the evening exploring the exciting nightlife of Siem Reap.

After breakfast, pickup from hotel for a full-day excursion. Visit the famous temple: Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat has been a World Heritage Site since 1992, famous for its beauty and splendor. Angkor Wat features the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls and narrates stories from Hindu mythology.  Later, we visit Ta Phrom Temple, was a monastery built by Jayavarman VII as a residence for his mother. Ta Prohm has been controversially left to the destructive power of the jungle by French archeologists to show how nature can destroy man’s work. It has been largely overgrown by the jungle and as you climb through the dilapidated stone structures you see many giant trees growing out of the top of the temple itself. Ta Prohm looks like many of the monuments did when European explorers first laid eyes on them. In the afternoon, continue exploring the Angkor Thom complex.

See the South Gate, Bayon Temple- unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara Baphuon Temple: lying just to the north of Bayon, a pyramidal representation of mythical Mont Meru. The Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas. The Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. Enjoy sunset view from Pre Rup Temple before returning to the hotel.

Instead of more temple visits this morning, enjoy an exciting Tuk Tuk ride to explore the one of the local villages where we will see the daily activities of the locals. Walk through the village and meet shy, but humble villagers. Plenty of children and adults would offer us their friendly smiles and welcome us to their village. Afterward, continue our exploration to local market where we will discover an unfamiliar mixture of colors, odors and sounds while browsing through the small alleys, and meet some of the friendliest Khmer people selling and buying a variety of food and households, it attracts a public of locals, expats, and tourists for all their shopping needs. After that, enjoy our lunch at a local restaurant, cooked by and in Cambodian way. Return to our hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Enjoy leisure time until your transfer to the airport for your homebound flight.

B – Breakfast          L – Lunch          D – Dinner