Vietnam Escape

On arrival at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport, our guide meets you and transfers you to your hotel. In the evening there is a welcome dinner followed by a water puppet performance. Overnight in Hanoi.

You begin in Hanoi, Vietnam's artistic and intellectual capital. You explore the Old Quarter and its hundreds of specialist shops selling silk clothing, lacquerware, embroidered linen, furniture, bamboo, cooking utensils, ceremonial objects and more. You can also buy modern art in the city's many galleries. You visit Hanoi's main cultural sights, including the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's stilt house, the One Pillar Pagoda, the Fine Arts Museum and the Temple of Literature. Overnight in Hanoi.

We meet you at your hotel at 7:00 am and drive to Halong City, which takes approximately 4 hours. In Halong City you board your boat for a four-hour cruise around the bay, stopping to visit one of the finest limestone caves in the area. During the cruise, the boat staff serve a local seafood lunch. You then cruise back to the harbour and return to your hotel in Hanoi for the night.

You travel to Ho Chi Minh City in the morning. In the afternoon you have a private tour of the country's commercial centre, which has a growing number of high-end restaurants and shops. You visit Chinatown, the Thien Hau Pagoda, the Reunification Palace, the Opera House and the Hôtel de Ville. We also recommend a visit to the War Remnants Museum. You walk along the city's main shopping boulevard, with its fashion boutiques, hill tribe crafts, high-quality linen and homeware. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Mekong Delta is the southernmost region of Vietnam and is often called the rice bowl of Vietnam, as it produces three rice crops a year. The fertile delta is also known for its tropical fruit and flowers. You leave Ho Chi Minh City for My Tho, where you board a private boat and travel along the canals through green vegetation to an orchard. Lunch is served at a local restaurant in the heart of the Mekong, with tropical fruit. You also visit the Dong Tam snake farm, which breeds snakes for purposes that include snake wine. You then return to Ho Chi Minh City for the night.

In the morning you take a half-day private excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which consist of more than 200 km of underground tunnels. The main system has many branches connecting underground hideouts, shelters and entrances to other tunnels. The network included many trapdoors, purpose-built living areas, storage facilities, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centres and kitchens. The remaining tunnels are now a major visitor attraction and show what underground life was like during the Vietnam War. You spend the afternoon and the night in Ho Chi Minh City.

There are no activities planned today, so you are free to shop for souvenirs until your transfer to the Ho Chi Minh City airport for your departure flight.