15 Days Best of Vietnam & Cambodia

Welcome to Vietnam! Met and greeted at Noi Bai Airport upon your arrival and take a short transfer downtown for hotel check-in.
The rest of the day is for a rest to get rid of jet lag.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a great place of interests with its vibrant Old Quarter dotted with ancient temples in a maze of little streets lined with colorful shops and stalls, French colonial buildings and tree lined boulevards, tranquil lakes, graceful pagodas and elegant cafes, Hanoi is one of the liveliest and most charming cities in Asia to discover.

Overnight in hotel in Hanoi.

Meals included: N/A

8.00 AM: Start our day tour for Hanoi’s featured sights including: the memorial complex for the historic figure and father of modern Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh, the Presidential palace, Uncle Ho’s house on stilts, One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature – Vietnam’s first university that built from 1076, – the picturesque West Lake and the sixth century Tran Quoc Buddhist Pagoda. We also have a visit to local food market to learn about Vietnamese cooking ingredients.

Afternoon:  we have a visit to the fascinating Ethnology Museum, the Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Temple where a legendary turtle is reserved, Hanoi’s Old Quarter also known as the ‘36 streets’ with plenty of photo opportunities all around you.
Finish the day with a Water Puppet show, a unique Vietnamese art form depicting scenes from rural life.. 

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

8.00AM: Check out hotel and depart for Ninh Binh. Along the way we have a visit to a pottery village where locals make their unique products in traditional way. Visit the Hoa Lu ancient capital and take a bicyle ride through country and karst landscapes to Tam Coc.

Afternoon: we board a small sampan and gently glide on the water along rice paddies, natural tunnels and mountain landscapes of the area that is called ‘Halong on Land’. Get back to Hanoi at around 5.30PM. This evening is free at your leisure. 

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

8.30 AM: After breakfast, leave Hanoi for a 3 ½  hour drive thru the Red River Delta to Halong Bay – the World Natural Wonder.

12.00AM: Arrive in Halong. Board your overnight boat for a cruise among the 3, 000 spectacular limestone islands.
Lunch is served as you wind your way through a spectacular bay of picturesque islands, floating villages and mirror-like water.
Later, we spend time exploring a natural karst cave, swimming in the emerald water, and relaxing on a little pristine beach.

The rest of the afternoon is to relax on the sundeck, enjoy a cooking demonstration, and watch the sun set down over the bay. After dinner, you can take part in the fishing game or just enjoy your time by the bar.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Enjoy a morning Taichi class on the top deck with a view of the bay at sunrise. After breakfast, cruise further for visit to another part of Halong bay and take a rowing boat to visit a floating village and a pearl oyster farm.  Lunch is served aboard before you reach the quay around noon.

Drive back to Hanoi. Enjoy some free time until you get transferred to the train station for the overnight train to Hue. Overnight on board in comfortable AC soft sleeper compartments.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Arrival in Hue – the former Royal Capital of Vietnam – in the morning (8.00AM or 9.00AM). Get pick up from the train station and transferred to the hotel for check-in. Lunch in a local restaurant.

Afternoon: We have a tour to explore the Imperial Citadel and Forbidden City which reflects pomps and ceremonies of dynastic rulers of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. Following, we take a visit to Thien Mu Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Hue, and the Dong ba market – the main market of Hue where you can try some famous ‘Banh Khoai’. 

Meals included: Lunch

Breakfast is at the hotel.

8.00AM: Check out hotel and make our way to the countryside where we visit a typical country market and the ancient corvered bridge of Thanh Toan. Continue to a conical hat, an incense making village and then visit to one of the Nguyen King’s mausoleum which was built amongst stunning natural settings, at strict Fengshui principles and in line with the Royal Citadel. 

Later, visit & have a tasty vegetarian lunch at Duc Son Pagoda which is also home to many orphans in Hue. After lunch, drive along breathtaking landscapes to Hoi An with stops to visit to Hai Van Pass, Cham Museum, Marble Mountains.
Check in hotel upon arrival in Hoi An and free in the evening. 

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

8.30AM: We start a walking tour of Hoi An ancient town for featured sights of the town such as central market, former merchants’ houses, the 400 year-old Japanese Covered Bridge, a Chinese communal halland Hoi An museum.

As this is also a food tour so, you will have a walk along streets and hidden alleys for the food discovery. You can have chance to eat more than 6 dishes: cao lau, Quang noodle, white rose, VAC cake, fried wonton, chicken rice and so on. It is also the chance for you to learn about the local life and their cooking, dining style.

The remainder of the day is free for your relax or fun shopping in town.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning: transfer to the Danang airport for a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City.
Transfer from airport to hotel for check in.

Afternoon: we have guided tour to explore city’s highlights including War Remnants Museum (or History Museum), Reunification Palace – formerly known as the Independence Palace or Presidential Palace of the South before North Vietnamese tanks seized on the morning of April 30 1975, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon Central Post Office, Dong Khoi Street – formerly Rue Catinat – that made famous by Graham Greene in his best-selling book The quiet American and Ben Thanh Market – the central market with plenty of local products.

Meals included: Breakfast

Breakfast is at the hotel.

8.00AM: Depart on a 2 hour drive to Cai Be town in Mekong Delta that is home to a colorful floating market, vast emerald rice fields, luxuriant orchards and lush back waterways. Upon arrival, board a long tail boat for a cruise to explore the Cai Be floating market where hundreds of boats gather for selling and buying, making a stunning scene on the water of Mekong River.

Get off the boat for a visit local village where you will observe locals making traditional stuffs, visit to local home, orchard and sample fresh tropical fruits. Lunch with local specialties and enjoy a sampan rowing along shady creek.
Drive back to Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning: transfer to the Tan Son Nhat Airport for your flight to Phnom Penh.

Afternoon: We take a Phnom Penh city tour with visits to highlights including: Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda that is with the floor made up of 5000 silver tiles, Wat Phnom Temple – Phnom Penh’s namesake.

Enjoy views over the tree-lined avenues of Phnom Penh during sunset. 

Meals included:  Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast is at hotel.

8.00AM: We head out of town to visit the Tuol Sleng Prison Museumand the notorious ‘Killing Fields’ of Choeung Ek, which will give us a deep insight into the painful bloody rule of the Khmer Rouge. Continue to explore Psar Toul Tom Pong, also called the Russian Market”, where anything and everything is for sales.

Transfer to airport for short flight to Siem Reap. Upon arrival, pick up and transfer to the hotel check in. The rest of the day is at leisure.  

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast is at hotel.

8.00AM: Start our full day exploring the wondrous Angkor. Visit South Gate of Angkor Thom, which is famous for its series of colossal human faces carved in stone, the impressive Bayon Temple, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephant Terrace, the Terrace of the Leper King, the largest as well as the most complete temple of Angkor Wat and the jungle covered temple of Ta Prohm which is described in the scenes of ‘Tom Raider’ by Angelina Jolie.

Early this evening, we will take the Tuk Tuk ride to cruise around the Siem Reap town and have a blessing ceremony by Buddhist monksfor happiness, prosperity and safety for your journey. 

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast is at hotel.

8.00 AM: Leave the hotel for a visit to the floating village of Chong Khneas, located 10 kilometers south of Siem Reap. We take a private cruise on a traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap Lake, the “Great Lake” of Cambodia. The rest of the morning we will visit the “Chantiers Ecoles – Les Artisans d’Angkor” which provides training to young Cambodians in an effort to revive the ancient Khmer traditions of stone carving and wood sculpting.

Afternoon: We will drive to west of Siem Reap town to visit a silk farm and workshop where you can see the entire silk creation process in traditional ways. On the way back, visit the Western Baray which provided water for the intensive cultivation of lands around Angkor. 

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Today is departure day. Enjoy some free time for last purchases or simply relax before your transfer to the airport for an onward flight or continue with more “Travel Authentic Asia” destinations.

Meals included: N/A