Red River Delta Overture - 7 days / 6 nights

Be picked up at your hotel at 8h00 then drive to following sites:

Tran Quoc Pagoda (means “Stabilizing the Nation”), the oldest pagoda constructed in the sixth century during the reign of Emperor Ly Nam De.

Ho Chi Minh Complex, where the body lies in a glass case with dim lights in the mausoleum, simple open wooden house on stilts surrounded by gardens with towering trees and a small lake, presidential palace built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French Governor-General of Indochina.

One pillar pagoda – a wooden pagoda on a single stone pillar, and it is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond.

Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), which originally built as a Confucius Temple, then became Vietnam’s first university dating back to 1070. The temple highlights the importance influence that Vietnamese society has placed on education.

Be picked up at your hotel from 8h00 (we may do several pick-ups) for 3.5 hours bus ride through the country side of the Red River Delta to Ha Long City. Upon arrival, aboard Halong Phoenix Cruiser, fresh seafood lunch (vegetable menu available) would be served while the boat is creeping out.

A short tender ride from your boat in the middle of the bay to an island for the famous Surprising (Sung Sot) Cave, followed by another island visit (Titop Island) and swimming on its sandy beach. As the sun sets over the anchorage area, it is your own time to lean back on our well designed deck with your favorite drink. Dinner will be served with typically local seafood.

Overnight on boat in Halong Bay

Morning breath taking in the serene Heritage Site then breakfast before leaving Halong Phoenix Cruiser for an active day on another site of the bay. A local support boat will take us to a sleepy water area of Cat Ba National Park, where you grab the paddle and make your own strokes to discover parts of Lan Ha Bay. It is your time to go exploring labyrinth of limestone cliffs that rise out of the sea, paddle through floating houses and deserted lagoons and wild sandy beaches from our sleek ocean kayaks.

Lunch (BBQ lunch on beach is at tidal permission) on boat, relax and swim from your own private beach. More kayaking to other parts of the bay, by now you are pro kayakers, seeing other amazing limestone karts formations from the water up close and personal, in ways many people can only imagine!

When you get tired, leave your kayaks behind to take a transfer boat to Cat Ba Island. We then drive you to Cat Ba Eco Lodge, an ideal jungle lodge that compliments the local culture, perfectly in tune with the surrounding environment.

Overnight at Cat Ba Eco Lodge

After your breakfast, options arise to:

We take a hydrofoil boat ride from CaiVieng Pier to Hai Phong City, and then 2 more hours drive back to Hanoi. Arrive at your hotel around 17h00.

Overnight at your hotel in Hanoi

We pick you up at your hotel for 2.5 hours drive south of Hanoi to Tam Coc, where we stop at a local restaurant and start cycling around. You would be guided through villages, lush rice fields and rocky outcrops (rice harvesting time: May and Sep) until lunch at the local restaurant with scenic view over the river.

We take a sampan ride along a river, just relax and enjoy the sensation of being gently paddled by hand in a little boat. Lose yourself in this unique experience, along a stretch of blue-green river, and marvel at dancing water refractions under the coolness of passing Tam Coc (three caves).

Upon arrival back in the boat dock, drive to Hoa Lu – Vietnam capital city (968 – 1009) for the King Dinh and Le Temples as well as ancient citadel traces. Keep driving through a fascinating limestone area to Cuc Phuong Park. Diner and overnight in the park headquarter.

Overnight in the Cuc Phuong National Park’s guest house

Awake gently and savour the early morning sounds of the surrounding forest and the singing of gibbons in nearby Rescue Center. Have breakfast then drive to the Cave of Prehistoric man, where human skeletons and stone tools there dated back to 7.500 years old. Keep driving into the forest (20km) then start hiking up loop trail (7km) to see the 1000 years old tree, discover the secrets of nature.

After lunch, we visit the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre – one of the highlights of Cuc Phuong Park, where we will observe a home to more than 140 primates in 15 species, including six species which are kept only at the EPRC and in no other facility in the world. Afterwards, leave the park for Hanoi.

Trip ends at your hotel around 17h00.