Classic Vietnam – Mekong Delta to Halong Bay

On arrival, you are welcomed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport and will be taken to Saigon City center to check in the hotel. Enjoy lunch at one of the best restaurant in city center. Spend the afternoon exploring the Saigon dynamic city with your guide. You will visit the War Remnants Museum, Emperor Jade Pagoda, the former Presidential Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Old Post Office before a walk down to Opera House and City Halls.

The Cu Chi’s tunnels is an incredible underground network of 250km that Vietnamese guerilla soldiers dig from 1948 to 1975 to fight the South Vietnam Government and American soldiers. It’s the tunnels not only for flighting but also for living. We depart at 7:30 am from the hotel and drive on a vehicle out of bustling Saigon City before cycling through several hamlets, rubber plantations to Cu Chi Tunnels. See workers harvest natural latex rubber and stop at a local home to see how rice paper is made? Arrival at tunnels, We enjoy lunch at a nice restaurant by the Saigon River. Then we watch the documentary film about tunnels during Vietnam War. Following are booby traps, secret entrances, fighting bunkers, air-holes before we explore three levels of the tunnels. Finally, we stop at the weapon gallery and shooting range before returning to Saigon in the afternoon. Take a 3.5 hours foodie’s tour, and explore the life of locals in Saigon. Each of you will have a motorcycle ride and tour guide, and the time starts at 6:00 and ends at 9:30 pm.

Leave Saigon for Mekong Delta with a couple of vehicles transfer on the freeway, through vast farmland to Cai Be. Arrive around 10:00 am at the waterfront, board the Mekong Boat, and cruise through the Cai Be floating market before going along the river. The boat turns on a small branch to the village where locals live mainly in cottage industries, handicraft villages, and small businesses belonging to local families. Enjoy scenic landscapes and quaint villages along the river banks on the boat journey. Visit one of the oldest houses with traditional Vietnamese design. Enjoy seasonal tropical fruits and meet friendly people in the villages. Have delicious lunch at a family-run small business. After lunch, the boat continues its journey, crossing the Mekong River to An Binh Island. Watch the vibrant waterway with several boats travel through and experience the local life along Dong Phu canals; enjoy the boat cruise across the Island to Vinh Long town, where your private vehicle is waist. Have a transfer to Can Tho City in the late afternoon.

On the last morning of the tour, we’ll take a motorboat to check out the lively floating market. Cai Rang is the real floating market full of wholesale and retail boats. You could see literally hundreds of big and small boats every morning to buy and sell just about anything you can imagine – freshly harvested fruit and vegetables, rice, and even noodle soup, broken rice, and coffee are also for sale aboard a tiny boat or another! Primarily, you can see many grocery boats and floating houses around you. Then you continue to explore some of the hidden countryside on waterways, natural creeks, see monkey bridges, small grocery boats moving along with advertising what they sell by using a loudspeaker. Return to Can Tho City for lunch before a bicycle ride in the afternoon. The concrete paths are the perfect way to travel through lush countryside, rice paddies and visit some temples and local markets before returning to Can Tho by car.

After a leisurely breakfast, pick up and transfer to Can Tho Airport for a domestic flight to Phu Quoc Island. On arriving at the airport, be welcomed by the team and transferred to the La Veranda Resort Phu Quoc. It’s one of Phu Quoc Island’s most beautiful and fascinating beach destinations. Enjoy the rest of the day on the beach.

Stay on beach

Stay on beach

After breakfast, enjoy your time and relax until the airport transfer by the resort’s shuttle bus for a domestic flight to Ha Noi. Welcomed to Ha Noi, your guide and driver will take you to Ha Noi City Center to check in at the hotel. Ha Noi is the capital city with a lively Old Quarter of 36 narrow streets in the city center. Enjoy lunch with your guide at a famous restaurant in town. In the afternoon, take a walking tour of the atmospheric and bustling Old Quarter, Opera House, Ngoc Son Temple, and Hoan Kiem Lake. Dine at one of the famous restaurants in Ha Noi city center.

We depart from the Hanoi capital at 8:30 am for Ha Long Bay, and it takes 3 hours drives on the scenic road to the World Heritage Site. There are some stops at the Sao Dao Center for a coffee break. Sao Dao is a handicapped workshop. With a short break at this workshop, we could see how different the patient’s job is upon arrival at Ha Long Bay, welcomed by the captain and cruisers to check-in. Enjoy a seafood lunch when the cruise is starting its journey—views the spectacular World Heritage site of Ha Long, which is located in the Gulf of Tonkin. Thousands of Islands have many famous caves, grottos, and sandy coves. Board a boat and cruise the bay, explore island caves, and enjoy swimming. Dinner on board, enjoy live music at the dancing bar, and spend a peaceful night on cruise. 

Enjoy Sunset on board with coffee, tea, and breakfast. Then we have a bamboo rowing boat trip that takes us to Vung Vieng floating fishing village. We are also visiting Pearl Farm to see how natural pearls are created. Then we return to Paloma Cruise for your leisure or join one of the following optional activities: Sunbathing, traditional massage etc. Your lunch is on board while the cruise coming back to Hon Gai Dock around 11:45 am. You will return to Hanoi by shuttle bus around 4:30 pm. Check-in the hotel, and relax until a Water Puppet Show in the evening.

At leisure until a pick-up and transfer to Noi Bai Airport for your international flight to the next destination. Tour End!