A SOFT ADVENTURE IN NORTHERN VIETNAM - 9 DAYS/ 8 NIGHTS - From: 910$

You will be greeted at Hanoi Airport and transferred to the city for hotel check-in. Room is available from 14.00. The balance of the day is free at your leisure to stroll along the famous Old Quarter of 36 streets, or take a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake vicinity on your own pace. Find some excellent Vietnamese foods for your own in this colorful cuisine. Night at the hotel.

The whole day is for the capital city. You will visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum for the first (closed on Monday and Friday), the traditional stilt house and the revered One-Pillar Pagoda  along the trip. The next destination is the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature – also Vietnam’s first university . After lunch, have a visit to the Ethnology Museum (closed on Monday), where you can explore the diverse and unique cultures of the 54-ethnic Vietnam. Evening is the time to enjoy Vietnam’s traditional water puppet shows. Choose for yourself a nice local dish, and back to your hotel for overnight

Remark : From 08 September to 08 November Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed for annual maintenance.

Departure for Ha Long Bay in the morning. On arrival around noon, you will hop a private traditional wooden junk. Have lunch with the menu full of fresh seafoods while cruising through one of Southeast Asia’s "must-come"tourist destinations. Stop and disembark at a beautiful, lonely beach to join in a really interesting activity. You will be taught padding techniques to control your kayak for your own 1-hour adventure. An hour later, remember to come back to the junk for your dinner. Have a good night onboard !

You will have the whole day to explore more of Ha Long Bay on your own kayak. Be careful and have a great experience !  Meals are served onboard. Another night on the junk.

This morning you will spend 2 more hours to take a kayaking tour to another beautiful outlying beach and a floating village. Afterwards, back to Ha Long harbour on the junk, transfer right after that to Hanoi Railway Station for your night train to Lao Cai. Meals on your own. Your night will be spent on the train in an 4-person contained cabin with air conditioners and sleeper berth.

By 6.00 a.m you will arrive Lao Cai and have breakfast in a local restaurant after that. Then we drive about 3 hours towards Bac Ha on a winding road with amazing view of mountains. Bac Ha market is our first destination. Here you will find nice and unique ethnic clothes and souvenirs sold by different groups of ethnic people. Buy yourself some of especial yields and take really nice photos of the market and the people here. Afterwards, take a walk on small paths through peaceful villages lying surrounding nearby the market. Transfer to Sapa and have your own dinner there. Overnight at hotel.
 
Remark: Bac Ha Market is weekly held on Sundays only. Some other days of the week you can visit other markets: Coc Ly Market (held every Tuesday) or Can Cau Market (held every Saturday morning). Depend on the day you come, exact itinerary will be arranged.

The French built this mystery town of Sapa in the early 1920s, once as their hill station. Just a few years ago, the government allowed this town to open for foreign travelers, and this isolated peaceful village has come to famous after decades hiding behind huge mountains since the end of World War II. The Sapa region was once nicknamed as the “Tonkinese Alps” by the French and still keep itself a draw of rugged and exotic beauty. Eight different ethnic groups has populated this district for hundred years. Their origin was in China and other countries surrounding Vietnam, and they almost major in farming work for their life, primarily plant rice. Enjoy fabulous views the villages of Hmong and Black Daos, and rice terraces as we take a trekking tour through.

Transfer from your hotel to Y Linh Ho Village. This is our starting point of a guided trek via a trail to the village of Lao Chai. Our destination is the largest paddy terrace in Sapa area lying in the valley. Walk descendingly to the valley while getting more interesting informations about rice and rice growing provided by our guide. If you come in July or August, it is possible to experience how the locals do planting and harvesting, one of the most important activities in their daily life. From Lao Chai village of Black H’mong minority, we are keeping heading  to Ta Van village of Giay minority, stop en route to visit to one of the local schools. Lunch will be served at a local family.
After lunch, transfer to Hau Thao village of Black H’Mong by private vehicle. This village is located on a high position and just a few tourists could find it. Take short rest and stroll along the village, meet up with lovely children and locals to feel their hospitality. With a good fortune, you will have a rare chance to observe locals practice singing in the communal house for their church service. Upon arrival back in Sapa, you're free for the rest of time with dinner on your own. Have a pleasant night at the hotel !

In the morning transfert to the Sin Chai village of the Black H’mong people. Sin Chai is covered by rain forests of Hoang Lien National Park, located right on the foot of Fansipan Mountain. Take a walk around to explore this very unique lifestyle here, having stayed unchanged for hundred years as their ancestor’s way of life. Out of the village, you will continue with a short walk on a dirt trail along a narrow river through an amazing scenery of rice paddies and corn hill. Upon reaching a suspension bridge, you are free to visit a local house of the few Black H’mong families living here. Return the village centre after that to transfer back to Sapa.

You will be free in the afternoon to go shopping or explore more of Sapa before leaving the town for Lao Cai train station. Have your own meals, and get on a night train back to Hanoi . Spend the night on the train in an 4-person contained cabin with air conditioners and sleeper berth.

Upon arrival at Hanoi railway station (around 5.00 am), our services end here.