Indochina Adventure Holiday 14 Days

Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.

In the morning, you’ll be picked up to drive to Bat Trang. On arrival, you’ll pick up your bicycles and ride around the village. You will be able to continue with your bicycles or stroll in the small alleys of this old village to watch local people producing their fine products and visit some of the houses used as workshops and showrooms.

You’ll then drive to Dong Ho village – famous for its traditional paintings. After lunch, you’ll enjoy its traditional Quan Ho music performed by villagers in the commune house. The singers have been officially designated as part of Vietnam’s ‘living heritage’ by UNESCO. In the late afternoon, you’ll return to Hanoi for your overnight accommodation. You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.

In the morning, you’ll be driven to Ninh Binh. Upon arrival, you’ll relax on a local rowboat trip in Tam Coc (three caves), a peaceful valley among limestone ‘karst’ hills, There, you’ll be rowed along a gentle river between paddy fields and through the caves.

You’ll come to a host family to enjoy a special lunch prepared by the home chef with the local cuisine featuring the yin-yang balance of the Asian culture.  In the afternoon, you’ll pick up your bike to ride along a scenic canal with walking around open rice fields and looking around at the amazing folds of the rock formations. You’ll have a chance to learn about Vietnamese agriculture and cycle through different villages and a unique area known for its magnificient limestone peaks. Then you’ll visit Mua Cave, the most beautiful place to view in Ninh Binh, where can see the city far from the standing in front of Tam Coc in back and the limestone mountain along to the south of Vietnam. In the late afternoon, you’ll be driven to your hotel in Ninh Binh for overnight. You’ll spend the nigfht in Ninh Binh.

After an early breakfast, you’ll leave for Ha Long Bay, one of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Areas and the world’s largest marine limestone ‘karst’ landscape. There you’ll board a deluxe junk to take you round the Bay before stopping off at a beach on an island. Weather permitting, you’ll be able to swim, fish, and climb a hill (not a mountain!) for an overview of the Bay’s remarkable seascape. From there, you’ll continue your cruise to visit a fishing village – you’ll also have an opportunity to investigate one of the bay’s sea level caves in a small sampan or a kayak. Back on board, you can enjoy cocktails while watching the sunset. Later, unwind with a lavish dinner before an overnight stay on the board. The route is designed to avoid the busy areas and includes a very quiet location for your overnight stay.

You’ll wake in the fresh air on the bay with a swim and/or a Yoga or Taichi session on the large sundeck (beginners welcome!). After a light pastry and a tea or coffee for breakfast, you’ll dock to visit one of the most famous caves in the Bay. You’ll return to the junk for a brunch while cruising back to dock around noon whereupon you’ll leave for Noi Bai airport for your afternoon departure flight to Hue. When you arrive, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel to check in. You’ll spend the night in Hue.

Your morning will begin with a cruise along the Perfume River to visit to the Thien Mu Pagoda. From there, you’ll visit the Imperial Citadel and then drive to the Royal Tombs of Emperor Minh Mang and, in the afternoon, Emperor Khai Dinh. After that, you’ll return to Hue to visit one of city’s ‘garden houses’ and then return to your hotel to freshen-up.

In the evening, you’ll sit down for a private dinner in the pleasant surroundings and a comfortable atmosphere of another of Ngoc Son Princess garden house. The owner will prepare and serve a traditional meal based on the distinctive characteristics of classic Hue cuisine. You’ll spend the night in Hue.

In the morning, your car will drive you to Danang. On the way, you’ll cross the Hai Van mountain pass. The views from the top are excellent – you should be able to see Lang Co beach and village, and the lagoon far below, with Danang spread out before you to the south.

Upon arriving in Danang and a brief look at the remarkable Hindu statuary in the Cham Museum, you’ll arrive at Hoi An. After lunch, you’ll have a guided visit to the Ancient Town of Hoi An and spend the night in Hoi An.

The day starts with cycling the narrow roads through the countryside, passing by rice paddy fields, water buffalos, bamboo bridges and local farmers on their daily work. You’ll then board a boat to the mouth of the Thu Bon estuary where the river meets the Cua Dai Sea and cruise along the coastline observing the lives of the local fishermen. After joining the fisherman to try your hand at catching fish in a traditional ‘Thung Chai’ basket boat, you will meander through the water palm coconut canal. During the American War, Viet Cong soldiers made use of this area as a highly effective hiding place from enemy attacks through their long struggle. Following an insightful visit to a local fishing village, you’ll be free to relax and enjoy a lunch before cycling back to your hotel. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.

Your time will be your own until your private car and driver arrives to take you to Danang airport for your departure flight to Siem Reap. Arriving at Siem Reap airport, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey. You’ll spend the night in Siem Reap.

You’ll start at 05.00 with Sunrise at Angkor Wat and we encounter the Cambodia’s crown jewel, the magnificent Angkor Wat (“Temple that is a City”). Then taking to visit once the center of the vast Khmer Empire that ruled the majority of the southern part of South-East Asia, is home to countless temples and palace complexes.

Today we explore some of the most prominent of these sites by bike and we begin our tour with Angkor Thom, better known as the ‘Temple of Faces’. We then proceed to the Bayon, a bizarre structure with several architectural styles, reflecting a switch from Hinduism (the foundations) to Buddhism (the superstructure).

We next visit the Elephant and Leper Emperor Terraces, followed by the Baphoun Temple, which is now nearing the end of an eight-year multi-million-dollar restoration program.

You’ll have time to relax for lunch, then we visit Ta Prohm, strangled by massive tree roots and typical of the condition of the whole complex when it was discovered in 1860 by French naturalist Henri Mouhot. And rest of your time will enjoy sunset at Bakheng temple before heading back to hotel. You’ll spend the night in Siem Reap.

After breakfast, your guide and driver will drive you 50km through the countryside, the rice fields alongside the Kulen Mountain range to Beng Mealea Temple complex.

Beng Mealea is almost the size of Angkor Wat and is one of the largest ensembles build during Khmer reign and still seldom visited. Its galeries, pools, libraries and sancturies lie under fig-tree roots and creepers and are waiting to be discovered.

The decoration of Beng Mealea is simple but you can find bas-reliefs showing scenes from the Khmer Mythology. Then you’ll return to Siem Reap where you having lunch and relax, late afternoon, you’ll be driven to Siem Reap River.

There, you’ll embark for a boat trip on Tonle Sap Lake, a natural reservoir that partly controls the level of floods in the Mekong Delta, and visit a floating fishing village en-route. Driver back to Siem Reap downtown and drop back to your hotel. You’ll spend the night in Siem Reap.

After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to the airport for your departure flight to Luang Prabang. On arrival at the airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day free for you to explore or relax at your hotel. You’ll spend the night in Luang Prabang.

This morning you’ll drive to Khouangsi Waterfall stopping along the way to visit the morning Phousi Market, this where all locals of Luang Prabang come to do their daily shopping.  You will see a variety of local foodstuffs and products including dried buffalo skin, local tea and saltpeter among the chickens, fish, vegetables and fruit, everything needed for daily life in Laos.

On arrival at the Khouangsi Waterfall, you will have the opportunity to cool off with a refreshing swim in the topaz pools below the falls, walk along the forest trails and visit the Bear Sanctuary.

Upon return to Luang Prabang, you’ll board our private boat for a pleasant and scenic cruise up on the Mekong River to the mysterious Pak Ou Caves. These caves are an ancient pilgrimage site and contain thousands of gold lacquered Buddha images left there over hundreds of years.

Returning to Luang Prabang, you’ll disembark our boat and have the option of taking a short drive to Ban Phanom, a village famous for its hand weaving or returning to the hotel for free time to relax.

You can enjoy a coffee at the center’s café if you chose before our climb to the top of Mount Phousi to explore the sacred gilded stupa and to enjoy the panoramic view of the city and the sun setting over the Mekong River.

Descanting the mountain your will find yourself in the midst of the famous Luang Prabang Night Market, where you can find a unique selection of handmade textiles and handicrafts locally made by both ethnic Lao and hill tribe people surrounding Luang Prabang. You’ll spend the night in Luang Prabang.

After breakfast at your hotel, you’ll see some of the highlights of Luang Prabang including a visit to the Royal Palace Museum, which hosts a range of interesting artifacts from the Royal period in Luang Prabang. You’ll visit the city’s oldest temples, the magnificent Wat Xiengthong with its roof sweeping low to the ground, representing classical Lao architecture, the impressive stupa of Wat Visoun and the shrine of Wat Aham.

Afternoon, you’ll have a free time until pick-up to the aiprort for your departure flight home. End of services.