The Conquest of Vietnam’s Highest Mountains 14 Days

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

At 18.30, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry (an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture). You’ll spend the night in Hanoi.

Day 2: Hanoi city tour – Lao Cai by overnight train (B, L, G)

You’ll have the whole day to explore Vietnam’s capital city. Your guide will take you to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam dating back to the 11th century, and a popular attraction, as is Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, his simple stilt house where he lived and worked and the museum dedicated to his memory.

After lunch, you’ll drive to the excellent Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam’s 54 distinct ethnic groups. You’ll also call in Hanoi Train Street which is one of the most famous and adventurous tourist spots in Hanoi. It’s a tiny narrow street hidden in one of the back streets of Hanoi and surrounded by high narrow houses packed closely together. These families’ backyards are the railways where the train passes a few times per day. The bustling Old Quarter is a magnet for visitors, it’s noisy and hectic, but definitely a ‘must-see’ attraction. The Old Quarter is a maze of shopping streets and restaurants with a hotchpotch of architecture – traditional tube houses, religious buildings, artisans’ workshops and cottages, colonial houses and modern concrete edifices.

At 21.00, a car will arrive to take you to Hanoi railway station in time to board the 22.00 p.m. overnight sleeper to Lao Cai. Overnight on the train.

You’ll arrive in the early morning at 06.00, you’ll be met and taken by car to visit Bac Ha market where the ethnic minority groups routinely congregate to buy and sell their produce. After you have spent the morning exploring the market, your lunch will be served at a local restaurant. After that, you’ll return to Lao Cai and continue your journey into the mountains to Sapa, a small town perched on the mountainside opposite Mt. Fan Si Pan, Vietnam’s highest peak. You’ll arrive with time to relax and stroll around the town. You’ll spend the night in Sapa.

08:00: You will be met up with our local team at your hotel in Sapa. You travel by car toward the Silver Waterfall where you will be able to take a short walk to the waterfall. You will then drive further to Heaven Gate, the highest peak of roads in Vietnam. From there you can see Fansipan, the highest peak of Indochina mountains as well as enjoy stunning views. The trek will be relatively soft until lunchtime. After a couple of hours of hiking, you will have a break at a nice spot in the forest and enjoy a good lunch.

With new energy you start ascending as well as descending towards the campsite. En route you have many opportunities to enjoy the scenery and magnificent views to Sapa area and beautiful landscape of Lai Chau province. You will arrive to the campsite at 2800m ASL in the late afternoon. Now it is time to relax and enjoy a well prepared dinner.

After having breakfast, you climb to the top, where you can celebrate your victory. From there, you can enjoy the best view to beautiful sceneries. In the afternoon, you’ll take a cable cab back to Sapa.

Later in the evening, your driver will take to Lao Cai railway station to catch the overnight train at 21.30 back to Hanoi. Overnight on the train.

You’ll arrive in the early morning at around 05.30, then you’ll be picked up to your hotel for breakfast.

After 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 be picked up back to Noi Bai airport for an afternoon flight to Danang. On arrival, you’ll be picked up to your hotel in Hoi An. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.

We will depart from your hotel in the morning and drive along the coastline to the historic Marble Mountains, where we can explore temples built inside the caves pocketing the mountain and take in spectacular views of the expanding city of Danang and the famous My Khe Beach.

After lunch, your guide will show you the Ancient Town and explain its considerable significance in the history of Vietnam. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.

In the morning, you’ll drive to Bach Ma National Park (90 km). After a 500m walk to the summit, you should be able to see the spectacular view. From there, the Rhododendron trail and the Five Lakes Cascade trail (6km in total) meander through evergreen forest, cascades and waterfalls. After lunch in a nearby local restaurant, the Pheasant Trail (2.5 km) takes you to a series of waterfalls and crystal-clear pools. In the late afternoon, you’ll return Hoi An for overnight accommodation. You’ll spend the night in Hoi An.

After breakfast, your car arrives to take you to Danang airport for your morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Arriving at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, your guide will take you to visit the famous Cu Chi tunnels, a Byzantine maze of underground passages, chambers, rooms and booby traps used by both the Vietminh and the Viet Cong to suddenly materialise as if from nowhere, launch a lightning ambush, and vanish equally rapidly. After that, you’ll be driven to Ho Chi Minh City. The remainder of the day will be your own. You’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.

After breakfast, your guide will arrive to show you around Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll visit the Reunification Hall – an early colonial masterpiece constructed to accommodate the Governor –general of Indochina. The Museum of War Remnants provides a very partial, but riveting, perspective of the ‘American War’: not for the squeamish! The Binh Tay market and the China Town are worth a stroll to explore the local daily life and the culture mix.

After lunch, you’ll also call in at the Jade Emperor Temple. It’s one of the best Taoist temples in Vietnam, with superb effigies, remarkable carved panels of the descent to Hell and somewhat incongruous terrapin and tortoise sanctuaries. You’ll then return your hotel for freshen up or wander around the huge Ben Thanh market, one of the liveliest areas of Ho Chi Minh City, is packed with every conceivable commodity. You’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.

After breakfast, you’ll be picked up at your hotel and travel to Ba Den (Black Virgin) Mountain, Tay Ninh province. This is the highest mountain in the southeastern Vietnam (986m high). It’s about 3-hour drive passing beautiful rice fields and rubber tree plantations, through small towns with smiling people.

Upon arrival at the foot of the Black Virgin mountain, we commence trekking on the foot path to the top of the mountain. You may encounter some small streams and great views along the way. Reach the top of the mountain after about 2.5-3 hours and reward yourself with the stunning views. Break for a picnic lunch at the summit.

Descend the mountain on a beautiful but steep route for about 2 hours to Ba Den Temple. Here you can take a rest and board a cable car to the bottom of the mountain this will afford you further view of your accomplishments on the mountain before driving back to Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.

After escaping from Ho Chi Minh City’s urban sprawl, you’ll travel to Ben Tre. You’ll then take a boat around Ben Tre River to see the view of rural lifestyle of the people who live along the river bank on the way. Arrival at My Thanh An, you’ll enjoy grapefruit – a famous specialty in Ben Tre before a motor-boat leads you through the myriad of Mekong’s tiny channels to a family house in a canal-side orchard to have lunch.

In the afternoon, you’ll wander around to see the rice fields and vegetable farm with an opportunity to join with their daily work of planting and watering vegetables. Thence, “Xe loi” – a three wheels bike will take you to Nhon Thanh village for a rowing boat ride to visit the traditional family run brick–inn and the salt processing. You’ll then return to Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.

Your time will be your own until your private car and driver arrives to take you to Tan Son Nhat airport for your departure flight. End of services.