8 Days - Essential Vietnam
Tour Name: Essential Vietnam
Tour Code: AEVEV
Tour Dest: Hanoi-Hue-HoiAn-Saigon-Delta
No. of Days: Hanoi-Hue-HoiAn-Saigon-Delta
Day 1 Hanoi arrival
Arrives in Hanoi. We are met upon arrival in Hanoi and drive into town. This afternoon you visit to Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” by American POWs (mostly downed pilots) held captive there, was notorious for its harsh conditions. Today we see what little remains of the original complex built by the French in 1896. This evening, attend a water-puppet theatre performance. The art of water puppetry began a thousand years ago, possibly in the flooded rice fields of Vietnam. Puppeteers today stand in waist-high water and manipulate their charges in such a way that you can’t help but be swept up in the legend being told. Music ccompanies the action (be sure to listen for the dan bau, an instrument made from a dried watermelon rind that produces haunting sounds). Welcome dinner tonight is at the Wild Rice restaurant Accommodation at hotel.
Day 2 Hanoi
Today we dig deeper into Hanoi. After breakfast at the hotel we head for the History Museum. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a Soviet-style building, speaks volumes about the leader’s absolute power. We visit Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature, serves as a pleasant respite from the bustle of Hano’s street scene.
This afternoon we begin our meandering, a tour by cyclo around the city’s lovely French Quarter, filled with artifacts from Vietnam’s colonial past. Hoan Kiem Lake sits smack in the heart of Hanoi. Legend has it that in the mid-15th century, heaven gave Emperor Ly Thai To a magical sword that he used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. That he did. Afterward, while on a boat on the lake, the emperor spotted a golden tortoise, which swam up to him and grabbed the sword before disappearing beneath the water. It is said that the tortoise returned the sword to its rightful owner. Take a walking tour of the lake and its pagoda. Accommodation at hotel.
Day 3 Hanoi – Hue
After breakfast at the hotel, we head to the airport for our flight to Hué VN245 1230/1340, one of the country’s foremost cultural, religious, and educational centers. It began as the citadel of Phu Xuan in 1687, just northeast of the present-day city, and assumed the role of capital city of southern Vietnam in the mid-1700s. When we arrive in Hué, we check in to our hotel. Board a boat for a trip on the Perfume River to visit to Thien Mu Pagoda, one of the most famous of all Vietnamese landmarks. Two legends explain how the pagoda came to be. One has it that an old woman instructed Lord Nguyen Hoang in 1601 to walk along the river with a lit incense stick and build a city at the spot where the incense stopped burning.
Later today we begin to explore the city. Kinh Thanh, the citadel, is perhaps the most well-known site in Hué. Begun in 1805 by Emperor Gia Long, it is actually a complex comprised of the Imperial City, several museums, lakes, and lovely gardens, all laid out in a series of concentric circles. We also visit the Forbidden Purple City, originally built in the early 1800s for the personal use of the emperor and staffed by eunuchs who posed no threat to the royal concubines. Accommodation at hotel.
Day 4 Hue
Breakfast at hotel. we visit to the two tombs. First, to Emperor Tu Duc’s tomb. A student of Eastern philosophy, history, and literature, he was also a prolific writer who left behind 4,000 poems and 600 stories. As a ruler, however, he failed to gain the respect of his subjects. His tomb, completed in 1867, successfully blends natural and man-made elements, and it was designed to be used by the emperor both before and after his death. Later, we have a look at the tomb of Khai Dinh. Unlike the tombs surrounding it, this one combines traditional Vietnamese architecture with influences from the Continent. Colorful bits of porcelain chips embedded in concrete depict the four seasons and other scenes. Accommodation at hotel.
Day 5 Hue – HoiAn
We depart Hué, bound for Da Nang, stopping for lunch en route in a fishing village. When we arrive in Da Nang, we visit to Cham Museum before check in to our hotel, the recently opened Victoria Hoi An Resort, a beautiful oceanfront property that serves as our home base for the next two nights. Accommodation at hotel.
Day 6 HoiAn
This morning we visit the port town of Hoi An. Recently named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, this is a trading outpost dating back to the 16th century.
Explore the small town on foot. Here the streets, historical temples, centuries-old shopkeepers’ houses, and artisans’ quarters evoke an earlier time, when silks and brocades, ivory, fragrant oils, fine porcelain, innovative weaponry, and raw minerals were hawked by enterprising merchants and manufacturers. Visit Tan Ky House, a late 18th-century merchant’s residence. The Tan Ky family, very successful silk, tea, and rice traders originally from China, lived here for seven generations and amassed quite a collection of paraphernalia. The house itself is a fine example of combined Japanese, Vietnamese, and Chinese architecture, typical of the older houses in Hoi An.
This afternoon we’ll visit through the endless cultivated rice paddies to the village of Hoa Chau. This is one of the highlights of the trip: an introduction to Vietnamese rural life. You’ll walk through the village, stopping at the temple, the villager’s homes, the market and the local husking mill. Return to hotel for accommodation.
Day 7 Danang – Saigon – Cu Chi Tunnels
Breakfast at hotel. Head to the airport this morning for a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon). Upon arrival, we transfer to hotel. Later, we explore the Cu Chi Tunnels, just beyond the city limits. This amazing underground camp served as a refuge for thousands of Viet Cong during the war. For years the American military had no idea that the enemy lived literally beneath their feet in 125 miles of tunnels, staging camps, hospitals, operations bunkers, and more. Today we can climb down into the tunnels to view their rooms and passageways.
In the afternoon, we visit Thien Hau Pagoda, one of the most active in all of Cholon. Cantonese immigrants built it in the early 1800s and dedicated it to Thien Hau, a deity who travels on a mat over the oceans and rides clouds to save people in trouble on the high seas. Be sure to have a look at the roof, teeming with figurines. Walk along the street to visit Binh Tay Market, which attracts not only visitors but also the local citizenry, who peruse the seemingly infinite rows of merchants’ stalls for the evening’s ingredients, new ceramic dishes for the house, or a hand-knotted cap. Le Cong Kieu Street is the heart of the antiques district in town. Return to hotel for your accommodation.
Day 8 Saigon - Departure
Breakfast. This morning we begin with an orientation tour of the city. Get your bearings as we view the colonial General Post Office (1886), City Hall (now the HQ of the People’s Committee), and Notre Dame Cathedral (closed by the Communist regime after the 1975 takeover, but now flourishing again, with services each day at dawn). Next stop to visit the Reunification Palace, once known as the Presidential Palace. It was toward this building that the first Communist tanks rolled into Saigon on the morning of 30 April, 1975. After crashing through the gate, a soldier ran into the building and unfurled a VC flag from the fourth-floor balcony. The rest, as they say, is history. Tour ends at the airport for your return flight to…
| 5 Days - Southern Highlights | ||
| Package Name | : | Southern Highlights |
| Tour Code | : | AEVSH5 |
| No. of days | : | 5 Days |
| Destination | : | Daigon- Mekong Delta |
| 7 Days - Northern Highlights | ||
| Package Name | : | Northern Highlights |
| Tour Code | : | AEVNH |
| No. of days | : | 7 Days |
| Destination | : | Hanoi-Halong Bay-SaPa |
| 8 Days - Essential Vietnam | ||
| Package Name | : | Essential Vietnam |
| Tour Code | : | AEVEV |
| No. of days | : | 8 Days |
| Destination | : | Hanoi-Hue-HoiAn-Saigon-Delta |
| 11 Days - Vietnam Classic | ||
| Package Name | : | Vietnam Classic |
| Tour Code | : | AEVVC11 |
| No. of days | : | 11 Days |
| Destination | : | Hanoi-HalongBay-Hue-HoiAn-Saigon-Delta |
| 11 Days - Vietnam Discovery | ||
| Package Name | : | Vietnam Discovery |
| Tour Code | : | AEVSN11 |
| No. of days | : | 11 Days |
| Destination | : | Saigon-Delta-Hoian-Hue-Hanoi-HalongBay |
| 12 Days - Travelling by Trains | ||
| Package Name | : | Travelling by Trains |
| Tour Code | : | AEVTT12 |
| No. of days | : | 12 Days |
| Destination | : | Saigon-Delta-HoiAn-Hue-Hanoi-Sapa |
| 13 Days Vietnam Highlights | ||
| Package Name | : | Vietnam Highlights |
| Tour Code | : | AEVVH13 |
| No. of days | : | 13 days |
| Destination | : | Hanoi to Saigon via Hue, HoiAn, Danang |
| 14 Days Vietnam Discovery | ||
| Package Name | : | Vietnam Discovery |
| Tour Code | : | AEVVD14 |
| No. of days | : | 14 Days |
| Destination | : | Hanoi-Sapa-Hue-HoiAn-Saigon-Delta |
| 16 Days Vietnam Completed Tour | ||
| Package Name | : | Vietnam Completed Tour |
| Tour Code | : | VCOM16 |
| No. of days | : | 16 Days |
| Destination | : | Mekong Delta to SaPa Trekking |
| Mekong Cruise - Saigon to Siem Reap (High Water) | ||
| Package Name | : | Cruise from Saigon to Siem Reap (High Water) |
| Tour Code | : | AEPDS |
| No. of days | : | 8 days / 7 nights |
| Destination | : | Saigon (Vietnam) to Siem Reap (Cambodia) |
| Mekong Cruise - Saigon to Siem Reap (Low Water) | ||
| Package Name | : | Cruise from Saigon to Siem Reap (Low Water) |
| Tour Code | : | AEPDW |
| No. of days | : | 8 days / 7 nights |
| Destination | : | Saigon (Vietnam) to Siem Reap (Cambodia) |