Vietnam family tour: Land and Sea

THROUGH VIETNAM FAMILY TOUR, YOU WILL DISCOVER

Day 1: Hanoi arrival

On your arrival, be meet and greeted by your guide from Orient Skyline Travel and transfer by private car to your hotel.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 2: Hanoi city tour (B, L)

After breakfast, transfer to Mr. Liem’s family. Be introduced to his workshop to see a collection of traditional puppets. Walk through different workshop floors of wooden puppets and pieces such as angel wings, dragon heads and tails and puppets of different colors and shapes and sizes.

On the rooftop of Mr. Liem’s house, enjoy a performance of 30 minutes with traditional and modern stories about Vietnamese life. Have fun putting your hand in controlling the puppets in the water and try to make a puppet! Or color the puppets with range of beautiful bright colors.

At a typical Vietnamese family, enjoy a home cook lunch. Discover Hanoi in the afternoon at the Temple of Literature as the first university in Vietnam where the mandarins and elite class were educated. After 700 years. Today, the nice garden and well-preserved architecture offer a fascinating glimpse of Vietnam’s past.

Visit the special Museum of Ethnology to learn about cultures of 54 different ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Stroll leisurely around the Museum to see different house styles from different people groups. Return to the hotel & overnight in Hanoi.

Day 3: Hanoi – Ky Son village (L, D)

Departing Hanoi, for 1.5 hour transfer to the unique, tranquil lodge located in one of the peaceful Tonkin valleys at Ky Son village.

En route, stop to visit the Master pagoda or Thay Pagoda and an interesting non-tourist craft village making temple ornament and wood sculptures. For those who are interested, learn how vermicelli noodles are made in another nearby village.

Continue to arrive at Ky Son, enjoy the welcome tea and have look at the traditional structures in the nice countryside background before put your hand in cooking class. After learning how to make some special delicacies of the region, enjoy your own creation for lunch. After lunch, grasp a bike and cycle to discover the area and local communities. On the way, stop to visit local families; chat with local people to learn about their culture. Help collect tea leaves and herbs to use when returning to the lodge home.

At the lodge enjoy Happy Hour or take a traditional bath with herbs before enjoying dinner.

Overnight at Ky Son.

Day 4: Ky Son – Duong Lam village – Ky Son (B, L, D)

Wake up early to discover the traditional worship of Vietnamese honoring their ancestors with morning rituals.

After breakfast, take a bike ride through the rice fields to Duong Lam to explore an ancient, picturesque traditional village. Enjoy lunch in an authentic local ancient house. After lunch, visit Mia Pagoda with 287 Buddha statues then return to Ky Son by bike.

Enjoy the free time to relax in a breathtaking rustic environment for the afternoon!

Optional activity: working in rice fields planting rice or working with a water buffalo to plough the field, options are available only in certain seasons.

Overnight at Ky Son.

Day 5: Ky Son – Halong Bay (B, L, D)

Have an early breakfast then take the road transfer to Halong Bay. Arrive at the further side of the bay where you will be transferred on a tender to access the junk. Soon after you go through a brief safety instruction, lunch will be served and the boat cruises through hundreds of limestone towers in Bai Tu Long Bay to explore Thien Canh Son cave. Take time to enjoy the bay view from the boat sundeck. Partake in a cooking demonstration making some food before a lavish dinner is served.

Spend the night on boat.

Day 6: Bai Tu Long Bay (B, L, D)

Enjoy breakfast and the boat will move to the unique geology of Bai Tu Long Bay. Hop into a kayak and explore the hidden lagoons in the geological park. Enjoy a BBQ lunch on boat and sail around Cong Dam area for more opportunities for photos.

Overnight on board.

Day 7: Bai Tu Long Bay – Hanoi – Flight to Danang – Hoi An (B, L)

After breakfast and take a traditional boat to visit floating village of Vung Vieng to have a glimpse of the local life fishing in the bay. Return to the Halong Bay and enjoy lunch while the boat returns to the harbor.

Transfer to Hanoi airport for the flight to Danang. Transfer to Hoi An ancient town to check in the hotel.

Day 8: Hoi An – Local experience (B, L)

Start your day with cycling to Tra Que the organic vegetable village. The fresh herbs grown from this village are used to make Hoi An local delicious Cao Lau. Walk to the garden and learn some farming technique. Come to the kitchen for cooking class and enjoy lunch there.

Cycle to the river to take a boat ride on the Thu Bon river, on the way, meet the fishermen throwing the fishing net, you can learn to throw the net. Foe the last section, enjoy sitting in a basket boat to go through the water coconut forest.

Cycle to the hotel and finish the day full of experience.

Overnight in Hoi An.

Day 9: Hoi An city tour (B, L)

Discover Hoi An visiting its highlight destinations. Walk through the lantern streets to Chua Ong Pagoda which was built to honor the Chinese General. Follow the street to visit the Fujian Assembly Hall with the Jinshang Temple which is dedicated worshiping the Sea Goddess and the sea travelers’ Protector. In the other street, visit Tan Ky ancient house and the Japanese bridge, both were constructed during the 17th century. Today, both of the sites are the top visited and photographed monuments in Hoi An. Return to the hotel and the rest of the afternoon is for free at leisure or take an optional cooking class.

Optional activity: Cooking class. Please contact us for further details!

Day 10: Hoi An – Danang – Flight to Ho Chi Minh City (B)

Transfer to Danang to take the flight to Ho Chi Minh City. After arrival, take the remainder of the day for free time.

In the evening, enjoy an authentic show in Saigon Opera House! The A O show is a great combination of Vietnamese culture and new, modern presenting elements.

Using bamboo and traditional items, The A O narrates the lives of Vietnamese from older time to present, from rustic countryside to the modern streets of Saigon.

After the entertainment, dinner tonight will be served in one of the finest Saigon restaurant which is a short stroll away, through the boulevards of central Saigon, far from the hustle district 1.

Return to the hotel for a good night sleep.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 11: Ho Chi Minh city tour (B)

After breakfast, with the guide, visit some of the main spots of Saigon: the Central Post Office which was designed with inspiration from architect Gustave Eiffel, the Notre-Dame Cathedral. These two architectural gems were built between 1866 and 1886. Today, these two buildings become favorite backdrop for the wedding.

At the Reunification Palace, formerly known as the Independent Palace, see the gate where in 1975 a North Vietnamese tank crashed into and the war ended. Your visits also include the War Remnant Museum, where the presentations of photos, weapons are displayed. Some of the scenes are brutal and may hurt your emotions or upset your stomach.

Spend time to walk along Dong Khoi Street, or Rue Catinat in Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American”, pass the Saigon Opera House, a bomb shelter during the Second World War then a shelter for the French fleeing from northern Vietnam due to the 1954 agreement before returning to its root function as an Opera House.

The afternoon is free at leisure.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 12: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi tunnels – Ho Chi Minh City (B, L)

Today, you will crawl into Cu Chi Tunnels, the system of tunnels comprises of over 250 km in length and divided into three levels with the deepest one of 12m under the ground. Cu Chi was the living and fighting ground of over ten thousand people of Viet Cong who had lived and fought against the heavily armed South Vietnam Government and American Army during the ten thousand day bloody Vietnam War which killed over 58 thousand American soldiers and over 3 million Vietnamese.

Transfer back to Saigon and have free time in the afternoon.

Optional activities: Visit Dam Sen water park to join in the water fun with other Vietnamese kids.

Day 13: Ho Chi Minh City – Flight to Phu Quoc (B)

Enjoy breakfast and take the flight to Phu Quoc. Arrive Phu Quoc and be welcomed by the resort staff and transfer to the hotel on the hotel shuttle bus.

Overnight in Phu Quoc.

Day 14: Phu Quoc (B)

Free day in Phu Quoc.

Overnight in Phu Quoc.

Day 15: Phu Quoc – Snorkeling (B, L)

Start at 8:30 AM as you will be transferred to the port of An Thoi to take the boat transfer to Crystal Beach. After spending time in Crystal Beach, cruise to the island of Doigtet at Dam Ngang Island for swimming and snorkeling to see colorful coral reefs and tropic fish in the warm water.

Lunch with fresh seafood specialties will be served at the local restaurant on the island. Visit a traditional fishing village before going back to An Thoi port where you will be transferred to the hotel.

Overnight in Phu Quoc.

Day 16: Phu Quoc – Ho Chi Minh City – Departure (B)

Today, wave goodbye to the island, you will be transferred on the hotel shuttle van to the airport for the flight back to Ho Chi Minh City there you will connect onward flight for home country.

You might be interested in our Essence of Vietnam from South to North, otherwise look for other interesting options in our Vietnam multi-destination tours.