Day 1 – Arrival in Luang Prabang

Upon arrival in Luang Prabang, you’ll be met by your local guide and taken to your hotel, enjoying an overview of the city en route. The rest of the day, you are free to relax or explore Luang Prabang’s leafy neighborhoods at your leisure. Tonight, we recommend wandering through the night market for a fascinating introduction to Laotian craft and culture.

Meals on your own. Overnight at hotel.

Day 2 - Luang Prabang (B)

Our city tour full day begins after breakfast with a visit to the Royal Palace Museum, which hosts a range of interesting artifacts. We then enjoy a short-guided tour seeing the city’s oldest temple of Wat Sene and the magnificent Wat Xiengthong with its roofs sweeping low to the ground, which represents classical Laotian architecture. We then visit Wat Visoun, dating back to 1513 during the reign of King Wisunarat (Visoun), this is Luang Prabang’s oldest temple and was once home to the Prabang Buddhas. From there we stroll around to visit Wat Aham, which was once the residence of Sangkharat, the supreme head of Lao Buddhism.
In the afternoon, we will take a transfer to Ban Xangkhong, the Thai Lue village, which is famous for its arts and crafts. We also visit the nearby village of Ban Xienglek specializing in making the traditional Saa paper. We then come back to town and continue our visit to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre to learn about Laos’ many ethnic cultures. We then take a short walk around the small roads of city center, watching the life of local people, and visiting the traditional house of Heuan Chan, the Chantal wooden house dating back to 100 years old. Meals on your own. Overnight at hotel.

Day 3 - Luang Prabang (B)

Rise early to witness the morning alms, a sacred Laotian tradition where monks pass by collecting food and other items from townspeople. Then head to gorgeous Kuang Si Falls with your guide, where you can enjoy a picnic breakfast and take a swim in the pale turquoise waters.

Meals on your own. Overnight at hotel.

Day 4: Luang Prabang - Hanoi

After a free morning to go for a swim at your hotel pool or take a last walk through the market, transfer to the airport for your afternoon flight to Hanoi. The rest of the day is spent at leisure. Meals on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 5: Hanoi city tour (B)

You will experience a full-day tour of Vietnam’s capital city, including the Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, his traditional stilt house and the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature, also known as the “First University of Vietnam”.
In the afternoon, pay a visit to the Museum of Ethnology to learn about Vietnam’s diverse culture (54 ethnic groups in all).

After that, climb into a traditional cyclo for a tour of the city’s traditional 36 streets in the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake vicinity with ancient Ngoc Son Temple. Complete your experience of Hanoi in the early evening with a traditional water puppet show perhaps followed by a walk around Hoan Kiem lake.
In the early evening, enjoy water puppet show.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Note:
– Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is closed on Mondays and Fridays
– The Museum of Ethnology is closed on Mondays

Day 6: Hanoi – Halong Bay (B, L, D)

Leave Hanoi in the morning and head straight to Halong Bay, a stunning UNESCO World Heritage site with its 3,000 islands of towering limestone dotting the bay and Gulf of Tonkin. Upon arrival in Halong, you will board a beautiful boat for an overnight cruise in the bay with an excellent menu of fresh seafood.

Overnight on board

Day 7: Halong Bay – Hanoi – Da Nang – Hoi An (B)

Wake up early in the morning to enjoy the aquamarine waters of the bay at its best. After tea/coffee and pastries have been served, the boat will continue to cruise quietly through the spectacular limestone formations of Halong Bay. Enjoy this more isolated part of the bay’s spectacular and unique islands. Overland to Hanoi Airport where you take onward flight to Da Nang. Then transfer to Hoi An for overnight. 

Day 8: Hoi An (B)

After breakfast, you will depart the hotel for a discovery tour around Hoi An. Start with a boat ride to the mouth of Thu Bon river to enjoy the daily activities of the fishing people such as throwing a fishing net and trading their products. Your boat will then continue cruising for about half an hour to a fishing village where you will change to a smaller bamboo boat (a coracle) to discover a distinctive mangrove forest. This excursion will also give you a chance to admire skillful fishermen working in the forest.

You will head back to the main land in mid-morning and will then take a stroll through the small streets of the town to explore some of the two-century-old Chinese houses. Sites include the Japanese Bridge, the Chinese Temple, and Tan Ky trading house.

Then enjoy a cup of coffee or tea at Reaching Out – a special teashop where all the waiters and waitresses are deaf staff who are given a chance to have a self–reliant life and integrate into the community by being professionally trained to work there. It will be a peaceful moment for you to enjoy the silence and savor the taste of the coffee. Overnight in Hoi An.

Day 9: Hoi An – Da Nang – Saigon (B)

Transfer to Danang Airport to take the midday flight to Saigon. From the airport you will travel to the city to start your exploration of this dynamic metropolis. You will visit the historic sites including: the Old Post Office, the Notre Dame cathedral, Dong Khoi Street. You will be back at your hotel later in the afternoon. Meals on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 10: Mekong Delta (B, L)

Our one day cruise excursion starts at 8:00 am from the lobby of your hotel in Saigon with a drive to Ben Tre. While there, you can take a walk along the waterfront, lined with French era shops and houses, and you'll see plenty of coconuts being unloaded from boats for dispatch around the country. Then, jump on a boat for a couple of hours of cruising on the Mekong River. You will enjoy your delicious lunch at a local restaurant or on board. The excursion will end at around 4:00pm where the vehicle will await you for your transfer back to Saigon. Dinner is on your own. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 11: Saigon – Siem Reap (B)

Free at your leisure. Then board a flight to Siem Reap, gateway to the temples of Angkor. On arrival, your driver and guide will escort you to your boutique hotel on the outskirts of town. Meals on your own. Overnight at hotel.

Day 12 - Siem Reap (B)

Get an early start today to explore the evocative ruins of Ta Prohm. Engulfed by jungle vegetation, these temples are exceptionally mystically in the morning mists, when the site is still uncrowded. Continue to Angkor Wat to explore its wondrous temples and cultural significance with your private guide. Meals on your own. Overnight at hotel.

Day 13 - Siem Reap – Angkor Temples (B)

Your day will start with a visit to Angkor Wat, a World Heritage site with soaring towers and extraordinary reliefs. It is one of the most amazing man-made monuments in the world, erected in the 12^th century in honor of Vishnu. In the afternoon, leave for Banteay Srei where a most impressive jewel of Khmer art exists. Erected in the 10^th century, this small pink sandstone temple is known as the Citadel of Women. On the way back, visit the ancient Ta Prohm Monastery where immense branches have taken root in the stones – hence the nickname of the Jungle Temple. You will find some splendid sculptured devatas and a unique atmosphere.

In the afternoon, visit Angkor Thom (the Great City) beginning by the south gate and the famous Bayon of the 12^th and 13^th centuries, dedicated to Buddhism and composed of 54 gigantic towers featuring 216 smiling faces of Avalokitesvara. Then, visit the Elephant Terrace, which was used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience hall; and the raised Leper King Terrace, built in the 12^th century and which features many beautifully sculptured Apsaras. Later that day, go to The “Baray occidental”, a lake made in the 11^th century thanks to the construction of huge dams around it. It perfectly illustrates the magnitude of the work undertaken to irrigate the land around Angkor.

Day 14 - Depart for home (B,L)

In the morning, leave for Kompong Khleang. Here all the houses are on stilts offering an exceptional natural environment with breathtaking vistas of floodplains, rice fields and water views as far as the eye can see. After walking through the village and meeting the locals, travel by boat over the canals to a large lake where Vietnamese people live when they are displaced from their homes because of the seasons. Return to the village and have a picnic lunch in a villager’s home.

Transfer back to the airport for your onward flight. Ends of services.

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