Vietnam Discovery tour is an easy discovery holiday in Vietnam for 12 days, 11 nights. The tour follows a less-traveled route from southern Vietnam to northern Vietnam via the Central Highlands with an in-depth look into the country natural beauty and culture.

Vietnam Discovery Tour Overview

We start every Monday at the southern Cosmopolitan of Saigon (officially Ho Chi Minh City) and have a day getting lost in the exotic life of the Mekong River Delta. Then our journey brings us to the hidden gem for beach vacations at Mui Ne where we have half a day relaxing on the fine white sand beach. We'll discover the mysterious Central Highlands from the romantic city of Da Lat to the serene coffee kingdom of Buon Ma Thuot where we'll have a tour of the sublime waterfalls.

We'll learn about the Central Region of Vietnam by touring the 2 World Heritage Sites of Hoi An Old Town and Hue Imperial Citadel. The discovery tour concludes in North Vietnam with the unreal beauty of Ha Long Bay and the atmospheric capital city Ha Noi with laid-back life style.

The tour has a leisurely pace while still optimizing your valuable time in Vietnam. The accommodations include 3 and 4-star luxury hotels of best value in each locale and with great amenities. Most meals are included for the convenience of touring, only some are left for our travelers the to try the local culinary delights.

Vietnam Discovery is an off-the-tourist-track discovery tour and with the best value for money service! Do not hesitate to contact our team should you need the tour to be customized to better meet your requirements. Our tour company is Vietnam based and our team has several decades of experience in operating private luxury holidays, discovery adventure trips and family tours in Vietnam.

 

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

{Inclusions
English-speaking guide as per itinerary: no guide for free-at-leisure days;
Twin/Double-shared accommodation as indicated in the program;
Private car for all airport transfers and tours as indicated in the program;
Airfares for the flights within Vietnam as per itinerary;
Private boat trip on the Mekong River (between Vinh Long – Cai Be) as in the program;
Private Twin/Double-shared cabin on a shared-junk cruise on Ha Long Bay as per itinerary;
Meals as indicated in the program ( B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner);
All admission fees during guided times in the program;
}
{Exclusions
Insurance of any types;
Visa arrangements;
Early check-ins and late check-outs: check-in time: 14:00 PM and check-out time is 11:00 A.M unless otherwise indicated by each hotel;
International airfares and airport taxes other than those mentioned as included above;
Drinks, laundry, bar or other personal expenses;
Others not clearly specified clearly in the inclusions;
}

Detailed itinerary

Day1 (Monday) Arrive in Saigon/Free at leisure (no meal)

Paradissa Travel driver and tour guide will meet you at the airport and escort you to your hotel. The rest of the day is free.
All meals are not included. You might have had a long flight and you may want to have time for refreshment or for your own discovery of the neighborhood around the hotel.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Notes: As we are not certain of your arrival time, no activities are planned today. We leave all meals out of the included services, too. Today itinerary can be personalized easily upon your request.

Day2 (Tuesday) Saigon – Cu Chi Tunnels – Saigon City Tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
Morning tour back in time to visit the unbelievable system of tunnels at Cu Chi which at the height stretched over 250km in length! Learn about some piece of Vietnamese history during the war.
Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon city tour of Saigon, vibrant and energetic as it has always been. We’ll visit: The War Remnants Museum, the Independence Palace, China Town and Ben Thanh Market.
Dinner cruise on the Saigon River.
Overnight in Saigon.

 

Day3 (Wednesday) Sai Gon - Cai Be (Tien Giang) - Vinh Long – Sai Gon (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
Today we’ll discover the exotic lifestyle of the communities who live on the mighty Mekong River. We travel through the heart of the verdant Mekong Delta to Cai Be for our boat trip to Vinh Long.

In Cai Be we will witness an exotic floating market with boats carrying loads of commodities for bartering. We can engage in the bargaining sessions with the local merchants for the fresh fruits of the region. Then we’ll move on to visit exotic occupations still carried out by the locals such as making dry young rice, making rice papers, making coconut candy. After that our tour brings us to an old house with traditional Vietnamese architecture and we’ll learn about agricultural works through the ancient tools used here in the past.

Lunch is served right in a bonsai garden amid trees and tranquility. After lunch, we’ll relax with some walking tours or cycling tours through the village to learn more about the local life. We’ll also sample a bonsai garden and visit a ceramics workshop before rejoining our car to travel back to Sai Gon.
Dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Sai Gon.

 

Day4 (Thursday) Sai Gon – Mui Ne Beach/Free at leisure (B)

Breakfast at the hotel.
08:00 A.M our driver and tour guide will call at your hotel for the trip to Phan Thiet – Mui Ne, a true paradise for beach holidays in Vietnam. The road trip offers spectacular scenery of green rubber plantations, green dragon fruit plantations, white sand beaches with swaying palm forests and red sand dunes. Arriving at Mui Ne in the afternoon, we'll check into our luxury resort and enjoy free time for the rest of the day. We’d like you to enjoy complete relaxation at your own pace: no activities planned; and lunch and dinner are not included.
Overnight at Phan Thiet Mui Ne.

Day5 (Friday) Mui Ne Beach – Da Lat/Lang Biang Tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
0800 A.M We continue our journey along the blue ocean through the arid South Central Region of Vietnam to Da Lat. The highlights on the way include: the impressive desert and sand dunes of Binh Thuan Province and the breathtaking views as we ascend the Di Linh Plateau and later the Lang Biang Plateau. You’ll notice the distinct landscapes between the lowlands and the highlands. Surely it gets cooler and you’ll be absolutely refreshed the moments you enter Da Lat – “The City of Eternal Spring”, or the “Honeymoon City”, or “Little Paris” as it is nicknamed.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon, visit the Lang Biang Mountain – the highest peak in Lam Dong (2,167m above sea level). Later proceed to your hotel and enjoy an easy check-in and time for refreshment.
Dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Da Lat.

Da Lat is a temperate climate city, famous for its scenic nature settings, the French Colonial Architecture, the pine hill forests dotted with lakes and waterfalls, ever-blossomed flowers and green vegetables. Da Lat is the destination for Vietnamese artists and honeymooners.

Day6 (Saturday) Da Lat – Buon Ma Thuot/Waterfall Tours (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
08:00 A.M Our tour guide and driver call at your hotel for the trip through the heart of the Central Highlands to Buon Ma Thuot City in Daklak Province, the capital of Vietnamese coffee. The drive offers some bucolic landscapes that you may like to take in with your camera.
Lunch at Buon Ma Thuot.

In the afternoon, have some relaxing time by the impressive waterfalls of Dak Lak: Dray Sap, Dray Nur and Gia Long. Travel back to Buon Ma Thuot later in the day. As the temperatures get lower and the air turns chilly and fresh, let’s sample the famed hot coffee of this mountain town by taking a short coffee tour with Paradissa’s team.
Dinner at the hotel.
Overnight at Buon Ma Thuot.

Day7 (Sunday) Buon Ma Thuot – Da Nang (VN1914: 0840-0940)/Hoi An Tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to Buon Ma Thuot Airport for your flight to Da Nang. Time to bid farewell to our local team and the cool air of the Highlands.
Arriving at Da Nang, welcomed by Paradissa’s tour guide and driver and transferred to Hoi An Old Town.
Lunch at a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, have a tour of Hoi An Old Town taking in: The Japanese covered Bridge, Old Merchant Houses, a Chinese Congregational Assembly and Hoi An Market. Our tour helps you to recall the old times when Hoi An was a busy trading port, full of merchants from around the world.

Your resort in Hoi An is a luxury property full of atmosphere and with great settings.
Dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight at Hoi An Old Town.

Fishing on the Thu Bon River at Hoi An

Day8 (Monday) Hoi An – Hai Van – Lang Co – Hue/Hue Citadel Tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.

0800 A.M Our team call back at your resort and we'll travel through the scenic countryside of the Central Region of Vietnam to Hue Imperial City. We stop at the Hai Van Pass which offers 360 degrees of breathtaking mountain and sea and the Lang Co Beach with fine white sand against the green mountain backdrop.

Arriving in Hue, have some time for refreshment and lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon, visit Hue Imperial Citadel which was home to the last Royal Court in Vietnam.
Overnight in Hue.

Hue was the capital city of Vietnam from 1802 - 1945. It is a charming imperial city with peaceful combination of the past and the present. The Perfume River bisects the city into the northern and southern parts. To the north is the ancient citadel surrounded by moats which was home to the royal court of Vietnam in the 19th century. Visiting the ancient citadel you can visit the Palace where the king lived, the quarter for the royal family and concubines, the royal library….The city is also famous for the royal tombs - the final resting place of the Nguyen Kings – unique in their architecture. Lots of damages during the war are still found in Hue.

Day9 (Tuesday) Hue – Hanoi (VN 240: 0830 – 0940)/Ha Noi City Tour (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
We check out of the hotel and travel to Hue Airport for the flight to Hanoi. Arriving at Ha Noi Airport, meet our our guide and travel to the city. Upon arrival at the city, we’ll tour the Temple of Literature and Ngoc Son Temple.
Lunch at a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, we have a tour of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (from outside), the Presidential Palace, the One-Pillar Pagoda and the West Lake. Then we go to our hotel and enjoy refreshment.
Dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Ha Noi.

The The Huc Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam

Our hotel is a boutique luxury property, full of atmosphere and located in right in the Old Quarters of Hanoi, which started as a commercial quarters of the royal capital in the 11th century. Late in the afternoon, you may like to take part in the hustle bustle of the Old Town full of atmosphere; early in the morning you may like to walk to the Hoan Kiem Lake for beholding locals practicing Tai Chi.

Day10 (Wednesday) Hanoi - Halong Bay Junk Cruise (B/L/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.
We start at 0800 A.M for the 3 hour trip (170 km) through the Red River Delta, which offers plenty of photo opportunities of Vietnamese farmers tilling the vast green paddy fields. At half way, we'll have a visit to a handicraft workshop with fine clothes, embroidered paintings, stone statuettes and all kinds of gems mined in Vietnam such as star rubies or sapphires... Our destination is the World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay. The bay offers some 3000 mountain islands and islets towering in the Gulf of Tonkin in the East Vietnam Sea.

Upon arrival, you'll be welcomed on board our luxury junk and treated with wine and fresh local seafood. As our junk cruising further into the tranquility of Ha Long Bay amid the towering mountain cliffs and on the emerald green water, you'll have relaxing time combining the fine taste of the wine and the freshness of Ha Long Bay. During the cruise, we'll stop for visiting the amazing Sung Sot cave and the Ti Tov white sand beach before anchoring for the night.
Overnight on board the junk in the wild of Ha Long Bay.

Day11 (Thursday) Ha Long Bay – Hanoi/Free at leisure (B/L)

Breakfast on board.
After breakfast, we'll take a little sampan to visit a secret lagoon of Ha Long Bay while the surrounding mountains are just waking up. After that our cruise takes us further into the Bay of Bai Tu Long travelling past the Human Head Island, the Turtle Island, and the Duck Islet... to the studio site where the famous Indochine film was shot.

After the last feast on board for lunch, our junk travels back to the harbor for disembarkation at 12.00 A.M. We rejoin our bus and travel our way back to Ha Noi. Upon arrival, we check into our hotel and enjoy free time to do you last shopping.
Overnight in Ha Noi.

Day12 (Friday) Depart Hanoi (B)

Breakfast at the hotel.
Enjoy free time at leisure until our driver comes back and transfers you to the airport for your departure. We trust you had a wonderful discovery tour of Vietnam with Paradissa Travel.