Vietnam Express, a luxury tour of Vietnam with classic itinerary, engages our travellers into an experience of authentic Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi for 10 days, 9 nights. The tour is completely handled by an experienced Vietnam-based tour operator with knowledgeable tour guides.
Vietnam Tour Overview
The pace of the tour is easy. Our destinations are the major tourist highlights of Vietnam including 3 World Heritage Sites. The photos displayed on our website are all candid ones taken by Paradissa's travel team on our trips in the country in decades!
The tour activities include: hands-on cooking class, fine-dining dinner cruising, culture-exploring, history-touring, walking, river cruising, sea junk cruising. Paradissa's selection of accommodations include luxury 4 star standard hotels and resorts which are centrally located at each city. Some of the meals are included for our travellers to sample the typical cuisine of each region of Vietnam.
Our local tour guide at each city provides the travellers with first hand and in-depth knowledge of his/her hometown. For a group of more than 10 people, we’ll have a tour guide taking care of the group throughout Viet Nam.
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
Hotels: 4* hotel in Sai Gon, Hoi An, Hue and Ha Noi.
{Inclusions
English-speaking guide;
Transportation + air tickets within Vietnam as indicated on the tour program;
Private cabin on a shared-junk cruise on Ha Long Bay;
Tourist boats for cruise on the Perfume River in Hue as indicated on the tour program;
Accommodation on twin-shared basis as indicated on the tour program;
Meals as indicated on the tour program: B= Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner;
All admission fees during the guided times as indicated on the tour program;}
{Exclusions
Insurance of any types;
International airfares and airport taxes;
Drinks or personal expenses;
Others not clearly specified in the inclusions}
Detailed itinerary
Day1 ( Friday ) Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (Dinner cruise)
Paradissa Travel driver and tour guide will meet you at the airport and escort you to your hotel, which is a luxury property in the heart of the business district of Saigon. The rest of the day is free. In the evening, we’ll head out for a fine-dining dinner cruise on the Saigon River.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.
Day2 ( Saturday ) Ho Chi Minh City - Cu Chi Tunnels - Ho Chi Minh City (B/L)
Breakfast at the hotel.
Travel for 70 km to Cu Chi once famous for the legendary tunnel system which at the height stretched over 250 km. In Cu Chi, you will have to tour these tunnels of 3 levels yourself by crawling in the narrow tunnels. We’ll be surprised to find out how people made these tunnels and how life of the local people was during the Second Indochina War. After exploring Cu Chi Tunnel, we travel back to Sai Gon and enjoy free time at leisure. Lunch at a local restaurant and dinner is on our own.
Overnight in Saigon.
Day3 ( Sunday ) Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang - Hoi An (VN 324: 1120 - 1230) (B/L/D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
You have free time at leisure until Paradis sa tour guide and driver call at your hotel and transfer you back to the airport for the flight to Da Nang. Arriving at Da Nang Airport, meet our local tour guide and travel to Hoi An Old Town. We’ll tour the Marble Mountains en route.
The Marble Mountains are 5 mountains which represent the 5 Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. There are caves and Buddhist pagodas built into caves visited by the local pilgrims. Right close to the Marble Mountains are the Stone-Carving Village and the famous Non Nuoc Beach which served as an R&R base for US Servicemen and war reporters in the past.
Lunch is at a local restaurant in Da Nang.
Arriving in Hoi An, we’ll have an oriented walking tour of Hoi An ancient town which was busy with trade back a few centuries ago. Walking in the narrow streets flanked by old merchant houses we can imagine the hustling and bustling time when the town was filled up with merchants and goods from around the world. We’ll visit some old merchant houses, a Chinese Congregational Hall, Hoi An Museum, and the famous Japanese covered-bridge. Dinner is at local restaurant in the heart of the Old Town.
Overnight in Hoi An.
Day4 ( Monday ) Hoi An Cooking Class/Free Afternoon (B)
Breakfast at the hotel.
0800 A.M Start at our meeting cafe and proceed to a local market for acquiring the cooking materials. Then, if weather permitting, have a boat trip to the cooking school. At the class, well-known dishes of Vietnamese cuisine are introduced, and our chef provides demonstrations on the dishes that we learn today. After that, we make the dishes ourselves and have the pleasure of trying our own cooked food in the end. We also have brief demonstrations on Vietnamese-styled food decorations. Transfer back to town concluding our cooking class tour.
Have free time in the afternoon.
Overnight in Hoi An.
Day5 ( Tuesday ) Hoi An - Hue (B/L/D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
We check out of the hotel in the morning. Our journey brings us through the scenic countryside of the Central Region of Vietnam to Hue Imperial City. We’ll stop at the Lang Co Beach with fine white sand beaches against the green mountain backdrop and the Hai Van Pass which offers 360 degrees of breathtaking mountain and sea.
Arriving in Hue, we’ll tour Hue Imperial Citadel and the Dong Ba exotic market on the Perfume River Bank. Lunch is at a local restaurant with Hue fine cuisine. Dinner is with sensational royal cuisine of Hue. For Hue, Paradissa has selected a boutique luxury riverside hotel and with convenient location for your touring of Hue.
Overnight in Hue.
A weathered gate inside Hue Imperial City
Each of the royal tombs was designed by the king himself and the architecture of each tomb shows a lot about the king and the context of Vietnam at the time. Many tombs were constructed, completed and used by the king when they were still in reign. The royal tombs of Hue are definitely the fine pieces of arts.
Hue was the capital city of Vietnam from 1802 - 1945. Hue is a charming imperial city with combination of the young and the old. 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….Lots of damages during the war are still found here though. To the south is where hotels and fine dining restaurants are located.
Hue is no doubt the city of harmony with the encircling green mountains, the meandering rivers, the architecture nestled in trees….Everything of Hue seems to be just in the right place and in perfect harmony. To the western side of the city is where the royal tombs are found. The Vietnamese kings thought that the west is the direction of sunset and permanent rest. That was why they built different royal tombs in the western part of Hue city. Here the kings would rest permanently in complete peace and tranquility.
Each of the royal tombs was designed by the king himself and the architecture of each tomb shows a lot about the king and the context of Vietnam at the time. Many tombs were constructed, completed and used by the king when they were still in reign. The royal tombs of Hue are definitely the fine pieces of arts.
Day6 ( Wednesday ) Hue (B/L/Dinner Cruise)
Breakfast at the hotel.
We start with a cruise on the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda, then we’ll explore by bus the royal tombs of King Tu Duc, King Khai Dinh and King Minh Mang. We’ll also visit the tranquil Tu Hieu Pagoda and the Royal Arena.
Lunch is at a local restaurant and fine-dining dinner cruise on the Perfume River.
Overnight in Hue.
Day7 ( Thursday ) Hue - Ha Noi (VN 240: 0830 - 0940) (B/L/D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
We check out of the hotel and travel to Hue Airport for the flight to Ha Noi. Arriving at Ha Noi Airport, meet Paradissa tour guide at the airport and travel to the city. Upon arrival at the city, we’ll tour the Temple of Literature, Ngoc Son Temple and the Old Quarter.
Our lunch is at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon, we’ll have a tour of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (from outside), the Presidential Palace, the One-Pillar Pagoda. Then we’ll travel to our hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at our own pace. Dinner is at a local restaurant with charming colonial atmosphere.
Overnight in Ha Noi.
The The Huc Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam
Day8 ( Friday ) Ha Noi - Ha Long Bay Junk Cruise (B/L/D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
We start at 9.00 A.M for the 3 hour road 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 starts 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.
Day9 ( Saturday ) Ha Long Bay - Ha Noi (B/L/D)
After breakfast on board, 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 delectable 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. Our group farewell dinner is at a local restaurant.
Overnight in Ha Noi.
Day10 ( Sunday ) Depart Ha Noi (B)
Breakfast at the hotel.
Our driver and tour guide will call at your hotel again and transfer you to the airport for your departure flight. Time to bid farewell to the country of sweet smiles. We trust you had a wonderful vacation in Vietnam with Paradissa Travel.
