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Vietnam Highlights

Activity

Culture

Overview

The best of Vietnam, cherry-picked to showcase the heart and soul of the nation in just over a week

Vietnam, a land of countless adventures. If you’ve only got a week, this highlights-packed trip gets to the heart and soul of the country with authentic experiences chosen by our local experts. Under the guidance of our local tour leader, you’ll explore Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An, cruise among the incredible limestone peaks of Ha Long Bay, and, of course, tuck into the world-famous street food. Better yet, the itinerary normally connects with other Southeast Asia trips we run, allowing you to continue your adventure across the borders.

Key Information

Trip Code: AOY
Ways to Travel: Guided Group
Countries: Vietnam
Carbon Footprint: 64.4kg CO2e per person per day

What's Included

All breakfasts, three lunches and two dinners
All accommodation
All transport and listed activities
Tour leader throughout
Arrival and departure transfers

Highlights

Capture the essence of Vietnam, visiting must-see sites and meeting the people
Tour the highlights of Hanoi with your expert tour leader
Stay on a traditional junk boat among the otherworldly peaks of Ha Long Bay
Uncover the life of a Nguyễn ruler in Hue’s Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City
Explore Hoi An, a living museum and the original European trading port in Vietnam
Discover the secrets of Vietnamese cuisine in a locally led cooking class

Itinerary

First Destination: Hanoi
Next Destination: Hoi An

Meals included:Dinner

Meals included:Breakfast

Meals included:Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch

Meals included:Breakfast

Meals included:Breakfast, Lunch

Meals included:Breakfast

Meals included:Breakfast, Lunch

Meals included:Breakfast

First Destination: Hanoi
Next Destination: Hoi An

Begin your adventure in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, where street food reigns supreme and the history of the city can be read in the architecture.

You’re met at the airport and transferred to the hotel. Around 6pm, say xin chào to your tour leader and fellow travellers, when we gather as a group for the first time to get to know each other and learn more about the adventures ahead.

Your tour leader then ensures a big Vietnamese welcome by arranging dinner at a great local restaurant.

Want to explore Hanoi further? Secure pre-tour hotel nights through your sales representative.

Accommodation: Minasi Premium Hotel (or similar)

Meals included:Dinner

Explore the best of Hanoi after breakfast, travelling by minibus with some walking involved.

Guided by our tour leader, we visit the Temple of Literature (built in 1070, it’s home to the first university in Vietnam) and walk around the atmospheric Old Quarter. We also visit the historic Long Bien Bridge and Station, where we enjoy a drink in a repurposed railway building as the trains roll just past us. The rest of the day is free to enjoy at leisure.

Accommodation: Minasi Premium Hotel (or similar)

Meals included:Breakfast

Visit an icon of Vietnam today: Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage site where some 3,000 limestone peaks break through emerald waters to create a mystical landscape. To get there, we rise early for the approximately four-hour drive; upon arrival, board a traditional junk sailing boat, which is also our home for tonight.

After launching, we enjoy a seafood lunch on deck and drift among the forested pinnacles. We also stop at a beach where we can hike up to a viewpoint (it’s quite steep but the views are worth it), plus there’s time for a swim in a small sectioned-off area. Additionally, an optional kayaking trip (extra cost) may be available depending on weather conditions.

Back on board, pull up a chair on the top deck and watch the sunset together, perhaps with a cold drink from the bar. When it’s time for bed, we have the comforts of twin-share cabins with private bathrooms.

Accommodation: Overnight boat

Meals included:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Continue to cruise around Ha Long Bay, admiring those limestone pinnacles, before returning to port mid-morning.

We then have a three to four-hour drive to Hanoi Airport, where we check in for our afternoon flight (approximately 1hr 15min) to Hue.

Upon arrival, we check into our centrally located hotel and have the evening free to relax or wander around Hue.

Accommodation: Cherish Hotel (or similar)

Meals included:Breakfast

Visit the Imperial Citadel this morning, home to the palaces and halls of the Mandarins, plus the remains of the Forbidden Purple City. Then visit the tomb of Tu Duc, one of the most extravagant mausoleums of the great Nguyen emperors.

After the tour, we head to the historic An Nhien Garden, which has been owned by the same family for 22 generations, to enjoy a delicious plant-based lunch. The restaurant has a well-deserved reputation for creativity and excellent service, making it a highlight for many.

After, enjoy the rest of the day at leisure. You may want to join an optional afternoon cruise along the Perfume River, admiring the historic sites of the city, as you listen to traditional Hue music.

Accommodation: Cherish Hotel (or similar)

Meals included:Breakfast, Lunch

Leaving Hue, our 81mi (130km) drive passes through the beautiful Lang Co peninsula, between a crystalline lagoon and the Eastern Sea, and then passes over the Hai Van pass (Pass of the Ocean Clouds) where the views are stunning. We stop for a short climb at Marble Mountain to explore large caves used by the Viet Cong as a hospital base during the war. From the mountain peak, there are fantastic views over My Khe beach and the countryside leading to Hoi An, where we spend the final two nights of the tour.

Arriving in Hoi An, we enjoy a walking tour of the Old Town, the original European trading port in Vietnam. It’s now a living museum with wooden merchants’ houses and pagoda-style temples. It is also a marvellous place to wander and enjoy the thriving riverside market and great silk clothes shopping.

After, explore Hoi An at leisure or join an optional tour to the 10^th-century Ba Le Well for lunch.

Accommodation: My Son Boutique Hotel & Spa (or similar)

Meals included:Breakfast

Head to Tra Que after breakfast, an agricultural village on the outskirts of Hoi An. Here, the villagers adopted a community-based approach to tourism, in which visitors are invited to engage in hands-on activities.

We enjoy one of those today, taking part in a cooking class led by a local chef in the village’s extensive herb gardens. After, we eat our creations for lunch!

The rest of the day is yours to enjoy at leisure, before you tour leader organises our final meal of the trip, a chance to relive our favourite moments together.

Accommodation: My Son Boutique Hotel & Spa (or similar)

Meals included:Breakfast, Lunch

The trip ends today after breakfast and there’s a free transfer for you to the airport. If you’d like to extend your adventure, speak to your sales representative about booking an idyllic wellness retreat on the beach or joining one of our other adventures in Southeast Asia, perhaps Discover Laos in Comfort or Treasures of Northern Thailand.

Meals included:Breakfast

Dates & Prices

Skip the hassle: We’ll handle your trip from start to finish, with competitive flight prices, deposit-only payments, and full ATOL protection available.

Call us on 0203 733 5948

Your Group, Your Adventure

Want to choose your travel companions? Gather your family and friends and let us create a Private Adventure just for you.

View Details

Accommodation

Hotels and Ha Long Bay boat cruise

We aim to secure locally owned accommodation that is well located, offers good value for money, and plenty of comfort. To help you find your ideal adventure, each trip is given a Comfort Level rating, which indicates the overall standard of accommodation. For more on our ratings, see our Comfort Level guidelines.

Ha Long Bay: Overnight junk boat (night 3)

Board an authentic junk boat to cruise among the magnificent limestone karsts of Ha Long Bay. Each of the twin-share cabins has air conditioning and a window out to sea, while the boat has a rooftop deck with chairs – this is where our groups tend to gather for views over the bay. There’s also a dining room with glass windows so we can continue to admire this extraordinary landscape during lunch and dinner.

Tailor your trip: Extend your adventure by securing extra hotel nights before or after the main itinerary. Speak to your sales representative to book.

Private rooms: Like most tour operators, we room solo passengers together. If you’d prefer to have a private room, it’s normally possible to do this for a supplement. The single supplement is valid for six nights of the tour (not valid for the one night on the Ha Long Bay boat). Speak to your sales representative to book.

Extend Your Trip

Exclusive Add-ons

Mekong Delta Add-on Tour

Venture deep into the Mekong Delta, where traditional life is still shaped by the ebb and flow of the waters. This immersive adventure takes you straight to the soul of the Delta: drift along the canals on a sampan fishing boat, meet skilled silk weavers, scale the sacred Sam Mountain for sunset views, and witness traditional life in action at Long Xuyên floating market. Along the way, and with the help of your expert tour leader, you’ll also share meaningful interactions with the local people, encounters no guidebook could arrange.

The detailed itinerary is here, or speak to your sales representative for more details.

Essential Information

This trip is rated Activity Level 2 (Easy & Moderate). For more information on our trip gradings, visit the Activity Level Guidelines page. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip, please contact us.

Travel: We travel by private minibus and take one internal flight. There are some long travelling days, which can be tiring.

Climate: The weather can be hot and humid and cold in winter in the north around Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.

E-cigarettes and vapes: These are banned in Vietnam with strict penalties, including large fines and imprisonment – we strongly recommend you do not bring these with you.

Key information

Start hotel: Minasi Premium Hotel, 61 Ngo Hue, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi
Phone: +84 24 3205 7227
Recommended arrival time: You can arrive at any time today. There is a welcome briefing around 6pm
Airport: Hanoi Airport (HAN)

Getting to the start hotel

We provide free transfers to the start hotel from the airport for everyone. If you would like further information on joining this trip, please speak to your sales representative.

Catching your return flight

We provide free departure transfers for everyone to Da Nang International Airport (DAD) from the end hotel.

Please note, unless specified otherwise, the transfers will be to the start (or pre-tour) hotel and from the end (or post-tour) hotel and will be on the date on which the tour starts/ends; transfers to other hotels in the same city and/or on different dates may attract an extra charge. Transfers should be booked with your sales representative at least two weeks before the tour starts.

Vietnam

UK passport holders normally do not need a visa to enter Vietnam for visits up to 45 days, while those with a US or Irish passport normally do need a visa to enter. Visa requirements for EU citizens vary by country.

Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/vietnam
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/vietnam
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/vietnam
• USA:  www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Vietnam.html

Thanks to the tropical climate, the long coast and mountain ranges, Vietnam is blessed with a variety of culinary offerings and maintains a reputation as one of the healthiest cuisines in the world that still packs a punch.

Vietnamese food relies on fresh fish, vegetables, rice and a myriad of verdant herbs and spices. Also seek out the national drinks: Vietnamese coffee is served iced and sweet with condensed milk, and beer hoi (local beer, brewed daily) is served on most street corners in the north out of large plastic jugs that are perfect for sharing.

Food is cheap in Vietnam, and you can generally avoid the spicier food if you wish. Western food is readily available almost everywhere.

Vegetarian food is widely available; however, the offering is fairly similar in most places. Please advise at time of booking if you have any dietary requirements.

The weather is mostly hot and humid with daytime temperatures of 28C-34C (82F-93F). It is only a little cooler at nights. Hanoi is cool from August to October and even gets chilly between November and February (with drizzly rain).

Please note, the Ha Long Bay boat trip can be subject to short-notice change if certain adverse weather conditions develop. These could occur year-round, but especially in monsoon season (October-April). Ha Long Bay boat trips are governed by local authorities. If your Ha Long Bay trip is affected by adverse weather, this could either result in a reduced excursion on Ha Long Bay or, less likely, the need to re-arrange the itinerary. While this is not a frequent occurrence, our local team are well equipped to handle such situations and have long offered appropriate options to groups in the instances where this may occur.

As a certified B Corp, we’re on a mission to improve our social and environmental impact across all our adventures.

We do this through our innovative Thriving Nature, Thriving People plan.

This ‘nature positive’ approach is designed to help nature and communities thrive in harmony through practical solutions, such as reducing carbon and waste on our trips, supporting conservation projects through the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, and rewilding 100 square metres for every Exodus traveller.

You’ll also find Thriving Nature, Thriving People moments across our trips. These experiences are often a highlight of your adventure, while also benefiting the natural world or local communities.

On this trip, we:

Visit the agricultural village of Tra on the outskirts of Hoi An for a community-based cooking class, supporting local livelihoods through hands-on tourism in village herb gardens.

In addition, we support primate conservation in Vietnam through our Foundation’s Primate Survival Project.

Reviews

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Vietnam Highlights

Activity Level

Comfort Level

Activity

Overview

The best of Vietnam, cherry-picked to showcase the heart and soul of the nation in just over a week

Key Information

What's Included

Highlights

Itinerary

Dates & Prices

Skip the hassle: We’ll handle your trip from start to finish, with competitive flight prices, deposit-only payments, and full ATOL protection available.

Your Group, Your Adventure

Accommodation

Hotels and Ha Long Bay boat cruise

Extend Your Trip

Mekong Delta Add-on Tour

Essential Information

Key information

Getting to the start hotel

Catching your return flight

Vietnam

Reviews

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Discover Laos in Comfort

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Vietnam Highlights

Activity Level

Comfort Level

Activity

Overview

The best of Vietnam, cherry-picked to showcase the heart and soul of the nation in just over a week

Key Information

What's Included

Highlights

Itinerary

Dates & Prices

Skip the hassle: We’ll handle your trip from start to finish, with competitive flight prices, deposit-only payments, and full ATOL protection available.

Your Group, Your Adventure

Accommodation

Hotels and Ha Long Bay boat cruise

Extend Your Trip

Mekong Delta Add-on Tour

Essential Information

Key information

Getting to the start hotel

Catching your return flight

Vietnam

Reviews

You may also like

Discover Laos in Comfort

Highlights of Northern Thailand

Vietnam & Cambodia Highlights

The Adventure Begins Here