21 - 29 December 2022

• 8 Nights / 9 Days
• Weather 15 - 22 C
• Fitness - Med - walk up to 5km a day
• Price Range - $$

Luang Prabang ~ Hanoi ~ Halong Bay ~ Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

 This tour starts in Luang Prabang and ends in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). These are your arrival and departure airports. 

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang (ຫລວງພະບາງ) slows your pulse and awakens your imagination with its combination of world-class comfort and spiritual nourishment. Sitting at the sacred confluence of the Mekong River and the Nam Khan (Khan River), nowhere else can lay claim to this Unesco-protected gem’s romance of 33 gilded wats, saffron-clad monks, faded Indochinese villas and exquisite fusion cuisine.

Over the last 25 years Luang Prabang has seen a flood of investment, with once-leprous French villas being revived as fabulous boutique hotels, and some of the best chefs in Southeast Asia moving in. The population has swollen, and yet still the peninsula remains as sleepy and friendly as a village, as if time has stood still here.

Beyond the evident history and heritage of the old French town are aquamarine waterfalls, sweet cafes, night markets, blissful massages, river cruises and outstanding natural beauty, the whole ensemble encircled by hazy green mountains.

Hanoi

Vietnam’s capital races to make up for time lost to the ravages of war and a government that as recently as the 1990s kept the outside world at bay. Its streets surge with scooters vying for right of way amid the din of constantly blaring horns, and all around layers of history reveal periods of French and Chinese occupation – offering a glimpse into the resilience of ambitious, proud Hanoians.

Negotiate a passage past the ubiquitous knock-off merchants and you’ll find the original streets of the Old Quarter. Defiant real-deal farmers hawk their wares, while city folk breakfast on noodles, practise t’ai chi at dawn or play chess with goateed grandfathers.

Dine on the wild and wonderful at every corner, sample market wares, uncover an evolving arts scene, then sleep soundly in luxury for very little cost. Meet the people, delve into the past and witness the awakening of a Hanoi on the move.

Halong Bay

Towering limestone pillars and tiny islets topped by forest rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1994, Halong Bay’s scatter of islands, dotted with wind- and wave-eroded grottoes, is a vision of ethereal beauty and, unsurprisingly, northern Vietnam’s number one-tourism hub.

Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is Vietnam at its most dizzying: a high-octane city of commerce and culture that has driven the country forward with its pulsating energy. A chaotic whirl, the city breathes life and vitality into all who settle here, and visitors cannot help but be hauled along for the ride.

From the finest of hotels to the cheapest of guesthouses, the classiest of restaurants to the tastiest of street stalls, the choicest of boutiques to the scrum of the markets, HCMC is a city of energy and discovery.

Wander through timeless alleys to incense-infused temples before negotiating chic designer malls beneath sleek 21st-century skyscrapers. The ghosts of the past live on in buildings that one generation ago witnessed a city in turmoil, but now the real beauty of the former Saigon’s urban collage is the seamless blending of these two worlds into one exciting mass.

Trip Highlights

• Christmas Eve Celebration Dinner in Hanoi
• Christmas present on Christmas morning! Please don't get up at 5am 😉
• Visit stunning Kuang Si Falls and take a dip if you are brave enough (note it will be cold)
• Private Baci Ceremony and dinner with local Laotian family
• Luang Prabang local fresh food market tour and cooking class
• Luang Prabang night market
• Zoom around Hanoi's Old Quarter on a rickshaw tour
• Visit Ho Chi Min Complex, Presidential Palace and Ho Chi Mins House on stilts in Hanoi
• Whilst in Hanoi we will also visit the house of a dedicated local artisan born from a family with traditions for a private solo water puppet show
• A day tour in Hanoi taking in the One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature and Ethnological Museum
• Overnight cruise on Halong Bay - Atmospheric and beautiful
• Ho Chi Min City Tour - just hit the highlights!
• Visit Binh Tay market- one of the biggest markets in Saigon
• Visit the beautiful Cao Dai temple near Ho Chi Min City. This religion was established in 1926 and combines Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism & Confucianism.