12 Days Cambodia & Vietnam With Beach Extension

After breakfast at hotel, we go out to visit the antique capital of Angkor Thom (12 century): the South Gate with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, the Bayon Temple, unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara, the Phimeanakas, the Royal Enclosure, the Elephants Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. Continue visit at Ta Prohm Temple, one of the area’s most beautiful temples. The temple of Ta Prohm was once used as a location in the famous Hollywood film Tomb Raider. Find a local restaurant for your own lunch.

Afternoon, visit to Angkor Wat, is a World Heritage Site since 1992, famous for its beauty and splendor. Angkor Wat features the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls and narrates stories from Hindu mythology. This evening, you may explore the Night Market by your own arrangement.

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap

After breakfast, we excursion to visit the floating village of Chong Khneas, located 10 kilometers south of Siem Reap. Take a traditional wooden boat for a ride on the Tonle Sap Lake, the "Great Lake" of Cambodia, one of the largest in Asia and flows into Tonle Sap River, joining the Mekong in Phnom Penh. We will see a fishermen's "floating village" with floating schools, floating police station, etc. It is same as a big village floating on the lake, and the "village" move from place to place following water levels and current, transfer back to hotel.

Afternoon, transfer to the airport for flight to Ha Noi. Upon arrival to Noi Bai International Airport, you will be picked up by tour guide and driver and then transfer to the hotel for check in

Meal: Breakfast.
Overnight at hotel in Hanoi

08:30 start a full day city tour beginning with Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, which contains a rich collection of audio-visual documentation and more than 15,000 artifacts including life-size traditional houses depicting all aspects of life, culture, customs and belief of the 54 ethnic groups of Viet Nam. Continue to the Temple of Literature, known as the first university of Vietnam built in 1070 by the Ly Dynasty to honor Confucius, sages and outstanding Vietnamese scholars. Lunch at Bun Cha Huong Lien restaurant

Afternoon, visit the Ho Chi Minh Complex which features the life of Ho Chi Minh, the nation’s founder. Explore Ba Dinh Square, an important point of pilgrimage for many Vietnamese, the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh Museum (outside) and the rural style Ho Chi Minh’s house on stilts where he lived and worked. Stop by one of Hanoi’s icons, the One Pillar Pagoda, built in the 11th Century in dedication to Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or Buddha of Compassion and reminiscent of a lotus blossom rising from a pond. Then visit Hoan Kiem Lake or “Returned Sword Lake” which originated from a legend of a sacred sword. On an islet in the lake, there locates Ngoc Son Temple which is accessible by a classically red painted wooden bridge.

Finish the day tour with a Vietnamese coffee at at HIDDEN GEM COFFE - a unique café hidden away in a small alley at the heart of the Old Quarter. With about 95% furniture and decorations made from recycled materials, the café’s owner wants to contribute a part in protecting the environment, raising the community awareness, as well as spreading the message of nature protection to everyone, especially the young. Using the principle of “reduce – reuse – recycle”, all the scraps were cleaned, cut, grafted, and painted to make tables, chairs, decorative lights, and drinking cups. The group can admire tables made from wheel, unique murals, and a colorful veranda made from 1,000 plastic bottles. They also have chance to create some items from waste by themselves.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch with Bun Cha Huong Lien
Overnight at hotel in Hanoi

Following breakfast leave Hanoi for a 2.5hour drive to Ha Long Bay including a 20-minutes stop on the way. Arrive at the jetty in Ha Long City towards noon and proceed with check-in formalities. Be welcomed onboard and have lunch will be served while cruising towards the bay itself. In the afternoon, enjoy some visits and/or activities (depending on each boat’s itinerary) or just spend some time relaxing on board. Towards the end of the day the boat sets anchor for the night among the karst formations. Dinner is served on board.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight on Ha Long cruise

Enjoy the fresh morning in the middle of the bay, the sun rises on Ha Long in the morning and breakfast is served (brunch on some boats) while the vessels cruise slowly through the magnificent rock formations and back towards port. Disembark and transfer back to Noi Bai International Airport for flight to Hue

Arrival Hue, our driver picks you up at the airport and transfer to hotel for check in.

Meal: Breakfast, Lunch (Or 1 brunch)
Overnight at hotel in Hue

Morning or afternoon meet our guide at your hotel to take a half day tour of Hue City, the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam for the 1802 - 1945 period and the last refuge of Vietnamese feudalism. Begin with Hue Capiltal Citadel, a well-known UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site which is a 520 ha fortress-like grand complex built in the early 1800s and featuring three enclosures separated by heavy ramparts namely Kinh Thanh Hue (Civic City) as the outer, Hoang Thanh (Royal City) as the middle and Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden City) as the inner.

Afternoon, you will take a dragon boat cruise along the Perfume River to enjoy the open view of the river and peaceful landscape along the river banks. On the way, visit Thien Mu pagoda, a historic temple, its iconic seven-story pagoda is regarded as the unofficial symbol of Hue city. It is also an active Buddhist monastery with its origins dating back to 1601. Then, our driver will take you to visit Minh Mang Tomb, where the 2nd Emperor of the Nguyen dynasty was buried. This majestic tomb is renowned for its architecture and sublime forest setting.

Afterward, you will trasfer you to Hoi An via Hai Van Pass with the air-conditioned vehicle. It takes 3-hour drive. Check in hotel in Hoi An and relax

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Hoi An

Morning meet our guide at your hotel and transfer about 40 km West of Hoi An to visit My Son Sanctuary, another UNESCO-recognized world heritage which was once a religious center of Cham people where royal ceremonies and burials were performed. The site now is a colony of partially ruined Hindu temples from the total of 70 constructed by Cham Kings between the 4th and the 14th Centuries in dedication to god Shiva. It is regarded one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is often compared with other temple heritages of Southeast Asia such as Angkor in Cambodia, Ayuthaya in Thailand or Borobudur in Java.

Afternoon discover the charm of Hoi An ancient town as a renowned World Heritage Site. Once a bustling maritime commercial port of Asia between 15th and 19th centuries, Hoi An is now a peaceful town of exceptionally well-preserved architecture, lifestyles and traditions. The town exemplifies a fascinating fusion of cultures between Vietnam and the outside world including China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Highlights for sightseeing include the town’s iconic 400-year-old Covered Bridge with a small temple attached to one side as a prominent example of Japanese architecture, the Museum of Trade Ceramics which is an elegant Vietnamese style wooden house built in 1858 showcasing antique ceramic artifacts, the 200-year-old Tan Ky House typifying an ancient Chinese merchant residence and Ong Temple built in 1653 by Chinese settlers to worship Guan Yu, an ancient Chinese general whose character stands for loyalty, bravery and justice.

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Hoi An

Breakfast at the hotel and then transfer to the airport for flight to Saigon.

Arrival Saigon, you will be picked up to transfer to the hotel for check-in. Our tour guide will help you check in hotel.

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Sai Gon

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and transfer about 75 km Northwest of downtown Ho Chi Minh City to visit the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, which were once a major underground hideout and resistance base of Viet Cong forces during the two wars against the French and the Americans. The tunnels, entirely hand-dug, formed a highly intricate network of interlinked multilevel passageways at times stretched as far as the Cambodian border and totaling over 120 km in length. Its complexity was beyond imagination containing meeting rooms, kitchens, wells, clinics, schools, depots, trenches and emergency exits all aimed for guerrilla warfare. The tunnels were deep and strong enough to withstand destructive bombings and self-contained enough to outlast prolonged sieges.

Afternoon, tour in Saigon starting first with Reunification Palace, which was formerly the South Vietnam President’s residence and symbol of the Southern Administration’s reign until end of April 1975. Next, stop at Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, a neo-Roman cathedral built over 130 years ago by the colonial French with materials entirely imported from Marseilles. Call in Saigon Central Post Office, a fine colonial building which was designed and built in the early 20th Century by the famous French architect Gustave Eiffel. Move on to Cho Lon or the city’s China Town where you will visit the Jade Emperor Temple (Phuoc Hai), a rare Taoist structure in Vietnam built in 1909 in dedication to the Lord of Heaven.

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Sai Gon

Morning, pickup at your hotel to transfer about 136 km to Vinh Long, a riverside town in the vast Mekong Delta, the world’s largest delta. Take a boat cruise to lively Cai Be floating market where sellers and buyers bargain and exchange goods from their boats. Proceed through a fascinating maze of shady canals to Hoa Binh Phuoc Island. Beautiful landscape of zigzag canals, lush vegetation, peaceful villages and activities of rural life will make you a delightful sight. There on the island, visit some local farmers’ homes, interact with warm-hearted hosts and learn about their trades of bonsai gardening, tile and ceramic production and rice paper and coconut candy making. A typical Vietnamese lunch at a local home will be arranged (by your expense)

Meal: Breakfast
Overnight at hotel in Sai Gon

This morning, our guide and driver will pick up and transfer to the Airport for departure

Meal: Breakfast