Impression of Vietnam: 12 days from Ho Chi Minh City

Welcome to Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh) international airport
• You are welcomed by Impress Travel’s guide or driver then it takes about 30 minutes by vehicle to get into Ho Chi Minh city. (Notice: hotel official check-in is from 14:00, hotel early check-in is NOT included, and is subject to hotel availability and regulation; hotel early check-in can be available on request)
• Free and easy day
• Your arrangement for dinner on own payment
• Free time & overnight at hotel in central Ho Chi Minh city
Day Inclusions: Private A/C transfer, hotel accommodation

Your guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel. We will visit the following places of interest:

• The Reunification Palace: Here on April 30th, 1975 the Vietnam War officially ended when tank number 843 of the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates of what was, at the time the residence of the President of the Republic of Vietnam.
• War Remnants Museum: Formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes, this is a poignant display of the futility of war. Some of the black and white photography in the ‘Requiem’ exhibit is particularly touching, dedicated to both foreign and Vietnamese journalists and photographers who perished during the conflict. The courtyard outside contains the spoils of war, namely rusting jets, tanks and cannons captured from the American military machine.
• Notre Dame Cathedral and Old Post Office: Built between 1877 and 1883 this is one of the best examples of classical French colonial architecture. Remarkably every stone used in its creation was shipped from France to Vietnam. Her two 40m towers, topped with iron spires dominate the city’s skyline. The Old Post Office is another example of French colonial architecture and is also the country’s largest post office.
• Jade Emperor Pagoda: Built in 1909 in honor of the supreme Taoist god, this is one of the most spectacularly atmospheric temples in HCMC, stuffed with statues of phantasmal divinities and grotesque heroes. The pungent smoke of incense fills the air, obscuring the exquisite woodcarvings.
  After a few hours discovering the city, you will enjoy your lunch at a famous Phở restaurant (Vietnamese noodle soup) before we drive about 1,5 hours through the pleasant countryside before arriving at Bến Đình tunnels, Củ Chi. We may stop along the way for refreshments and toilet.
• Upon arrival, you’ll watch a brief of propaganda video, which explains how the tunnels were used to successfully defeat American military forces in combat.
• The tour continues and the guide explains some traps that were placed in the jungles of Việt Nam to either maim American soldiers or create panic amongst the ranks.
• From here, you can enter one of the tunnel entrances and crawl through the tunnels is a real experience to imagine how people could live there for an extended period!
• There is a shooting range where you can try to fire an automatic or semi-automatic weapons for a fee (this fee is not included)
• Take some rest at the end for a taste of Củ Chi boiled tapioca and thinking what humans are capable of when having to defend their home.
• We drive back to Hồ Chí Minh city and drop you to your hotel or some place in District 1 as your request. End of your tour.
  

***Please note that timing and itinerary are subject to change without notice. However, we will do everything we reasonably can to make sure everything goes according to plan.

Our guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel and drive around 2 hours to a local village by the Mekong River. We will stop on the way for refreshments and toilet.
• Upon arrival, we board a motor-boat and cruise along a vast network of canals and channels to enjoy wonderful views of the Mekong River.
• In your visits to some local cottage industries, you can see a coconut candy workshop, try some snake wine, learn how to make pop-rice, or witness the process of making rice paper.
• We move to one of the island, here we visit a tropical fruit garden, listen to Vietnamese traditional music, and slowly enjoy getting in touch with local life by taking a hand-rowing sampan.
• Lunch is served at a riverside restaurant with 5-course Vietnamese food.
• Drive to Cần Thơ, the capital city of Mekong Delta. Upon arrival, we check in to a rustic homestay. Take a rest and enjoy a peaceful time within the authentic village. Tonight, you will join a cooking class guided by your localhost and enjoy your wonderful dinner. Overnight in Cần Thơ.
Inclusions: breakfast, A/C land transfer, lunch, local English-speaking tour guide, entrance fee, boat trip, hotel

• Hotel breakfast
• At 8:00 am: Our driver will pick you up at your hotel in Hoi An and transfer to Hue city ( about 102 km to the North of Da nang, 130km from Hoi an)
• On the way from Da nang to Hue, the car will stop for you to visit some beautiful attraction such as:
• Hai Van pass – is an approximately 21 km long mountain pass on National Route 1A in Vietnam. It is the natural border of Thua Thien-Hue Province and Danang City, one of the most scenic hillside roads in Vietnam.
• Lang Co beach – With more than 10 km long white sand beach and blue sea water, Lang Co beach is an ideal place for relaxing, swimming and taking photos. From Hai Van pass, Lang Co beach is beautiful like a landscape picture that tourists travelling between Da nang and Hue cannot help stopping to admire
• At 11:00 a.m: Arrive in Hue. Here, the car will pick the tour guide up and he will say hello and follow you during the trip. With the Guide, you will transfer to visit a famous King’s tomb in Hue city, Khai Dinh tomb – a blend of Western and Eastern architecture.
• At 12:30 : Have Lunch at a local restaurant ( local food).
• At 1:30 p.m: Continue to visit the most famous site in Hue city. The Citadel – Located on the northern bank of the inspirational Perfume River. Hue Citadel was built on an area of over 500 ha, including the Citadel and the Forbidden City, known collectively as the Citadel. This is the administrative and the political center of Nguyen dynasty and the home of the king and the royal family. The Citadel has a unique art architecture and garden.
• At 3:00 p.m: After visiting the Citadel, you will have a chance to visit one of the most beautiful and famous pagoda in Hue. Thien Mu Pagoda – the oldest pagoda located on the bank of charming Perfume River in Hue city.
• At 4:00 p.m: Finish tour in Hue, the car takes you to hotel in Hue.
• Stay overnight in Hue.

 Inclusions: breakfast, A/C land transfer, lunch, local English-speaking tour guide, entrance fee, hotel, boat trip

• Hotel breakfast
• Free and easy time in the morning. Pick up and transfer to the airport for the flight from Hue to Hanoi.
• On your arrival in Hanoi, our driver will pick you up ad will transfer to the center of Hanoi.
• Free and easy time to discover Hanoi Old Quarter by yourself.
• Stay overnight in Hanoi

• 8.00 – 8.15:  We pick you up from your hotel, start visiting first place named Tran Quoc Pagoda, a Buddhist relic and national heritage lying on the West Lake.
• 9.00: Visit the Ho Chi Minh Complex, which includes Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum – the final resting place of the beloved national hero, Uncle Ho – and President Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house where he lived off and on from 1958 to 1969.
• 9.30: You’ll visit the One Pillar Pagoda, which is actually a group of structures that collectively make up a pagoda built over the water in the middle of a square lake.
  10.00: Departure on TUE, WED, THU, SAT, SUNDAY
  You’ll stop in at MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY. This superb museum showcases the depth of Vietnamese cultural diversity with an astounding collection of 15,000 artifacts gathered from throughout Vietnam. Maps, displays and dioramas are labelled in Vietnamese, French and English. Displays portray a typical village market, the making of comical hats and a Tay shamanic ceremony; videos show the real thing. You can also check out a traditional Black Thai house reconstructed in the museum. There’s also a centre for research and conservation where scientists from all over the world study traditional Vietnamese cultures (applied on TUE, WED, THU, SAT, SUNDAY).
• 12.30: You have lunch at a restaurant in the Old Quarter
• 13.30: Visit the Temple of literature, considering the first university of Viet Nam. The temple was first constructed in 1070 under King Ly Nhan Tong and dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars.
  Afterwards, you’ll visit Hoan Kiem Lake, the heart and soul of Hanoi, visit Ngoc Son Temple dedicated to Van Xuong Saint and Tran Hung Dao General Commander for his struggle against Mongolians.
• 15.30- 16.00: Come back your hotel. Hanoi City Tour 1 day ends
  Add some options: Enjoy Water Puppet Show from 15.30 to 16.15 or Electric Car or Cyclo around Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
• Come back your hotel at 17.00

• 07h30 – 8h00: Get picked up by our friendly guide then depart for Ninh Binh province
  09h15: Have a short break for 15 – 20 minutes to relax
  10h30: Visit Hoa Lư ancient capital of Vietnam between 968 and 1010. You have a chance to learn about Vietnamese history in the feudal system under Dinh, Le and Ly Dynasty
  11h45: Have buffet lunch in the restaurant with a lot of local foods such as goat meat, fried rice…
  Vegetarian foods are always available in the buffet lunch
  13h00: Visit Tam Coc by 1.5-hour bamboo boat.  During the boat trip, you will be surprised by the charming beauty here with paddy field, river, water, cloud, sky ,and stunning cave system. All make a masterpiece which Vietnamese people called “Ha Long Bay on land”
  14h30: Continue the tour with 45 minutes – cycling around the village to discover the life of local people.
  15h15: Get back to Limousine Bus then leave for Mua Cave (Dancing Cave). Walk up almost 500 steps, you can reach to the top of Lying Dragon Mountain & have an amazing panoramic view of Tam Coc from here
  16h30: Get on the bus to return to Hanoi
  18h30 – 19h00: Get dropped off at Hotel in Hanoi

• Breakfast at the hotel, check out
• Pick up at 07:30 from your hotel to travel to Halong Bay (distance 160km, a stop for a break time on half way for a refreshment).
• You enjoy the drive and sightseeing the peaceful country side scenery during the bus trip (4 hours), we arrive at the at Ha Long bay sea port at around noon time
• At 12.00 noon, you aboard the cruise, check in & enjoy a welcome drink while your cabin will be assigned.
• Check in your cabin and put your luggage in, relax and may do a short inspection tour by moving around the cruise to discover about the cruise’s architecture & design
• Relax, sightseeing and taking photographs before lunch is served.
• A sumptuous lunch with fresh seafood meal will be served while cruise slowly gliding out into the Halong bay.
• It’s a wonderful opportunity to admire thousands of islands and islets with magnificent caves and grottoes at the inside the islands, admiring sparkling stalactites and stalagmites like germs and listening to the legends of the Dragons and the land and sea scape in the area,
• You may enjoy extra activities organized on board (depends on each cruise’ program, such as visiting a floating village, going for kayaking (notice: extra activities subject to availability, kayaking fee is on own expense, can be available on request at Cruise’s reception)
• Relax on cruise during the happy hours or may join in a cooking demonstration, watching the sunset on Cruise.
• Dinner is served on cruise
• After dinner, free at leisure time to relax on Cruise and socialize with other guests or can join in some other evening activities such as squid fishing…,
• Overnight in your cabin on the Cruise.

Inclusion: Hotel breakfast, shuttle bus A/C transfer, local English speaking tour guide on Cruise only, entrance fee, cruise in Ha Long bay with full meals on board, water

• Early bird risers may be awarded a great chance to enjoy the sunrise and enjoy the amazingly peaceful breath-taking beauties of Ha Long Bay’s seascape in early morning.
• Refresh your body & soul with a Tai-chi martial art less on the   sundeck.
• Breakfast will be served
• You continue enjoy the sightseeing tour on the cruise until noon time, sightseeing, taking photographs & relax on board
• At about 09:30 – 10:00, pickup your luggage and check out your cabin while cruising returning to the boat pier.
• Lunch will be served on Cruise (or in restaurant in land in Halong city, depends on different cruise’s program)
• 11:30 am – Return to prier, and disembark the Cruise & say fare well to all crew member,
• Meet again the driver and the bus for another 4 driving back to Hanoi
• About 16:00 – Arrival back to Hanoi central city
• Stay overnight in Hanoi

• Enjoy your time at leisure.
• You will be transferred to the Ho Chi Minh city airport via your scheduled flight back home or continue seeing other cities in Vietnam.
• We hope you enjoyed your trip and see you again!