Vietnam > Hanoi > Tour

Day 1: Arrival Ha Noi

Arrival in Noi Bai Airport. Help from baggage handlers for transferring all luggage. Airport welcome: two young women wearing the traditional Vietnamese dress (Ao Dai) will give flowers to the ladies and well-wrapped rice alcohol bottles to the gentlemen. Orientation tour towards the capital of Vietnam, Ha Noi. The tour guide will collect all passports and will take care of all formalities for the check-in at the hotel. A welcome cocktail will be served and envelopes with keys will be delivered at the Bamboo Bar. Gift of the day: five postcards, stamps, map of Ha Noi in every room. Light meal at the hotel. Various sightseeing in Ha Noi: Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts, the One Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature and Hoan Kiem Lake. Dinner at Indochine Restaurant. Overnight in Ha Noi.

Day 2: Ha Noi - Dau Pagoda & But Thap Pagoda - Ha Noi

Breakfast at hotel. Gift of the day: conical hat for ladies and colonial straw hat for gentlemen. Leave for Dau Pagoda and But Thap (transfer by bicycle between the two pagodas). Visit an elementary school in Bac Ninh, the native land of folkloric songs (Quan Ho). The students will welcome you with these songs. Picnic lunch in a communal house where the patriarchs of the village will serve tea. Return to Hanoi. Free at leisure. Take a one-hour cyclo ride in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi. Evening water puppet show. Fine dinner at the Press Club Restaurant (or Ha Noi Club). Overnight in Ha Noi.

Day 3: Ha Noi - Ha Long Bay - Ha Noi

Breakfast at hotel. Gift of the day: silk kimono embroidered with designs of Ha Long Bay for each guest. Transfer to the Gia Lam Airport. Take a helicopter ride to Ha Long Bay. Ten minutes to gaze at the panoramic view of Ha Long Bay, this "eighth wonder of the world" that covers an area of 1,550 km square and composed of 3,000 limestone outcrops. Welcome display panel and cocktail on the most beautiful junk in Ha Long Bay. Fresh seafood lunch on board accompanied by champagne. Visit Ha Long Bay. Return to Ha Noi by helicopter. Enjoy some leisure time at the hotel swimming pool. Asian dinner at Emperor Restaurant. Overnight in Ha Noi.

Day 4: Ha Noi - Hoa Binh - Ha Noi

Breakfast at hotel. Excursion to Hoa Binh. Stop along the way to see: local market, tea plantation, conical-hatted farmers at work in the fields. Activities in a Muong village: Welcome display panel at the entrance of the village, local villagers will welcome guests to the beat of the gong (a traditional musical instrument of the ethnic minorities of Hoa Binh) and follow the group to the village football field as young Muong girls will perform the local Xenh Tien dance. A farming contest is organized for the members of the group: manioc planting or rice picking (depending on the season). "Nem Con", a game consisting of throwing a ball made of fabric through a circle surmounting a bamboo stick, is organized between the participants and the villagers. Lunch in local houses. Each house is decorated with a welcome banner in front of the house, mattresses and little square tables with tasting of the local rice wine sipped through bamboo straws. Gather on the football field where young girls from Hoa Binh will showcase the bamboo dance and present gifts to the participants at the end. Return to Ha Noi. Farewell dinner on a boat cruise in West Lake. Musicians will perform jazz songs. Overnight in Ha Noi.

Day 5: Ha Noi - Departure

Breakfast at hotel. Visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum before your departure. Transfer to airport. Formalities for international flight.