Flavour Of Vietnam

Name: Flavour Of Vietnam
Brand: Tour
Rating: 1 (0 reviews)

Departure point: Hanoi

Destinations: Hanoi, Halong Bay , Hanoi, Da Nang, Hoian , Huế City, Ho Chi Minh City, Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh City

Starts Hanoi

+ 5 Destinations Halong Bay , Hanoi...

Ends Ho Chi Minh City

No reviews 0 reviews

Trip overview

Treat yourself on this 11-days trip to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine and cultural highlights along the country. You will learn cooking secrets from a top chef in Hoi An, dine on freshly-caught seafood in Halong bay, sample local favorites from fresh markets, and dine at some of the top restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

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Trip Inclusion

* 10 nights in centrally located hotels as per detail itinerary in twin/double sharing room with daily breakfast.

* Daily tours and all meals as per itinerary with (B, L, D)

* Private A/C transfers & transportation on tour

* All sightseeing tickets as indicated in the itinerary

* English speaking tour guide on each location.

* Complimentary water & wet tissue on touring day

Trip Exclusions

* International & domestic flights

* Visa fees

* Personal Travel insurance

* Other personal expenses

* Tip & Gratuities

Thing To Carry

All passengers are limited to two (2) items of luggage each: One suitcase or backpack, with a maximum weight of 20kg and maximum size of 70 liters. One piece of hand luggage, with a maximum weight of 7kg.

It is advisable that you should pack light with some set of clothes, good walking shoes, camera. Light and easy dry clothes for summer wear, wind breaker for the Autumn and warm clothes in the for the Winter.

Cancellation Policy

Applied for Tour Reservation

Cancellation is made over 30 days before the departure date; there will be no charge for cancellation except the forfeiture of the deposit.
Cancellation from day 30 till 15 days before the departure date of the booking; 40% of the total sum per person will be charged.
Cancellation from day 14 till 7 days before the departure dates; 60% of the total amount per person will be charged.
Cancellation within 6 days before the departure date of booking or No show; the full amount will be charged. If, rather than cancel, you wish to transfer your booking to another person, we can arrange this subject to your instruction, and the transferee providing his or her full details, confirmation of acceptance of the terms of the contract, agreement to pay our costs incurred in making the transfer and any outstanding balance of the total price.

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Tour itinerary

Day 1: Hanoi Arrival – Hanoi After Dark By Vintage Vespa (D)

Upon arrival, independently collect your baggage and head to the arrival hall to meet your guide who will be holding a signboard with you name. Private transfer to your hotel. Take a rest to freshen up before stepping out for for your evening activity. Meet your guide in the lobby for Hanoi after dark by Vespa. Hanoi after dark is completely different with what you see on the daytime. The city now becomes a shimmering, colorful and exciting with night activities. You will be driven through the hustle and bustle of the city to a crowded street café to experience the local snacks. Continue on to popular hang outs, restaurants and bars while also catching glimpse of the Opera House, Long Bien bridge, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, and other Hanoi landmarks. Taste the local flavors of the city by trying various dishes. Try “banh mi”, a baguette filled with pate, mayonnaise, pickled green papaya and carrots. Additionally, look for “ banh xeo”. Commonly called a Vietnamese pancake, this dish consists of crispy rice –flakes crepe that has pork, shrimp and sprouts cooked into the middle. It is commonly served with large leaves of lettuce and fresh herbs so you can roll it together. Try “Bun cha”, one of Hanoi’s signature dishes – grilled pork combined with fish sauce, rice noodles, green papaya and fresh herbs. After touring, return to your hotel. Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 2: Hanoi Sightseeing – Home Cooking Experience (B/D)

Start our tour today with a visit to the highly acclaimed Vietnam Women’s Museum. The museum is located near Hoan Kiem Lake and offers wonderful insight into the lives of Vietnamese women. Displays highlight Vietnam’s vast cultural diversity and educate on the significant role Vietnamese women play in Vietnamese society. Learn historic and modern-day traditions centered around births, weddings, motherhood, spirituality and more. Then, explore the Temple of Literature. In 1076 Quoc Tu Giam - Vietnam's first university also referred to as Van Mieu, was established within a temple to educate Vietnam's royalty, mandarins and members of the elite. The university functioned for an incredible 700 years and its gardens and well-preserved architecture offer a fascinating glimpse into Vietnam’s past.

This evening’s experience will begin at 18:00. Drive through the bustling rush hour streets and escape into the narrow and quiet lanes. With the expertise of the guide, discover a hidden staircase that leads to an apartment block built after the liberation. Be welcomed into the home of a friendly local family with 3 generations living under the same roof. Enjoy a traditional dinner prepared by the host. After the meal, enjoy green tea to relax and chat more. Family members who return home after a hard-working day offer a great opening to find out about the family’s life today. Say the goodbyes and transfer back to the hotel. Overnight in Hanoi.

Notes: Specialty Vietnamese dishes will be cooked by the family, however vegetarian/non seafood requests will need to be given in advance.

Day 3: Hanoi – Halong Bay Overnight Cruise (B/L/D)

Following breakfast leave Hanoi for a 2.5 hrs drive to Halong Bay including a 20-minutes stop on the way. Arrive at the jetty in Halong City towards noon and proceed with check-in formalities. After a welcome onboard, 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. Tonight, enjoy a sumptuous diner on board. Overnight on Halong Bay.

Day 4: Halong Bay – Danang – Hoian (B/L)

Enjoy a fresh morning in the middle of the bay as your junk cruises through extraordinary shaped islands with evocative names such as Poem Mountain, Teapot island and Man’s head islet. The brunch will be served on board. At 10:00, disembark and meet your guide on the dock for your private transfer to the airport for taking a flight to Danang. Upon arrival, independently collect your luggage then head to the arrivals hall where your guide will be holding a signboard with your name on it. In Danang, take a short transfer to the hotel located in Hoi An. Check in to your hotel and enjoy your evening at leisure.

Suggested for dining experience in Hoian Old Town

Morning Glory: Situated in an elegant traditional style building in the heart of Hoi An’s old town, Morning Glory offers ‘Street Food’ on the ground floor of the restaurant featuring Hoi An specialty foods. The upstairs balcony is perfect as the views are excellent over the street. Secret garden is on one of the best addresses in Hoi An for traditional Vietnamese food. The location is in the middle of the old town down a hidden alley. Both the atmosphere and cuisine come highly recommended.

Mango Rooms: Located in the centre of Hoi An’s old town Mango Rooms serves original and creative cuisine that can only be described as Vietnam-Latin American-Japanese fusion. With a combination of refreshing flavours, beautiful presentations and a relaxing atmosphere Mango Rooms has one the heart of many loyal and happy customers.

Mango Mango: More experimental than its sister restaurant Mango Rooms and with stunning views over the Thu Bon River and the Japanese Bridge, the food at Mango Mango is exquisite and the fruit cocktails are to die for. Perfect for a pre dinner aperitif whilst watching the sun set over the Japanese Bridge.

Day 5: Hoian- A Day With Local Farmers (B/L)

Rice is a major staple in the diet of many Asian countries, especially in Vietnam. Today, go on a discovery of Vietnamese rice cultivation that is unbeknownst to most western tourists. Begin the journey with a short bicycle ride through rice paddies to the countryside (a vehicle can be arranged for those preferring not to cycle). Arrive at a farm and be warmly welcomed with tea by a local host. Take the chance to visit a typical local’s house while the guide explains the different steps of rice cultivation. Then, start the fun part of the tour. Because learning is way better with practice, you will experience learn the how to plough, rake, carry water into the rice field, sow, pull up the rice seedlings, transplant rice, etc. Prepare yourself for a unique experience, and try not to fall into the mud! Afterwards, return to the house and learn how to make pancakes. Additionally, learn how to cook rice in the traditional way. Enjoy lunch with the host family before riding back to the hotel. Free at leisure the rest of the afternoon. Overnight in Hoi An.

Note: this tour is non private and operated on a join in basis.

Day 6: Hoian Organic Farm Experience (B/L)

You will be picked up in the lobby for a short ride to the organic farm. Located about 3km from the Old Town centre, this quietly tucked away farm was established by an expert in nutrition and team based out of the love of food and local cuisine. Be greeted by the passionate team at the farm and start the experience today. Just like the varied landscape of Vietnam, the cuisine contains a brilliant balance of aromatics, heat, sweetness, sourness, and umami flavour from the use of fish-sauce. The cuisine is all about the balance between yin and yang; the sweet and salty, the cool and the warmth, the fresh and fermented. Follow the expert in nutrition and explore the farm while listening to inspiring stories about how to use food and vegetables for healthy living. Pick-up some ingredients before heading to the lovely kitchen to make dishes. There will be five dishes to learn to make, have a chance to get hands-on on making rice flour with the old stone grinder, rice paper with copper vessels and invent a personal organic juice recipe. Once ready, sit down and feast on a delicious meal of authentic local cuisine. Afterwards, discover Hoi An with a walking tour. Discover the charming, old-world trading port of narrow streets and traditional houses, former merchants’ homes, the town’s iconic 400-year old Japanese Covered Bridge and the colorful market where an array of fresh ingredients are on offer. End up your day with your leisurely cruise on the Thu Bon river. One of your stop will be Thanh Ha, a pottery village. Mainly made of clay, the majority of pottery produced is used for the village’s daily needs. These include flower vases, tea pots, wine bottles, water jars, kettles, cooking pots and ornamental home decorations. Return to the hotel. Overnight in Hoian.

Day 7: Hoian – Hue City (B/D)

Leave Hoian in the morning. Drive through Danang and visit the Cham Museum, which contains the finest collection of Cham sculptures in the world before crossing Hai Van pass. The pass offers the stunning views of bowl-shaped Danang Bay. The Pass forms the obvious boundary between North and South Vietnam. Stop over to see the fortifications built by the French and then later used by the South Vietnamese and the Americans before dropping down to the wonderfully photogenic fishing village of Lang Co. Tonight enjoy an exclusive private dinner at the lovely Tha Om garden house. A Hue “nha vuon” usually consists of a main and back entrance, and a small wall, rockwork and plants in the front yard and in the house itself. In the middle of the garden, a binh phong (brick wall) rises in front of the house, serving as a defense and protection of the altar in the main room of the house. The path leading around the wall from the entrance gate is lined with tea bushes or apricot trees. The typical house is made with a timber frame and roofed with brick tiles. The whole house stands on big pillars placed on a round or square stone base, which is sometimes decorated. The altar of the family’s ancestors occupies the central room. Overnight in Hue.

Day 8: Hue Imperial Citadel & Royal Mausoleums (B)

This morning, you will be picked up in the lobby for today oriented touring. Start at the Imperial Citadel where the Nguyen Dynasty ruled between 1802 and 1945. From here take a cyclo through the ‘Old City’ to Tinh Tam Lake where the Emperors used to come to relax; full of lotus flowers in summer there are many local style coffee shops around the lake where university students come to study.

Continue to visit Thien Mu (Celestial Lady) Pagoda overlooking the Perfume River. Constructed in 1601 the 21-metre tall tower is the centerpiece of the pagoda and represents seven reincarnations of Buddha. In the grounds of the pagoda is the Austin car made famous in 1963 when a resident monk drove the vehicle to what was then Saigon to protest against the southern regime. The photo of his self-immortalization was captured and is one of the most well-known images of the war. Next stop is the King Tombs of Tu Duc. Tu Duc was a beloved poet in the Nguyen Dynasty during the early 19th century. Then head to a workshop in the city and meet with an artisan who has integrated bamboo with traditional handicrafts to create revolution new art in Vietnam, that’s called Truc Chi art. Truc means bamboo and Chi means paper. Learn how the artisans use Truc Chi to create handicraft items with the cultural characteristics of Hue and get hands on creating a handicraft under their guidance. Be transferred back to your hotel. Overnight in Hue.

Day 9: Hue – Ho Chi Minh City (B)

Transfer to Hue’s Airport after breakfast for the short flight to dynamic Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon by the locals and proceed directly into touring. Start with a visit to the iconic Saigon Central Post Office built between 1886 and 1891. Based on the design of French architect Foulhoux, it is the creation of a unique vaulted ceiling with wrought iron beams and columns reminiscent of industrial architecture, which is now considered a symbol of Saigon and one of its most famous landmarks.

Walk along Dong Khoi street, formerly la rue Catinat and pay a visit to Gialong Palace – Ho Chi Minh City Museum for its beautiful architecture and listen to its history through times. Continue to ‘Le Loi Street’ to meet a local artisan who specialises in traditional engravings. Next, stroll through the old central market (Note: A vehicle will be available on disposal if needed.) before arriving at the city’s oldest colonial-era apartment, built in 1886, and see what the young creative Vietnamese are up to from their funky boutiques and coffee shops. Sit down at one of the stylish coffee shops and interact with a local resident who moved here in 1975. Leave the compound and have a look at the building on the other side, which used to be ‘Banque de l’Indochine’ (Indochina Bank) during the 1920s. It’s a stunning example of the ‘Indochinois’ east/west fusion style of architecture that this area is known for. After this last stop, head back to the hotel. The remainder of the day is at your leisure.

Suggested for dining experience:

SH Garden: A terrace restaurant located at the corner of two of the oldest boulevards of Saigon – Nguyen Hue and Le Loi. Established in the 1930s', SH Garden is a restaurant that reflects the romantic memories of an old Saigon. A variety of delicious traditional Vietnamese dishes are served in a nice and simple family style. To reach the restaurant, take an old and unique wooden elevator and arrive at a banana and lemongrass garden on the terrace.

Cuc Gach Quan: This ‘art’ style restaurant attracts a mostly Vietnamese clientele. Hidden on a quiet suburban street, Cuc Gach Quan serves traditional Vietnamese cuisine in a homely and atmospheric setting.

Hoa Tuc means opium flower and is a central venue located in the courtyard of the former opium refinery manufacture. Inside, the interior is art deco which combines black, purple and pastel colours. Hoa Tuc serves excellent, authentic Vietnamese cuisine and the outside courtyard is perfect for dinners.

Day 10: Ho Chi Minh City- Cu Chi Tunnel By Private Speed Boat (Optional) (B)

Be met with the guide for a morning discovery of Saigon, the habits of the local people and the significance of coffee drinking in Vietnamese culture. Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French in the late 19th century but the country quickly became a strong exporter as vast swathes of the highlands were given over to this important new cash crop. Start with a stroll through a buzzing local residential area and delve right into local life while browsing the street café, watching people enjoying their morning coffee, reading newspapers or chatting with each other. The locals usually drink coffee after having breakfast. Join in the typical daily routine by ordering ‘bun thit nuong’ consisting of fresh noodles topped with grilled pork at a eatery. Then head to Barista Saigon coffee studio. Meet with a certified barista, be introduced to Vietnamese specialty coffee and learn expert coffee brewing techniques. Choose from a variety of courses, focusing on espresso, latte art or professional ways to judge the quality of coffee.

Afterwards, take a short drive to the banks of the Saigon River. Board a private speed boat (Optional) for the scenic Cu Chi tunnels cruise. Gaze upon the modern skyline of the city as the boat cruises across the water. After 90 minutes arrive at Cu Chi and explore the incredible network of 200 km underground tunnels. Crawl underground and get a better sense of what life was like living and fighting in the labyrinth of caves and tunnels. Following the visit, return to the boat and relax while cruising back to the heart of Ho Chi Minh City.

Tonight, enjoy the show held in this beautiful colonial building, which is performed by a group of enthusiastic local artists and dancers. The hour long ‘AO show’ embraces different elements of performance art with a Vietnamese touch. This is an unforgettable show displaying the finest Vietnamese heritage and culture through contemporary choreography and traditional music. Be amazed by the stunning blend of acrobatic acts, contemporary dance and cirque approach. The evening ends with a stroll back to the hotel accompanied by the guide. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Important Note:

Performances of the ‘AO Show’ are usually scheduled 4-5 nights per week, so please check with our travel consultant for the show’s current schedule. On some evenings an alternate performance by the same group, titled ‘The Mist’ will be held instead. The Mist is focused more on contemporary dance aspects and less on the cirque aspects of the AO Show.

Day 11: Departure (B)

Enjoy your free time in Saigon and then be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.