10-Day Vietnam Highlights Tour: Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi

A driver is waiting at Tan Son Nhat International Airport with your name on a board and takes you straight to your hotel on a private transfer. The rest of the afternoon and evening are open: rest off the flight, or walk out into the traffic and the street kitchens and let the city introduce itself.

Breakfast at the hotel, then the whole day is yours. Walk the city on your own schedule, or take one of the optional guided tours: a half day around the Independence Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and the War Remnants Museum, or a full day at the Cu Chi Tunnels that includes traditional cassava tea and lunch and returns to the hotel around 7:00 PM.

After breakfast you drive to My Tho. First stop is Vinh Trang Pagoda, then a traditional sampan carries you between the river islands while you taste tropical fruit and listen to folk music played live on the boat. A coconut candy workshop and a honeybee farm come before lunch. The afternoon is your choice: a bicycle ride through Tan Thanh village, or a hammock. You are back in Ho Chi Minh City by about 5:30 PM.

The morning is unhurried. A driver takes you to the airport for a short domestic flight to Da Nang, where a second driver meets you for the coastal drive to Hoi An. Check in, then spend the evening walking the old town while the silk lanterns come on.

A small group tour starts at 8:30 AM in a local market, where you pick the ingredients you will cook later. From there you go to Cam Thanh Eco-Village, paddle a round bamboo basket boat through the nipa palms and learn how families live off the coconut forest and fish it by traditional methods. There is time to collect handmade souvenirs before the hands-on cooking class, where you prepare five Vietnamese dishes and eat them for lunch. You are finished by about 1:00 PM.

A small group tour starts at 8:30 AM in a local market, where you pick the ingredients you will cook later. From there you go to Cam Thanh Eco-Village, paddle a round bamboo basket boat through the nipa palms and learn how families live off the coconut forest and fish it by traditional methods. There is time to collect handmade souvenirs before the hands-on cooking class, where you prepare five Vietnamese dishes and eat them for lunch. You are finished by about 1:00 PM.

Another slow morning, then a transfer to Da Nang airport and a short flight north to the capital. Your driver meets you and takes you to a hotel in the centre. The rest of the day is free: the Old Quarter is a short walk away, and dinner can be a bowl of pho at a local restaurant.

An 8:00 AM pickup and a 1.5-hour drive bring you to Moc village in Ba Vi district. Your host is a Vietnam War veteran who now farms tea; you help him harvest leaves from a plantation he planted thirty years ago. A local family teaches you to cook, and village workshops show you tofu being pressed and conical hats being stitched. After a bicycle ride through the rice fields there is a herbal foot soak made to a Muong ethnic recipe. You are back in Hanoi around 4:00 PM.

The cruise company collects you between 8:00 and 9:00 AM and you reach the harbour by noon. Lunch is served on board as the ship sails out past the limestone islets of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The afternoon is swimming, kayaking or a cave, depending on your boat’s plan. The ship anchors for the night and dinner is served on board after the sunset.

Wake early for the sunrise over the bay, with breakfast on deck. The ship turns slowly for the harbour, an early lunch is served on board, and after disembarking a driver takes you back to your Hanoi hotel. The afternoon and evening are yours for the city, the shops or a long coffee.

Breakfast and checkout. If your flight leaves late enough there is time for the local markets and the last souvenirs. Your driver collects you from the hotel and takes you to the airport.