First Time in Vietnam Tour: 7 Days from Hanoi to Saigon

Our driver waits just outside customs at Noi Bai with your name on a sign. The road into the city takes about 45 minutes, and rooms are ready from 2:00 PM; arrive earlier and reception keeps your bags. Share your flight number with us when booking and the pickup is timed to your landing.

The rest of the day is yours (optional, at your own cost). The Old Quarter is the easiest place to begin: a grid of narrow streets named after the trades once sold on them, with street food on almost every corner. The Hanoi team’s one tip for first-timers: cross the road at a slow, steady walk and the motorbikes will go around you.

Your guide picks you up for a full day of the capital’s landmarks. The morning is the Ba Dinh district: the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the stilt house where he lived and worked, and the One Pillar Pagoda, seen from outside. From there you drive to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, which covers the 54 ethnic groups of the country with full-size houses in its garden.

A Vietnamese midday meal at a local restaurant follows, with vegetarian dishes on the table. In the afternoon you see Tran Quoc Pagoda on an island in West Lake, the oldest in Hanoi, then the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 as the first university, and finish at Hoa Lo Prison, built by the French and later used for American pilots.

You leave Hanoi early for Ninh Binh, about two hours south on the expressway. The first stop is Hoa Lu, capital of Vietnam in the tenth century, where two temples honour the Dinh and Le kings who ruled from here before the court moved to Hanoi. The walls are gone, but the setting, a flat valley closed in by limestone, shows why it was chosen.

After a midday break by the river you step into a sampan at Tam Coc wharf, and a local rower takes you up the Ngo Dong River, between rice fields and under three low caves cut through the rock. Later you get on a bicycle for an easy ride along country lanes through the paddies and villages, mostly flat and at your own pace, before the drive back to Hanoi.

An air-conditioned shuttle bus collects you from your hotel and crosses the Red River Delta on the expressway, reaching Tuan Chau pier in about two and a half hours. You board the boat and sail out among the limestone islands of the bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.

In the afternoon the boat stops in calm water, where you can take a kayak out between the rocks or swim. After dark the crew run squid fishing from the deck or a cooking demonstration, both included in the cruise, or you can sit outside and watch the anchor lights of the other boats.

Get up early for sunrise from the sundeck, when the islands come out of the mist one by one. Later in the morning the cruise guide takes you ashore and through a large limestone cave hung with stalactites and stalagmites, and back on board you clear your cabin as the boat heads for the harbour.

The shuttle bus returns you to Hanoi. Until it is time for the airport you can rest in a cafe or a hotel lounge, then our driver takes you to Noi Bai for the flight south, about two hours and included in the price. Another driver meets you at Tan Son Nhat and brings you to your hotel in the evening.

A drive of under two hours brings you to My Tho on the Tien River, one of the main arms of the Mekong. A motor boat takes you out past the four islands named Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix and Tortoise, and lands on Unicorn Island, where you walk through the fruit orchards, taste what is in season and listen to a short performance of southern folk music by local singers.

Next you sit in a hand-rowed sampan for a slow passage along Thoi Son canal under the water palms, then stop at a family bee farm for honey tea and coconut candy. The midday meal is at a restaurant in a riverside garden. In the afternoon you can cycle round Tan Thach village or lie in a hammock, before the boat and the car return you to Saigon.

The morning is free until our driver collects you from the hotel for Tan Son Nhat. Rooms must be cleared by 12:00 PM, and depending on your flight time there is room for a walk around the streets near your stay or a visit to a nearby market for souvenirs: coffee, lacquerware and the conical hats that pack flat (optional, at your own cost).

The private transfer drops you at departures in time for your flight home, and the tour ends there.