Vietnam Budget Tour: 9 Days, Saigon, Hoi An, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi

Your driver is waiting at Tan Son Nhat and drives you into District 1, usually 30 to 45 minutes depending on the traffic. There is no programme today, so the afternoon and evening are yours, whatever time you land.

If you have the energy, the French-era buildings of the centre stand a few streets apart, and the street kitchens around Ben Thanh Market open in the late afternoon (on your own, no guide). Saigon traffic takes some getting used to: cross at a steady walking pace and the motorbikes go round you.

The road southwest from Saigon reaches My Tho in about two hours, where the Tien River, the northern arm of the Mekong, runs more than a kilometre wide. Your first stop is Vinh Trang Pagoda, a 19th-century temple whose front borrows from Vietnamese, Chinese and Khmer styles. A boat then takes you out past the four islets named Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix and Tortoise.

You land on Unicorn Island to walk through the orchards, eat the fruit of the season and hear a short set of don ca tai tu, the folk music of the south. A hand-rowed sampan then slides up Thoi Son Canal between the nipa palms to a bee farm for honey tea and a kitchen where coconut candy is cooked and cut. The day ends with a bicycle ride through Tan Thach Village, or a hammock if you would rather not ride, before the drive back.

After the transfer to Tan Son Nhat you fly north to Da Nang, about 80 minutes in the air. A driver meets you at the airport for the coastal drive south to Hoi An, where you spend the next three nights.

Nothing else is planned. The old town is small, a UNESCO World Heritage site of yellow shophouses and assembly halls built by Chinese and Japanese traders from the 16th century on. Walk the lanes, look into a temple or two, sit by the Thu Bon River with a coffee and watch the lanterns come on at dusk (on your own, no guide). The tailors can take your measurements tonight if you want something made before you leave on day 6.

You set off on bicycles along flat lanes between rice fields, shrimp ponds and bamboo. At Cam Thanh you swap the bike for a round basket boat and are paddled into the water coconut palms, where villagers show you how they catch crabs and what they weave from bamboo. A second ride reaches Thanh Nam, a fishing village on the river, where you pick either a lantern workshop or a ride on a water buffalo.

Tra Que, which grows the herbs for Hoi An's kitchens, is next: a welcome drink, a garden walk, an hour of farm work with the growers and a herbal foot bath. Then the cooking class: Tam Huu spring rolls, crisp banh xeo, banana flower salad and fish in a clay pot, followed by the seven-dish meal you have helped make. The day closes with a boat along the Thu Bon River to the Dai Chiem estuary, where the fishermen cast their nets.

No programme today and no early start. Most guests stay close to town: a bicycle or taxi to An Bang Beach, a slow morning in the cafes down the side alleys, or a fitting at the tailor's (on your own). The old streets are quietest before nine.

The alternative is a full day at Ba Na Hills (optional, extra cost), the French-built hill resort above Da Nang. A car collects you in Hoi An, and one of the longest cable cars in the world carries you up to the Golden Bridge, held aloft by two giant stone hands, Linh Ung Pagoda with its 27-metre Buddha, the Le Jardin d'Amour gardens, the French Square and the Fantasy Park rides, with a buffet meal at the top. The Debay wine cellar charges its own entry fee, and the summit of Chua Mountain sits at 1,487 m, so bring a layer.

A driver takes you back up the coast to Da Nang airport for the hour-long flight north to Hanoi. At Noi Bai another car waits for the 45-minute drive over the Red River into the city.

The rest of the day is free. The Old Quarter is the obvious place to start: 36 streets once sorted by trade, now full of coffee shops, small kitchens and the hum of scooters. A coffee at a lakeside cafe on Hoan Kiem, a look along the souvenir streets and an evening bowl of bun cha, grilled pork over rice noodles, which Hanoi makes best, are the usual way in (on your own, no guide).

The drive east to Tuan Chau, the cruise port on Ha Long Bay, takes about three and a half hours. On board Le Journey Cruise you are met with a cold towel and a welcome drink, and the boat sails out through the islets while a meal is served in the dining room. Ha Long holds close to 2,000 limestone islands and has been on the UNESCO list since 1994.

The first landing is Sung Sot, the Surprising Cave, the largest in the bay. Then comes Titop Island: swim off the small beach or take the stairs to the viewpoint. Back on deck there is tea, coffee and fruit as the sun sets, a short class in rolling spring rolls with the chef, and the evening meal on the top deck if the weather allows. Squid fishing off the stern and the sky bar fill the night (optional, extra cost).

The boat moves off early towards the conservation area of the bay, and you go out in a kayak (or on a bamboo raft if you prefer to be rowed), paddling under the rock arch at Luon Cave into a lagoon walled in by cliffs. Monkeys sometimes show themselves on the rock faces above the water.

The cruise then heads slowly back towards Tuan Chau while an early meal is served, and the shuttle returns you to Hanoi in the afternoon. The evening is free. If you want to eat your way round the Old Quarter, a guided street food walk can be added (optional, extra cost): pho, banh xeo, grilled pork skewers, steamed rice rolls, papaya salad, spring rolls and a banh mi, finished with egg coffee, plus a look at Train Street, where the trains pass within arm's reach of the front doors.

The trip finishes at Noi Bai, roughly an hour's drive from the centre. If your flight is later in the day there is time for a last walk through the old streets or a few gifts from the markets nearby: lotus tea, coffee beans, silk and lacquer all travel well (on your own).

Anyone with more time can stay on: extra Hanoi nights, or a few days in Sapa or Ninh Binh, are priced with the tour if you mention them when you reserve.