Bridges & Brews: 10 Days Saigon to Hanoi, Ninh Binh & Ha Long

Your driver waits at Tan Son Nhat with a sign and takes you into the centre, a ride of 30 to 45 minutes depending on the traffic, which in Saigon is a sight in itself. The rest of the day is unscheduled: land at any hour, rest, or go out as soon as you feel like it.

If you land with energy to spare, the city after dark is a fair first taste (optional, extra cost): the rooftop bars along Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi, the beer stalls of Bui Vien or a late bowl of noodles on a plastic stool. Tomorrow is the fullest day of the tour, so an early night is also a reasonable choice.

The two classic trips out of Saigon in one day. First the drive north-west to Cu Chi, where a short film explains how the Viet Cong carved over 200 kilometres of tunnels under the forest. Your guide leads you through the widened sections past kitchens, sleeping chambers and command rooms, and you try the tea and boiled cassava the fighters lived on.

From Cu Chi you cross the countryside to My Tho, a river town on the Tien, the northern branch of the Mekong, where a motor boat threads between the four islands named after the dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix. On the islands you switch to a hand-rowed sampan down a narrow canal, cycle a lane through the village, watch coconut candy being pulled and cut by hand, and sit down to seasonal fruit and honey tea while a family plays southern folk songs. You are back in Saigon by evening.

A travel day. Your driver takes you back to Tan Son Nhat for the flight up the coast to Da Nang, around 80 minutes in the air, and a second driver meets you at Da Nang airport and drops you in the city.

The rest of the day is unplanned. Da Nang is an easy city to be idle in: My Khe beach runs for kilometres along the east side, the Han River has promenades on both banks, and on Saturday and Sunday nights the Dragon Bridge breathes fire and water at nine. Keep the evening light, as the next two days are full ones.

The morning begins on the Son Tra peninsula at Linh Ung Pagoda, where the 67-metre Lady Buddha statue looks back across the bay to the city. Then to the Marble Mountains, five marble and limestone hills on the road south. You climb Thuy Son, the largest, through Tam Thai Pagoda and into caves that served as a field hospital during the war. Non Nuoc, the stone-carving village at the foot of the hill, comes last.

In the late afternoon you drive the 30 kilometres down to Hoi An, whose old town has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1999. The walk takes in the Hoai River, the covered Japanese Bridge and the lantern-lit streets after dark, with a sit-down taste of cao lau, the noodle dish only Hoi An makes. Back to Da Nang for the night.

Ba Na Hills is a hill station the French laid out in 1919 at about 1,400 metres above Da Nang, now reached by one of the longest cable car systems in the world. The ride carries you over the forest canopy to the Golden Bridge, the 150-metre walkway cradled in a pair of enormous stone hands, open since 2018, best seen before the crowds thicken.

The rest of the day is a wander around the summit: the French Square with its mock-medieval streets, the terraced Le Jardin D'Amour flower gardens, the tall white Buddha at Linh Ung Pagoda, and a short cable car up Chua Mountain to the Linh Chua Linh Tu temple at the highest point. Fantasy Park, the indoor amusement hall, is in the ticket. The wax museum, the alpine coaster and the Debay wine cellar cost extra and are paid on the spot (optional, extra cost).

The second flight takes you from Da Nang to Hanoi in a little over an hour, and your driver brings you in from Noi Bai to your hotel in the Old Quarter. In the afternoon a short transfer takes you to a two-hour coffee workshop, which opens with refreshments and traditional snacks and a talk on how coffee arrived with the French and grew into one of Vietnam's biggest exports.

Then the class turns hands-on: you roast and grind the beans and brew six drinks yourself, egg coffee, coconut coffee, salted coffee, the traditional brown coffee with condensed milk, a pour-over and a coffee cocktail. Local Vietnamese wines are poured for tasting along the way, and you get a digital recipe book, with a certificate if you ask for one. It is one of our team's favourite stops on the whole route.

A long day south of Hanoi in the karst country of Ninh Binh, about two hours by coach. You start on bicycles, riding flat lanes between rice fields and limestone towers to Hoa Lu, the capital of Vietnam in the 10th century, where your guide walks you round the temples of King Dinh and King Le inside the old citadel. The ride then carries on through the local villages, and a minibus follows for anyone who would rather not pedal.

After a midday break you choose between two rowing-boat trips: Tam Coc, about an hour and a half on the Ngo Dong River between rice paddies and through three low caves, or Trang An, the UNESCO landscape, a loop of 1.5 to 2 hours through its tunnel caves. The afternoon ends with the climb of nearly 500 steps up Lying Dragon Mountain at Mua Cave for the view down over Tam Coc. Raincoats and conical hats are provided for the boats. Back to Hanoi by coach in the evening.

A morning drive from the Old Quarter to the harbour at Ha Long, about three hours on the expressway, and you board your boat for 24 hours on the bay. The boat casts off as the first meal is served and heads out among the limestone islands, close to 2,000 of them, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994.

The afternoon programme is Surprise Cave (Sung Sot), the biggest cave open to visitors in the bay, then you paddle a kayak, or sit in a bamboo rowing boat, under the low arch at Luon Cave and out into a lagoon walled in by cliffs. At Titop Island you can climb the 400-odd steps to the viewpoint or stay on the small beach (swimming is optional and depends on the season). As the light goes, the crew lays out wine, tea, cakes and fruit on the sundeck for the sunset, and you sleep in your cabin at anchor.

Early risers get the bay at its quietest from the sundeck, before the crew runs a short morning activity on board. The boat then returns to the harbour by late morning and the coach brings you back to Hanoi for a mid-afternoon drop in the Old Quarter.

Nothing else is scheduled after that. For those who would rather eat than rest, a guided street-food walk is on offer at 7 pm (optional, extra cost), with pickup and drop-off at your hotel. It works through six or seven dishes from a long list, such as green papaya salad, beef pho, banh xeo pancakes, bun cha and a sweet che to finish, with a stop at Train Street, where the trains pass within a metre of the cafe tables. Otherwise Hoan Kiem Lake is a short walk away.

The route ends with the Old Quarter outside your door. With a later flight there is time for a final walk: the market streets around Dong Xuan for lacquerware, silk and coffee beans (optional, on your own), or a quiet coffee by Hoan Kiem Lake. Your driver then takes you out to Noi Bai, about 45 minutes north of the city, for your departure.

If you would like more of the north, extra nights in Hanoi or a few days in Sapa or Ha Giang can be added when you book.