3 Weeks in Vietnam: 20 Days, Hanoi, Sapa, Hue, Hoi An and Mui Ne

At Noi Bai a Sondax driver is waiting with your name on a board, and the ride into the centre takes around three quarters of an hour. There is nothing on the programme for the rest of the day, so unpack, rest and start slowly after the long flight.

Should you still have some energy, the Old Quarter is the obvious first walk: narrow streets that were once sorted by trade, now full of pavement food stalls and scooters. A bowl of pho at a street kitchen is the classic way to begin three weeks in Vietnam (optional, on your own, at your own cost).

A guide and driver pick you up for a full day in the capital. It opens at Tran Quoc Pagoda, on an islet in West Lake and older than any other pagoda in Hanoi, then the Ho Chi Minh complex, where the mausoleum, the stilt house and the One Pillar Pagoda stand a few minutes' walk apart.

Later you choose between the Ethnology Museum, with its outdoor park of full-size minority houses, and the Women's Museum. The Temple of Literature, the country's first university, and the cells of Hoa Lo, the French prison the American pilots called the Hanoi Hilton, close the day. Vegetarian dishes are available at midday.

Today is a travel day. Your transfer leaves Hanoi and follows the expressway north-west through the Red River plain, then climbs the last stretch into the hills around Sapa, about 1,500 metres above sea level and roughly five to six hours from the capital.

Sapa began as a French hill station in the early 1900s and is cooler than the lowlands all year, so keep a warm layer in your day bag. Once you arrive the rest of the day is yours: the town market, a cafe with a view over the valley, or an early night before the first trek tomorrow.

The first trekking day drops from Sapa into the Muong Hoa valley. A guide leads a 6 km walk down to Y Linh Ho, a Black Hmong village, on tracks that are steep in places, then a gentler 2 km stretch through the terraced rice fields to Lao Chai and on to Ta Van, where the Giay people live.

In Ta Van a local family cooks for you in their house, which is the quiet middle of the day. A final 2 km walk brings you to the road, and a jeep or minivan takes you back up to Sapa, so the climb home is on wheels, not on foot.

A second walk, this time to the villages closest to town. The 4 km route to Cat Cat passes a waterfall where you can stop and sit, and the remains of a small French hydro station from the colonial years. On a clear day Fansipan, Indochina's highest peak at 3,143 metres, fills the skyline.

There is a picnic by the river before the last 3 km to Sin Chai, a Hmong village with fewer visitors than Cat Cat. A jeep returns you to Sapa to collect your bags, and a limousine van carries you down the mountain road and back to the capital.

The drive east to the Ha Long harbour takes around two and a half hours by expressway. At the harbour you step onto your cruise boat around midday, and it leaves port and heads out between the islands.

Ha Long Bay holds close to 2,000 limestone pillars and islets, the reason it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The afternoon belongs to the sun deck as the boat sails on, and the activities the crew runs on board are part of the cruise, so join in as much or as little as you like. At dusk the boat anchors in a sheltered corner, and your bed is a cabin on the water.

Be on deck early: the light comes up over the islands while the bay is still empty of other boats. The boat then cruises slowly back towards the harbour on a different line, so the pillars you passed yesterday appear from the other side.

You eat early on board and are back on shore around midday for the drive to Hanoi. The rest of the day in the capital is free. The lanes around Hoan Kiem Lake are good for a last round of the shops, a coffee in a courtyard cafe or an early night before tomorrow's flight (optional, on your own).

A short hop by air. The car runs you out to Noi Bai for the flight south to Hue (in the price), a little over an hour in the air. On landing at Phu Bai airport another driver meets you for the 20 minute run into the city.

Hue was Vietnam's capital under the Nguyen emperors from 1802 to 1945 and still feels slower and greener than Hanoi. The afternoon is free: a walk along the south bank of the Perfume River, a look at the walls of the Citadel from outside, or simply rest before two full days of sightseeing.

A full guided day in Hue. It begins on the Perfume River, where a dragon boat carries you upstream to Thien Mu, the seven-tier pagoda that is the symbol of the city. Back in town you walk the Imperial Citadel, the walled palace complex of the Nguyen dynasty, and cross Dong Ba, the main market.

Midday brings Hue's own cooking: small, spiced dishes once made for the court. After a herbal foot bath, the car heads out to the royal tombs of Khai Dinh, a mix of Vietnamese and European design, and Minh Mang, set among lakes and pines, with a stop at craft villages on the way.

A boat takes you a short way along the river to Thuy Bieu, a village known for its pomelo gardens. Bicycles are waiting, and you ride between the fruit trees to Luong Quan, stopping at the village communal house and at old garden houses where families have lived behind the same screen walls for generations.

The day is hands-on. You roll incense sticks, try a traditional painting craft and learn how the village makes stick tea jam, with a break in one of the garden houses along the way. The visit ends with a herbal foot bath before you return to Hue.

Your driver takes you south from Hue to Hoi An, roughly three to four hours. The road leaves the Hue plain, crosses to the Da Nang side and runs down the coast to Hoi An, a trading port that peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries and now keeps its old town as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

There is no guided programme after arrival. The old town is compact and best seen on foot, so use the afternoon for a first look at the shophouses and the riverside, or for a fitting at one of the tailors if you want clothes made before you leave (optional, extra cost).

A guide walks you through the old town in the morning. The Japanese Covered Bridge, built by the Japanese merchant community in the 1590s, is the start. From there you visit Tan Ky, a merchant's house that has stayed in the same family for seven generations, and the Fujian Assembly Hall, with its carved and painted gate.

You then sit down at a lantern workshop and make a silk lantern of your own, before a walk through Hoi An market by the river. The afternoon is free to go back to the streets you liked, at your own pace, or to rest out of the heat.

A food day that starts at a local market, where your cook explains the herbs and fresh produce that go into the day's dishes. You then move out to Cam Thanh, a village among the water coconut palms a few kilometres from the old town, and paddle a round bamboo basket boat through the channels.

The villagers show you how they fish with a throw net and let you try a cast yourself. The cooking class follows: five Vietnamese dishes, prepared by you with the cook's help, which you then sit down to eat. The car returns you to Hoi An for a free evening.

The road from Hoi An to Da Nang airport takes about 45 minutes, and the flight down to Ho Chi Minh City (in the price) around an hour and a quarter. At Tan Son Nhat a driver collects you for the ride to your room in the city.

Saigon, as most people still call it, is the largest city in Vietnam and faster, louder and warmer than anywhere you have been so far. The rest of the day is free. The streets around the central market and the Saigon River are a short walk or taxi ride from most central addresses.

The car runs south-west to My Tho, the nearest delta town to Saigon, where a boat takes you on the Tien River past four islands named after the dragon, unicorn, phoenix and tortoise. On Unicorn Island you stroll between the orchards, taste the fruit in season and hear a short set of southern folk songs.

A hand-rowed sampan then threads the narrow Thoi Son canal under the palms. You stop at a bee farm for a cup of warm honey tea and at a workshop where coconut candy is made, then cycle the lanes around Tan Thach village. If you would rather rest for a while, a hammock is there for you (optional), before the drive back to the city.

A travel day by road. Your transfer leaves Saigon and follows the coast road east to Mui Ne, a fishing village turned beach resort in Binh Thuan province, around four to five hours depending on traffic out of the city.

Mui Ne is the part of this tour that shorter Vietnam itineraries leave out: three clear days with no programme at the end of a long trip. Once you arrive the afternoon is free, so find the beach, work out where the fishing boats come in and pick a seafood place for the evening (optional, extra cost).

No programme today. The long beach is the point of Mui Ne, a strip of sand backed by palms and small resorts, with the South China Sea in front of it and a steady breeze that keeps the heat down. Swim, read, sunbathe, or do nothing at all.

When you want to move, the town is a single road along the shore, lined with cafes, shops and restaurants, and easy to walk in the cooler hours of the morning or late afternoon (optional, on your own).

A second free day. The most popular excursion from the town is to the sand dunes, red ones close by and white ones further up the coast, which are at their best at dawn or towards sunset when the light is low and the sand is cool (optional, extra cost; our team can arrange a car or jeep).

Otherwise the day is the beach again, and the evening is for seafood: Mui Ne is still a fishing village at heart and the catch comes straight from the boats to the restaurants along the road.

The last full day of the tour has no programme either. Spend it the way you like: a swim in the morning, a slow walk through the town for souvenirs or a last look at the small shops and cafes, and an hour on the sand in the afternoon.

The sunsets here are worth planning around. The beach faces east, so the colour comes from behind the hills and over the water, and most people simply sit on the sand or at a seafront bar to watch it (optional, on your own).

The final morning is yours until the transfer, and if your flight is late enough there is time for the local market to pick up last souvenirs (optional, on your own). Your driver then takes you back along the coast road to Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, allowing four to five hours plus a margin for traffic.

If you would rather spend a last night in Saigon, or fly out from somewhere else, tell us when you book and we adjust the final day.