10 Days In-depth Tour in Northern Vietnam

Welcome to Hanoi!

Upon arrival, our tour guide and driver will welcome you at the airport. You will be escorted to the hotel and check-in. The rest of the day is at your leisure for recovery.

Note: if your arrival time is early, and you prefer to explore the city instead of taking a nap, please kindly tell our travel consultant, and we’ll recommend one of our suggested activities like enjoying the Hanoi food tour by motorbike at night, or having a half-day cooking class, or walking around the Hanoi food street.

Meals: NA
Accommodation: Overnight in Hanoi

Enjoy your breakfast. In the morning at 8:00-8:30, you will be met by our tour guide at your hotel, and start to explore the city of Hanoi. The morning’s activities include:

1. Tran Quoc Pagoda: located on the shores of West Lake, this pagoda is full of amazing Buddhist symbolism, a must-see for any of Hanoi city tour.
2. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: one of the most famous works in Vietnam. With great cultural and historical value, it will expand your understanding of the country.
3. One Pillar Pagoda:Hanoi’s iconic landmark not to be missed, famous for its extraordinary architecture. This Pagoda is not only a famous tourist attraction but also a religious stop for local pilgrims.
4. Temple of Literature: one of the top historical attractions in Hanoi, is the first university in Vietnam. The temple represents Vietnamese ancient architecture and traditional fondness for learning.

End of the sightseeing, you will have lunch at an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, then take a rest.

In the afternoon, you will enjoy the following activities:

1.Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Temple: famous for its peaceful beauty, cultural as well as historical values.
2. Taking a traditional cyclo tour through the Old Quarter: the fascinating experience of rickshaws driving around the Old Quarter and experience the daily life of the local.
3. Savor the best street food in the world: Never miss out the Vietnam food

Enjoying local Vietnamese dinner, you will be escorted to watch a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show at Thang Long Water Puppet Theater. The show lasts 50 minutes. It's a unique Vietnam performance to display the daily life in Northern Vietnam villages.

After the show ends, you'll transferred to the train station to catch an overnight train to Lao Cai, the gateway to Sapa. Sleep on the train in comfortable sleeping compartments.

Accommodation: Overnight on the train

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Early morning arrival in Lao Cai at 5:55 am. From there, you’ll be transferred to Sapa in 1 hour, a picturesque town located in the mountains.

After enjoying a delicious local Vietnamese breakfast, the rice paddy terrace trekking will start at around 8:00 am. During the trek, you'll visit these stops in order.

1. Cat Cat Villiage: home to the Black Hmong people.
2. Waterfall and a hydroelectric station: trek on a dirt trail through rice paddy terraces.
3. Y Linh Ho Villiage: Black Hmong minority, where you can take a rest and have lunch.
4. Muong Hoa Valley: pass through Lao Chai village of the Black Hmong minority.
5. Ta Van Villiage: home to Giay minority.

It’s a very popular trekking route around 15km across different villages of the Hmong, Giay, and Red Dao ethnic minorities, and you'll enjoy the spectacular scenery of Northern Vietnam highlands. After the trekking, you'll escorted to the hotel in Sapa.

Accommodation: Overnight in Sapa

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Meet your guide at 8:30 am in the hotel after enjoying breakfast. Then you’ll transferred to Fansipan Cable Car Station.

1. Fansipan Cable Car: the Guinness World Record as the world’s longest cable car.
2. Mt. Fansipan: the roof of Indochina.
3. 20-meter celestial Buddha Statue.

You'll ride a 15-minute cable car to the Mountain Station, and then go up 600 steps to get to the summit of Mt. Fansipan to breathe in the fresh air and get captivating sights from there.

After climbing Mt. Fansipan, you’ll return to Sapa for lunch and then take an overnight train to Hanoi.

Accommodation: Overnight in Ninh Binh

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, after breakfast, our driver will pick you up at about 8:00, then head to the cruise port of Halong Bay. It takes about 3 hours to arrive. Upon arrival, the cruise staff will help you with the check-in at around 12:00.

Welcome onboard in Halong Bay! You will be greeted with a welcome drink and the introduction and guidelines. Then, you will enjoy the lunch onboard in the elegant dining room.

In the afternoon, you will have some exciting activities such as sightseeing, kayaking, or swimming according to each cruise's itinerary.

While onboard, you can take advantage of the leisure time of the Spa, Beauty, and Massage services surrounded by the stunning scenery around you. Besides, you can also join in the chef’s cooking class and learn the art of traditional Vietnamese cooking.

In the evening, an elegant dinner is ready with a fusion of Eastern and Western cuisine, accompanied by a wide selection of wines and beverages from around the world.

After dinner, enjoy a leisurely evening onboard, such as joining in board games, squid fishing, a night movie, or bars & karaoke. 

Accommodation: Overnight at the Halong Bay

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Your second day of Halong Bay Cruise will start with a Tai Chi class for 20 minutes to breathe the fresh air and brighten the day.

After breakfast, continue with the exploration of the tourist sites on Halong Bay. At around 10:00, it’s time to pack your luggage for checkout.

At about 11:30 am, your cruise boat will sail back to the port and you will enjoy an early lunch on the way. Then, our driver will transfer you to the Ninh Binh for 3 hours.

Welcome to Ninh Binh, a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, is Vietnam’s first capital. Upon arrival at Ninh Binh, your tour guide and driver will escort you to the hotel.

Accommodation: Ninh Binh

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Your tour guide will pick you up at 8:00 am to start a full day touring Ninh Binh after enjoying breakfast.

Get away from the busy Hanoi city and enjoy the fresh air during a full-day tour in the countryside of Vietnam, you'll see people in the village going about their everyday activities and learn about a calmer part of Vietnamese culture.

1. Hoa Lu temples: discover Vietnamese history during Dinh, Le, and Ly Dynastys.
2. Cycling around the village: ride through countryside roads, rice fields, and along grottoes with tall rock formations in the distance.

Have lunch in Ninh Binh Mountain side homestay to enjoy local food. After a short rest, you’ll take a bamboo boat to start the Tam Coc boat trip.

1. Halong Bay on land: the stunning beauty of paddy field, exploring some of the streams and grottoes.
2. Van Long Nature Reserve: famous for its diversity in the ecosystem with majestic pristine beauty.
3. Mua Caves & Ngoa Long Mountain: panoramic view of Ngo Dong River and paddy fields.

The tour would end at 5:00 pm. You’ll take the private car to the hotel in Mai Chau. Welcome to Mai Chau, a pretty valley with a patchwork quilt of rice paddies, farms, and longhouses.

Accommodation: Overnight in Mai Chau

Meals: Breakfast,  Lunch

Your tour guide will pick you up at 8:30 am after a feast of local cuisine. Today you will explore the ethnic Thai minority culture in Mai Chau. Start your Mai Chau trekking around Lac Village. It’s the main tourist attraction in Mai Chau.

Then you will trek to other local villages surrounded by rice fields and bamboo forests.

1. Local museum of Thai culture
2. Mai Chau town market local people trade handicrafts, fruits, and vegetables.
3. Rice Field Terrace: There are two harvests per year. Before the harvest, the rice fields turn a deep yellow color.

The best time to see the harvest is at the end of May/early June and the end of September/early October. After enjoying lunch in a local village, you’ll continue the Mai Chau trekking tour to other villages. This picturesque place will leave you with an unforgettable travel experience.

Accommodation: Overnight in Mai Chau

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today you’ll have free time to explore Mai Chau until your tour guide and driver escort you to take the private car to Hanoi. It will take around 3 hours.

Upon arrival at Hanoi, you have free time to explore Hanoi, like buying souvenirs, tasting Vietnamese cuisine, enjoying a Vietnamese Spa, or just relaxing.

Accommodation: Overnight in Hanoi

Meals: Breakfast

Enjoy your breakfast and free time in the morning until your tour guide picks you up heading to the airport.

Hope you enjoyed a great trip with us and we look forward to seeing you next time.

Tour service ends here.

Note: If you’re planning to continue exploring Indochina region, like Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, please never hesitate to tell us, we’re tour experts for all of these destinations.

Accommodation: NA

Meals: Breakfast