Journeys: Explore Vietnam

Arrive at any time. Arrival transfer is included.


Exclusive inclusions: Transport - You will be met at the airport and transferred to the hotel to start your adventure.Activity - Your opportunity to meet your National Geographic Expedition Leader and fellow travellers, and learn more about your tour. Opt to join the group for a local meal afterwards. Don't forget to see the notice in the lobby (or ask reception) for the official time and place to meet up with the group.Accommodation - Golden Silk Boutique Hotel

Spend the morning discovering the bustling Vietnamese capital and connecting to history on a guided tour. Visit the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, one of Vietnam's most influential political leaders. Learn more about his life at the Presidential Palace, a French colonial-style building that was designed to be his official residence. Gain insights into the Vietnam War at the Hoa Lo Prison, known by American POWs as the Hanoi Hilton; then jump on a cyclo, a three-wheel bicycle taxi, for a fun-filled ride through Hanoi's colourful Old Quarter. After, travel to the verdant Mai Chau Valley, a patchwork of rice paddies, emerald hills, and charming traditional villages. Settle in for a two night stay in this lush, green paradise.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is open until 11:00am and closed on Monday and Friday. Entry is dependent on what time the group arrives in Hanoi.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Activity - Take a guided tour of the mausoleum where Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body is housed in a glass case. During seasonal closures (see below), visit the Presidential Palace grounds for a short guided tour. Note: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is open until 11:00am and closed on Monday and Friday. Entry is dependent on what time the group arrives in Hanoi. The mausoleum will be close for 2 months every year for maintenance. It's usually from June 16th - August 16th every year, but this can vary.Activity - Tour the museum of Hoa Lo Prison, referred to as Hanoi Hilton by American prisoners, to learn more about the Vietnam War.Activity - Take a seat on a cyclo for a tour of Hanoi’s lively Old Quarter. Let the driver navigate through the bustling streets and start taking some photos or just use the tour to help get familiar with the area.Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Free_time - Spend the evening free in Mai Châu.Accommodation - Mai Chau Hideaway Lake Resort

Spend the day exploring the picturesque valley. Set out on a walk through the peaceful countryside, learning about the local tribes and customs, and visit a rural market for a fruit tasting. Choose to enjoy an authentic country lunch at a village home.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Activity - Enjoy an easy walk through rice paddies, terraces, and scenic green hills. Visit Na Phon village and a local traditional brickworks, continuing to Lac Village (White Tai ethnic group) or Mai Chau market for some exotic fruit tasting. Enjoy stunning natural landscapes while learning about the local ethnic tribes of the Mai Chau valley.Accommodation - Mai Chau Hideaway Lake Resort

Return to Hanoi, stopping at KymViet Enterprise on the way. This G Adventures–supported program teaches stitching and sewing skills to local people with disabilities. Learn about KymViet meeting with the staff and make a small handicraft. Enjoy a tour of the workshop and interact with the team members by learning a few words in sign language. After, return to Hanoi and enjoy the rest of the day to explore exactly how you wish!

Meals included: Breakfast,Lunch

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Activity - Visit the staff and team at KymViet, a local enterprise supported by G Adventures. KymViet is a community organization that helps people with disabilities learn real life skills and create their own dignified source of income. With a focus on stitching and sewing, their team members lead travelers on handicraft workshops to make high quality products like stuffed animals and home decorations. Learn about the organization while having a regional refreshment, learning some sign language and enjoy a delicious lunch.Activity - Connect with some local people in Hanoi and make your very own souvenir to bring home during our visit to KymViet, a social enterprise supported by G Adventures. We’ll be welcomed with a regional beverage, meet the staff and learn about the KymViet story. Under their guidance, local people with disabilities have been trained in stitching and sewing. While there we’ll each make our own stuffed animals, getting to know our hosts and learning some sign language. We’ll have a delicious lunch before touring the property to get to know the organization even better. Before we leave, enjoy a visit to their cafe where we can buy snacks and other souvenirs made by the team members at Kym Viet.Free_time - Spend the afternoon at leisure to explore Hanoi exactly how you'd like!Accommodation - Golden Silk Boutique Hotel

After breakfast, transfer to HaLong Bay, where thousands of sculpted limestone islands rise from serene, turquoise waters. Settle into your cabin on a traditional-style wooden junk boat, where we'll spend the night, and embark on a cruise of Bai Tu Long Bay, a more secluded section of this UNESCO World Heritage site. Glide around the bay's stunning karst formations, and explore the fascinating Me Cung cave with our local guide.
This traditional wooden sailing boat offers a unique way of navigating the lime karsts of Ha Long Bay with all the comforts of a motorized, floating hotel. The boat crew will prepare an included seafood lunch and dinner. All cabins are twin share and have an en-suite bathroom. The boat features an enclosed dining and sitting area and of course plenty of outside deck space to enjoy your beautiful surroundings.

Meals included: Breakfast,Lunch,Dinner

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Activity - Cruise through stunning and secluded Bai Tu Long Bay, a less visited section of Ha Long Bay. Relax on board our comfortable traditional wooden junk boat. Enjoy your time afloat eating fresh seafood, admiring the magnificent karst formations, and exploring Me Cung Cave. Spend a peaceful night anchored in the bay under the stars.Accommodation - Halong Overnight Cruise

Enjoy an early lunch on board before returning to land and heading back to Hanoi to catch a short flight to Hue. A former imperial capital of Vietnam, this World Heritage-listed city boasts many architectural treasures; it was also the site of one of the Vietnam War's most dramatic battles.

Meals included: Breakfast,Lunch

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Transport - Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... yup, it is a plane, actually.Accommodation - Romance Hotel

Set out on a guided tour of Hue's imposing walled citadel, discovering lavish palaces, gardens, and courtyards. Visit the Forbidden Purple City, which served as the private quarters of the imperial family; then venture into the countryside to the magnificent tombs of Vietnam's emperors, located along the banks of the Perfume River. Visit a Buddhist nunnery and enjoy a leisurely lunch following the traditions of vegetarian cuisine.
Hue is the gateway to the treasures of Vietnam's royal past and remains one of Vietnam's major tourist attractions. This quiet city is widely known for the magnificent architecture of its citadel, royal tombs, pagodas, and temples built under the Nguyen dynasty on the lush banks of the Perfume River.

Meals included: Breakfast,Lunch

Exclusive inclusions: Activity - Tour this one-time capital city and UNESCO World Heritage site. See the walled fortress and former palace, which has many palaces, gateways, courtyards, and gardens to explore. The Forbidden Purple City (modelled on China's Forbidden City) inside the citadel was once home to the imperial family and was significantly damaged during the Vietnam War.Activity - Tour the tombs of Vietnam’s great emperors. Just outside of Hue, along the Perfume River are several impressive tombs dating back to the 1800s. Ranging in size and states of ruin, the ornate architecture and history make the sites a great place to learn more about the history of Hue. Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Activity - Visit a nunnery and enjoy a leisurely lunch following the traditions of Buddhist cuisine, which features fresh, local produce and fermented or preserved ingredients. Today, we'll sample a set menu of six to seven dishes, such as pumpkin soup with mushroom, tofu and green beans; crispy noodles with rice crackers; fresh spring rolls with soy sauce; steamed rice with eggplant and green beans; fried rolls with potato curry; and bread with potatoes, carrots and onion. (Please note: the menu is seasonal and may vary from what is mentioned above.)Accommodation - Romance Hotel

Drive to Hoi An this morning, a remarkably well-preserved river port and UNESCO World Heritage site. Stroll the narrow, winding streets of the atmospheric old town, lined with quaint merchants' homes and decorated with colourful silk lanterns. Then try your hand at crafting a lantern of your own—a symbol of luck, wealth, and happiness—and leave with a beautiful souvenir. This afternoon, opt to visit a local tailor and be fitted for a custom-made shirt.
The journey to Hoi An, via the Hai Van Pass, is an incredibly scenic and mountainous stretch of highway with spectacular views of Lang Co Beach.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.Activity - Stroll through the narrow winding streets of Hoi An’s old town to see Chinese assembly halls, ancestral homes, The Japanese Covered Bridge, and well-preserved pagodas on this self-guided tour. Opt to try local delicacies and fusion food at one of the restaurants for which Hoi An is becoming famous.Activity - In Hoi An, it's said that hanging a lantern in front of your home will bring luck, happiness, and wealth to your family. Learn how to make traditional lanterns, handicrafts that are found hanging all over the Old Town of Hoi An. First appearing in the 16th century when the Chinese came to Vietnam, lanterns are used for decoration and in traditional celebrations like the monthly Hoi An Lantern Festival, which marks the full moon.Accommodation - Belle Maison Hadana

Delve into a local market this morning with guides from Oodles of Noodles, a G Adventures–supported program that trains local youth in the culinary arts. Taste dozens of varieties of noodles and pick out fresh ingredients at the market; then take your groceries to the Oodles of Noodles training kitchen, where you'll learn to prepare mouthwatering noodle dishes and enjoy your creations for lunch.

Meals included: Breakfast,Lunch

Exclusive inclusions: Activity - Take a walking tour of a Hoi An local market led by youths who have come to Oodles of Noodles, a G Adventures-supported program, to be trained in the culinary arts. This excursion will empower the kitchen youth to lead insider noodle tours in Hoi An. There are currently over 26 types of noodles in this city alone and we will go to the market with two students and their trainer, learn about the ingredients at the market, and do a tasting of the different noodles while supporting local small women enterprises. We then pick the ingredients and return with our youth guides to the training kitchen where you will learn to cook and prepare noodles. After we enjoy our noodles for lunch, watch a video to learn more about the organization.Activity - Try some of the oodles of noodles (more than 26 types!) available in the city in this tasty cooking class. Run by our G for Good partners, STREETS International, this class was developed exclusively for G Adventures. Former street youth that are part of this hospitality training program, will help you prepare and cook a number of different types of noodles. This program helps these youth practice their English, increasing their skill-set and opportunities available to them in the tourism industry. Enjoy your yummy creations while learning more about the local cuisine and this initiative which empowers street youth through skills and employment training.Free_time - Spend free time this afternoon visiting a tailor, wandering through the temples and tombs at a UNESCO World Heritage site, or take a bike ride to a nearby beach. Accommodation - Belle Maison Hadana

The day is yours to explore enchanting Hoi An and its environs. Choose to take a day trip to World Heritage-listed My Son, a cluster of moss-covered Hindu temples dating between the 4th and 13th centuries. Alternatively, head to the nearby Cua Dai beach, or relax at your hotel by the pool.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Free_time - Numerous optional activities are available today.Accommodation - Belle Maison Hadana

Fly to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Immerse yourself in this vibrant metropolis—Vietnam's economic hub—on a variety of optional activities. Discover the city on a cyclo tour, taking in iconic sites like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the ornate Central Post Office and City Hall. Visit the War Remnants Museum, a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during the Vietnam War; or take a tour of the Reunification Palace, the site which marked the end of the war.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - 30 minute transfer from hotel in Hoi An to Da Nang airport. One hour transfer from Ho Chi Minh City airport to hotel.Free_time - Free time to enjoy the city. Accommodation - Continental Saigon Hotel

Venture to the legendary Cu Chi tunnels, a network of underground passageways that provided a base for Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. Visit subterranean hospitals and ammunition stores, and learn about the vital role that the tunnels played in the eventual victory of the North.

Meals included: Breakfast,Dinner

Exclusive inclusions: Transport - Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle on the way to the Cu Chi tunnels and back.Activity - Take a guided tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, a complex network of tunnels that the Viet Cong lived in to protect themselves from opposing forces during the Vietnam War. Try crawling through some of the tunnels (if you’re not claustrophobic). These tunnels stored ammunition, had underground hospitals, and served as a hidden base for attacking allied forces. Accommodation - Continental Saigon Hotel

Depart at any time.

Meals included: Breakfast

Exclusive inclusions: Activity - Not ready to leave? Your Expedition Leader can help with travel arrangements to extend your adventure.