VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA SIGNATURE - HISTORY AND CULTURE
14 days 

            Destinations of vietnam-and-cambodia-trip: Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, Cu Chi Tunnels, Angkor Wat, Siem Reap

DAY 1    Hanoi Arrival    Meals: D    

Welcome to Hanoi, the 1000-year-old capital of Vietnam! Upon arrival, transfer to our hotel. Check in and free relaxation after your long hault flight. Join the group meeting with our tour guide and other tourists. Enjoy welcome dinner at a specially selected restaurant with Vietnamese traditional food.  

DAY 2    Hanoi – Night Train To Lao Cai    Meals: B,L    

Learn about the life and the legend of Ho Chi Minh by visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Closed on Monday, Friday and the whole of Oct & Nov) and Ho Chi Minh Residence House, One pillar Pagoda, Thang Long Royal Citadel the UNESCO World Heritage with the large excavation site nearby, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. 1 hour driven by private electric cars among 28 old streets of Hanoi Old quarter. Stop to visit Hoan Kiem lake and Ngoc Son temple marking the city center. Take the train with overnight in superior wooden compartment.  

 DAY 3    Lao Cai – Sapa    Meals: B,L  

 Early morning pick up from Lao Cai train station to Sapa town. Enjoy breakfast in the hotel. Leave your luggages in the hotel and start your visits off the beaten track to Cat Cat village. You take an easy walk among traditional stilt-houses, Si suspension bridge, Tien Sa waterfall and trekking inside bamboo forest. When in Cat Cat village after a beautiful walk down the valley and enjoy the stunning views of terraced rice fields. Drive back Sapa town for lunch and check-in your hotel. Free afternoon at your leisure.

DAY 4    Sapa – Night Train To Hanoi    Meals: B,L  

 Morning pay a visit to Muong Hoa valley with a short trek from Lao Chai village to Ta Van village. You trek among the stunning terraced rice fields, intermingle with Hmong and Dzay hill-tribes and get insights into the locals’ life. Break for delicious lunch in the local house offering stunning view of Muong Hoa valley. Hear the sound of wind, breath the flavour of ripe rice and taste the local food. Afternoon you find out legendary assumption of Ancient Rock Ground before transferring back Sapa town to visit Rock Church and Sapa town market. Dinner and take the night train back Hanoi.

DAY 5    Hanoi – Halong - Overnight On Cruise    Meals: B,L,D    

Upon early arrival, you’re transferred to Hanoi hotel for room-day-use in 4 hours. Rooms with hot-shower are ready for your short break. Breakfast is pre-arranged in the hotel restaurant. After breakfast, you’re transferred to Halong Bay, the UNESCO World Heritage. At noon, embark your cruise then start your sightseeings among thousands of limestone rock formation. Enjoy sea kayaking in hidden corners of the bay, swimming in Soi Sim beach and sunbathing on cruise sundeck. Join cooking class on board to make “Nem” Vietnamese spring-rolls and mix “Nuoc mam” fish-sauce. Dinner on cruise.

DAY 6    Halong - Hanoi – Hue    Meals: B,L    

Wake up with Tai Chi exercises on the sundeck and continue cruising the Bay. Enjoy breakfast buffet in the restaurant, then visit the limestone grotto. Enjoy lunch on board and disembark in Ha Long City around 12.00 noon and transfer to directly to airport for departure flight to Hue.

Arrival Hue after 1-hour flight. Transfer to hotel for check in  

DAY 7    Hue – Danang – Hoi An    Meals: B,L    

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and take a full day tour of Hue City, the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam for the 1802-1945 period and the last refuge of Vietnamese feudalism. The city’s beauty is characterized by a natural scenic landscape and an extensive variety of historical relics. Begin with Hue Citadel, a well-known UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site which is a 520 ha fortress-like grand complex built in the early 1800s and featuring three enclosures separated by heavy ramparts namely Kinh Thanh Hue (Civic City) as the outer, Hoang Thanh (Royal City) as the middle and Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden City) as the inner. Continue to Khai Dinh Tomb, the burial site of Vietnam’s second-to-last king, and the most elaborate compared to other kings’ tombs. The tomb shows a vivid European influence in architecture despite its Asian style.

     Afternoon, take a boat cruise along the Perfume River to enjoy the open view of the river and its surroundings. Stop along the way and land on shore to visit two prominent historical landmarks namely the Minh Mang Tomb, where the 2nd Emperor of the Nguyen dynasty was buried, and Thien Mu Pagoda, an active Buddhist monastery overlooking the river from a vantage point with its origin dating back to 1601. Last, stop for shopping at Dong Ba market, which is the city’s traditional commercial center. 

     Late afternoon, transfer to Hoi An via the Hai Van Pass (Ocean Cloud Pass). Enjoy a stunning headland-and-bay panoramic view from the pass, which for miles hugs the mountainside along the shoreline and overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

DAY 8    Hoi An – Danang – Saigon    Meals: B,L    

Meet our guide at your hotel and transfer out for a city tour. Once a bustling maritime commercial port of Asia between 15th and 19th centuries, Hoi An, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is now a peaceful town of exceptionally well-preserved architecture, lifestyles and traditions. The town exemplifies a fascinating fusion of cultures between Vietnam and the outside world including China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Your sightseeing will include the iconic 400-year-old Covered Bridge with a small temple attached to one side as a prominent example of Japanese architecture, the Museum of Trade Ceramics which is an elegant Vietnamese style wooden house built in 1858 showcasing antique ceramic artifacts, the 200-year-old Tan Ky House typifying an ancient Chinese merchant residence, the Ong Temple built in 1653 by Chinese settlers to worship Guan Yu, an ancient Chinese general whose character stands for loyalty, bravery and justice and the local market vibrant with colors and activities. Then, transfer to Da nang international airport for flight to HO Chi Minh

     Arrive at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, welcome by our guide and transfer to your hotel. Ho Chi Minh City formerly named Saigon is the largest city and economic center of Vietnam always bustled with activities of modern life. It is where businesses converge and shoppers indulge themselves into unlimited choices. However, the city also carries with it a rich historical legacy in contrast with its dazzling glamor.

DAY 9    Saigon – Cuchi Tunnel    Meals: B,L    

Morning, meet our guide at your hotel and transfer about 75 km North-west of downtown Ho Chi Minh City. to visit the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, which were once a major underground hideout and resistance base of Viet Cong forces during the two wars against the French and the Americans. The tunnels, entirely hand-dug, formed a highly intricate network of interlinked multilevel passageways at times stretched as far as the Cambodian border and totaling over 120 km in length. Its complexity was beyond imagination containing meeting rooms, kitchens, wells, clinics, schools, depots, trenches and emergency exits all aimed for guerrilla warfare. The tunnels were deep and strong enough to withstand destructive bombings and self-contained enough to outlast prolonged sieges.

     Afternoon, tour in the city starting first with the Reunification Palace, which was formerly the South Vietnam President’s residence and symbol of the Southern Administration’s reign until end of April 1975. Next, stop at Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, a neo-Roman cathedral built over 130 years ago by the colonial French with materials entirely imported from Marseilles. Call in Sai Gon Post Office, a fine colonial building which was designed and built in the early 20th Century by the famous French architect Gustave Eiffel. Move on to Cho Lon or the city’s China Town where you will visit the Jade Emperor Temple (Phuoc Hai), a rare Taoist structure in Vietnam built in 1909 in dedication to the Lord of Heaven.

DAY 10     Saigon – Vinh Long    Meals: B,L    

Morning, pickup at your hotel to transfer about 136 km to Vinh Long, a riverside town in the vast Mekong Delta, the world’s largest delta. Take a boat cruise to lively Cai Be floating market where sellers and buyers bargain and exchange goods from their boats. Proceed through a fascinating maze of shady canals to Hoa Binh Phuoc Island. Beautiful landscape of zigzag canals, lush vegetation, peaceful villages and activities of rural life will make you a delightful sight. There on the island, visit some local farmers’ homes, interact with warm-hearted hosts and learn about their trades of bonsai gardening, tile and ceramic production and rice paper and coconut candy making. A typical Vietnamese lunch at a local home will be arranged.

DAY 11     Saigon - Siem Reap Arrival    Meals: B,D    

Meet our guide & driver at the hotel lobby then transfer to Saigon airport for flight to Siem Reap

Upon arrival at airport, staff of Cosiana Tour at Siem Reap office will meet you and transfer you to hotel for check in. Join the group meeting organized by our tour guide. We will have a brief City Tour of Siem Reap riverside, and visit the local main shrine of Yeay Teap, watch the fruit bat. Special welcome buffet dinner with Apsara dancing show is arranged. Overnight in Siem Reap.

DAY 12    Angkor Temples    Meals: B,L    

Early morning, view sunrise at Ta Prohm “the Royal Monastery” then transfer back to hotel for breakfast. The same morning, visit Angkor Wat, South gate of Angkor Thom with Bayon, Baphoun, Phimeanakas, Elephant Terrace, Terrace of Leper King, Ta Promh and Srah Srang.

 After lunch, visit Chau Say Tevoda, Takeo. Have a sunset overview of the Magical temple City of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng. Transfer back to inner city to explore the night life. Overnight in Siem Reap.

DAY 13     Banteay Srei – Tonle Sap Lake    Meals: B,L  

Spend the entire morning in one of the remote jewels of Angkor, the Banteay Srei temple which means “Citadel of Women”, made of pink sandstone and presenting the most graceful carvings in stone we might ever see in our life. Banteay Samre is a bit off the Grand Circuit, near the southeast corner of the East Baray. There is a nice 3km road excursion through villages and paddies. Combine a visit to Banteay Srey with a stop at Banteay Samre on the way back Siem Reap for lunch. Afternoon boating in Tonle Sap lake, the 11th World’s largest lake and some fishing villages inside. Overnight in Siem Reap.

DAY 14     Siem Reap – Departure    Meals: B    

You are free to depart at any time today. Private airport transfer is included.