Vietnam holidays, tailor made
| country: | Vietnam |
| location: | Mekong Delta, North Vietnam, South Vietnam |
| departures: | For these Vietnam holidays we offer a complete tailormade service and this suggested sampled itinerary can be tailormade to suit your requirements |
| price: | From US $1589 (14 days) excluding international flights, based on twin share accommodation in mid range hotels. Price includes domestic flights |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
Vietnam holidays tailor made to your requirements
On our Vietnam holidays we'll travel from North to South seeing the varied faces of Vietnam – the history, the culture, the natural beauty, the emerging commercial power, the rural tradition, and much more – and interact with the people of Vietnam in cities, towns and hamlets throughout the holiday.
One of the significant features of these tailor made Vietnam holidays is that you can work with a personal local tour operator to arrange your itinerary to suit your requirements.
You can make as many changes as you wish, not only before your tour begins, but also while you are in Vietnam if necessary.
These Vietnam holidays can be designed for a group, a couple or a single traveller. You don't have to be tied to other people in a large group and your departure date can be whenever suits you. Please don't worry that our personally designed Vietnam holidays will be too expensive. Our policy is to offer good value for money – you'll find our price for a private tour for two people will be competitive with standard group tours from other tour operators, and that the restaurants and hotels we use are often better quality.
From your arrival in Vietnam to the time you leave, your tour operator will monitor what is happening and re-check arrangements in advance to ensure that every element in your holiday runs smoothly and effortlessly.
On our Vietnam holidays we'll travel from North to South seeing the varied faces of Vietnam – the history, the culture, the natural beauty, the emerging commercial power, the rural tradition, and much more – and interact with the people of Vietnam in cities, towns and hamlets throughout the holiday.
One of the significant features of these tailor made Vietnam holidays is that you can work with a personal local tour operator to arrange your itinerary to suit your requirements.
You can make as many changes as you wish, not only before your tour begins, but also while you are in Vietnam if necessary.
These Vietnam holidays can be designed for a group, a couple or a single traveller. You don't have to be tied to other people in a large group and your departure date can be whenever suits you. Please don't worry that our personally designed Vietnam holidays will be too expensive. Our policy is to offer good value for money – you'll find our price for a private tour for two people will be competitive with standard group tours from other tour operators, and that the restaurants and hotels we use are often better quality. From your arrival in Vietnam to the time you leave, your tour operator will monitor what is happening and re-check arrangements in advance to ensure that every element in your holiday runs smoothly and effortlessly.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Ha Noi arrival. Upon arriving at Noi Bai airport in Ha Noi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax before a welcome dinner at a good restaurant in a colonial building. In the evening, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry. Your overnight stay will be in Ha Noi. |
| Day 2: | Ha Noi. An all day city tour, possibly including the Van Mieu (the Temple of Literature), the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and the Ethnology Museum. You’ll also visit the centre of Ha Noi, including the Hoan Kiem Lake, the Ngoc Son temple and the bustling Old Quarter with its mélange of architectural styles. Your overnight stay will be in Ha Noi. |
| Day 3: | Ha Noi to Ha Long. You’ll be picked up at your hotel to travel to Ha Long Bay. Your boat, a traditional-style wooden junk, will first take you to the busy World Heritage area to visit one of the 'show caves' and then to some of the lesser known grottoes and caves away from the crowds. You’ll be able to swim, fish, climb a hill for a spectacular overview of the Bay, or venture into some of the sea level caves in a small sampan, all weather permitting, of course. All your meals will be provided on board, usually based on fresh seafood, and you’ll sleep in a twin cabin with an en suite toilet and shower. |
| Day 4: | Ha Long to Ha Noi. You’ll spend the morning cruising Ha Long Bay, followed by lunch just before you dock around noon. In the late afternoon, you’ll return to Ha Noi. Your overnight stay will be in Ha Noi. |
| Day 5: | Ha Noi to Hue. You’ll have a free morning before your driver arrives to take you to the airport for your noon flight to Hue. When you arrive, a car and our guide will be waiting to drive you to the Imperial Citadel of Hue and the Dong Ba market. Your overnight stay will be in Hue. |
| Day 6: | Hue. Your morning will be taken up by a visit to the Thien Mu Pagoda, and a cruise along the Perfume River to King Minh Mang’s tomb. In the afternoon, you’ll visit the tomb of King Tu Duc (the poet King). Next, you’ll visit and wander around Ms. Diem Phung Thi’s sculpture garden. In the evening, you’ll visit some of Hue’s ‘garden houses’ and sit down to eat dinner in one of them. Your overnight stay will be in Hue. |
| Day 7: | Hue to Da Nang to Hoi An. In the morning, your car will arrive to chauffeur you to Da Nang. On the way you'll cross the high mountain pass of Hai Van. On arrival in Da Nang, you’ll have a brief visit to Cham Museum, then continue to Hoi An. After lunch, you'll have a guided visit to the Ancient Town. Your overnight stay will be in Hoi An. |
| Day 8: | Hoi An. A half-day trip to the World Heritage My Son Sanctuary, once the spiritual capital of the Cham Kingdom that dominated SE Asia for nearly a thousand years. Your afternoon will be free and your overnight stay will be in Hoi An. |
| Day 9: | Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll have a free morning until you’re picked up for an afternoon flight to Ho Chi Minh City. After transferring to your Ho Chi Minh City central hotel and checking-in, you’ll be free for a preliminary wander around District 1. Your overnight stay will be in Ho Chi Minh City. |
| Day 10: | Ho Chi Minh City. After breakfast, your city tour will take to visit the main sights, including the History Museum and the Museum of War Remnants. Later visits will include the huge Ben Thanh market, the Jade Emperor Temple and a high quality lacquer workshop. Your overnight stay will be in Ho Chi Minh City. |
| Day 11: | Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh Long to Can Tho. In the morning, your driver will take you to peaceful Vinh Long, where you’ll cruise the Mekong River to visit the Cai Be floating market, fruit orchards, traditional family-run brick kilns, and wide range of varied cottage industries. In the afternoon, you’ll drive to Can Tho. Your overnight stay will be in Can Tho. |
| Day 12: | Can Tho to Ho Chi Minh City. You’ll board a boat to visit the Cai Rang floating market on the Mekong Delta. It’s an interesting perspective on how the Mekong’s rural lifestyle has adapted to the regular floods. After lunch, you’ll return to Ho Chi Minh City. Your overnight stay will be in Ho Chi Minh City. |
| Day 13: | Ho Chi Minh City to Tay Ninh & Cu Chi. A morning drive will take you to Tay Ninh to visit the Cao Dai Holy See (in time to watch the mid-day ceremony), and the famous Cu Chi tunnels, a Byzantine maze of underground passages, chambers and booby traps used by both the Vietminh and the Viet Cong. Your overnight stay will be in Ho Chi Minh City. |
| Day 14: | Ho Chi Minh Departure. You’ll be free until your car arrives to take you to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport. |
travellers' tales
The travel company was excellent, local guides very knowledgable, country and culture fascinating, food superb and all this lead to a family holiday that is going to be exceptionally difficult to beat. (more)
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
 We have built strong links with local communities, craftspeople, artists, singers and musicians who are maintaining threatened traditions. During our tailor made Vietnam holidays we offer visitors an opportunity to meet them, thereby valuing their activities and thus helping towards their survival. For example, you'll contribute to sustaining traditional calligraphy, an art form under threat of extinction. On these Vietnam holidays you'll also meet local people and enjoy a meal in a 'garden house' in Hue. In Ho Chi Minh City, you'll see the complicated process of making traditional lacquerware in a local workshop. At Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta, the local people will welcome an opportunity to perform their traditional Tai Tu music for you. Wherever possible, we contract local indigenous suppliers for these Vietnam holidays and assist them to improve the quality of their services. By booking this tour, you'll be helping us to support Vietnamese service providers, artists and performers, small businesses, boat owners and other poor people in communities throughout Vietnam. We use local freelance guides with wide experience and knowledge of cultural traditions and an ability to interpret the cultural heritage of the people in the places visited. For these Vietnam holidays, you'll have about four different guides from various provinces of Vietnam. We are working closely with a small project in Vietnam trying save a critically endangered species of large primate, now reduced to less than sixty individuals world-wide. We're seeking financial assistance to supplement the meagre resources currently available to the project director while we help her to develop her own web site. We are also collaborating with an international non-governmental organisation in setting up an ecology based village homestay network in the same area to widen awareness of the urgency of the situation amongst visitors. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |