Northern Vietnam Discovery 8 Days, 7 Nights

Arrive in the capital city of Vietnam; Hanoi welcomes you with a smile.

After clearing immigration, proceed to the baggage reclaim area to collect your luggage. Your private tour guide and driver from Asia Dream Tours will be waiting for you outside the baggage claim/ custom area to transfer you in a private vehicle to the hotel in downtown.

Arrive at your hotel then check in and relax at your own leisure in Hanoi.

Overnight in Hanoi (Check in time is 14.00 – Early check in is upon availability)

The full day tour takes you around Hanoi’s highlights sites including the Ho Chi Minh Complex: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and his stilt house, Presidential Palace and the One Pillar Pagoda. You also have chance to visit historic University – The Temple of Literature, that dates back to the 11th century; learn about Buddhist practices in a serene lakeside pagoda. Visit the famous Ethnology Museum. Back to the Old Quarter to walk through the narrow streets that were famous for its specialized craft making guilds, the guild streets are named for their product or location and still bear such names nowadays.

At around 17.00, we start our excellent street food walking tour in old quarter of Hanoi along the perimeter of the local market where dozens of street hawkers sell a staggering variety of produce from live seafood to exotic fruits and spices. Your expert English-speaking local guide will give you an insight into the intricacies and traditions of Vietnamese food culture including details on ingredients and historical backgrounds of popular northern dishes. We eat as we go, trying seasonal fruits…

Walking through the maze of bustling streets that make up Hanoi’s Old Quarter, we tempt the famous dishes of Hanoi such as Bun Cha Hanoi , Banh Cuon at a local eatery. Continuing into the atmospheric heart of the Old Quarter, we wander past street stalls and quiet residential lanes where you can observe local life that has changed little since Hanoi was founded over 1000 years ago.

Our next stopis at a local draft beer restaurant. We sit down with the Hanoi locals and sample various meats, vegetable together with some glass of cold beer.

Your local guide will then take you to one of Hanoi’s best kept secrets to taste top ten street foods in Hanoi is Banh My Hanoi.

At the end of the tour, we will sample the famous Egg Coffee. This hard-to-find café is one of the few left in the narrow street inside the old quarter of Hanoi.

After dinner, our tour guide and driver will transfer you to the train station where you will take the night train to Lao Cai.

Overnight on train.

Note:
– Tour is not suitable for Vegetarian.
– The tour program is flexible. Our guide would be more than happy to adjust the tour itinerary at your needs. You can skip one site or add another if you so wish.

On arrival to Lao Cai Train Station (around 6.30a.m), our tour guide will take you to a local restaurant nearby the station for having breakfast as well as taking some break.

Afterward, we will leave for Bac Ha Market after your breakfast. The road is relatively flat from Lao Cai to Bao Nhai bridge. After crossing the bridge, we begin our journey up to Bac Ha market, located in the heart of Bac ha small town is the largest one in the area.

Every Sunday, the different and colorful ethnic minority come all here to sell their homemade products or buy something for the family. They are Hmong, Phu La, Back Dzao, Tay or Nung minorities. Some of these ethnic minorities can’t be met in any other areas. Free time for visiting one of the most colorful market in the world. At the market, you have chance to enjoy BacHa people’s simple but unique kinds of food with special wines made from rice, cassavas, corn and different sorts of fruits such as plumps, apples, peaches… talking to the minorities through the guide’s interpretation. After lunch leave the market for visiting the H’mong King’s house (King Hoang A Tuong) built by the French colonists and the Chinese in 1920, short walking to see BanPho village where is homeland of flower Hmong.

In the afternoon, we drive downhill towards Lao Cai. We stop on the way (before reaching Lao Cai) to take a short walk to Trung Do village inhabited by Tay people. Tay villages are always set up at the foot of a mountain or along a stream and are named after a mountain, a field, or a river. Each village contains about 15-20 households. A large village is divided into many small hamlets. The houses are built on stilts or level with the ground. Stop by a traditional Tay house for a cup of tea.

Afterward, we will drive toward Sapa. On arrival, check in your hotel and relax at your own leisure in Sapa.

*** Different market opens on specific days in Sapa (Coc Ly Tuesday Market, Cao Son Wednesday Market, Lung Khau Nhin Thursday Market, Can Cau Saturday Market, Bac Ha Sunday Market)

After breakfast at the hotel, we begin the day with a 3km trek through breathtaking landscape to Matra village, where you will come across the impressive ruins of a church dating back to the French occupation in the early 1900s. Take a minute to explore this intriguing sight and take some photos.
Have picnic lunch on the way.
In the afternoon, trekking to the village of Ta Phin you will be able to meet both Black Hmong and Red Dao minorities. The Red Dao is known for their expertise in herbal medicine as well as usage of plants from the land to treat many illnesses. Your guide will be able to introduce you to some Red Dao women who can tell you more about their many remedies.

Return to your hotel after the visit. Rest of day is for relaxing at your own leisure.

This morning, you are free at your own leisure until our bus come and pick you up at your hotel to transfer back to Hanoi.

On arrival, check in your hotel and relax at your own leisure for the rest of day.

Optional activity in the morning: Visit Fansipan Mount by Cable Car

After breakfast, getting picked up by our tour guide for starting your visit to Fansipan Peak.

Visit Fansipan Mountain by the cable car – The world’s longest and highest cable car, running up from sleepy Sapa Town in Lao Cai Province to the peak of 3,143-meter Fansipan Mountain, known as Indochina’s rooftop. Enjoy the view from the highest point of this incredible mountain. The lush green and subtropical vegetation makes this mountain really very beautiful.

At 08:00, you will leave Hanoi for Halong Bay after 3.5 hours drive and board a boat, enjoying lunch while cruise through the bay. The magical bay is home to thousands of limestone islands rising from the waves like dragons’ teeth. Later in the afternoon, you will visit an interesting fishing village with opportunity to interact with fishermen who have been living in the bay for almost three generations. Back on board, you will enjoy cocktails or cooking classes while watching the sunset, before indulging in a lavish dinner onshore. Afterwards, you can choose to do anything from joining movie night, playing board games, or relaxing at the beauty spa before retiring for the night.

Overnight on board with the cruise

*** Itinerary varies depending on which cruise you are going to take

Wake up on the bay to the sounds of waves, fresh air, and breeze welcoming the new day. After breakfast, visit a beautiful limestone grotto then walk back to the boat for a final glimpse of Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock. The boat arrives at the harbor by 11.30am and your driver is waiting to take youback to Hanoi.

Tonight, free at your own leisure in Hanoi.

Overnight in Hanoi

Free at your own leisure until our driver transfers you to the airport for your departure flight home.