Northern Vietnam Soft Adventure - Private Tour 8 days

Meet your tour guide on arrival at Noi Bai International Airport and transfer to hotel in the city center and check-in. (Hotel rooms may not be ready until 14:00 but an early check-in would be guaranteed with a surcharge.). Rest of the day is at leisure.

Optional: We introduce two one-of-a-kind traditional performances which are found nowhere else than in Vietnam. You can choose one of below options:

- Water Puppet Show where puppets are performed on water stage with folk music, presenting ancient tales, folklores and daily life in Vietnamese countryside.

- Tu Phu (Four Palaces) Show - a very unique show about ritual of spirit practiced in the Vietnamese indigenous religion with music, colors and lively dance performance. The Four Palaces Shows take place on Thursday and Saturday every week.

If you're interested in the shows, please contact our travel consultants to book.

After breakfast, drive to visit Ky Son village. Situated approximately 65 km from Hanoi, this typical village of the Northern Vietnam offers unique experience for guests who wish to discover an authentic rural life in Vietnam. Your first stop will be at the Moon Garden, a very charming home-stay nestled in a landscaped garden with open view of the lush paddy fields and Ba Vi mountain in the backdrop. Have welcome tee and visit the facilities. You will then join a cooking class and have lunch. After lunch, enjoy Hand Spa by having your fingers dipped in a fragrant lime bowl and the traditional herbal hand massage. Afterwards take a bicycle ride to discover the Ky Son, Tam Son, Van Minh, and Cham farming communities. You are welcome to stop at any home you like along the way for a cup of tea, visit the kindergarten (if open) or chat with local people about their daily life and farming. Your experience would be further enriched by joining local farmers in their daily activities like plowing or making rice beds or transplanting seedlings or harvesting rice (or cassava, corn, sweet potatoes...) depending on the harvest season.

After breakfast, check out and drive to visit the beautiful Mai Chau Valley located in Hoa Binh province, approximately 135 km Northwest of Hanoi. Enjoy the scenic drive. Descending from the spectacular Thung Khe mountain pass you’ll have opportunity to enjoy the superb panoramic view of Mai Chau Valley surrounded by green rice patchworks dotted with clusters of stilt houses. Ethnic minorities, including the Thais, H’mongs and Muongs inhabit the area. Arrive in Mai Chau at noon, check in and have lunch In the afternoon, take a cycling tour through villages in the Mai Chau Valley to observe the life of local people. Dinner with traditional music and Thai dance performance.

After breakfast, check out and depart for Ninh Binh, the land of breathtaking karsts formations often dubbed as “Halong Bay on land”. Arrive in Ninh Binh, you will enjoy a scenic bike ride or joining in bufalo cart riding along the village path, filled with beautiful views of paddy fields, villages, churches, schools... Join with a local chef to prepare your lunch. After lunch, take a sampan ride to visit Tam Coc ,Bich Dong Pagoda and Cave Check in the hotel and at leiusre in the evening.

Have breakfast at the hotel then check out and drive to Halong Bay through the Red River Delta provinces of Thai Binh and Hai Phong provinces.

Upon arrival, the boat crew welcome you and check in then enjoy a cruise around Halong Bay with a delicious local seafood lunch served on board. You can also behold thousands of limestone islands and grottoes rising from the clear, emerald water.

Following break, depending on each cruise’s itinerary of the day, you’ll join some activities on boat to discover the beauty of the bay such as visit a cave, doing kayaking or enjoy swimming in the sea before getting back to the junk for relaxing and dinner. Overnight on board.

Our tour guide will not escort you on the cruises, and be replaced by crew members who are fluent in English.

Start your day with Tai Chi exercise on the sun deck. The breakfast is served in the dining room with morning view of bay’s landscape, then continue our journey. Then transfer to day boat and start exploring the Bay with various interesting activities such as kayakking, swimming, cave visitting, cycling (these activities will be arranged differently based on each cruise). Lunch will be served on day boat.

In the afternoon (around 15:30 – 17:30 hrs), come back to the main cruise.

Have dinner and night activities on board.

Early risers can enjoy a memorable sunrise over the karst formations of Halong Bay. Breakfast will be served shortly thereafter. Enjoy breakfast (brunch on some boats) while the vessels cruises slowly through the magnificent rock formations back towards port. Upon disembarkation, our driver will be waiting to provide transport to Hanoi hotel for check in.

Join in our tour Hanoi Experience after dark Collection at your hotel at 18:00 hrs and have a full safety briefing at the meeting point. Drive around Hanoi’s Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake and be amazed at the lively small alleys that are not even noticeable during the day. Take short stops for photos and learn about the history of the Old Quarter. Ride around the city outside of the Old Quarter, where most tourists would not visit, past some of the majestic historical buildings before a stop to sip a cup of tea with some Vietnamese snacks. Continue driving past the Red River and the historical Long Bien Bridge to see the night life outside Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Have dinner at an authentic Vietnamese Restaurant with simple but freshly prepared dishes which can cater for every taste. Travel down a historical street and enjoy a Vietnamese traditional sweet desert before heading back to your hotel.

Free at your leisure in the morning.

You room is available until 12:00. Our driver will transfer you to the airport to take your departure flight. End services. Hope to serve you again!