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THE ULTIMATE NORTH

Only have two weeks to really experience Vietnam? This trip offers an excellent opportunity to do so. You will get a taste of city life in Hanoi for two days, while the remaining days you will visit the northern mountains with your own tour guide and car with driver and explore Halong Bay by boat.

 
 


DAY 1  HANOI
We will personally welcome you at Noi Bai Airport and take you to our family guest house, located outside the busy tourist center but situated in a cozy neighborhood near West Lake.





DAY 2  HANOI
At 8 am you leave our guest house for the Red River. After a short walk you reach what is popularly called 'Banana Island'. That is not without reason because the walk continues along narrow paths surrounded by banana plants. But besides that, you will see - depending on the season - corn, tomatoes and morning glory, among other things. After you have crossed the island you reach the more than a kilometer wide river. If you wish, you can take a refreshing swim here. Then you'll reach the famous Long Bien Bridge. Famous because it was designed by Gustave Eiffel. Via this bridge you walk to Hanoi's Old Quarter where you will be introduced to local culinary specialties during a food tour. Afterwards you will visit a performance in the famous Water Puppet Theatre. You can then choose to stay in the city center or walk back to our guest house via Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.

MEALS: B, L





DAY 3  HANOI - HALONG - HALONG BAY
You will be picked up in Hanoi at 8 am and travel by comfortabel bus to Halong. Around noon you will board a junk boat and visit Titop Beach and the Sung Sot Cave. You will have a cooking class and learn how to make nem (Vietnamese spring rolls). After dinner, there is an opportunity to go squid fishing. You will spend the night on board

MEALS: B, L, D





DAY 4  HALONG BAY
You will depart on a smaller boat to Lan Ha Bay, where you can kayak and swim. Lunch will be served on board, and in the afternoon, there is more opportunity to explore this bay. At the end of the afternoon, you will return to the 'mother ship' where you will spend the night again.

MEALS: B, L, D





DAY 5  HALONG BAY - HALONG - HANOI
If you are able to wake up early during your vacation, then Taichi in the morning on the sun deck might be your thing. After lunch, you return to the city of Halong where you will get on the bus back to Hanoi.

MEALS: B, L





DAY 6  HANOI - BAC HA
At 9 am you will embark on the first day of a eight-day car journey. As the day progresses, the landscape becomes increasingly mountainous, and after a while, you will pass through the first ethnic minority villages of Tay and H'mong. You will arrive in Bac Ha around 5 pm.

HOTEL: Bac Ha Lodge Retreat
MEALS: B





DAY 7  BAC HA - CAN CAU - BAC HA
In the morning, you will visit the Saturday market of Can Cau, an exceptionally colorful market visited by people from the Flower H'mong minority. Oxen, pigs, dogs, and corn wine - with an alcohol percentage of more than fifty percent - are the main commodities. In addition to the local population, the market is also popular among Chinese traders. In the afternoon, you will have plenty of opportunity to explore the local area. A few kilometers from your hotel lies the village of Ban Pho, where you can see how corn wine is made - and you'll almost certainly be invited to toast with the distillers - and how cast-iron agricultural tools are crafted.

HOTEL: Bac Ha Lodge Retreat
MEALS: B





DAY 8  BAC HA - SAPA
The day begins with a visit to the Sunday market in Bac Ha. This market is larger than the one in Can Cau and, in addition to various ethnic groups, you will see many "ordinary" Vietnamese. After the market visit, you will depart for Sapa.

HOTEL: Sapa Cloud Hotel
MEALS: B






DAY 9  SAPA
If you envision Sapa as a town where time has stood still, you'll be surpirsed. Internet cafes have also made their entrance here, and everything is geared towards tourism. Even old toothless women will try to sell you jewelry and clothing. Fortunately, the surroundings of Sapa are truly magnificent, and by walking through rice fields and mountain paths, you can escape the crowds and enjoy the magnificent nature and villages where the way of life is still entirely traditional.

HOTEL: Sapa Cloud Hotel
MEALS: B





DAY 10  SAPA - SON LA
For two days, you'll travel by car through the most beautiful - and highest - part of Vietnam. Although it might seem like a "long ride," you won't be bored for a moment. Not only will the mountain landscape, waterfalls, and rivers with their shaky suspension bridges (monkey bridges) fascinate you, but also everyday life: a scooter laden with live pigs, children on the back of a water buffalo along the roadside, and chickens darting across the road in front of the car.

HOTEL: Mường Thanh Luxury Hotel
MEALS: B





DAY 11  SON LA - MAI CHAU
At the end of the afternoon you arrive in Mai Chau where you spend the night in a traditional stilt house of the Tay people.

MEALS: B, D






DAY 12  MAI CHAU
When you wake up in the morning, you will look out over the dewy rice fields where women have already started working in the early hours. You discuss today's program with your tour guide: an extensive trek, a light walk or cycling are possible.

MEALS: B, D





DAY 13  MAI CHAU - HANOI
In the valley where Mai Chau is located, you can take a morning walk before returning to Hanoi.

MEALS: B



DAY 14  HANOI
Day at leisure. Buying souvenirs in Hanoi's Old Quarter is high on many people's to-do lists.

MEALS: B



DAY 15  HANOI
We will take you to Hanoi Airport for your return flight home.

MEALS: B



Included:
- Good hotels, including breakfast ()
- Overnight in our family guest house ()
- Overnight in a local home stay ()
- An English-speaking tour guide ()
- Private car with driver ()
- Participation in a join-in tour (approx. 15 participants) to Halong Bay ()
- Transport and transfers as stated
- Meals as stated (B, L, D)


Not included:
- Flights to and from Vietnam
- Visa
- Insurance
- On-site expenses for meals and sightseeing, and personal expenses


Price per person (group of 2 people): USD 1.476,00
Price per person (group of 4 people): USD 1.080,00