Compare Classic Vietnam: Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by G Adventures vs 10 Days 9 Nights Culinary Vacation by Go Asia Travel

Day 1 Hanoi

Arrive at any time.

There are no planned activities today until an evening welcome meeting. After the meeting, opt for dinner out with the group.

Day 2 Hanoi/Ha Long

Enjoy a Ha Long Bay cruise on a junk boat with visits to a cave and an island lookout. Savour a seafood lunch and dinner.

Drive to Bai Chay harbour, the jumping off point for Ha Long Bay. Thousands of islands with intricate cave systems rise dramatically from the waters. Sail past limestone karst mountains in the junk boat and stop to visit some of the islands and caves. In the evening, devour a seafood dinner, then opt to enjoy a drink on deck under the stars.

Day 3 Ha Long/Huế

Enjoy breakfast and lunch on board before sailing back to the port and return to Hanoi. Enjoy some time in the city before an overnight train to Hue.

Interested in local cuisine? Opt to pre-book the "Hanoi Foodie Culture Tour" activity on the checkout page to include this optional on your tour.

Day 4 Huế

Guided tour of the Imperial Citadel, Royal Tomb and Tien Mu Pagoda.

Arrive early to Hue, once the imperial capital of Vietnam. Start the day with a visit to the Tien Mu Pagoda followed by a visit to the tomb of one of Vietnam’s former emperors. After, opt for a vegetarian lunch at a local nunnery. While in the city, try some local Hue specialties such as banh khoai (Hue savoury pancakes), and banh bot loc boc tom thit (thin rice paper filled with meat and shrimp). Wash it all down with a Hue beer. Opt to pre-book the "Hue Motorbike Tour" activity on the checkout page ahead of time, to include this optional on your tour.

Day 5 Huế/Hoi An

Drive the Hai Van pass. Take advantage of Hoi An's many options over the 2.5 days in town. Opt for a cooking class, riverboat trip, bike ride, beach time, tailor visit or My Son ruins.

Cross the Hai Van Pass (weather permitting), with fantastic views in all directions, before arriving to Hoi An in the afternoon. With three nights here, there's plenty of time to explore all this charming town has to offer.

Day 6 Hoi An

Explore all Hoi An has to offer. Dive into the culture, hang out on the beach or get clothes tailor-made in one of the many shops around town. Enjoy a noodle making demonstration and lunch at Oodles of Noodles, a G Adventures-supported project.

Day 7 Hoi An

Spend a free day exploring all Hoi An has to offer.

Day 8 Hoi An/Ho Chi Minh City

Fly from Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City with free time to explore this hectic city.

Drive to Da Nang for the flight to Ho Chi Minh City, once the capital of South Vietnam and the country’s commercial centre. Start exploring the small alleys and busy streets, keeping an eye out for laquerware shops and delicious local food stalls.

Day 9 Ho Chi Minh City

Enjoy a guided tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels and learn more about the Vietnam War. Use free time in the afternoon to explore sprawling Ho Chi Minh City.

With some free time in the city, opt to visit the Thien Hau and Giac Vien pagodas and stroll through the immense Ben Thanh Market. Also well worth a visit are the Reunification Palace (the residence of South Vietnam presidents before 1975), the city's Chinese quarter of Cholon, and the War Remnants Museum.

Day 10 Ho Chi Minh City

Depart at any time.

Not ready to leave? Your CEO can help with travel arrangements to extend your adventure.

Day 1: Hanoi - Airport pick up - Check in hotel in Hanoi

Pick up from the Noi Bai (HAN) airport and then transfer you to the hotel in Hanoi Old Quarter – the most exciting place for tourist. After that you are free to visit Hanoi City by yourself.

Note: Check in time  Our people will greet and brief all information around the trip.

Day 2: Hanoi - Halong Bay - overnight on Cruises

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Pick-up at the hotel. (Note: this time applied for those who book our shuttle bus service)

Having short break at stopover in Hai Duong Province.

Embark on Cruise followed by a short cruise briefing and enjoy welcome-drink. Check in the cabin.

Enjoy lunch with sampling regional fresh seafood while cruising on exquisite water, passing Incense Burner Island, Fighting Cock islet, Stone Dog… Our cruise will bring you to explore Ha Long Bay on the most wonderful route where just a few cruises go through.

• Do kayaking through the magnificent landscape with Limestone Mountains in Luon Cave, visit Titop Island and swimming or just relaxing on the sun-deck for fantastic views at The Bay
• Back to Lavender Elegance Cruise and join sunset party
• Pass by Soi Sim Beach, “Rang Dua” Island to sleeping area near The Surprising cave.
• Join our Cooking Class in the restaurant. Let’s see how to make the fresh/fried spring rolls and mix fish-sauce.

Under the magnificent night sky, our set-menu dinner is served with a variety of Vietnamese and Asian foods. After dinner, join squid fishing on boat with our crews. You can enjoy the squid cooked with assistance from our chef, Playing card, karaoke….

Overnight on our cruises

Day 3: Halong Bay - Hanoi - Check in hotel in Hanoi

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Morning exercises on the Sun-deck.

Have breakfast with Coffee, tea and Bakeries on board.

Visit the Surprising Cave (Hang Sung Sot) discovered by the French in 1901. Opened for tourists since 1936, now it is a must-to-see and a symbol for geology value of Halong.

Check out time. Then relax on the sun-deck or inside the restaurant to enjoy the bay’s scenery.

Enjoying a traditional Vietnamese lunch while cruising back to the pier.

Check out cruise. Our car will be at your disposal to pick you up then drive back to Hanoi.

Arrive in Hanoi.

Day 4: Hanoi cooking class – Flight to Da Nang

Meals: Breakfast

your tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and take a walk to the outdoor wet market with the chef. You will be fascinated with every step by the color, noise, and the smells of the foods.

Stroll around to visit distinct food sections with their variety of herbs, vegetables, meat, and sea food which brings you very close to the simple life. It is very interesting to see and to learn how a local woman chooses and buys the best quality of the fresh food from numerous food stalls in the market.

With a rattan hand basket, your job is to buy some herbs and spices for the cooking class (herbs and spices are a very important part of authentic Vietnamese food). Raw food bought from the market will be washed and prepared quickly in the kitchen. Cooking methods and utensils will be placed properly on each table.

You will prepare and cook by yourself under the instruction of the chef from the beginning to the end, learning how to marinate and to spice will be the most crucial lesson. You will also enjoy decorating dishes with carrot flowers, lemon grass stems, banana leaves, and curved chili. The authentic magical sauce mixed from fish sauce, water, sugar, lime, chili, garlic, and herbs is very easy to make.

At 12:00 p.m., you will have lunch with what you have cooked and the chef will taste and give a reward to the best dish. At 1:00 p.m. after lunch, all of the recipes from the cooking class will be given to you.

After you are free in Hanoi till our driver come to pick you up for the transfer to the airport for your flight to Da Nang. Arrive in Da Nang our driver would pick you up then transfer you to the hotel in Hoi An.

Day 5: Hoi An half day cooking class

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

You start the day with a welcome drink at the cooking school at 98 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoi An Ancient Town which will be your meeting point. Visit Hoi An’s colourful market and experience the amazing sights, sounds, and aromas of this busy market. You will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers and learn about all the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later.

You board the Red Bridge boat for a leisurely cruise for 25 minutes along the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. This is a chance to view local river life, so make sure your camera is handy.

On arrival, you explore the cooking school’s herb garden, before learning about some of Hoi An’s and Vietnam’s well-known dishes. The cooking lesson runs for about two hours and the Red Bridge chefs first demonstrate each dish before you prepare the same dish yourselves. Included in the class is a brief introduction to Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration). After the lesson, you sit down and eat what you have cooked.

Bring your swimsuit and after the cooking tour has finished, relax and enjoy the free use of the swimming pool. Towels and showers are provided. Catch your own taxi back to hotel after the tour and overnight in Hoi An.

Note: Please get to the meeting point Hai café No 98 Nguyen Thai Hoc str at 8.00 AM. Our guide will meet you there

Day 6: My Son tour

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

The bus and tour guide pick you up at your hotel

Leaving Hoi An  for My Son HolyLand.

Arriving in My Son – the Holyland surrounded by the marvelous mountains, 48km west of Hoi An. My Son was chosen as a religious center, built in the late 4th century under the Cham’s King Bhadravaman. It is a huge religious complex with over 70 towers and temples of different architectures. Wander through the elaborate carvings and sculptures of the Cham people, tourists are welcomed at the Old Tower of the Cham.

Spend 2 hours to enjoy and discover the beauty of Acient buidings at of the Champa  Kingdom with our tour guide.

Leaving My Son for Cau Lau boat station and taking a boat trip on Thu Bon river. You could visit the living of the local people and feeling the fresh air. You will have soft lunch on the boat and see the beautiful views along the river

The boat trip will finish at Bach Dang Boat station. Our driver will pick you up to local restaurant for lunch. Back to your hotel after lunch & End your trip!

Day 7: Check out – fly to Ho Chi Minh – check in hotel

Meals: Breakfast

Today you are free in Hoi An Town till our driver come to pick you up for the transfer to Da Nang for the flight to Ho Chi Minh city.

Arrive in Ho Chi Minh, our driver would pick you up then transfer you to the hotel. You are free in the city today

Day 8: HCM cooking class – Cu Chi tunnel

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Pickup from hotel in HCM to Agricultural Villages. You will be visiting Ho Chi Minh Agricultural Villages from 8:45 to 10:00 a.m., as well as visiting cow areas, visiting buffalo areas, visiting rice fields, visiting big herbs, spices, vegetables, and mushrooms areas.

You will have challenges on the garden such as to become real Vietnamese farmer wearing Vietnamese traditional hat and pick up a lot of herbs, spices, vegetables, and mushrooms from the garden.

The cooking challenge will be from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It will be hands-on cooking class with three dishes and one dessert. You will get to enjoy great healthy cooking tips, congratulation with nice certificate, recipes, souvenirs, and then have collect email which will update nice healthy recipes monthly.

You will be visiting the rice paper factory from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in order to understand the whole process to make rice paper. You will be surprised to see what are the main ingredient to make rice paper. You will see how they mix the flour with water, how the fresh rice paper comes out after steaming, how they handle it on the tray and how they dry it out, how they cut rice paper in the shape they want, and how they pack the rice paper in the packages before selling or exporting.

You will be visiting the rubber tree forest from 2:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. You will be exploring the big rubber tree forest and understand how the local people collect the latex.

Then, you will be visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels from 2:15 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. where you will be watching a presentation video, see the tunnels and discover how these tunnels were constructed, visiting Hoang Cam's smoke-less store, trying gun shooting with real bullets (fees not included), tasting boiled tapioca, and drinking hot tea. The journey will end at 5:30 p.m. in a hotel Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 9: HCMC - Mekong delta - Cai Be Floating Market - Vinh Long tour

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Picking up from hotel/stay

Starting drive to Cai Be. Short time to take photos at Tan An town over the flat rice fields.

Start the motorized boat to visit the Cai Be Floating market, experience how people exchanging goods, fruit and many other commodities on their vessels. Visitors then roam into the small villages to visit the orchard, fruit plantation. Keep cruising to Vinh Long through small canals to enjoy the charm of the Upper Mekong Delta. Visit some handmade family business products such as the coconut candy mill, the crispy rice popcorn.

Arrive in Binh Hoa Phuoc village the green pearl of Vinh Long town where you can indulge yourself into the nature.

Have lunch with fresh river food served in the heart of the garden. Enjoy the southern Vietnamese traditional folk music. Take a nice walk through the bonsai garden, in Vinh Long. Head home to Ho Chi Minh City.

Arrive in your hotel.

Day 10: HCMC – Departure

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, free at leisure till the time for you to be transferred to the airport for your flight back home.

Note: Finish tour in Siem Reap. Not included flight out ticket.