Essential Travel Indochina 18 days

Upon your arrival at Noi Bai Airport, you meet your tour guide and travel to the hotel in the city center for check-in. The rest of the day is at leisure for you to recover from jet lag. 

Begin your Hanoi city exploration with Tran Quoc Pagoda on the peninsula of West Lake, Hanoi's largest lake. Tran Quoc Pagoda, built in the 6th century, is among the oldest pagodas in Hanoi. Afterward, you will take a leisurely walk to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body is preserved. After sightseeing the mausoleum from the front and its surroundings, including the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh's accommodations, and the One Pillar Pagoda, you will visit the Temple of Literature, also known as the Temple of Confucius, which is the first university in Vietnam, built in 1070.

After lunch, you will visit Hoa Lo Prison, constructed by the French in 1896, and renowned as the most gruesome and fiercest Maison in Indochina. During the Vietnam War,  American POWs in Hoa Lo Prison were captured in Hoa Lo Prison. The US pilots nicknamed it “Hanoi Hilton” due to the pleasant treatment they received from the Vietnamese government. Afterward, you will visit Hoan Kiem Lake and meet up with your cyclo driver, hop on the local rickshaw, and travel through the French corners of Hanoi. You will admire the busy streets full of motorbikes and the colonial architecture, including the Metropole Legend Hanoi hotel, the Hanoi Opera House, the State Bank of Vietnam, and Trang Tien Street. After roughly 50 minutes, you will walk and explore the lively Hanoi Old Quarter.

Travel from Hanoi to Halong Bay in around 2.5 hours and arrive at noon. From the pier, you will embark on a Halong Bay overnight cruise and set off on the incredible sails toward the UNESCO Natural Heritage Site. Halong Bay is a heaven of verdant green ocean and thousands of emerging limestone peaks. You will have lunch on a boat amid stunning scenery as the boat ventures toward the center of Halong Bay. Following the schedule of the cruise, you will participate in many activities on the bay, like hiking up to the dried cave, sunset party, spending time on a sandy island for swimming, doing kayaking, etc. After the dinner with fresh seafood, enjoy leisure time on the boat.

Early in the morning, a Tai Chi session is available on the top deck for you to join. After breakfast, the cruise will sail to other parts of Halong Bay so you can enjoy the scenery. At noon, you will disembark and meet your driver, then travel back to the airport in Hanoi for your flight to Hue in central Vietnam.

Upon your landing in Hue, you will be welcomed by your local tour guide and transferred from Hue airport to the hotel in the city center.

Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty, ending in 1945 when the French colonialists took over Vietnam. Start off your Hue City at the Imperial Citadel, a majestic royal enclosure with a fortress and moat built in 1804. Move on to the charming village in Phu Mong and visit the ancient house, up to a hundred years old, a typical traditional house with verdant green gardens surrounding it. Have a cup of tea with the host and hear more stories of the house before leaving for Thien Mu Pagoda, located on the bank of the Perfume River.

Have lunch at a garden restaurant, and then you will visit Tu Duc King’s tomb on Van Nien pine Hill, an impressive exemplar of Vietnamese art. On the way back to Hue center, you can stop at a local house and try making traditional incense sticks with the instructions of local people.

After check-out, you will travel from Hue to Hoi An, passing through Lang Co Beach and the Hai Van Pass, with stops en route for photo-taking. Upon your arrival, you will check-in hotel and have free relaxing time.

At a good time, board a local boat crossing the Thu Bon River to reach the Thanh Ha Pottery Village. After walking around, you will visit a local house and see main steps of making local pottery products in Hoi An. There upon, visit the Thanh Ha Terracotta Park in the village before return to city center by boat.

In the morning, you will stroll to Hoi An Old Town, once a bustling trading port in Southeast Asia, where its ancient architecture remains largely intact. You can explore diverse museums, the Chinese houses, the Fujian communal house, the weaving and pottery museum, the Japanese Bridge, etc. After a few hours in the Hoi An Old Town, you will travel to Tra Que Village.

Before lunch, you will learn how to make the traditional Banh Xeo, or Vietnamese sizzling pancake. Some ingredients have been prepared and are ready for you to fry in a pan. After lunch and a rest, walk to visit the hosts' vast herb and vegetable gardens to learn more about the planting techniques. The host also shows you some farming work, such as plowing, planting, and watering. Back to your hotel in Hoi An, and then have free time to enjoy the graceful Hoi An Old Town at night with colorful lanterns.

After breakfast, you will have free time on your own. You can get a bicycle from the hotel and travel around the countryside, getting to the beach or enjoying at a riverside café.

After checking out of the hotel, have a private transfer from Hoi An to Da Nang Airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon arriving, your local tour guide will welcome you and take you to the city center for hotel check-in.

This morning, you will sightsee the Cu Chi Tunnels, an iconic historical site in Ho Chi Minh City. This underground tunnel system was dug in 1948 during the war against the French; it was later extended during the Vietnam War, reaching up to 200km in length. For further understanding of the history, you can watch the documentary at the Cu Chi Tunnels before coming down to explore the bunkers, booby-trapped pits, and other amenities, including living rooms, clinics, hidden traps, weapon caches, kitchens, meeting rooms, and so on. After touring around Cu Chi Tunnels, you will head back to the Ho Chi Minh City center.

In the afternoon, explore this tumultuous city, formerly known as Saigon, which features Chinese and colonial cultures and architecture. Pay a visit to the War Remnant Museum, then walk past the Reunification Palace. Next, stop at the Central Post Office and nearby Notre Dame Cathedral. Lastly, stroll around the Dong Khoi walking street to mingle with locals. 

This morning, depart from Ho Chi Minh City and head west to explore Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta region. You will board the boat sailing along a tributary of the Mekong. Make stops to discover several local workshops to gain deeper insight into local specialties, such as coconut candies and a brick factory, and learn about the local way of making handmade bricks. During your adventure in the Mekong Delta, you will ride a local motorized rickshaw called xe loi to wander around the village and catch some fascinating sights of traditional farms, rice fields, and vegetable plants.

At noon, head to a humble local restaurant for a delicious, hearty lunch. In the afternoon, hop on a bicycle to traverse the village roads with lush landscape, visit a local workshop specializing in carpet weaving, enjoy a leisurely sampan ride along the zigzag canals, then travel back to Ho Chi Minh City by car.

Have leisure time to rest or wander to other corners in Ho Chi Minh City.

At a good time, have a private transfer from Ho Chi Minh City to the airport for an internal flight to Phnom Penh.  Once the “Pearl of Asia”, Phnom Penh is an exotic city at the confluence of the Mekong River and Tonle Sap Lake, and the vibrant capital of Cambodia.

Upon arriving, you will see your local tour guide in Phnom Penh and travel to the hotel for check-in and relaxation.

In the morning, you will visit the majestic Royal Palace situated in front of a river. The palace houses the bejeweled Buddha and many precious royal relics. On the same premise, you can also visit the fanciful Silver Pagoda, covered with about 5 tons of shining silver. Next off, visit the National Museum, an astonishing old building housing pre-Angkor relics. This museum showcases the Khmer's finest art and sculptures, with a vast collection of artifacts made from diverse materials.

Afterward, visit the Toul Sleng Prison or the S21, which is a historical place showing the gruesome happenings during the Khmer Rouge period. Then, climb up to the peak of Phnom Penh, 27m high (88.5 feet), for a lovely view of the city. There, you will visit Wat Phnom. Lastly, you will visit the Russian Market in Phnom Penh and get a glimpse into local life.

Have free leisure time before the transfer to the airport for your flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Upon landing in Siem Reap, you will meet your local tour guide and take a private transfer from Siem Reap Airport to the city center.

Siem Reap Province is a must-see on a Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos tour, housing around 100 mysterious Angkor Temples in the jungle. Siem Reap also represents Cambodia's bucolic countryside and Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

This afternoon, travel to the untouristic Kompong Phluk floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. The boat trip takes you through the mangrove floodplain forest and shows local houses on stilts 10m (32.8 feet) high and various aspects of village life.

Travel on the shadowy roads of ancient trees and head to Angkor archeological park, which houses the unique Angkor Temples. You will visit Ta Prohm Temple, almost embraced by the massive roots of a hundred-year-old big trees. This temple is also featured in the movie “The Tomb Raider” with Angela Jolie. Then you will move to Angkor Wat, the largest and most significant temple of all. Angkor Wat is the only temple whose entrance faces west, depicting an awe-inspiring gallery of Khmer and pre-Angkorian sculptures, carvings of sacred religious figures, and a rich cultural heritage. Far from apart, you will see Angkor Wat Temple with 3 sharp, rising towers. Indeed, there are a total of five towers, the tallest of which is the middle one at 65 meters (184 feet). 

In the afternoon, you will get to the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper Kings, from where you will enter the jungle and unveil more temples. Visit the Baphuon temple ruin, dating back to the 11th century; then the Bayon Temple, with its emerging towers like chaos, mysterious smiling faces everywhere. There are 54 huge towers with 4 facets each, each bearing Buddha faces facing the four directions, and the guardian at Angkor Thom. Coming out through the south gate, which is the best-preserved one, you will find your driver and travel back to the hotel in Siem Reap.

This morning, you will fly from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang, an exotic and appealing town in northern Laos, and the last stop in your 18-day journey through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Upon landing, you will meet your local tour guide in Luang Prabang and take a private transfer from the airport to your hotel in town.

After breakfast at the hotel, you will meet up with your guide and local tuk-tuk driver in Luang Prabang to explore this charming city. The first stop of the day is Wat Mai, which means “New Temple”. Wat Mai is one of the richly decorated temples in Luang Prabang, adorned with red and black lacquer and gold leaf. In a short distance from Wat Mai, you will find the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang, built in 1904 as the home of King Sisavang Vong and the royal family during the colonial era. After the Laotian Communist Party took power, it turned the palace into the National Museum, where precious relics, royal images, and diplomatic gifts from other countries remain on display. Next, walk to Wat Xieng Thong, a complex comprising several sim and chapels displaying elegant carvings and elaborate decoration. 

In the afternoon, you will embark on a local boat and sail to the sacred Pak Ou Cave on the limestone cliffs and face the confluence of the Ou River and the Mekong River. Hiking up to the caves, you will find shrines displaying thousands of Buddha statues. Then, you will sail downstream back to Luang Prabang town and enjoy the sunset on the boat.

Early in the morning, you will get to a pagoda or temple to observe the religious Alms Giving Ceremony in Luang Prabang. After the chanting ends, the monks and nuns in saffron robes will walk in a line through the streets of Luang Prabang to collect offerings from local people. Then, you will have a hike of roughly 300 steps to Phousi Mount right in the Luang Prabang town center to enjoy the panoramic view of the Luang Prabang ground and the rivers. After a short stroll around the local morning market in Luang Prabang, you will return to your hotel, have breakfast, and relax. 

In the afternoon, you will drive for around 40 minutes from Luang Prabang town to Kuang Si Waterfalls, with terraced crystal pools nestled in the lush jungle.

At leisure on your own till a good time, you will meet up with your local tour guide and take a private transfer from Luang Prabang to the airport and fly to the next destination.