Vietnam Nature and Adventure with Local Guides - 16 Days

On arrival at Tan Son Nhat Airport, clear immigration and customs and make your way to the arrivals exit. Your guide and driver will meet you and take you to your hotel in the city centre. The rest of the day is yours to relax or explore.

Overnight at La Siesta Premium Hotel.

Transfer: approximately 1 hour by private car.

Discover a city where modern life and history sit side by side. See the red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral, built with materials imported from France, the Central Post Office, completed in 1891, and the former Presidential Palace, once the headquarters of the South Vietnamese government.

In the evening, explore Saigon’s lively streets on a vintage Vespa food tour. Stop at local eateries to try southern Vietnamese specialities, then finish at a welcoming bar for a signature cocktail, or a mocktail for younger travellers, and a chance to chat with local people.

Overnight at La Siesta Premium Hotel.

City tour: approximately 4 hours, starting at 8:00 am | Food tour: approximately 4.5 hours, starting at 6:00 pm | Transport: private car and motorbike | Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Each guest rides as a passenger with an experienced driver. Access inside Notre-Dame Cathedral depends on services and any restoration restrictions.

Travel to Coco Riverside Lodge in Trung Ngai, Vung Liem, a journey of around 3.5 hours. On arrival, a member of the lodge team will welcome you and lead you to the riverside property for a refreshing drink and check-in.

Enjoy lunch at the lodge, followed by time to relax before your village cycle ride. Visit a local home to learn how puffed rice is made and hear about everyday life in the delta.

Meet another family to see how palm and water-coconut leaves are woven for house construction. Mrs Chien demonstrates the making of “Poon” torches, traditionally used after dark, while your guide explains local livestock keeping and biogas production.

Cycle along quiet lanes through rice fields. Choose a shorter route of around 5–7 kilometres or a longer ride of around 13 kilometres return to a dragon fruit plantation. Enjoy the sunset before heading back towards the lodge.

In the early evening, sample local rice spirits and other drinks while chatting with village residents. Walk back to the lodge carrying traditional torches made from dried coconut leaves. Finish with a class making Vietnamese pancakes, followed by dinner in the lodge restaurant.

Overnight at Coco Riverside Lodge.

Activities: approximately 5 hours | Transfer: approximately 3.5 hours | Transport: private car and bicycle | Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, take a motorboat to a local market for a glimpse of daily life along the river.

Visit a Cao Dai temple and a nearby riverside coconut workshop, where coconut fibres are made by hand into ropes and mats, mainly for overseas buyers, including Korea.

Return to the lodge to relax or swim before checking out. Travel back to Saigon and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Overnight at La Siesta Premium Hotel.

Excursion: approximately 3 hours | Transfer: approximately 3.5 hours by private car | Meals: breakfast. The programme may change according to tides and weather.

After breakfast, enjoy some free time before checking out. Your driver will take you to the airport for your flight to Da Nang. On arrival, meet your local team and transfer to your hotel in Hoi An. The rest of the day is free.

Overnight at La Siesta Hoi An Resort.

Transfers: approximately 1 hour at each end | Flight: approximately 1.5 hours | Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast.

Travel to Vong Nhi village in the morning and collect your bicycle. Ride past water-coconut groves, shrimp and fish farms, and rice fields to Thanh Dong Organic Farm, a 10,000-square-metre garden supporting ten local families.

Walk through the vegetable plots, learn about organic growing and join the farmers in seasonal tasks. Take a basket boat along the Do River to The Field Restaurant, where you can enjoy the scenery or try fishing with local residents. Before returning to your hotel, take part in a short cooking class and share a Vietnamese family-style lunch. The afternoon is free.

Overnight at La Siesta Hoi An Resort.

Tour: approximately 5 hours | Cycling: 6 km | Transport: private car, bicycle and basket boat | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Enjoy a free day in Hoi An. You might like to hire bicycles at your hotel and ride to the beach for a swim or a relaxing afternoon under the palms. In the evening, wander through the Ancient Town as the shops light their lanterns.

Overnight at La Siesta Hoi An Resort.

Meals: breakfast.

After breakfast, travel towards Dong Hoi in Quang Binh Province. Along the way, stop at Quang Tri Citadel, the Ben Hai River and Hien Luong Bridge. On arrival, check in and enjoy some free time.

Overnight in a Farm Room at Chay Lap Farmstay.

Transfer: approximately 6.5 hours by private car | Meals: breakfast.

Your team will collect you from your hotel in Phong Nha between 7:00 and 7:30 am and take you to the Oxalis office in Tan Hoa. After a safety briefing, completion of the required waiver and equipment fitting, begin your jungle walk towards Hang Tien, part of the Tu Lan cave area.

Have a snack at the cave entrance, then explore its vast chambers, high ceilings and impressive limestone formations. Return to the entrance for lunch before walking to a natural pool, where you can swim and relax. Continue to the road for your return transfer to Tan Hoa and check in to a River Bungalow at Tu Lan Lodge.

At around 6:00 pm, share dinner with a local family before returning to your accommodation.

Overnight in a River Bungalow at Tu Lan Lodge.

Duration: approximately 10 hours | Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A good level of fitness and sure-footedness are required. Wear sturdy walking shoes and lightweight outdoor clothing, and bring sun and insect protection, swimwear and a small towel. The route may change according to weather and ground conditions; please follow your guides’ instructions throughout.

After an early breakfast at Tu Lan Lodge and a briefing on the day’s route, walk through cornfields and meadows towards the Rao Nan River. Cross the river and follow a short uphill trail to Hang Chuot Cave. With a helmet, head torch and safety equipment, explore around 300 metres of passage, taking in limestone formations and high, heart-shaped chambers.

Return to the river and tackle the roughly 60-metre “Baby Hill” before continuing through Hung Ton Valley to Hung Ton Cave. Discover fossil traces of ancient marine life, negotiate a protected climbing section and swim through an underground river.

Lunch is served beside To Mo Lake. Walk back through the valley to the Oxalis office in Tan Hoa, where you can freshen up, then return to Phong Nha at around 6:30–7:30 pm.

Overnight in a Farm Room at Chay Lap Farmstay.

Tour: approximately 9 hours.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight to Hanoi. Meet your local team on arrival and travel to your hotel to check in.

In the afternoon, discover Hanoi’s ochre-coloured colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and lakes. Visit the Ho Chi Minh memorial complex, his former home and the lotus-shaped One Pillar Pagoda. Continue to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology to see traditional clothing and objects from the country’s 54 ethnic groups. Finish with a water puppet show, a northern Vietnamese art form that originated in the flooded rice fields of the Red River Delta.

Overnight at La Siesta Premium.

Tour: approximately 3 hours | Transfers: approximately 1 hour at each end | Flight: approximately 1.5 hours | Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast.

The Mausoleum itself has restricted opening hours and maintenance closures; entry depends on your arrival time and travel date. The Museum of Ethnology is closed on Mondays.

After breakfast, travel to Pu Luong Nature Reserve. Enjoy a local lunch on arrival, then settle into your retreat and take in its valley views and quiet surroundings. In the afternoon, walk through fields and villages in the hills above the retreat, meet residents and learn about daily life. Dinner is served at the retreat.

Overnight at Pu Luong Retreat.

Excursion: approximately 3 hours | Difficulty: easy | Transfer: approximately 4.5 hours by private car | Included meals: breakfast and lunch. Dinner arrangements will be confirmed in your personalised quote.

At around 9:00 am, begin descending into a valley of rice terraces. Follow narrow, leafy paths towards Uoi village at the foot of a steep mountain, taking in the views along the way.

Continue to a local home, where you collect bicycles to explore Lan village, known for embroidery. Ride past streams, rice fields and small villages. Stop for lunch at a local house or beside the river, overlooking a waterwheel. Finish in Hieu village, where you can see Hieu Waterfall.

Overnight at Pu Luong Retreat.

Tour: approximately 7.5 hours | Transport: bicycle and walking | Difficulty: easy | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast, travel to Ninh Binh Province and have lunch at a local restaurant. Continue to Van Long Nature Reserve for a 1.5-hour sampan ride through a wetland landscape framed by limestone peaks and grottoes. During the dry season, the area also attracts migratory birds from northern Asia.

After your boat trip, take a buffalo-cart ride and continue to Mua Mountain. Climb around 500 stone steps, decorated with dragon and phoenix carvings, for panoramic views over Ninh Binh.

Overnight at Tam Coc Retreat Resort.

Tour: approximately 5 hours | Transfer: approximately 3 hours | Transport: private car and boat | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Leave Ninh Binh early for Halong Bay. At the pier, board your cruise and check in. Lunch is served as you sail between the bay’s limestone formations. In the afternoon, join the activities arranged by the cruise or simply relax on board. Towards evening, the boat anchors among the islands and dinner is served.

Overnight on Peony Cruise.

Transfer: approximately 3.5 hours | Transport: private car and shared cruise | Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cruise activities and routing may change according to weather conditions.

Enjoy a final morning on the bay. Early risers can watch the sunrise before breakfast as the boat returns through the limestone formations to the harbour. Disembark and transfer to Hanoi for your onward flight.

Transfer: approximately 3.5 hours by private car | Meals: breakfast.