Grand Tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand – 22 Days

Your Vietnam adventure begins on arrival in Hanoi. Your private driver will meet you at the airport with a sign bearing your name and take you to your city-centre accommodation, close to the Old Quarter. Explore Hanoi at your own pace or rest at your hotel after the flight.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Your private guide and driver will collect you from your Hanoi hotel. In Ri village, enjoy a welcome drink at Mr Duoc's home. A Vietnam War veteran and tea farmer, he shares stories before showing you his established tea plantation. Learn how tea leaves are harvested and processed by hand to make traditional Vietnamese tea.

After a short drive to Moc village, join Ms Chin for a cooking class. Prepare Vietnamese dishes together and enjoy the lunch you have made.

This afternoon, walk through the village and visit families making traditional products such as tofu and conical hats. Cycle at a leisurely pace through rice fields, with opportunities to meet farmers. Finish with an herbal foot bath based on Muong traditions before returning to Hanoi.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Discover UNESCO-listed Halong Bay, with its limestone scenery, time to unwind on board and a choice of cruise activities.

After breakfast, check out and travel from Hanoi to Halong Bay. The cruise team will collect you from the hotel lobby between 8:00 and 9:00 am; we will confirm the exact time the day before.

Around midday, arrive at the pier and take a transfer boat to your cruise ship. After a welcome and check-in, lunch is served as you sail past the bay’s many small islands.

In the afternoon, activities may include swimming, kayaking or a cave visit, depending on your cruise itinerary. You are also welcome to relax on board.

Towards evening, the boat anchors in a scenic spot for the night. Enjoy the sunset before dinner.

Overnight on board.

Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Please note: poor weather may lead to changes or cancellation if boats are unable to leave port. Your travel consultant will arrange an alternative in this case.

Rise early to watch the sunrise over the bay. Breakfast is served in the dining room, and a tai chi session on the sundeck offers a gentle start to the morning.

Explore a limestone cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites. Return to your boat, check out and enjoy brunch as you sail back to the harbour, then transfer to your accommodation in Hanoi.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Discover Vietnam's history and the striking landscapes of Ninh Binh province, often called 'Halong Bay on land'.

Your guide and driver will collect you from your Old Quarter hotel between 08:00 and 08:30. Travel by coach for around 2.5 hours to Hoa Lu, Vietnam's former capital, and visit the temples honouring the Dinh and Le dynasties. Continue to Tam Coc for lunch around 12:30.

After lunch, take a boat trip through Tam Coc, gliding beneath limestone cliffs and through caves. Then cycle around five kilometres, approximately one hour, along quiet village paths through rice fields, riverside scenery and rock formations around Tam Coc and Bich Dong.

Return to Hanoi, with hotel drop-off expected around 18:00.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Transfer to the airport for your flight to Hue.

Overnight in Hue.

Your guide and vehicle will collect you from your centrally located Hue accommodation between 08:00 and 08:30 for a day of sightseeing.

Take a dragon boat along the Perfume River for around 30 minutes to historic Thien Mu Pagoda, enjoying the fresh river air along the way.

Explore the Imperial Citadel, the former residence of the Nguyen dynasty, Vietnam's last imperial dynasty. Continue to Dong Ba Market to browse its food and goods, watch the local trading and shop for souvenirs if you wish.

Enjoy Hue specialities for lunch, then take a break with a soothing herbal foot bath before the afternoon's royal-tomb visits.

Visit Khai Dinh's tomb, which combines Eastern and Western architectural influences, and Minh Mang's tomb, whose stately design blends with its natural surroundings.

On the return journey, stop at villages making conical hats and incense. Visit a local home for a hands-on introduction to these crafts.

Return to your hotel between 16:00 and 17:00.

Overnight in Hue.

Travel by car to Hoi An today and transfer to your hotel to check in.

Overnight in Hoi An.

Visit Vy's Market Restaurant for an interactive introduction to Vietnamese cooking. Tour the open food stations to watch dishes being prepared, discover ingredients and taste more than ten regional street-food specialities, from banh mi and dumplings to pickled vegetables, rice crackers and sweets. See rice paper and noodles being made, try traditional kitchen tools and have a go at making rice paper, cutting noodles or shaping wontons.

The hands-on cooking class lasts around 2.5 hours. Professional instructors demonstrate each dish before you prepare it yourself. Enjoy the dishes together afterwards, and take home a recipe booklet and a traditional Vietnamese kitchen utensil.

Planned recipes: cabbage rolls with prawn mousse in broth; grilled chicken with lime leaves; mango salad with prawns; and crisp Hoi An pancakes with pork, prawns and bean sprouts. Substitute ingredients are provided for vegetarians.

Overnight in Hoi An.

Explore Hoi An at your own pace today. Discover former Japanese merchants' houses, pagodas, temples and historic warehouses, or relax at a quiet café beside the Thu Bon River.

Overnight in Hoi An.

Transfer to the airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Your driver will collect you from your Ho Chi Minh City hotel at 07:30 for the journey to Cai Be. Take a boat trip to the area of the Tien River once known for its wholesale floating market. Learn how road transport and changes in farming have reshaped local trade, and discover the orchards that make this a rich fruit-growing region of the lower Mekong.

Walk through small villages, visit a historic house and learn about local culture. At a family business, see coconut sweets and crisp puffed rice being made. Enjoy fresh fruit and southern Vietnamese folk music closely connected with life in the delta.

Take a rowing boat through narrow canals, relaxing as you discover the upper Mekong Delta's scenery. On Tan Phong Island, enjoy the peaceful natural setting.

For lunch, learn to prepare Vietnamese specialities yourself, then enjoy your meal in a local garden.

Cycle along village paths through orchards and meet island residents to learn about their daily lives. Visit Ba Kiet's historic house, then return by boat to Cai Be and board the bus to Can Tho.

Overnight in Can Tho.

After breakfast at your hotel, take a leisurely boat trip through the lower Mekong's waterways around the Bassac River. Visit Cai Rang Floating Market to see the area's river-based trade.

Visit a local noodle workshop, then admire the distinctive architecture of Munir Ansay Khmer Pagoda. Continue by boat to Con Son, where you visit an orchard and taste seasonal fruit.

Return to Ho Chi Minh City after lunch.

Your English-speaking guide will collect you for the drive of around 1.5 hours to the Cu Chi Tunnels outside Ho Chi Minh City. Discover the extensive underground network, with meeting rooms, kitchens and first-aid areas, and learn how its concealed construction supported wartime life and resistance.

Conditions underground were harsh. Alongside the dangers of war, people faced food shortages, limited air, insects and cramped living spaces. The visit offers an insight into this prolonged struggle and the resourcefulness needed to survive.

Try cassava, an important wartime staple. The itinerary also lists an optional visit to a nearby shooting range, with AK-47, MK16 or machine-gun activities subject to the operator's conditions and separate charges.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

After breakfast, take the bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh and check into your hotel. Visit the Royal Palace, the residence of Cambodia's king and royal family, and explore its extensive grounds.

Continue to the Silver Pagoda to see its cultural treasures and richly decorated Buddha figures. Finish at Wat Phnom, a hilltop pagoda associated with Lady Penh and the city's founding story.

Overnight in Phnom Penh.

After breakfast, visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former S-21 prison. Once a school, it became a prison and interrogation centre under the Khmer Rouge. Continue approximately 15 km south of Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, a memorial to people taken from S-21 and killed during the regime.

Browse the Russian Market, or Toul Tumpong, for clothing, Buddha figures, woodcarvings, betel-nut boxes, silk, silver jewellery and traditional musical instruments. At sunset, enjoy a boat trip on the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers at their four-armed confluence.

Overnight in Phnom Penh.

After breakfast, take the bus to Siem Reap. Your driver will meet you and take you to your hotel. This afternoon, visit Wat Thmey, a memorial where a glass-sided stupa holds the remains of Khmer Rouge victims. The source programme lists a further stop as 'Wat Memorial Mountain'; the exact site will be confirmed in your final itinerary.

Overnight in Siem Reap.

After breakfast, explore Angkor Thom, including the South Gate, Bayon Temple with its stone towers and faces, the former Royal Palace enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Continue to jungle-framed Ta Prohm.

Explore Angkor Wat, one of the world's great temple complexes, with its extensive grounds, moat and enclosing walls. In the early evening, ride through Siem Reap by tuk-tuk and attend a blessing ceremony led by Buddhist monks.

Overnight in Siem Reap.

After breakfast in Siem Reap, fly to Phuket.

Overnight on Phuket.

Enjoy a relaxed day and a refreshing swim in the sea.

Overnight on Phuket.

Spend the day as you wish, making the most of the inviting sea and island setting.

Overnight on Phuket.

Enjoy breakfast on your final day. After check-out, you may have time to browse local markets for souvenirs before departing for your flight home.

Your journey ends here.