Vietnam Honeymoon: From Sapa to Phu Quoc - 18 Days

On arrival at Noi Bai International Airport, clear immigration and customs and make your way to the arrivals exit, where your guide and driver will be waiting. Transfer to your hotel in the heart of the Old Quarter, check in and enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Transfer: approximately 1 hour by private car.

Explore Hanoi’s ochre-coloured colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and lakes. Visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a marble and granite monument where the Vietnamese leader’s embalmed body rests, and the lotus-shaped One Pillar Pagoda. Continue to the Temple of Literature, the site of Vietnam’s first national university, founded in the 11th century.

In the afternoon, explore the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, with its collection of traditional clothing and objects illustrating the country’s 54 ethnic groups. Wander through the Old Quarter, where streets take their names from the crafts and trades once practised there. End the day with a water puppet show, a northern Vietnamese art form that originated in the flooded rice fields of the Red River Delta. Colourful wooden puppets bring scenes of rural life and traditional stories to life, accompanied by music.

Tour: approximately 7 hours | Transport: private car | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum has weekly and annual maintenance closures. Visits depend on its opening schedule for your travel dates. The Museum of Ethnology is closed on Mondays.

Leave the bustle of Hanoi for Ba Vi, a rural mountain region with welcoming villages and green countryside. Meet Mr Duoc, a Vietnam War veteran and tea farmer, who introduces you to picking and roasting tea leaves by hand. Join in with the process and hear his stories about life during the war.

Continue to another village to meet Mrs Chin, who will show you how to prepare Vietnamese dishes. Enjoy the food you have made together for lunch, then walk through the village to learn how local families earn their living and make everyday products. Cycle past rice fields and finish with a warm herbal foot bath based on traditional Muong recipes before returning to Hanoi.

Tour: approximately 9 hours | Transport: private car and bicycle | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast, check out and travel to Sapa, around 350 kilometres northwest of Hanoi, close to the Chinese border. Have lunch on arrival and take a short break after the journey.

In the afternoon, drive around 30 minutes from Sapa to Love Waterfall. Hear the local legend of a fairy who fell in love with a mountain boy playing his flute here. If you wish, stop at a local farm on the way for a glimpse of daily life. Continue uphill along Tram Ton Pass to Heaven’s Gate for views towards Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indochina.

Excursion: approximately 3 hours | Walking: 2 km | Transfer to Sapa: approximately 5.5 hours | Transport: private car | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Thanh Kim Valley, around 20 kilometres southwest of Sapa, is home to Red Dao and Hmong communities with rich cultural traditions. Follow a path along the mountainside for about an hour before descending towards the river, taking in the fresh air and valley views.

Cross an old stone bridge and continue along a paved lane to Lech Dao village. Spend time meeting residents and learning about farming and the embroidery traditions of Red Dao women. On the walk back towards your hotel, pass terraced rice fields whose colours change with the growing season, typically from green to gold between May and early October.

Suggested starts: 8:30 am or 1:30 pm | Walk: approximately 3.5 hours, 3 km | Difficulty: easy.

Leave Sapa for a three-hour drive to Bac Ha Market. Every Sunday morning, Hmong, Phu La, Black Dao, Tay, Nung and other communities gather to buy and sell local produce, embroidery, tobacco, rice spirits and livestock. The market is also an important place to meet friends and catch up on village news.

Visit the Tay village of Trung Do, meet local residents and enjoy a packed lunch. Afterwards, take a boat ride on the Chay River as it winds between forested mountains. Continue to Hanoi, arriving late in the evening.

Suggested departure: 7:30 am | Duration: approximately 10 hours | This market visit operates on Sundays only.

Set off early for Halong Bay. At the pier, board your cruise and complete check-in. Enjoy lunch as the boat sails between limestone islands. In the afternoon, join the activities arranged by the cruise or simply relax on board. Towards evening, the boat anchors among the karst formations and dinner is served.

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 the morning scenery as breakfast, or brunch on some boats, is served during the return to the harbour. After disembarking, transfer to Hanoi Airport for your flight to Hue. Your local team will meet you on arrival and take you to your hotel. The evening is yours to enjoy at leisure.

Overnight at Hue Ecolodge.

Transfers: Halong Bay to the airport, approximately 3–4 hours; Hue Airport to your hotel, approximately 1 hour | Flight: approximately 1.5 hours | Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast and brunch, according to the cruise schedule.

Step into Hue’s royal past at the Imperial Citadel. Explore its architecture and gardens as your guide shares stories of court life. Although the citadel suffered heavy damage during the Vietnam War, some sections survived and others have been carefully restored.

Continue to one of two royal tombs. Choose Tu Duc’s mausoleum, a peaceful complex of pavilions, temples and gardens, where your guide introduces the emperor’s life and the mysteries surrounding his final resting place.

Alternatively, visit Khai Dinh’s tomb, which combines Vietnamese and European influences. Its weathered concrete exterior gives way to a richly decorated interior with colourful mosaics, dragons and symbolic murals.

Tour: approximately 3.5 hours | Transport: private car | Meals: breakfast.

Take a gentle bicycle ride through Kim Long village to discover Hue’s garden-house traditions. Along the way, learn about local landscape design and the philosophy behind the gardens, and visit temples and craft workshops.

A family spanning three generations welcomes you into their old garden house. Learn about their traditions, help prepare a meal and enjoy a home-cooked dinner together. Relax with a herbal foot bath before returning to Hue by boat.

Tour: approximately 3.5 hours, starting at 2:00 pm | Transport: bicycle and boat | Meals: breakfast and dinner.

After breakfast, check out and travel from Hue to Hoi An via the scenic Hai Van Pass, with views of the coast and mountains.

In the afternoon, take a guided walk through Hoi An, once known as Faifo. This former trading port welcomed merchants from around the world and is now a UNESCO-listed Ancient Town. Explore old merchants’ houses that blend Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese influences, the historic Japanese Covered Bridge and the Chaozhou Assembly Hall with its intricate woodcarvings. Browse the colourful market, including silk stalls and the town’s well-known tailoring shops.

Walking tour: approximately 3.5 hours | Transfer: approximately 3 hours | Transport: private car and walking | Meals: breakfast.

Travel to Vong Nhi village in the morning and collect your bicycle. Ride through peaceful countryside, passing water-coconut groves, shrimp and fish farms, and rice fields.

Arrive at Thanh Dong Organic Farm, a 10,000-square-metre garden supporting ten local families. Walk through the vegetable plots, learn about organic growing methods and join in with seasonal farm tasks. Continue by basket boat along the Do River to The Field Restaurant, where you can enjoy the scenery or join local people fishing. Take part in a short cooking class and share a Vietnamese family-style lunch before returning to your hotel. The afternoon is free.

Tour: approximately 3 hours | Cycling: 6 km | Transport: private car, bicycle and basket boat | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast, check out and transfer to Da Nang Airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City. On arrival, transfer to your hotel and freshen up.

Spend the afternoon discovering a city where modern life and history sit side by side. See the red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral, built using materials imported from France, and the Central Post Office, completed in 1891. Visit the former Presidential Palace, now known as the Reunification Palace, and the War Remnants Museum for a Vietnamese perspective on the war. Finish with a taste of Saigon’s street-side coffee culture as your guide shares useful Vietnamese phrases and stories of everyday city life.

Tour: approximately 4 hours | Transfers: around 1 hour at each end | Flight: approximately 1.5 hours | Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast.

Access inside Notre-Dame Cathedral depends on services and any restoration restrictions.

Leave Saigon for the Mekong Delta, passing rice fields and fruit orchards. From the pier, set out by motorboat with a short visit to a floating market, then change to a small rowing boat to explore quieter canals. Continue to An Binh Island for lunch at Ut Trinh Homestay.

In the afternoon, stroll through an orchard, enjoy tea and listen to traditional music in an old house. Visit village workshops to see how rice paper, coconut sweets and puffed rice are made, with some treats to sample over tea. If you feel like more exploring, cycle through the village past orchards, a school, a church, a pagoda and traditional homes. Visit a brick and pottery workshop before the boat trip ends in Vinh Long and you return to Saigon.

Tour: approximately 8.5 hours | Transport: private car, boat and bicycle | Meals: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your flight to Phu Quoc. On arrival, meet your driver and travel to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to settle in and enjoy the beach.

Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast.

Enjoy the first of two free days on Phu Quoc, with time just for the two of you. Relax on the beach or explore at your own pace. You may like to arrange a water activity or a boat trip to nearby islands.

Meals: breakfast.

Spend another leisurely day on the island. Return to a favourite beach, discover a new stretch of coastline or simply enjoy time together at your hotel.

Meals: breakfast.

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check out. Transfer to the airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City, where you connect with your flight home.

Transfer: approximately 1 hour | Flight: approximately 1 hour | Transport: private car and plane | Meals: breakfast.