Vietnam and Cambodia at a slower pace

Arrive in Hanoi

Noi Bai airport to the Old Quarter

• Welcome dinner at a sit-down restaurant
• Nuit : Hanoi
• Environ 1 h de route

Soir

There is nothing planned until the evening, so you can rest after the flight, sit in a cafe with a Vietnamese coffee or take a slow turn by the lake, which is flat and lined with benches. At about half past six your trip leader meets the group in the lobby for a short briefing on the days ahead: what each morning holds, how far we walk, and where the vehicle waits. Then we sit down together at a restaurant a few minutes from the hotel for a welcome dinner of northern dishes at tables with proper chairs, and you are back in your room by about nine.

Compris

• Pick-up at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)
• Welcome briefing with your trip leader
• Welcome dinner

Hanoi at an easy pace

The Temple of Literature, Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem Lake and the water puppets

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hanoi

Matin

Breakfast is at your own pace; we leave at nine. The vehicle drops you at the gate of the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 and home to the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first university. Its five courtyards are level, shaded and joined by low thresholds, and stone turtles carry the names of scholars who passed the royal exams. A short drive takes us to Ba Dinh Square, where you see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum from outside, and the small One Pillar Pagoda.

Après-midi

Lunch together is at a restaurant in the French Quarter. The afternoon is free for a rest at the hotel. At about half past four your trip leader walks you across the red Huc Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple on its island in Hoan Kiem Lake, then into the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre for an hour seated, watching an art that began in the flooded rice fields of the Red River Delta.

Soir

Dinner is your own.

Compris

• Temple of Literature
• Ba Dinh Square and the One Pillar Pagoda
• Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple
• Water puppet show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

Activités en option

• Cyclo ride through the Old Quarter

To Ha Long and Lan Ha bays

Hanoi to the coast, then two nights on board

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ha Long Bay
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is served as the boat leaves harbour. In the afternoon a boatman rows you in a bamboo boat between the karsts into a sheltered lagoon; you sit the whole way.

Soir

Sunset is on the top deck, then dinner on board.

Compris

• Two-night cruise on Ha Long and Lan Ha bays
• Rowed bamboo boat among the karsts
• Sunset on the top deck

A slow day on the bay

Lan Ha Bay by day boat, an afternoon on deck

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ha Long Bay
• En bateau

Soir

This is the day the second night buys you. Sunrise is from the deck for anyone who wakes for it, between six and half past six in our season, but nothing is planned until after breakfast. Mid-morning the boat moves deeper into Lan Ha Bay, away from the busiest lanes of central Ha Long, and a smaller day boat takes you past floating fishing houses and into quiet coves, with seats under cover the whole way. If the weather is warm enough, you can swim from the boat or a small beach; in January and February the water is cool and the bay is often wrapped in soft mist, which layers the islands one behind another. Lunch is on board. The afternoon is yours: a deck chair, a book, a massage if the boat offers one, or a cooking demonstration in the galley. Dinner is on board again, with the karsts lit by the boat lights.

Compris

• Day boat through Lan Ha Bay
• All meals on board

Activités en option

• Massage on board, where the boat offers it

Back to harbour, fly to Hue

Lan Ha Bay to the pier, Noi Bai airport and the flight to Hue

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Hue
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Après-midi

This is the main travel day of the trip, but every part of it is seated, and the afternoon flight south to Hue, about an hour and ten minutes in the air, replaces the overnight sleeper train some trips use. We check you in together, and your trip leader stays with the group from the pier to the hotel.

Soir

At Phu Bai airport the vehicle meets us for the short drive into Hue, and you check in to a hotel near the Perfume River, chosen with a lift, for two nights, by about six in the evening depending on the flight time. The evening is free. There is a restaurant near the hotel if you would like company, or room service if you would rather not go out, and tomorrow starts after breakfast.

Compris

• Brunch on board
• Flight from Hanoi (HAN) to Hue (HUI)
• Transfers to Noi Bai airport and from Phu Bai airport

Hue

The Imperial City by electric car, then the Perfume River at golden hour

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hue
• En bateau

Matin

We leave the hotel at eight, while the morning is cool, and enter the Imperial City through the Meridian Gate where emperors appeared before their court. The grounds are large, so we use the electric cars that run inside the walls between the main halls: the Thai Hoa Palace, the restored temples and the gardens of the Forbidden Purple City, which is being rebuilt hall by hall. You walk only between the car and each hall.

Après-midi

Lunch together is at a restaurant serving Hue's royal-court dishes. The afternoon is free for a rest. At about four we board a dragon boat on the Perfume River and sail upriver, seated, to Thien Mu Pagoda, whose seven-storey tower has looked over the water since 1844, as the light turns gold.

Compris

• Imperial City by electric car
• Dragon boat on the Perfume River
• Thien Mu Pagoda

Hue to Hoi An by the coast

The tomb of Tu Duc, lunch at Lang Co, then Hoi An

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hoi An
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast, at about half past eight, we stop at the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc on the edge of Hue: a lakeside garden of pavilions and frangipani with level paths and benches, which he used as a retreat before he died in 1883. We skip the tomb of Khai Dinh, which most trips include, because it is reached by about 120 steep steps.

Après-midi

Then we drive south along the coast to Lang Co, a fishing town on a strip of sand between a lagoon and the sea, for a seafood lunch together. From Lang Co the road goes through the Hai Van tunnel to Da Nang and on to Hoi An, so the day is about two and a half hours at the wheel, split by Lang Co into two legs. You check in to your hotel in Hoi An, chosen with a lift, for three nights by about half past three, and the rest of the day is free.

Compris

• Tomb of Tu Duc
• Seafood lunch at Lang Co

Activités en option

• The old road over the Hai Van Pass instead of the tunnel, adding about 40 minutes, if the whole group wants it

Hoi An old town

A morning walk on level streets, then a free afternoon

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Hoi An

Matin

The streets are flat and closed to cars for much of the day, and day visitors from Da Nang arrive from mid-morning, so we start at eight. Your old town ticket covers the entries: the Japanese Covered Bridge, reopened in 2024 after a restoration, an old merchant house such as Tan Ky, and the Fujian Assembly Hall with its hanging incense coils. We stop for coffee halfway and finish at the central market for a banh mi before we part.

Après-midi

The afternoon is free: a tailor fitting, the hotel pool, or a nap. The walk is about 2 km in all, with a seat at each stop and the vehicle on call.

Compris

• Morning walk in the old town
• Old town ticket: Japanese Covered Bridge, a merchant house and the Fujian Assembly Hall
• Central market

Activités en option

• Tailor fitting
• Cooking class

My Son and the Thu Bon at dusk

My Son Sanctuary in the cool of the morning, a free afternoon, the river at lantern time

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Hoi An
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

Today has the trip's one planned early start in Vietnam, because My Son demands it: the valley is hot and shadeless by late morning. We leave at seven for the drive of about an hour inland to the sanctuary, in a jungle valley below Cat's Tooth mountain. An electric car carries you from the ticket office to the edge of the ruins, and from there it is a walk of about a kilometre on earth paths to the main temple groups. Between the 4th and 13th centuries the Cham kings built brick temples here to the Hindu god Shiva, and many were damaged by bombing in 1969.

Après-midi

We are back in Hoi An by noon, and the afternoon is free.

Soir

At dusk we board a wooden boat on the Thu Bon River as the lanterns of the old town come on, and you can set a paper lantern on the water. Dinner together follows in the old town.

Compris

• My Son Sanctuary with the electric car from the ticket office
• Boat on the Thu Bon River at dusk
• Dinner in the old town

Fly to Ho Chi Minh City

A free morning in Hoi An, then Saigon

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

The morning is free in Hoi An: a last walk, a final tailor fitting or time by the pool. We leave for Da Nang airport in the late morning, a drive of about 45 minutes, for a flight of about an hour and twenty minutes south to Ho Chi Minh City, which most people here still call Saigon. You check in to a central hotel chosen with a lift for two nights.

Après-midi

In the late afternoon, once the heat eases, your trip leader takes the group by vehicle to the Independence Palace, also called the Reunification Palace, kept much as it was on 30 April 1975, when a tank broke through its gates. The main reception rooms are on the ground floor, and the upper floors and the command bunker in the basement are by stairs, so you can choose. A short stroll then passes the French-era Central Post Office and Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Flight from Da Nang (DAD) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN), with transfers
• Independence Palace
• Central Post Office and Notre-Dame Cathedral

The Mekong Delta

A day in Ben Tre by boat, at a sitting pace

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a home-style meal in a garden restaurant: elephant ear fish wrapped in rice paper with herbs, then fruit from the orchards.

Soir

We drive back to Saigon by about half past four, with the evening free.

Compris

• Motorboat on the Mekong
• Rowed sampan through the coconut canals
• Garden lunch in Ben Tre

Fly to Siem Reap

Saigon to Siem Reap by air, a free afternoon

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Siem Reap
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

A morning flight of about an hour takes you from Ho Chi Minh City straight to Siem Reap, in place of the long public bus and land border crossing that other trips spend a day on. We land at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, which opened in 2023 about an hour's drive from town, and the vehicle takes you to a hotel chosen with a lift, and a pool where we can, for three nights.

Après-midi

Lunch is your own. The afternoon is free: after eleven days on the move this is a planned rest before Angkor.

Soir

In the early evening your trip leader can walk you to the Old Market by the river, about ten minutes on foot, and point out places to eat. At about eight we drive you the short way to Phare, the Cambodian Circus, for an hour seated under the big top; we collect your Angkor pass tomorrow on the way to the temples.

Compris

• Flight from Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) to Siem Reap (SAI), with transfers
• Phare, the Cambodian Circus

Activités en option

• Massage in town

Angkor: Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei

Ta Prohm as it opens, then a rest through the heat

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Siem Reap
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

We meet your licensed Angkor guide at seven, after breakfast, to reach Ta Prohm as it opens at half past seven, before the coaches arrive. Soft morning light falls on the silk-cotton and strangler fig roots prising its galleries apart, and timber walkways and ramps now carry you through much of the temple over the fallen stone; where they end, you can wait on a bench while others go on. A short drive takes us to Banteay Kdei across the road, which stays quiet even in busy weeks, and to Srah Srang, the royal bathing pool, where you can sit and look across the water.

Après-midi

We are back in town for lunch together and the hottest hours at the hotel. The afternoon is free. If you would like to see the Tonle Sap, a boat at the stilt village of Kampong Phluk is offered as an option in the late afternoon, water levels permitting.

Compris

• Angkor 3-day pass
• Ta Prohm at opening time
• Banteay Kdei
• Srah Srang

Activités en option

• Boat at Kampong Phluk and sunset on the Tonle Sap, water levels permitting

Angkor Wat and the Bayon

An optional sunrise, Angkor Wat after breakfast, the Bayon in the afternoon

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Siem Reap
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

Sunrise at Angkor Wat is the one sight on this trip that needs a very early start, so it is your choice. Those who want it leave at about a quarter to five with your guide and sit by the quieter pool on the right of the causeway as the towers appear against the sky. Everyone else is collected at half past seven after breakfast, when the sunrise crowds have gone to eat. Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century for King Suryavarman II, is entered by a long causeway; we walk the ground-floor galleries of bas-reliefs, including the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, which is the heart of the visit. The upper level is reached only by a steep staircase and is optional.

Après-midi

Lunch is your own and the early afternoon is free. At about half past three we drive through the South Gate of Angkor Thom to the Bayon, its towers carved with calm stone faces.

Soir

The farewell dinner is at about half past six, so you are back at the hotel by nine.

Compris

• Angkor Wat, with an optional sunrise
• Angkor Wat ground-floor galleries and bas-reliefs
• Angkor Thom South Gate and the Bayon
• Farewell dinner

Depart from Siem Reap

A free morning, then the airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

A morning with no alarm.

Après-midi

Your Angkor pass is valid for three days, and we have used two, so you can go back with a tuk-tuk and driver to Banteay Srei, the small pink sandstone temple about 35 km north with some of the finest carving at Angkor, or stay in town for a last swim and a Khmer amok curry for lunch. Your trip leader can help arrange either. At the time that suits your flight the vehicle takes you to Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI), about an hour from town, for your flight home or onward.

Soir

Allow for that hour when you book: an afternoon or evening departure lets you enjoy the morning, and we suggest a flight leaving no earlier than about midday. If you would like more time, we can add nights in Siem Reap or a few days on the coast before you fly.

Compris

• Drop-off at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI)

Activités en option

• Tuk-tuk to Banteay Srei