Vietnam and Cambodia at a slower pace

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Hanoi

   Noi Bai airport to the Old Quarter

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

   Your trip starts at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN), about 30 km north of the city. We meet you in the arrivals hall, help with your bags and drive you to a central hotel near Hoan Kiem Lake, chosen with a lift to every floor, for two nights. 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

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : Under 1 km on foot.

2. Jour 2 : 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
   Détail du jour 2

   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. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Wait in the vehicle at Ba Dinh Square; the One Pillar Pagoda has a short flight of steps.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free until about 4:30

   Activité : About 3 km on foot in short stretches, with benches by the lake and seats at every stop.

   

3. Jour 3 : To Ha Long and Lan Ha bays

   Hanoi to the coast, then two nights on board

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ha Long Bay
   Détail du jour 3

   No early start: we leave at about half past eight. The drive east to the coast is about two and a half hours on the expressway, with a rest stop halfway. Ha Long Bay and the neighbouring Cat Ba archipelago, of which Lan Ha Bay is part, were listed together by UNESCO in 2023: close to two thousand limestone islands rising out of green water. We board a cruise boat for two nights rather than the usual one, so there is no rush to pack and leave. The boat is chosen for cabins reached by a lift or without steep stairs, and the crew help with bags and with the step from the tender. 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. 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

   Option plus active : Paddle a kayak instead of the bamboo boat.

   Activité : Under 1 km on foot. About 2.5 hours by road, with a rest stop.

   

4. Jour 4 : A slow day on the bay

   Lan Ha Bay by day boat, an afternoon on deck

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ha Long Bay
   Détail du jour 4

   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

   Option plus active : Kayak in a sheltered cove.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free on deck

   Activité : Under 1 km on foot; steps into the day boat with crew help.

5. Jour 5 : Back to harbour, fly to Hue

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

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Hue
   Détail du jour 5

   Brunch is on board as the boat sails slowly back to harbour, and we are ashore at about half past ten. The drive to Noi Bai airport takes about two and a half hours with a rest stop. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : The longest travel day: about 2.5 hours by road and a 1 hour flight, all seated. Under 1 km on foot. Expect to reach the Hue hotel in the late afternoon or early evening.

6. Jour 6 : Hue

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

   • En bateau
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Hue
   Détail du jour 6

   Hue was the capital of Vietnam's last royal dynasty, the Nguyen, from 1802 to 1945, and its monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage site. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay on the dragon boat at Thien Mu; the pagoda is up a flight of steps from the landing.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free until about 4

   Activité : About 2.5 km on foot in short stretches, with the electric car between halls.

   

7. Jour 7 : Hue to Hoi An by the coast

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

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Hoi An
   Détail du jour 7

   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. 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

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free

   Activité : About 1.5 km on foot. About 2.5 hours on the road in two legs.

8. Jour 8 : Hoi An old town

   A morning walk on level streets, then a free afternoon

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Hoi An
   Détail du jour 8

   Hoi An's old town is a UNESCO site because it kept the shape of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, with Chinese assembly halls, Japanese and Vietnamese merchant houses and quays along the river. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 2 km on foot, all level, with a coffee stop halfway.

   

9. Jour 9 : 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

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Hoi An
   Détail du jour 9

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

   Option plus facile : Stay at the first temple group, with seating in the shade, while others walk on.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : About 2.5 km on foot, on earth paths at My Son. The early start is for the heat.

   

10. Jour 10 : Fly to Ho Chi Minh City

    A free morning in Hoi An, then Saigon

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
    Détail du jour 10

    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. 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. 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

    Option plus facile : Stay on the ground floor of the Independence Palace.

    Temps libre : Morning and evening free

    Activité : About 2 km on foot.

11. Jour 11 : The Mekong Delta

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

    • Environ 4 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
    Détail du jour 11

    We leave at half past eight for Ben Tre province, about two hours south, crossing the bridges over branches of the Mekong where the river splits into its delta. Ben Tre is coconut country, laced with narrow channels under nipa palms, and today you see it almost entirely from a seat. A motorboat with a covered deck takes you along the wide river; the crew help you on and off at each landing. At a family workshop you watch coconut candy being made, with no obligation to buy. Then a rowed sampan slips into canals too narrow for engines, a low boat you step down into with help, or you can stay on the motorboat and meet the group further on. Lunch is a home-style meal in a garden restaurant: elephant ear fish wrapped in rice paper with herbs, then fruit from the orchards. 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

    Option plus facile : Stay on the motorboat instead of the sampan.

    Temps libre : Evening free

    Activité : About 1.5 km on foot. About 2 hours each way by road, with a rest stop; no leg is over 2 hours.

12. Jour 12 : Fly to Siem Reap

    Saigon to Siem Reap by air, a free afternoon

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Siem Reap
    Détail du jour 12

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

    Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest

    Activité : Under 1 km on foot, plus the optional walk to the Old Market.

13. Jour 13 : Angkor: Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei

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

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Siem Reap
    Détail du jour 13

    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. 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

    Option plus facile : Stay at the Ta Prohm entrance cafe and join the group at Banteay Kdei.

    Temps libre : Afternoon free

    Activité : About 3 km on foot, on walkways, earth paths and uneven stone, with seats at each temple.

    

14. Jour 14 : Angkor Wat and the Bayon

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

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Siem Reap
    Détail du jour 14

    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. 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. 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

    Option plus facile : View the Bayon faces from the lower terrace and the outer galleries, without the steps to the upper terrace.

    Option plus active : Climb the steep staircase to the upper level of Angkor Wat when it is open.

    Temps libre : Early afternoon free

    Activité : About 3.5 km on foot over the day. The upper level of Angkor Wat closes on Buddhist holy days; shoulders and knees must be covered.

    

15. Jour 15 : Depart from Siem Reap

    A free morning, then the airport

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 15

    A morning with no alarm. 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. 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

    Temps libre : Morning free

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about midday.

Faune et météo : January to March is the season. Hanoi and the bay are cool and often misty in January and February, so pack a warm layer for the boat. Hue and Hoi An are past their autumn rains and get drier and warmer through March. Saigon, the Mekong and Cambodia are dry and hot, with heat at Angkor building from March, which is why the temple days have a rest through the middle of the day. Tet, the Lunar New Year in late January or February, closes many shops for several days, and we avoid it.

• Hanoi2 nuits
• Ha Long Bay2 nuits
• Hue2 nuits
• Hoi An3 nuits
• Ho Chi Minh City2 nuits
• Siem Reap3 nuits