Women-only Vietnam: Hanoi to Saigon

1. Day 1: Arrive in Hanoi

   Noi Bai International Airport to the Old Quarter

   • Early welcome dinner
   • Stay in Hanoi
   Day 1 details

   Your trip starts at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN), north of the city, where we meet you and drive you to your hotel near the Old Quarter. Nothing is planned until early evening, so sleep off the flight. At about 6 pm your woman guide meets the group in the hotel for an unhurried briefing: what to wear at pagodas and the mausoleum, how to carry a bag in scooter traffic, how to cross the road calmly, how to book a car by app, and anything you want to ask. Then a short walk to Hoan Kiem Lake as the lights come on, and an early sit-down welcome dinner of northern dishes, such as bun cha, spring rolls and a clear pho, at a restaurant run by women where we can confirm one with your dates. You are back at the hotel by about 9 pm. If your flight lands too late, your guide meets you at breakfast and briefs you then.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)
   • Welcome briefing with your woman guide on dress, safety and getting around
   • Evening walk to Hoan Kiem Lake
   • Early welcome dinner

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest; back at the hotel by about 9 pm

2. Day 2: Hanoi and the Vietnamese Women's Museum

   Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn, the Temple of Literature, Ba Dinh and the Women's Museum

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hanoi
   Day 2 details

   Early risers can join your guide at first light at Hoan Kiem Lake, where people do tai chi, dance and stretch before work, past the red The Huc Bridge to Ngoc Son Temple. The group day starts after breakfast at about 8:30 at the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 to honour Confucius and home from 1076 to the Imperial Academy. Its stone stelae on the backs of stone turtles list the scholars who passed the royal exams, all of them men, which your guide sets against what comes later. At Ba Dinh Square we see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where shoulders and knees must be covered, and the One Pillar Pagoda. The mausoleum closes on Mondays and Fridays, and on those days we see it from the square. After lunch together, the Vietnamese Women's Museum tells the country's story through its women: marriage and family customs across ethnic groups, women in the wars, and the street traders who still feed the city. The late afternoon and evening are free.

   Included

   • Dawn walk at Hoan Kiem Lake with your guide (optional, early)
   • Temple of Literature
   • Ba Dinh Square, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the One Pillar Pagoda
   • Vietnamese Women's Museum

   Optional experiences

   • Hoa Lo Prison in the free late afternoon, with entry

   Easier option: Return to the hotel after lunch and visit the museum another time on your own.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   

3. Day 3: Ha Long Bay overnight

   Hanoi to the bay, then a night on the water

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ha Long Bay
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we drive east from Hanoi on the expressway to the coast and board an overnight boat around midday. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, close to 2,000 limestone islands and islets rising straight out of the Gulf of Tonkin, and in 2023 the listing was extended to the Cat Ba archipelago and Lan Ha Bay to its south. We choose a boat route that spends the afternoon in quieter water, with time to kayak between the karsts, or to swim when the weather is warm, and a visit to a cave or a floating fishing area depending on the route. Cabins are shared as your rooms are: with your matched roommate, or on your own with the supplement. Lunch and dinner are served on board. Stay on deck for sunset, when the islands fade into dark outlines one behind another, and sleep on the water instead of driving back to Hanoi the same evening, as most day trips do.

   Included

   • Transport from Hanoi to the harbour with your guide
   • Overnight boat in Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay in a private cabin with its own bathroom
   • Kayaking among the islands, weather permitting
   • Cave or floating fishing area visit, depending on the boat route

   Easier option: Stay on deck or in the boat's tender while others kayak.

   More active option: Kayak the longer loop and swim from the boat when the water is warm enough.

   Activity: Kayaking is optional and depends on the weather and sea state.

   

4. Day 4: Sunrise on the bay, then Ninh Binh

   Ha Long Bay to Ninh Binh

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Ninh Binh
   Day 4 details

   Set an alarm for sunrise. The first hour of the day is the quietest on the bay, often still and misty in the cooler months, and for many people it is the best photograph of the trip. After coffee on deck and a last cruise through the islands, brunch is served before the boat returns to the harbour in the late morning. Instead of driving back to Hanoi, we drive south-west to Ninh Binh, the country of limestone towers and rice fields that people call Ha Long Bay on land. Check in near Tam Coc and rest. In the late afternoon, when the heat has gone out of the day, cycle the flat lanes between the paddies and villages with your guide while the light softens over the karst hills, or ride along in the vehicle if you prefer. Dinner together tonight, close to the hotel, with an early night before tomorrow's first-light start at Mua Cave.

   Included

   • Sunrise on the boat
   • Brunch on board
   • Transport from the harbour to Ninh Binh with your guide
   • Late afternoon bicycle ride around Tam Coc

   Easier option: Skip the bicycle ride and see the villages from the vehicle with your guide.

   Free time: Early afternoon free to rest

   Activity: The bicycle ride is on flat village lanes.

5. Day 5: Mua Cave at first light, Trang An, fly to Hue

   Ninh Binh to Hanoi airport, then the flight to Hue

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hue
   Day 5 details

   An early start for the best light of the day. We are at Mua Cave as it opens, before the heat and the tour buses, and climb about 500 stone steps to the stone dragon on the summit ridge, with the view over the rice fields and the Ngo Dong River winding through Tam Coc. Back to the hotel for breakfast, then the Trang An Landscape Complex, Vietnam's first mixed natural and cultural World Heritage Site, listed in 2014. We take one of the first rowing boats of the morning, and a local rower takes you through low caves cut into the limestone, with short stops at temples. After lunch we drive to Noi Bai International Airport for a flight leaving no earlier than about 4 pm, which ops confirm with your dates, and fly to Hue in a little over an hour with your guide. If the flight is late, dinner waits at the hotel and day 6 starts as planned. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Mua Cave viewpoint at opening time
   • Trang An rowing boat trip on an early boat
   • Transport from Ninh Binh to Noi Bai International Airport
   • Flight from Hanoi to Hue, with transfer to your hotel

   Easier option: Wait at the foot of Mua Cave with coffee, or walk the lotus ponds below it.

   More active option: Climb to both the dragon summit and the pagoda on the opposite ridge at Mua Cave.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 500 steep stone steps at Mua Cave, with rails; you can wait at the foot instead. The flight time is confirmed with your dates, no earlier than about 4 pm, so the morning is not rushed.

   

6. Day 6: Hue

   The Imperial City, two royal tombs and the Perfume River

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Hue
   Day 6 details

   Hue was the capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945, and its monuments are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We enter the Imperial City through the Meridian Gate as it opens, when the courtyards are cool and nearly empty, and your guide walks you through the throne hall, the dynastic temples and the gardens, explaining what was lost in the fighting of 1968 and what has been rebuilt since, and how the queen mothers and the women of the inner court lived behind its walls. Late morning we drive into the hills south of the city to the tomb of Tu Duc, a lakeside park of pavilions the emperor used as a retreat in life, and the tomb of Khai Dinh, finished in 1931, its inner rooms covered in glass and porcelain mosaic. The afternoon is free to rest. Before sunset a dragon boat takes us up the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda and its seven-storey tower. Dinner together, with Hue dishes such as bun bo Hue.

   Included

   • Imperial City of Hue at opening time
   • Tomb of Tu Duc
   • Tomb of Khai Dinh
   • Dragon boat on the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda

   Free time: Afternoon free

   

7. Day 7: Over the Hai Van Pass to Hoi An

   Hue to Hoi An by Lang Co, the Hai Van Pass and Da Nang

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hoi An
   Day 7 details

   Today the drive is part of the trip. After breakfast we head south along the coast to Lang Co, a fishing village between a lagoon and a long sand beach, and then climb the Hai Van Pass, the pass of the sea clouds, where a spur of the Truong Son range runs into the sea. It has long marked a climate divide between north and south, and at the top stand the ruins of a gate built under the Nguyen emperors and a few wartime bunkers. Cloud often sits on the pass, so your guide watches the sky that morning and picks the time; if it is hidden, we spend longer at Lang Co and take the tunnel underneath. Seafood lunch together, a stop at the Marble Mountains in Da Nang, then Hoi An by mid-afternoon, with time to rest. In the early evening we walk across to the An Hoi side of the river to watch the lanterns come on along the Thu Bon, before the main evening crowd arrives.

   Included

   • Transport from Hue to Hoi An with your guide
   • Lang Co
   • Hai Van Pass, weather permitting
   • Marble Mountains, Da Nang
   • Evening lantern walk on the An Hoi side of the river

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   

8. Day 8: Hoi An: photo morning and a cooking class

   The Old Town at dawn, then Tra Que village

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hoi An
   Day 8 details

   This is the morning to set an alarm for. At about 6 am the Japanese Covered Bridge, built by Hoi An's Japanese merchants at the end of the 16th century and reopened in 2024 after a long restoration, is often empty, and the yellow merchant houses of the Old Town take the early light. Your guide walks the quiet lanes with you, with time for photographs before the shops open; please keep tripods off the bridge itself. Hoi An Ancient Town was a busy trading port from the 15th to the 19th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After breakfast we cycle out to Tra Que, a vegetable village known for its herbs and greens, for a cooking class, with a host family where the women grow and cook if we can confirm one with your dates. You help in the gardens, then cook and eat dishes such as cao lau noodles or banh xeo pancakes for lunch. The afternoon and evening are free to wander, swim at the hotel or go back to the river after dark.

   Included

   • Dawn photo walk in Hoi An Old Town and at the Japanese Covered Bridge
   • Hoi An Old Town entry
   • Bicycle ride to Tra Que vegetable village
   • Cooking class with lunch

   Easier option: Ride to Tra Que in the vehicle instead of by bicycle.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   

9. Day 9: My Son, then a women-run craft workshop

   Hoi An to the My Son sanctuary and back, then an afternoon workshop in Hoi An

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Hoi An
   Day 9 details

   My Son is the reason to be up early again. The sanctuary lies in a green valley under Cat's Tooth Mountain, about an hour west of Hoi An, and from the 4th to the 13th century the kings of Champa built brick temples here, most of them to the Hindu god Shiva. Many were destroyed by American bombing in 1969, but the groups that survive, with their carved brick and sandstone, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We arrive as the gates open, while it is cool and before the day groups. We are back in Hoi An by late morning; lunch together is at a quiet local restaurant, with time to rest after it. At about 3 pm we spend a couple of hours at a women-run craft workshop or cooperative in or near Hoi An, confirmed with your dates: lantern making, weaving or embroidery, depending on who we work with. You make something with your hands and hear how the business runs, with nothing to buy. The evening is free.

   Included

   • My Son sanctuary at opening time, with your guide
   • Lunch in Hoi An
   • Afternoon at a women-run craft workshop or cooperative in Hoi An

   Easier option: Skip My Son and sleep in; join the group for the afternoon workshop.

   Free time: Evening free; your guide can recommend a tailor if you want clothes or an ao dai made, with two fittings before day 10

10. Day 10: Fly to Saigon

    Hoi An to Da Nang airport, the flight to Ho Chi Minh City and the old centre

    • By plane
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Ho Chi Minh City
    Day 10 details

    A slower morning in Hoi An, then we drive to Da Nang International Airport and fly south to Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon by most of the people who live there. The flight takes about an hour and a half, and your guide flies with you. In the afternoon we see the old centre: the Independence Palace, where a tank broke through the gates on 30 April 1975 and ended the war, the red-brick Notre-Dame Cathedral, built by the French between 1877 and 1880, and the Central Post Office beside it, still working under its vaulted iron roof. Then a choice: the War Remnants Museum, which tells the story of the war from the Vietnamese side and is hard viewing, or the Southern Women's Museum, on the women of the south, from ao dai and silk to the women who fought and organised in the wars. In the evening we go out for a street food dinner in the backstreets, with the city at its busiest; this is the night to keep your phone in an inside pocket.

    Included

    • Transport from Hoi An to Da Nang International Airport
    • Flight from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City, with transfer
    • Independence Palace
    • Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office, from outside
    • War Remnants Museum or the Southern Women's Museum, your choice
    • Street food dinner with your guide

    Activity: Notre-Dame Cathedral has been under restoration for several years, so it may be seen from outside only.

11. Day 11: The Mekong Delta at Ben Tre

    Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre and back

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Ho Chi Minh City
    Day 11 details

    We leave Saigon early, around 7 am, to reach the Mekong Delta at Ben Tre before most day groups: about 2 hours each way, with a coffee stop on the way out. Ben Tre is a coconut-growing area of islands, rivers and narrow canals where the Mekong splits into its branches on the way to the sea. After a boat across the wide river, you board a small sampan, rowed by a local, along a canal shaded by water coconut palms; this is the quietest part of the day. Then we cycle lanes between orchards, small farms and village houses with your guide, at an easy pace with stops. Lunch is in a family's garden, cooked and hosted by the women of the family where we can confirm one with your dates: Mekong dishes such as fried elephant ear fish, rolled at the table with herbs and rice paper, and time to talk with your guide translating. We are back in the city by late afternoon, with time to rest before a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Transport from Ho Chi Minh City to Ben Tre and back with your guide
    • Boat across the Mekong
    • Sampan ride on the small canals
    • Bicycle ride through the villages
    • Lunch with a family in their garden
    • Farewell dinner

    Easier option: Ride in the vehicle instead of cycling.

    Activity: About 4 hours of driving in all, split into two legs of about 2 hours, morning and late afternoon, with the boats, cycling and lunch in between.

12. Day 12: Depart from Saigon

    A free morning, then Tan Son Nhat International Airport

    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    The last day is yours, with no early start. Breakfast at the hotel, then the morning is free until your airport transfer. If you want one more outing and your flight leaves in the afternoon or evening, your guide can arrange either of two short options: a half-day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels, the network dug under the farmland north-west of the city and used through the wars against the French and the Americans, or a guided morning walk through Ben Thanh Market and the streets around it. If you would rather keep it quiet, pack slowly, have a last iced coffee with condensed milk and a bowl of noodles near the hotel. We drive you to Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN) in good time for your flight home, at the hour that suits your departure; flights after about noon leave room for one of the options.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)

    Optional experiences

    • Cu Chi Tunnels half-day trip. For afternoon or evening flights.
    • Guided morning walk around Ben Thanh Market

    Free time: Morning free

Wildlife and weather: February to April is the driest and most comfortable time to travel the whole length of the country. Ha Long Bay can be misty or drizzly in February and March, which softens the views but makes for calm, atmospheric mornings. Saigon is hot all year and hottest in April. Hue and Hoi An get most of their rain, and the risk of typhoons, from September to December.

• Hanoi2 nights
• Ha Long Bay1 night
• Ninh Binh1 night
• Hue2 nights
• Hoi An3 nights
• Ho Chi Minh City2 nights