Essential Northern Vietnam Tour

Welcome to Vietnam! On arrival at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, our tour guide greets you at the airport and transfer to hotel in the center of Hanoi. Hotel checks in upon arrival, the rest of the day is yours to relax, or head out into the city for a little adventure on your own.

Travel kits in Vietnam:

UME will provide our special care to you on your arrival day in Vietnam. Our travel kits include SIM card (Unlimited data access with 6Gb of high speed + 30 minutes international call), and daily bottle of mineral water! 

In the morning, visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh House on Stilts, One Pillar Pagoda, Hoa Lo prison and Temple of Literature (the first university in Hanoi). After lunch, you will visit Museum of Ethnology and take a rickshaw ride through the Old Quarter about 1 hr. Then pay a visit to Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngoc Son Temple. The tour comes to an end by enjoying a Water Puppet Show to learn more about Vietnamese traditional culture. 

After the tour, you will take a private transfer to the Hanoi Train Station for your overnight train to Lao Cai, your guide will assist you with your luggage (no guide is proved on the train).

Arrive in Lao Cai this early morning. Your guide will meet you and take you to have breakfast. Then drive to Cao Son commune, through the Muong Khuong district. Along the way, you will pass terraced rice paddies, pine plantations and the tea farms. Visit busy Cao Son Market, where Red Dao, Tay, Black H'Mong and other ethnic people gather from the surrounding area to sell their handicrafts and silverware and to buy provisions. Later, have a short walk to Flower Hmong Village before have lunch. Drive along the Chay River through the panoramic views of mountains, valleys and villages. On the way, you will enjoy a few photo stops of enjoy the spectacular scenery before arriving at Coc Ly Bridge. Then you will board a local boat and cruise along the river to Trung Do village before continuing onto Sapa.   

After breakfast, take a morning walking tour (about 8km and 3 hours trekking) of Sapa for a visit to the busy market where Red Dao, Black & Flower H'Mong, Tay and other ethnic minority people converge from the surrounding countryside to sell their silverware and handicrafts, and to buy provisions. Afterwards, we will do one of the most beautiful Sapa Tours with the drive to visit Lao Chai and Ta Van Village of the Black H'mong and the Day people where you can enjoy fresh air, amazing scenery of the imposing mountain range, trek down world's most beautiful terraced rice fields, visit some local family on the way and learn unique culture and life of these ethnic groups. Back to Sapa by private car, free at leisure for the rest of the day.

Today, your trek starts with the Ma Tra Village, and then you will walk through the breathtaking view of the rice terraces and reach the Ta Phin Village (approx. 3 hours),  where the Red Dao minority lives. Enjoy a lunch in the village that full of local flavor, and then head back to Hanoi by road (about 5 hours).

Morning check out from Hotel. We will pick you up at your hotel and depart to Ninh Binh province.You will arrive at Mua Cave, the most beautiful place to view in Ninh Binh, which is considered as “miniature Great Wall” of Vietnam, hiking to the peak of  Mua cave, you will see whole Tam Coc landscape and Ninh Binh city.

You will have lunch at our local restaurant to try special delicious local Ninh Binh cuisine and then take a rest for 20 minutes before join the boat trip in Tam Coc to see natural and amazing scenery of this landscape with 3 magical grottos: Hang Ca (First Grotto), Hang Hai (Second Grotto), Hang Ba (Third Grotto). Especially rowing boat through Ngo Dong river to see rice field is a awesome experience.You can feel the deeply pure atmosphere with special smell of fresh rivers water and cool air from karst mountains when reaching each of the 3 caves in turns.

CYCLING RIDE (optional): Those who love to explore real countryside images of Vietnam can proceed a 40 minute cycling ride along country lane (from Tam Coc to Bich Dong Pagoda, estimated time 40 minutes for 5km cycling 2 ways), experiencing the beautiful scenery of lush paddy fields. After that, transfer to your hotel in Ninh Binh.

After breakfast, you will take a private transfer for about 3 hrs to Halong City, where you will begin your one and a half days' Halong Bay cruise. You will board the tradtional Vietnamese junk in the afternoon and cruise around the Halong Bay's limestone islets and caves doted the sea and see the sun set over the clam waters at the deck. Enjoy a wonderful dinner at evening. All meals are included during your stay on board. There are also a variety of optional activities waiting for you. Such as swimming, kayaking, diving...etc.  

Wake up early this morning to catch the sunrise over the bay with a Tai Chi lesson on the sundeck. Continue cruising and you can choose either kayak or traditional rowing boat to around discovering local life on the waters. Disembark at Tuan Chau International Passenger Port at around 10:30 am, where your guide and driver will wait you and drive you back to Hanoi (about 3 hrs). 

Your private guide will escort you to airport for your onward flight.