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  • Mountain and Beach Gateway

    Code: VHT03 - Duration: 9 Days
    Start: Hanoi | Finish: Hanoi
  • Vietnam is always one of the best choices when it comes to planning an unforgettable honeymoon or wedding anniversary. In this romantic getaway, we start the trip with an overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa - “the City in the Clouds, you will be amazed at the pure air, stunning landscape and bright green rice terraces which make up this colourful mountain lifestyle. Following this, we move to Halong Bay, yet another natural wonder for your exploration. We end with a trip by a visit to Hanoi, one of Asia's most charming cities.

    Highlights:

    • Explore Sapa, the picturesque beauty of the north evoking love and romance
    • Take a cruise on Halong Bay to admire the breathtaking beauty of more than 2000 islands rising from emerald waters
    • Discover local life, traditions and customs of ethnic minorities in North-West Vietnam
    • Discover the exotic Hanoi capital containing thousands of years of culture
    • Charming hotel in great locations
    • Comfortable & spacious vehicle for transfers

    Itinerary in brief:

    Day 1: Hanoi arrival - Night train to Lao Cai (-/-/-)
    Day 2: Lao Cai - Sapa - Cat Cat - Ma Tra Village (B/L/-)
    Day 3: Sapa - Lao Chai - Ta Van - Sapa (B/L/-)
    Day 4: Sapa - Bac Ha - Night train to Hanoi (B/-/-)
    Day 5: Hanoi - Halong Bay (B/L/D)
    Day 6: Halong Bay Exploration (B/L/D)
    Day 7: Halong Bay - Hanoi (Br/-/-)
    Day 8: Hanoi City  (B/L/-)
    Day 9: Hanoi - Departure (B/-/-)

    • Ability to change the direction of the program
    • Possibility of an extension in Laos or Cambodia

    Notes:

    + We specialize in “tailor-made” tours for groups of two or more. We carefully inspect each step of your journey from the accommodation to the perfect guide to suit your needs
    + The itinerary is open to modification to fit your personal travel needs
    + Modifications to the itinerary may increase the price of the package
    + For the price of this trip, just ask for a quote by clicking on "TOUR PRICE"

    + If you are looking for a trip modified to your requirements, please send us your needs by filling out the form in Customize your trip” 
    + We will contact and send you a quote, excluding holiday period, within 48 hours of receiving your request .

  • Day 1: Hanoi arrival - Night train to Lao Cai (-/-/-)

    Airport  - Hanoi: 30km, ~40min drive

    hanoi day tour

    Upon arrival at Noi Bai Airport, meet your guide and driver who will then escort you to the city. After ensuring a smooth check in, you will have the afternoon to relax. The rest of the day is yours until you are transferred to Hanoi Railway station for the overnight train to Lao Cai.

    Meals Included: None
    Accommodation: Overnight on train

    Day 2: Lao Cai - Sapa - Cat Cat – Ma Tra Village (B/L/-)

    Lao Cai - Sapa: 40km, ~1h drive

    sapa tours

    We arrive at Lao Cai Train Station around 6a.m. From there, your guide and driver will meet and transfer you to S Paa, situated 40km from Lao Cai. After breakfast, we will explore Sapa town, which was originally founded by the French as a holiday resort. 

    In the afternoon, we will visit Cat Cat village, home to H’Mong people. They are excellent “tho cam” weavers, a kind of brocade fabric. The “tho cam” of Cat Cat village is of especially high quality, as it is dyed with natural colors, polished with beeswax and embroidered with unique designs. Cat Cat silver jewelry such as necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings are known for their sophisticated production techniques. A walk through this old village offers a glimpse into traditional customs and practices of the ethnic Black Hmong. We will stop at a beautiful waterfall and the remains of a hydroelectric plant built by the French during their colonisation of Vietnam.

    If time permits, visit Ma Tra Village. Located only about 5km to the south-east of Sapa town, Ma Tra Village was added recently into Sapa’s growing list of stunning destinations. The village is a new must-see for visitors when coming to the mountain town of Sapa and preferring a less commercial track. The Village is home to H’mong ethnic people and only boasts around 50 homes. They survive using their craft such as weaving brocade, silk, forging farming tools and carving silver. They generally only make such items to meet their own needs, but since the growth of tourism in Sapa, many H’mong women make decorated cloth to sell on the town’s main streets.

    • Cat Cat: 3km, 2h30m walking
    • Ma Tra: 3km, 2h trekking 

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
    Accommodation: Hotel in Sapa

    Day 3: Sapa - Lao Chai - Ta Van – Sapa (B/L/-)

    sapa tour, tonkin travelAfter breakfast, we embark on a lovely walk that will take us along small paths and trails and through several hill tribe villages of Lao Chai and Ta Van, home to the traditional H'mong, and Dzay people. This is an absolutely spectacular walk through stunning scenery inhabited by some of the friendliest people one can meet. We stop for a picnic lunch on the way at a family in Ta Van village.  There’s opportunity to meet with local people and study the art of making batik and local weaving villages - study textile tradition of craft women of Black H'mong and Red Dzao. We then head back to Sapa where we will stay overnight.

    • Distance : 8km
    • Duration : 3h30m trekking
    • Speed : Average

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
    Accommodation: Hotel in Sapa

    Day 4: Sapa - Bac Ha - Night train to Hanoi (B/L/-)

    Sapa - Bac Ha: 120km, ~2h30min drive

    bac ha market

    This morning after breakfast, we drive to bac Ha to visit the infamous Bac Ha market. This market is renowned for being the biggest traditional fair held every Sunday and is most known for its authentic homemade products. Most people still use horses to carry their loads so they depart very early in the morning to reach the market in time. If you’re taking this tour during Spring, you will frequently see locals in their colourful native costumes heading to the market in order to find a marriage partner. Spring in Sa Pa (particularly around the Tet holiday) may be cold and gloomy. However, this is the main period for dating, weddings, and genuinely adds to the vibrant atmosphere. Scenery like this cannot be found anywhere else in Vietnam and is truly remarkable.

    After lunch at a local restaurant, we leave the colourful market behind to follow a zigzag road along the mountain to visit Ban Pho 1 and Ban Pho 2 villages, inhabited by native Flower H'mong people. There’s a stop at some local houses to see how they make corn wine, a special wine Bac Ha is renowned for. Taste some and you feel its local flavour. We then head to Lao Cai train station for the night train back to Hanoi.

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
    Accommodation: Overnight on train

    Day 5: Hanoi - Halong Bay (B/L/D)

    Hanoi - Halong Bay: 180km, ~3h30min drive

    halong cruiseAfter your arrival at Hanoi Railway Station around 5:30am, our staff will meet you and bring you to a small hotel nearby to freshen up and have some breakfast. We then start out three-hour drive through the Red River Delta heading towards Halong. There will be photo and coffee breaks en route before arriving in Halong. You will embark a refurbished wooden sailing junk for a cruise past limestone cliffs emerging from the emerald waters of Halong Bay. On board, you will be served a delicious local seafood lunch followed by a swim and exploration of some of the limestone caves in the area. When the sun goes down, the junk will drop anchor for the night nearby a remote island. We then board the vessel, surrounded by this stunning seascape, you will attend our Vietnamese cooking demonstration on the sundeck.

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
    Accommodation: Overnight on Bhaya Cruise

    Day 6: Halong Bay Exploration (B/L/D)

    halong bay cruise

    At the break of dawn, you can join a Tai Chi session on the sundeck, after which a sunrise breakfast with tea and coffee will be served. Transfer to a smaller boat where you will then proceed to cruise to some of Halong Bay’s most undiscovered spots including Cua Van fishing village, Doi Cave and Ho Ba Ham area with its Three Peaches beach. Please note, locations depend on tide and weather conditions.

    Enjoy a leisurely day of kayaking and swimming. A mouth-watering lunch will be served around midday. You will return around 4:00 pm you to the large junk boat where you will enjoy your dinner on board. Spend the night squid fishing or relax and chat with your partner and others.

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
    Accommodation: Overnight on Bhaya Cruise

    Day 7: Halong Bay - Hanoi (Br/-/-)

    halong bay boat

    Wake up and enjoy a Tai Chi session on the sundeck at the break of dawn.  Coffee, tea, cookies and pastries are served for breakfast.

    We then explore Surprise Cave (Hang Sung Sot), one of the largest and most famous caves in the entire Halong Bay.  We arrive back at Halong pier, disembark and meet our driver who will take you back to Hanoi. We will visit Dong Trieu pottery village, situated some 60km from Ha Long city, on Highway 18A, owns some of the most famous ceramic villages in Vietnam. Dong Trieu ceramics has developed more recently than other traditional ceramics villages in Vietnam as the first master craftsman.

    Then we drive back Hanoi for overnight.

    Meals Included: Brunch
    Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

     

    Day 8: Hanoi City (B/L/-)

    hanoi city tour

    After a wholesome breakfast at the hotel, we start the day with a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Complex, named for the beloved father of modern Vietnam. This famous complex is home to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (closed on Mondays & Fridays), Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House, the Presidential Palace and Ho Chi Minh Museum. Following this, we head to the Temple of Literature constructed in 1070 to worship Confucius. Otherwise known as the first university of Vietnam, the site also honors the eighty-two Vietnamese doctorates that each passed a number of rigid exams in the medieval ages. Their names, birthdays and birthplaces are each engraved in headstones perched on stone tortoises. It is widely believed that touching the heads of these tortoises will bring luck. Its peaceful green compound with its neatly maintained lawns, gardens and lotus ponds make it a tranquil hideaway from the city’s bustle and heat. Next stop, lunch!-which will be served at a popular local restaurant. 

    In the afternoon, we visit the Museum of Ethnology dedicated to Vietnam's fifty-four officially recognized ethnic groups with both indoor and outdoor sections. While the in-house exhibition is particularly informative, the outdoor display continues in the museum’s garden with fascinating examples of traditional houses of numerous minority groups, from the Kinhs to the ethnic groups of the Central Highlands. We then enjoy a 45-mins-cyclo tour (similar to a rickshaw) to the Old Quarter where you can see streets with century-aged trees and French Colonial buildings.

    In the evening, we will enjoy a water puppet show, illustrating the unique Vietnamese traditional art. This art is originated from rural festivals in Vietnam. The artists, men and women, stand waist-deep in the water to manipulate the puppets, making them move, talk and laugh and even dance on the surface of the water.

    Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch
    Accommodation: Hotel in Hanoi

    Day 9: Hanoi - Departure (B/-/-)

    That’s all folks! After breakfast at the hotel, time is free until your driver meets and transfers you to Noi Bai airport for your flight to your next destination or back home. We truly hope you had a romantic getaway.

    Meals Included: Breakfast

  • Prices

    This trip is private and therefore can be altered to suit your needs, date of commencement and budget requirements.

    Prices vary due to a number of specifics:

    • Seasonal: during high season (October-April), the prices of services are generally higher when compared to the low season (May-September).
    • The number of participants: the more of you that travel together the less you will pay!
    • The choice of hotels: Fairly obvious one here; a 5-star hotel can cost ten times as much as a 2 star hotel.
    • The activities during the trip: Two trips on the same itinerary and of the same length can have two different prices depending on the number and nature of activities included.
    • The booking date: In some cases, booking your trip late can drastically affect prices due to their low availability.

    Inclusion:

    • Accommodation as recommended or similar category according to availability.
    • Transfers according to program by private air-conditioned vehicle with driver except free day
    • English-speaking guide’s assistance at every stage
    • Meals as indicated in program (B: Breakfast /L: Lunch / D: Dinner)
    • Entrance fees for attractions included in the program
    • All activities and cruises clearly mentioned in the program
    • Train tickets: Hanoi – Lao Cai – Hanoi (private deluxe cabin)
    • Halong Bay overnight on boat (sharing boat)
    • Water and cool tissues
    • Government taxes & service charge

    Exclusion:

    • Other drinks and meals not clearly mentioned
    • Early check-in, late check-out
    • Personal expenditures, tips
    • Personal insurance (compulsory)
    • Any service not clearly mentioned in the program
    • International air transfers associated with airport taxes
    • Visa and visa arrangement (available upon request)

    Booking

    Here are 2 steps to book your trip with Tonkin-Travel:

    Step 1. Focus on your travel program:

    You can choose this trip as is or customize it to your specific desires. Just click on the “Customize this trip” tab and fill in the form. One of our travel consultants will contact you within 48 hours to develop the travel program based on your specifications.

    Step 2. Booking:

    • Following the first step, tour program is selected and we access the rates.
    • Upon confirmation of the trip, the registration must be accompanied by a deposit up to 25% of the total estimate.
    • For programs with private junk (cruise) and/or 5 star hotels, the deposit is represented by 30% of the total estimate.
    • Tonkin-Travel carries out the booking process upon receipt of the deposit. Confirmation of these reservations is sent to customer within 10 days via email

    Nature of travel

    This trip is private. That implies:

    • You will be escorted by a private guide and driver. This approach guarantees a smooth trip with fewer organizational constraints.
    • You will be the master of your trip. We guarantee flexibility in organizing visits at your request.
    • Our services will be personalized according to your desires. Thus the proposals in this package are not fixed and you can bring suggest all the desired changes.
    • You receive individualized care: ample food, organizing small events (anniversary, honeymoon, etc.), targeted information, followed necessary modifications, etc.

    Accommodation

    • Accommodation is an important expenditure of your trip. When you choose a luxury trip for example, the accommodation can represent three quarters of the price. Thus, your choice of hotels is closely related to your budget.
    • Tonkin-Travel has negotiated rates with a wide range of hotels from 2 to 5 stars.
    • In some places you will have the option to choose ‘home-stay’. Although this provides less comfort that a hotel it is a truly authentic experience and highly recommended for at least one night of your journey.

    Transport

    All transfers during your trip are covered by private vehicle with driver, unless otherwise indicated in our offer. We ensure that our vehicles are new and comfortable. Fuel, tolls, accommodation, compensation and the driver are included in our offer. Only gratuities are not included and are at your discretion.

    The size of the selected vehicle is based on the number of tour participants according to the following quality standards:

    No. of participants

    2 pax

    3 pax

    From 4 to 7 pax

    From 8 to 14 pax

    From 15 to 20 pax

    Vehicle size

    Car 4-7 seats

    Car 7 or minivan 
    16 seats

    Minivan 16 seats

    Bus 24 seats

    Bus 35 or 45 seats

    Domestic flights

    If your trip includes domestic flights if any, they will be operated by Vietnam Airlines, the largest airline in Vietnam. The fleet consists mainly of Airbus and Boeing. On some short trips, the company operates 72 ATR and some Fokker.

    Rail transport

    Train travel can be offered (particularly between Hanoi-Lao Cai and Hanoi-Hue). Travelling at a speed of 60km/h on average it is not necessarily the fastest but an interesting experience nonetheless.

  • This form allows us to establish a tour proposal suitable for your needs. It is free and without obligation

      (*) : Required fields

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      What type of accommodation do you want?

      Regarding meals, you want the agency to offer you:

      Your message (Ex: The desired steps and activities, what you like, what you do not,
      the health condition of the participants, your questions on this trip...)

    • This form allows us to establish a tour proposal suitable for your needs. It is free and without obligation

        (*) : Required fields

        Have you already booked the flight?
        Which country would you like to discover? *
        What type of accommodation do you want?
        Regarding meals, you want the agency to offer you:
        Describe your trip
        These ideas are a guide for creating a trip suitable for your needs and expectations
        • Your desire to travel (culture, adventure, beach extension, local meetings, nature, etc.)
        • The desired pace of your trip (moderate, free and easy, etc.)
        • Your knowledge of the country. Your interests
        • The opportunity of your trip (vacation, wedding anniversary, cultural group, etc.)
        • Remarks (Room types, diet, special requests, etc.)

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