Why travel this route
Fourteen days is the sweet spot for a first trip. This route keeps the classics and adds Pu Luong, a reserve of rice terraces and stilt houses four hours from Hanoi, which is where the trip usually stops feeling like sightseeing and starts feeling like travel.
Internal flights handle the north–centre–south hops, so you spend your daylight in places rather than on the road. Everything is private: your guide, your vehicle, your call on when to leave the hotel.
- Hanoi on foot — the Old Quarter, the Temple of Literature and a street-food circuit worth showing up hungry for
- Three nights in Pu Luong: terraces, water wheels, Thai stilt houses and no tour buses
- Kayaking and caves on Bai Tu Long Bay, then a night at anchor
- Hue's imperial city and the royal tombs along the Perfume River
- Hoi An's ancient town, plus a cycle out to the rice fields and the basket-boat fishermen
- The Cu Chi tunnels and Saigon's war-history museums
- One last day on the water in the Mekong Delta
Where you sleep, night by night
Thirteen nights. The Pu Luong block is the part we would defend hardest if you need to cut something.
| Stop | Nights | Why we stop here |
|---|---|---|
| Hanoi | 2D | A thousand-year-old capital where lake-side boulevards, shophouse alleys and street-food corners sit side by side. |
| Pu Luong | 3D | A nature reserve of water wheels, stilt houses and rice terraces cut into limestone ridges south of Mai Chau. |
| Ha Long Bay | 2D | Thousands of limestone towers rising out of jade water, best seen from a small boat on the quieter Bai Tu Long side. |
| Hue | 2D | The Nguyen capital: a walled citadel, royal tombs scattered along the Perfume River, and Vietnam's most particular cooking. |
| Hoian | 1D | A lantern-lit trading port turned UNESCO town, ringed by rice fields, herb gardens and fishing hamlets. |
| HCMC | 3D | Vietnam's loudest, fastest city — colonial facades, war-history museums and an endless appetite for coffee. |
| Mekong Delta | 1D | A flat maze of channels, orchards and floating markets where daily life still happens on the water. |
What you actually do
Moderate. The Pu Luong walking days are the only real effort, and both have an easier alternative.
- Walking tour and street food in Hanoi's Old Quarter
- Village-to-village trekking in the Pu Luong reserve
- Overnight cruise, kayaking and cave visit on Bai Tu Long Bay
- Citadel, tombs and Perfume River boat in Hue
- Cycling and basket boats around Hoi An
- Cu Chi tunnels and central Saigon on foot
- Delta channels, orchards and a floating market
Good to know before you book
Pu Luong is reached by road from Hanoi in about four hours, and the trip continues to Ha Long from there rather than backtracking through the city.
Plan this trip with us
Tell us your dates, how many of you are travelling and what you would like to change. A trip planner in our Hanoi office replies within one working day with a day-by-day plan and a price.