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TRIP TYPE

Active

DURATION

12 Days

Home > Central and South Vietnam Adventure

Trip Overview

Explore Vietnam’s majestic caves, the heritage town of Hoi An, ancient Hue, plus Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta. 

Highlights

  • Overnight caving in the Tu Lan Cave System of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park 
  • Squeezing through the Cu Chi and Vinh Moc tunnels   
  • Cycling and wandering the UNESCO sites of Hue and Hoi An  
  • Discovering Ho Chi Minh City by Vespa  

This Tour is Perfect for

  • Adventurous travelers who love to get off the beaten path  
  • Learning about the history of Vietnam 
  • Experiencing impressive natural beauty of the central and southern regions 

Detailed Itinerary

Topas Travel creates tailor-made tours for our guests according to their specific requests. This itinerary has been designed to show you just one of many options

Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City Arrival

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta – Vung Liem

Day 3: Vung Liem – Mekong Delta – Ho Chi Minh City

Day 4: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi

Day 5: Ho Chi Minh City – Da Nang – Hoi An

Day 6: Hoi An – Cycling and Hidden Beaches

Day 7: Hoi An – Da Nang – Hue

Day 8: Hue

Day 9: Hue – DMZ – Phong Nha

Day 10: Phong Nha – Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park – Tu Lan Cave System

Day 11: Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park – Phong Nha City

Day 12: Phong Nha – Dong Hoi Departure

Xin Chao and welcome to Vietnam! Upon arrival to Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat Airport, your Topas guide will welcome you and take you straight to your hotel in the heart of the city.

The day is free at leisure until sunset, when it’s time to discover the city the way the locals do – on the back of a scooter! Your trusty driver will zip you down tiny alleys and wide boulevards flanked by skyscrapers to show you the Saigon few travelers get to see. Sample delicious street food dishes as you pass major tourist attractions such as the Notre Dame Cathedral and old the Post Office, getting to know Vietnam in style.

Included meals: Dinner
Distance and Activities: 45’ transfer – 4h motorbike tour

Leave the city for a quiet escape to the fertile rice bowl of Vietnam: the Mekong Delta. This lush land of palm trees and great rivers is home to some of the best fruit farms found anywhere in the world, and it’s all easily explored by bike. So, take your two wheels and peddle around the area, taking in the vibrant green rice paddies and stopping to enjoy juicy fruits.

Check-in to your riverside lodge, just in time to watch a traditional music show while enjoying a delicious dinner made from local ingredients from the area.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 2h transfer – 2h cycling

Get an early start and discover more about one of the produce that keeps this region in business: coconuts. Witness the boats piled high with coconuts destined for the factory – nothing goes to waste! After the coconuts are shelled, the fibers are removed from the husk and used to make rope and rugs. You can watch the whole process before returning to the lodge for a quick lunch before returning to Ho Chi Minh City.

Arrive to your city hotel in the late afternoon, with the evening free to explore on your own.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 2h transfer – 2h cycling

Step into the past with a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels, a vital network of 200km of underground passages, chambers, and living quarters during the war with America and a fascinating piece of Vietnam’s history. Enjoy a local lunch nearby before returning to the center of Ho Chi Minh City.

The afternoon consists of an easy walking tour, starting at the Reunification Palace and then stopping at the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral, two colonial masterpieces. End your tour at the War Remnants Museum, learning about the sobering recent tragedies and the fighting spirit of the Vietnamese as they rapidly rebuilt.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 3h round-trip transfer -3h tunnel tour – 3h sightseeing city tour

A mid-morning flight transports you from the glitz and glamor of Ho Chi Minh City to the laid-back charm of central Vietnam. Arrive at Da Nang International Airport and transfer to one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Enjoy the day, getting to know the beautiful old streets decorated with hanging lanterns and home to restaurants, cafes, and the many tailors. The charming Ancient Town is situated on the banks of the Thu Bon River. We suggest popping by the Reaching Out Teahouse, a lovely old-fashioned house providing work for the hard of hearing, serving up delicious tea and homemade snacks.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and activities: 45’ transfer – 1h20’ flight – 30’ transfer

Hop onto a bicycle and explore the countryside surrounding Hoi An, crisscrossing vibrant rice paddies and streams before reaching the traditional village of Cam Kim where locals make handicrafts from wood and sleeping mats from rattan.

Continue on the quiet back roads until you reach Cam Thanh village, another picturesque village. Feeling brave? Hop onto a water buffalo and ride through the paddies! Then stop for lunch on the beach and take a well-earned rest.

After lunch you can enjoy a quick fishing trip with a local fisherman before heading to an organic vegetable garden in Tra Que village and finally returning to your hotel.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and Activities: 10 km cycling

Depart Hoi An today after a relaxed breakfast and head north to another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the refined ancient Imperial capital of Hue. Connected to Hoi An via a stunning coastal road, the 2.5 hour drive is a beautiful one filled with glimpses of lagoons, mountains, rice fields, and the vast ocean.

Explore the colorful An Bang “ghost city” along the way, and see an example of how the Hue people venerate their ancestors, before continuing on, past Lang Co’s beaches and lagoons before finally ending at your hotel in Hue in the early afternoon.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 2.5h drive

Start your morning with a calm cycling tour down colonial Le Loi Head boulevard, looking out for colonial mansions before crossing the iconic Truong Tien bridge, built by none other than Gustave Eiffel (who also built the Eiffel Tower). Park your bike to roam the former grandeur of the Hue Citadel, a grand walled city of parks and lakes as well as a traditional garden house for lunch.

Spend the afternoon gliding down the Perfume River on a colorful dragon boat to two different tombs on UNESCO’s list for preservation due to their cultural and historical significance. First, explore the rural setting of Emperor Tu Duc’s mausoleum, with its spacious fields and lotus ponds. Then, wander the immaculately landscaped gardens and ornate temples of Emperor Minh Mang, the final resting place of one of the Nguyen Dynasty’s staunchest Confucians.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 2h cycling – 3h boat ride

Head north towards the impressive Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, home to some of the world’s largest known caves, crossing the demilitarized zone (DMZ) as you go. Stop and explore the historic battlegrounds, including Vinh Moc Tunnels, the site where an entire village of around 90 families moved underground in response to American bombing. Vinh Moc tunnels differ from those you’ve seen in Cu Chi, as the Cu Chi tunnels were built for soldiers, not civilians. You can also check out the Ben Hai Museum which holds some artifacts and photographs from this time period.

Arrive in Phong Nha in the early afternoon and enjoy the rest of the day free at leisure to relax at your hotel or to explore the local area.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and Activities: 4h transfer – 1h DMZ tour

Ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Leave your hotel at 7am and head to the Oxalis Adventure headquarters located right on the river to prepare for an overnight trek through the Tu Lan Cave System, one of Vietnam’s greatest outdoor wonders.

Trek through the countryside and enter the jungle as you begin to get closer to the caves. Some caves you can walk through, others you’ll be in water as you paddle from rock to rock. Don’t worry – a lifejacket makes things easy and safe.

Helmets and headlamps ensure that you feel secure as you light up the chambers – some of which allow no natural light at all – and illuminate your path.

In the evening you’ll settle into a gorgeous riverside campsite enveloped by mountains and jungle. You can’t shower, but instead there is a rock pool offering fresh clean water from the mouth of a cave. And for dinner you can expect a mouthwatering barbeque with dishes such as chicken and lemongrass or pork with herbs. Accommodation is in comfortable tents capable of holding up to two people.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance and Activities: 90’ transfer – 6km trekking, 1km caving

Wake up in the jungle for another adventurous day, trekking and swimming through three more caves of the Tu Lan system, one of which is accessed by climbing a metal ladder (with the protection of an additional safety line). After completing the third cave, return to where you started from, Ta Van Village, where lunch awaits.

Return to your Phong Nhahotel and reward yourself with a hot shower after such an incredible experience!

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and Activities: 4km trekking – 1km swimming – 10m ladder climb – 90’ transfer

Enjoy the last day as you see fit before your transfer to Dong Hoi Domestic Airport for onward booked travel.  

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and Activities: 45’ transfer 

Tour Inclusions

  • Private A/C airport transfer as indicated in the program (4) 
  • All accommodation indicated as twin-shared room 
  • All meals as indicated in the program  
  • All entrance tickets to local villages, Phong Nha National Park 
  • Refillable water in vans (Please check with your guide or driver) 
  • 1 x English speaking local tour guide on days with activities 
  • 1-way domestic flight ticket between Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang 
  • Government VAT 

Important Notes

  • Prices are quoted in Vietnamese Dong and valid until Dec 2021 
  • Exchange rate applied at VND 23,200. to USD 1 
  • Prices calculated with VAT  
  • Surcharge may be applicable during peak season and public holidays 

Tour Exclusions

  • Drinks and alcohol  
  • Vietnam visa (On request with additional charge) 
  • Travel insurance (Compulsory with Topas Travel programs) 
  • Upgrades to higher standard rooms or single supplements 
  • Personal travel items (Please visit our Vietnam weather page for more information) 

Essential Information

This program utilizes comfortable accommodation in the form of carefully curated hotels, lodges, and homestays. Hotels and lodges have been selected with the active traveler in mind, offering standard services and located as close to nature and local engagement as possible. Homestays are simple and equipped with western toilets and amenities such as fans and mattresses. If you have a specific property in mind you wish to stay at, please let your travel designer know so they can work it into your program.

 

All bookings are made with and through Topas Travel. By booking a trip with Topas Travel, you agree to the terms and conditions set forth here.

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