Xin Chao and welcome to Vietnam! Upon arrival to Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, your Topas guide will welcome you to the capital before heading straight to your hotel in the heart of the city. The day is yours to spend at your leisure to discover Hanoi on your own, perhaps wandering the streets and alleys of the iconic Old Quarter and enjoying the evening promenade around Hoan Kiem Lake. You can of course speak to your guide for some tips for what to do.

Included meals: N/A 
Distance and Activities: 45’ drive 

Hanoi is home to Vietnam’s very best museums, covering everything from the military history of the nation to the colorful ethnic diversity. Choose from one of the three best: the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, the National Museum of Vietnamese History, or the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Then head to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s oldest university and still a place of worship, especially for students during exam season.

Enjoy a local lunch before spending time strolling around the leafy gardens and ancient architecture of the Citadel, finishing the day with a beer in one of the local beer gardens.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 4km street walk

After an early morning breakfast, sit back and relax aboard the Topas Mountain Express for your comfortable journey to Topas Riverside Lodge. Arrive just in time to enjoy a local lunch prepared by the resident family.

In the afternoon, visit the village of the Red Dzao people, famous for their exquisite embroidery and botanical knowledge. Visit a silver jeweler and a family creating bamboo paper. If you are brave enough, jump into the refreshing waters of the river running next to Topas Riverside Lodge.

Dinner is served in the communal style associated with Vietnamese families, all dishes coming to the table to share. To relax even further, sample a traditional herbal bath made by a local Dzao specialist; the baths are famous for medicinal and therapeutic qualities.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Distance and Activities: 5.5h drive – 3km village walk

This morning, say good-bye to your host family and depart for Topas Rivserside Lodge by private transfer. Upon arrival at Topas Ecolodge, check in to your bungalow and enjoy the spacious and private balcony with views over the mountains.

After lunch you will cycle to Lech village, home to the Red Dzao minority, enjoying the magnificent valley view on the way. At the village, you will leave your bikes and take a short walk on dirt roads to visit a traditional Red Dzao family and experience the culture of the minority villagers who. Next you will ride to Moi village and learn how the local women do their embroidery – something the Red Dzao people are very famous for. From the village, you head back to Topas Ecolodge.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and Activities: 1,5h biking

The day is yours at leisure until a mid-afternoon departure for Hanoi via the Topas Mountain Express. Relax, enjoy the pools, sample delicious cuisine at the restaurant, breathe in the fresh mountain air from your bungalow balcony, or indulge in some locally inspired treatments at the wonderful spa on site.

After you check in to your Hanoi hotel in the evening, the rest of the night is your own.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and Activities: 5.5h drive

Today you will fly to Hue and check in to Alba just outside Hue. Next we will take you into Hue to discover its famous tombs, including Tu Duc Tomb, the most elegant of all the royal resting places in Hue, complete with lotus ponds and ornate shrines. Return to the city and explore the Citadel, the palace that the great kings constructed and improved upon over the centuries. Explore the flag tower, beautiful gates, and various royal chambers before returning to Alba Resort.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and Activities: 45’ transfer – 1h30’ flight – 45’ transfer – 3h sightseeing

A day to slow down and relax. Alba Wellness is ideal for both kids and parents, with its many fun and active in-house activities and its excellent spa.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today you will head for the charm and beauty of Hoi An, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hue is connected to Hoi An along a stunning coastal road including the Hai Van Pass. On the way you will see lagoons, mountains, rice fields, and the vast ocean.

Explore the gorgeous and colorful An Bang “ghost city” to learn how the Hue people venerate their ancestors.

You will then have the day to explore Hoi An independently.

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

Today, you’ll enjoy a morning guided tour of Hoi An. Known as Faifo to early western traders, this was one of the region’s major trading ports from the 17th to 19th centuries. Today, this historic town is still graced with finely preserved homes built by Japanese, Indian, Dutch and Portuguese merchants of old. Your guided tour showcases ancient Chinese temples, art galleries and colorful local markets that give you a deeper insight into this old town. Next, join an workshop at Timing Masks, learning about the history of traditional Vietnamese theatre and its symbolic Tuồng masks. Choose from making the mask from scratch, or simply painting it before enjoying the rest of the day free at leisure.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and activities: 3 hours walking

Explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hoi An on a gentle cycling tour down picturesque streets and in the quiet countryside. Stop at a local artisan’s workshop and pull up a stool to earn the craft of mat making and Kim Bong carpentry.

Then head to Tra Que village for lunch. This is a rural area within the town that is famous for producing high quality and organic vegetables. After you’ve had your fill, try your hand at some traditional farming or cooking methods before rowing down the narrow waterways framed by tall palms in a local basket boat.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 7km cycling – 30’ boat ride

Today you will fly south to the sophisticated metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City on a morning flight from Da Nang. Check-in to your hotel to freshen up before touring the city’s major tourist attractions on an easy walking tour starting at the Reunification Palace and then pausing at the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral, two colonial masterpieces.

End your tour with a Dinner Cruise, a unique dining experience in Ho Chi Minh City, where you can enjoy the food while cruising along Saigon River watching Saigon by night.

Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Distance and activities: 30’ transfer – 1h25’ flight – 45’ transfer – 3h sightseeing tour

Today you will drive to the Mekong Delta, the “rice basket” of Vietnam. Arriving mid morning you will board a sampan and then boat along the river to experience how the local people live in the Mekong Delta.

Disembark at an ancient riverside mandarin house where your lunch is served. Take a rest or visit the area before boarding your sampan again for a visit to a rice milling factory. Here the river becomes busier with ever more boats making it a good place to soak up the local atmosphere.

Then you will be taken to Can Tho and check in to your hotel. The rest of yours to spend at your leisure.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Distance and activities: 3,5h transfer – 3h sightseeing

Today you will rise early to board a boat and sail to the floating market. It is a very special experience to be part of the market here in the morning when it is most hectic. After the lively market activity, we continue to take a 3,5 ride to Chau Doc – a home of Champa kingdom where Cham People ruled from the 2nd to the 9th century. They were originally Hindus, but contact with Arab traders made meant they became Muslim giving this culture a rich history to learn more about. The main industry in this area is fish farming, and approximately 15 percent of Vietnam’s fishing industry comes from this area. The Cham people are also famous for their silk weaving which you can also learn more about.

Check in to a beautiful hotel with views of the rice paddies and relax.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and activities: 3,5h transfer

Today you will visit Tra Su Cajuput Forest which is famous as a bird sanctuary and for its untouched natural beauty with diverse flora and fauna. Hop on a boat to head deep into the flooded forest which is the home of 70 species of birds and many mammals, reptiles and fish. This is one of the most magical destinations in all of Vietnam.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and activities: 45mins transfer – 2h sightseeing

Enjoy the last day at your leisure before your final transfer to Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Included meals: Breakfast
Distance and activities: 6h transfer