VIETNAM OVERVIEW PRE & POST TOURS OPTION 9D
Ho Chi Minh City>Danang>Hoi An>Hue>Ho Chi Minh City

Day 01: Arriving Ho Chi Minh City
Arrival to Ho Chi Minh City and spend a leisurely day exploring the city.

Day 02: Tay Ninh & Cu Chi Tunnels
Enjoy a morning drive through typical southern Vietnamese countryside to Tay Ninh province in the West of Vietnam. At Tay Ninh visit the Cao Dai Temple, where all the major faiths of the world blend together in a unique religious cocktail. Observe the noon service, held daily from cathedral balcony. After lunch in a local restaurant visit famous Cu Chi Tunnels, an incredible underground network constructed by Vietnamese resistance fighters. There is a chance to visit the underground shelters where the revolutionary cadres were living. In the early evening travel back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 03: Ho Chi Minh City – Hoi An - Danang
Transfer to airport for a morning flight to Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. Transfer to the ancient trading town of Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Day 04: Hoi An City Tour Full Day
Hoi An town looks very much the same as in its heyday centuries ago. Walking tour to the town’s most famous landmarks: Hoi An Museum, the old Chinese Merchants’ houses, Assembly Hall, and the Japanese Covered Bridge. Later, travel by sampan on the Thu Bon River or spend leisure time on the beautiful sandy Cua Dai beach.

Day 05: Hoi An - Red Bridge Cooking tour
Early start at 08:00 and travel to Tra Que Organic Village, walk through the market gardens where local farmers work the fields using the traditional methods of hundreds of years ago. Pick fresh saw-tooth coriander and Vietnamese mint for our cooking lesson later, before trying a special herbal drink at a local home. Visit the local market and buy ingredients for our cooking class: star anise, cardamom, sesame rice paper, water spinach and banana flower. Learn from the Red Bridge Chef traditional ways of preparing and cooking four famous Vietnamese dishes, including the national dish ‘Pho’. After cooking, enjoy the fruits of labor. Cruise leisurely cruise for 25 minutes along the Hoi An River back to central Hoi An.

Day 06: Hoi An – Danang – Hue
Travel north across the beautiful Hai Van Pass to Hue. En route, visit Marble Mountains, also “five-element mountains” in Vietnamese, and enjoy a scenic view from the Pagoda situated inside the mountains.  Visit a stone-cutting craft village nearby. Enjoy an orientation tour of Danang, Vietnam’s fourth largest city. The tour includes a visit to the Cham Museum before heading north, with a stop at scenic Lang Co Beach. In the afternoon, arrive at Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam where its monuments have earned it a UNESCO World Heritage Site title.

Day 07: Hue City
Visit the former imperial capital of Vietnam. A boat trip on the romantically named Perfume River visits Hue's best-known religious site, Thien Mu Pagoda. Then take a drive further to the Tom of former Emperor Minh Mang, in a tranquil setting of gardens and lakes. Lunch at a local restaurant. In the afternoon visit the elaborate tom of emperors Tu Duc and Khai Dinh and the Imperial Citadel from where the Nguyen Dynasty ruled between 1802 and 1945.

Day 08: Hue – Ho Chi Minh City
Arrival to Ho Chi Minh City and spend a leisurely day exploring the city.

Day 09: Departing Ho Chi Minh City – Home/Cruise
Transfer to international airport for departure flight back home or transfer to Cruise.