Rejuvenating Vietnam Tour

Highlights & Route

This is the gentler of our two Vietnam programmes, built around two cities and one unforgettable night at sea. Instead of changing hotels every day, you spend two nights in Hanoi, one aboard a cruise boat in Ha Long Bay, and three in Ho Chi Minh City, with a single domestic flight between north and south included in the price. It suits families with older members, honeymooners and anyone who wants to see Vietnam without a packed schedule.

Hanoi is a city of lakes and old streets. You walk the Old Quarter’s guild lanes, see the Ngoc Son temple on Hoan Kiem lake, the sixth-century Tran Quoc pagoda on West Lake and the Confucian Temple of Literature, and have an evening free for the water puppets or a quiet lakeside dinner. Then the road runs east to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of nearly two thousand limestone islands rising from green water. You board a cruise boat for lunch, kayak or swim in the afternoon, visit a cave, watch the sun set from the deck, sleep in a cabin and wake to mist on the karst.

The south is warmer and livelier. Ho Chi Minh City brings the Jade Emperor pagoda, the Mariamman temple built by Tamil settlers, the colonial centre and the markets. A day at the Cu Chi tunnels shows the underground network used during the Vietnam War, and a day in the Mekong Delta takes you by boat through the canals, orchards and coconut workshops of My Tho and Ben Tre. Vegetarian breakfast and dinner are arranged every day, including aboard the cruise.

Route

Hanoi (2 nights) → Ha Long Bay overnight cruise (1 night) → Hanoi airport → fly to Ho Chi Minh City (3 nights) → Cu Chi tunnels → Mekong Delta → Tan Son Nhat airport

Good to know before you book

Indian passport holders need a Vietnam e-visa, applied for at evisa.gov.vn (USD 25 single entry, USD 50 multiple entry, stay of up to 90 days). Allow five to seven working days for issue, print the approval letter, and make sure your passport has six months’ validity. We guide you through the form but the application is in your name.
The domestic flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City is included; international flights into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh City are not, so book an open-jaw ticket or ask us for help.
The Ha Long cruise is on a shared boat with private cabins (en-suite, air-conditioned); the operator may alter the route or cancel sailing if the provincial harbour authority closes the bay for weather, in which case we arrange a day cruise or a hotel night and refund the difference.
Cu Chi involves walking in heat and an optional crawl through a short section of widened tunnel; it can be skipped by anyone who prefers to stay above ground. The Mekong day includes small boats and a short walk through orchards.
Hanoi is cool and grey from December to February and hot from May to August; Ha Long is best from March to May and September to November; the south is warm all year with afternoon showers from May to October.
Vegetarian food (‘an chay’) is widely understood thanks to the Buddhist tradition, but fish sauce is everywhere; our guides brief each kitchen and dinners are at vegetarian or Indian restaurants.

Yatra Highlights

A night aboard a cruise boat among the limestone islands of Ha Long Bay
Hanoi's Old Quarter, Ngoc Son temple, Tran Quoc pagoda and the Temple of Literature
Ho Chi Minh City with the Jade Emperor pagoda and Mariamman temple, the Cu Chi tunnels and a Mekong Delta boat day

Day 1 :

Arrival in Hanoi and the Old Quarter

Our representative meets you at Noi Bai International Airport at your arrival point (airport, railway station or hotel) at the agreed time and drives you about 45 minutes into the city. Check in at a hotel near Hoan Kiem lake. After a rest, take a guided walk through the Old Quarter, where each street was once given to a trade (silk, silver, paper, bamboo), and cross the red Huc bridge to the Ngoc Son temple on its island in the lake. An optional electric-car or cyclo ride around the quarter can be added.

Vegetarian dinner near the lake.

Overnight: Hanoi

Day 2 :

Hanoi's pagodas and the Temple of Literature

After breakfast visit the Tran Quoc pagoda on West Lake, founded in the sixth century, the oldest in the city, with its red eleven-tier stupa and a bodhi tree grown from a cutting of the Bodh Gaya tree gifted by India in 1959. Continue to the One Pillar pagoda, dedicated to Quan Am (Avalokiteshvara), and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum square. After lunch see the Temple of Literature, the Confucian temple and first national university founded in 1070, with its courtyards, stone steles and pavilions.

Late afternoon free for a cafe on the lake or the Dong Xuan market. Optional evening: the water-puppet theatre, a thousand-year-old Red River tradition. Vegetarian dinner.

Overnight: Hanoi

Day 3 :

Ha Long Bay overnight cruise

Check out after breakfast and drive east on the expressway for about two and a half hours to the Ha Long or Tuan Chau harbour. Board the cruise boat around noon, settle into your cabin and sit down to lunch as the boat sails out among the islands. The afternoon programme depends on the operator and the tide: usually a visit to a limestone cave such as Sung Sot or Thien Canh Son, kayaking or a bamboo-boat ride through a lagoon, and a swim or a short climb to a viewpoint on Titop island.

Sunset is watched from the top deck, often with a Vietnamese cooking demonstration; vegetarian dinner is served on board, pre-arranged with the galley. Night at anchor in a sheltered bay; squid fishing from the stern and a quiet sky are the evening's entertainment.

Overnight: cruise boat, Ha Long Bay

Day 4 :

Morning on the bay, fly to Ho Chi Minh City

Early risers can join tai chi on the deck at sunrise. After breakfast the boat cruises slowly back through the islands, sometimes stopping at a pearl farm or floating village, and docks by about 11 am. Drive directly to Noi Bai airport, about three hours, for an evening flight to Ho Chi Minh City of just over two hours. A packed lunch or a stop at a vegetarian restaurant is arranged on the way.

On arrival transfer to the hotel in District 1 and check in. Late vegetarian dinner near the hotel.

Overnight: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 5 :

Cu Chi tunnels and Ho Chi Minh City temples

After breakfast drive about an hour and a half north-west to Cu Chi. The tunnel network, extended over 200 km during the war years, is shown with its hidden entrances, air shafts, kitchens and meeting rooms; a short section has been widened so that visitors may crawl through if they wish. A documentary and a guided walk explain the history. Return to the city for lunch.

In the afternoon visit the Jade Emperor pagoda, built in 1909 by the Cantonese community and filled with carved wooden figures and incense, and the Mariamman Hindu temple on Truong Dinh street, built by Tamil traders in the late nineteenth century and still active; shoes off and darshan as at home. Drive past the Notre-Dame cathedral and the central post office. Dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Overnight: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 6 :

Mekong Delta day: My Tho and Ben Tre

Drive about two hours south-west to My Tho on the Mekong. Board a motor boat to cross the river, calling at an island where coconut candy is made and tropical fruit is served with traditional folk music. Transfer to a small sampan, rowed through narrow palm-shaded canals, then a tuk-tuk or bicycle ride through the orchards of Ben Tre. Visit the Vinh Trang pagoda near My Tho, with its giant standing and laughing Buddhas in the garden. Vegetarian lunch in the delta is included today.

Return to the city by late afternoon. Evening free for Ben Thanh market, a rooftop view of the city or the Nguyen Hue walking street. Farewell vegetarian dinner.

Overnight: Ho Chi Minh City

Day 7 :

Departure

Breakfast and check-out. Depending on your flight, a free morning for last shopping or the War Remnants Museum (optional). Transfer to Tan Son Nhat International Airport at your departure point (airport, railway station or hotel), 30 to 45 minutes from District 1, three hours before departure.

Overnight: not included (departure)

Night	Place	Hotel (or similar)	Room type
1	Hanoi	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis
2	Hanoi	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis
3	Ha Long Bay (cruise cabin)	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis
4	Ho Chi Minh City	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis
5	Ho Chi Minh City	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis
6	Ho Chi Minh City	Hotel confirmed at booking	Standard room, sharing basis

Frequently Asked Questions

Expand all

What visa do Indians need for Vietnam?

An e-visa from evisa.gov.vn, USD 25 for single entry, allowing stays of up to 90 days; processing is normally three to five working days, so apply at least two weeks ahead. Print the approval and carry a passport valid for six months. You arrive in Hanoi and leave from Ho Chi Minh City on the same visa. We check your form before you submit.

Is the overnight cruise safe and comfortable for elderly travellers?

Yes. The boats sail only in the sheltered bay, cabins are air-conditioned with attached bathrooms, and the water is usually calm. There are stairs between decks and a step on and off the tender boats; the crew help. Kayaking and the cave climb are optional. Anyone with serious mobility problems should tell us so we pick a boat with ground-deck cabins.

Is vegetarian food possible on the cruise?

Yes, with notice, which we give at booking. Vietnamese cruise kitchens are used to vegetarian guests and serve tofu, mushroom, vegetable and rice dishes without fish sauce; Jain meals are harder on board but can be simplified. In both cities dinners are at vegetarian or Indian restaurants.

Is the Cu Chi visit suitable for children and families?

Most families find it interesting, and children enjoy the tunnel crawl. The site also displays weapons and traps and shows a wartime documentary, so some parents prefer to keep young children with the guide outside. There is a shooting range nearby whose noise carries; it is not part of our visit.

Which is the best season?

March to May and September to November are best for Ha Long Bay, with clear skies and calm water; the south is fine all year. December to February is cool and misty in the north, atmospheric but grey; June to August is hot with occasional storms that can close the bay for a day. Avoid Tet, the lunar new year in late January or February, when much of the country shuts.

Can we add Ninh Binh or Hoi An?

Yes. A day visit from Hanoi to Ninh Binh (Bai Dinh pagoda and the Trang An boat ride) adds one day; Hoi An and the My Son Hindu temples need two extra nights and a flight change. Both are popular additions and we quote them on request.

Do we visit any Hindu temple in Vietnam on this package?

Yes. On Day 5 afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City we visit the Mariamman temple on Truong Dinh street, built by Tamil traders in the late nineteenth century and still an active place of worship. Shoes come off and you can take darshan as you would at home. The same afternoon covers the Jade Emperor pagoda, and the evening ends with dinner at an Indian restaurant.

Yatra	Duration	Starts from	Price
Rejuvenating Vietnam Tour (this page)	7 days / 6 nights	Hanoi	On request
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Amazing Bhutan Tour	7 days / 6 nights	Bagdogra	On request
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Highlights & Route

Route

Good to know before you book

Yatra Highlights

Day-by-Day Itinerary

Inclusions & Exclusions

Included

Not included

Hotels

Documents & Fitness

Documents to carry

Fitness and health

Cancellation Policy

Frequently Asked Questions

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