General Information
Tour Route: Ho Chi Minh City - Cu Chi Tunnels - Vinh Long - Can Tho - Hue - Hoi An - Ho Chi Minh
Duration: 13 Days/ 12 Nights
Date: No fixed departure dates. You may go whenever you wish.
Start/ End: Ho Chi Minh City/Ho Chi Minh City
Tour Category: Vietnam Family Tours
Tour Customizable: Definitely! (Tell us your specific requirements in the inquiry form)
Accommodation: Listed below or equivalent
Brief Itinerary
Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City Arrival – Welcome Dinner (D)
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnels (B, L)
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City – Free Time (B)
Day 4: Ho Chi Minh City – Cai Thia – An Binh Island – Homestay (B, L, D)
Day 5: Vinh Long – Can Tho (B, L)
Day 6: Can Tho – Cai Rang Floating Market – Ho Chi Minh City (B, L)
Day 7: Ho Chi Minh City – Fly to Hue – Imperial Citadel & Conical Hat Village (B, L)
Day 8: Hue – City Tour with Perfume River & Tomb & Incense Making Village (B, L)
Day 9: Hue – Hoi An – Walking Tour (B, L)
Day 10: Hoi An – Farming & Fishing Eco Group Tour (B, L)
Day 11: Hoi An – Free Time (B)
Day 12: Hoi An – Fly to Ho Chi Minh City (B)
Day 13: Ho Chi Minh City – Departure (B)
Full Itinerary
Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City Arrival – Welcome Dinner (D)
On arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, welcome upon arrival by a local tour guide and driver then we transfer to the hotel for check-in. After check-in, we will be free to wander around the hustle and bustle city before enjoy welcome dinner at a fine local restaurant in town.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Meals: Dinner
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City – Cu Chi Tunnels (B, L)
Ho Chi Minh city, formerly named Ho Chi Minh City is a largest city of Vietnam. One day tour around today covers almost the major attractions. Understanding more about history in the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace, admire French-colonial architecture at the General Post Office, Opera House and Notre Dame Cathedral, and explore the longest tunnels made of Vietnamese people during the war… Depends the weather and season, we can visit Cu Chi tunnel in the morning or afternoon.
Morning, we head to the Cu Chi tunnels, otherwise known as the "Iron Triangle" or "Iron Land". Before entering the tunnels, we will see a short introductory video showing how they were constructed, followed by an exploration of the maze of tunnels, some of which have been widened to allow tourist access. Also on display are various mantraps and the remains of an American tank as well as numerous bomb craters made by 500lb bombs dropped by B52 bombers. After that we transfer back to Ho Chi Minh city for lunch.
After lunch, we visit the Reunification Palace, the former Presidential Palace for the president of the South of Vietnam. After that, we will visit War Remnant Museum, where we can see countless artifacts, photographs and pictures documenting about the second Indochina war. We also stop at Notre Dame Cathedral and Old Post office to get good shots for our memory of the big, modern city of Vietnam. In the rest of the day, we will visit: Ben Thanh market, and then we will be back to hotel.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City – Free Time (B)
The day will be free for strolling in the city, shopping or whatever takes your fancy. We’ll spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Meals: Breakfast
Day 4: Ho Chi Minh City – Cai Thia – An Binh Island – Homestay (B, L, D)
The program will start at Cai Thia pier, pass by Cai Thia church. Boat to Mrs Nam to see how this old lady makes rice paper in the local house. We have one more option to see more about Mekong Delta if we have a biking trip in an hour to explore the famous village of Hoa Loc mango on the small beautiful roads. It is so interesting to see orchards, traditional houses, school in Mekong Delta. Come to a local and peaceful home, we can create some cakes (local donuts) and taste it with hot tea. After biking, we’ll come back Cai Thia village. Be on our boat and enjoy the best optional lunch on boat when the boat is towards to An Binh Island.
Check in Ut Trinh/ Ut Binh/ Ut Quynh homestay, make friend with members of the family. Have a fresh shower before cooking pancakes with the family. We’ll enjoy dinner & overnight at homestay.
Overnight in homestay
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 5: Vinh Long – Can Tho (B, L)
Have a breakfast and check-out for a walk along the village to enjoy the fresh air in the morning. Check out and say goodbye to Ut Trinh family. Boat trip to visit the brick kilns where you can see how the local people create beautiful potteries from clay. Our boat will go along the floating village. We will see how to farm catfish on Mekong river. Then the boat travel on Cai Ca canal through VinhLong city. Make a stop at Duong Chua bridge on the way to Can Tho. From here, we will have an hour for biking and visit Phuoc Hau village. This village is famous for vegetable plantations. We can see the process of planting, watering, harvesting... Come back the boat to continue our wonderful boat trip.
Coming to Cau Doi – Long Ho, have an optional lunch on our boat when crossing Ba Cang – Tam Binh. Arrive Binh Minh when we finish our delicious meal, we can stop for a walk to visit of Mỹ Hòa village where people are making many products from soya beans & tofu. Cross Lower River to come to Ninh Kieu quay of Can Tho city.
Overnight in Can Tho
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 6: Can Tho – Cai Rang Floating Market – Ho Chi Minh City (B, L)
Early morning today, we will take the boat trip to visit the famous Cai Rang Floating Market with the busy sense right at the time. This is a biggest floating market in Mekong Delta where we can see the daily life and local people selling their products on boats. If the time permits, we can visit Binh Thuy Ancient House here.
After that, you will be back to the hotel and have free time until check out. At noon, we will head back to Ho Chi Minh City and have lunch en-route. Arrive at our hotel in the afternoon and have free time at leisure. We will spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 7: Ho Chi Minh City – Fly to Hue – Imperial Citadel & Conical Hat Village (B, L)
Today, we take the flight to Hue. On your arrival, we will visit Conical Hat Village, an incense stick-making village. It has been a well-known trademark in Vietnam and around the world. When it comes to Hue’s traditional villages, conical hat village is one of the most well-known brands. It is dedicated to preserving Hue’s distinctive cultural attractiveness.
After lunch in the local restaurant, we will then visit the Imperial Citadel where the Nguyen Dynasty ruled between 1802 and 1945, after exploring the ruins of this wonderful monument. We will then depart to the Hue Royal Fine Art Museum, which is housed within the former Dien Long An Royal Palace. We will finish our day with the local Dong Ba Market to see the daily life of local people.
Overnight in Hue
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 8: Hue – City Tour with Perfume River & Tomb & Incense Making Village (B, L)
Making Village (B, L)
Pick up at hotel at 9:30 AM, we will board the Dragon Boat on the romantic Perfume River heading out for the countryside. Being the ancient capital, Hue is surrounded with ancient tombs of emperors past, and a visit to the most beautiful tombs will be on the itinerary for today. The charming Lady Pagoda (Thien Mu Pagoda) will be the first stop of the day. We will enjoy a great view on the Perfume River and surrounding area. Thien Mu Pagoda is considered the symbol of Hue, and of Buddhism in Vietnam. From here, we rejoin our van and go visit King Khai Dinh's Tomb.
After the tour, we will visit Thuy Xuan Incense Village is one of the famous Hue tourist attractions that almost every tourist stops to visit. The address of Thuy Xuan incense village is on Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street, near Vong Canh hill, Royal Tomb of Tu Duc, 7km southwest of Hue city center. According to the oldest artisans in Thuy Xuan incense village, incense making appeared here about 700 years ago under the Nguyen Dynasty. In the past, the village was the place to provide incense sticks and frankincense for the court, mandarins, and high-level people in Thuan Hoa and Phu Xuan areas.
Overnight in Hue
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 9: Hue – Hoi An – Walking Tour (B, L)
After breakfast at the hotel, we travel by vehicle to Hoi An along scenic highway 1A. Along the way, we will stop to contemplate the stunning views North of Lang Co Beach, and South of Danang city.
On arrival in Danang, we will have a brief visit to Marble Mountain – the five elements of the Universe (water, wood, air, fire, and earth). We will arrive in Hoi An in the afternoon. Then, we will start our walking tour around the ancient town to visit the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Pottery Museum, Tan Ky’s old house, the Cantonese congregation, the silk street of Hoi An, the temples, and pagodas of Chinese appearance. Then we are back to our hotel for relaxing.
Overnight in Hoi An
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 10: Hoi An – Farming & Fishing Eco Group Tour (B, L)
We have an early start this morning as we head off to our Farming & Fishing Life Eco Tour. Starting at Tra Que Village, we will get a personal insight into the local farming communities. We set about joining the farmers in preparing their land for sowing, helping to fertilize the garden using seaweed from the local river and watering it in using huge tin cans strapped to our backs. Following this, we will begin our leisurely cycling tour through the countryside witnessing local Vietnamese rural life first hand. Late morning we will board our Hoi An Eco-tour boat for a river cruise. Here we will meet and witness local fishermen working their craft, before enjoying a hands-on experience of traditional net fishing. We then transfer to a Vietnamese bamboo basket boat for a quick race and ride down a coconut palm lined waterway. Lunch today, is on board our boat, which is prepared using vegetables picked earlier at Tra Que Village.
After lunch, we have some free time to wander around Hoi An town centre before heading back to the hotel.
Overnight in Hoi An
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 11: Hoi An – Free Time (B)
The day will be free for shopping, strolling in the town, lazing on the beach, or whatever takes your fancy. We’ll spend the night in Hoi An.
Overnight in Hoi An
Meals: Breakfast
Day 12: Hoi An – Fly to Ho Chi Minh City (B)
This morning we transferred to Danang airport for a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City. On your arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, we will transfer to the hotel for check-in and spend the rest of day relax.
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Meals: Breakfast
Day 13: Ho Chi Minh City – Departure (B)
Time will be free until our car arrives at the hotel to take us to the airport in good time to board our departure flight. Trip ends! Thanks for choosing Vietam Family Tours from Vietnam local tour operator!
Inclusions & Exclusions
Inclusions
- 12-night accommodation with daily breakfast as per detailed itinerary
- Transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle with experienced driver
- Meals as specified in the itinerary with authentic local food. Western food is available (upon request) (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner).
- Local-stationed English-speaking tour guide
- Entrance fees & permits
- Boat in Cai Rang Floating Market
- Farming & Fishing Eco Group Tour
- Bottle of drinking water
Exclusions
- International flights and airport taxes
- Domestic flights and airport taxes
- Vietnam Visa stamp (US$ 25.00 per person)
- Travel insurance with Covid protection term up to $10,000
- Other meals which are not indicated above
- Surcharge and Compulsory dinners (if any)
- Beverages in the restaurants where meals are included
- Gratuities to guides and drivers
- Personal and other expenses such as porter, bar bills and laundry not stated in the itinerary.