Hanoi - Halong - Ninh Binh - Dalat 0.0 No Rating

Morning breakfast at hotel then we start our cycling day around Hanoi and also visit to some of the highlights of Hanoi; Temple of Literature, Ethnology Museum, and Women Museum. We will have a light lunch at Vietnamese Noodle Soup (Pho) and then ride around the ancient quarter of Hanoi. After that we ride outskirt of Hanoi along the dike to Bat Trang pottery village which is very well known for its ceramic art and porcelain for our exploring this Vietnamese traditional craft village. Visiting this site and we also join with the artist do make your own pot, cup or dish as a good souvenir gift to take home, we start to ride back our hotel.

A new exciting day waiting us to discover, we depart for Ha Long, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960-2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islands and islets in all sides reflecting on turquoise water. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. There are a lot of photo opportunity on our way to Ha Long as we drive through the rural area, street markets, paddy fields, vegetable farms, poultry farms and lotus farms. We take a rest stop Hong Ngoc shop after 2 hour drive for a coffee break then continue to Ha Long Bay. At midday we board the overnight junk for the cruise. A welcome drink is well prepared for us as we get on board then check in and enjoy a pleasant cruise on the bay. Seafood lunch is served on board while the junk is slowly going among the islands and islets. There are some activities for us to join in in this afternoon; visiting to the cave, swimming at Ti Top beach, climbing up the top of Ti Top Island for panoramic view of the bay, kayaking in late afternoon or joining squids finishing at night. The junk is anchored in a quiet bay for overnight. Dinner and overnight on board.

Morning just join the Tai Chi Class on sundeck for half an hour and then we will have breakfast. We keep on our excursion and visit to Sung Sot cave, fantastic stalactites and stalagmites in all different sides with beautiful natural color. Return toour junk and check out. Enjoy a pleasant cruise back to the pier for disembarkation then drive to Ninh Binh.

Start our beautiful day to cycle around and visit this World Heritage Site and our first visit is Hoa Lu ancient capital which was the economic, political and culture center of Dai Co Viet, an independent Vietnamese polity founded in 968 AD by the local warlord Dinh Bo Linh who was known as Dinh Tien Hoang. the first Dinh Emperor. This site consists of Dinh and Le temple dedicated to Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh Emperors. Continue our cycling to Bai Dinh pagoda, a complex of Buddhist temples on Bai Dinh Mountain in. The compound consists of the original old temple and a newly created larger temple. It is considered the largest complex of Buddhist temples in Vietnam and has become a popular site for Buddhist pilgrimages from across Vietnam. Paddling from Bai Dinh to the pier for a boat trip to Tam Coc, a picturesque scenery which is known as Halong on land. The Tam Coc ("three caves") portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngo Dong River beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba), the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water.

Return to our hotel then free at leisure.

Just enjoy our day on the coach traveling southward to Quang Binh province, we take high way 1, the main road link Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh City. where we will stop at for lunch and then continue our journey to, Dong Hoi City, the capital of Quang Binh province. Dong Hoi is located on the coast and has beautiful white sand beach which is well known by both local and foreign travelers. Our hotel is also located on the beach and that is very good and convenient for relax after a long day on the road. Check in our hotel then free at leisure.

Morning enjoy our breakfast at hotel, we start our cycling from the hotel to the pier where we get a boat cruise to visit to Phong Nha Cave. It may take us around 3 hours to the pier then take a boat trip to visit to Phong Nha Cave, The World Natural Heritage site. It is noted for its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos. A 2009 survey brought the total discovered length of the cave system to about 126 km with many areas still not well explored. The Son Doong Cave which was discovered in the 2009 survey by British and Vietnamese explorers, is considered the largest cave in the world. Even before this discovery, Phong Nha held several world cave records, including the longest underground river as well as the largest combined caverns and passageways. After boat trip we have lunch at local restaurant then get on our bus to travel to Hue via Ho Chi Minh road to visit to Ke Sanh former American base. Continue our trip via the national high way 9 toward to Dong Ha town, Quang Tri province. This province was a hottest spot during the American ad Vietnam War as it was in the DMZ area, hundred thousand ton of bombs dropping here. The bloodiest Quang Tri ancient citadel battle field, La Vang Church and Ben Hai River are a lively evident for this terrible war. We also stop at Quang Tri ancient citadel for sightseeing and then La Vang Church on our way to Hue. Hue city, a lovely and romantic city located on the bank of Huong (perfume) River. Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945 and famous for the Citadel, Imperial City, Forbidden City and the royal tombs of the Nguyen Dynasty, the last feudal regime of Vietnam. Check in our hotel then you are free at leisure.

Morning enjoy our breakfast at hotel then prepare for a day ride to visit to the Royal Tombs, the place were used during both the life and dead of the Nguyen Rulers. A lovely traditional architecture royal tomb of King Tu Duc built in three years from 1864 -1867 is located outskirt of Hue among the fine forest, lakes and ponds meanwhile King Khai Dinh tomb is located on the hill step of Chau E mountain, the tomb is a blend of Western and Eastern architecture style and built in 1920. We just enjoy an easy ride through local villages along the river bank to these tombs. After visiting these places, we ride to Imperial and Forbidden City of Hue, most of the contraction site of a heyday royal dynasty were destroyed during the turmoil of the war for many years but there is still the sense of grace and majestic of the rulers. Entertain Vietnamese royal court music show, a World Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Then continue our cycling to Thien Mu Pagoda which was built in 17th century on the top of the hill overlooking the river and Truong Son mountain range.

Morning enjoy our breakfast at hotel then check out hotel, we get on our bus and drive to Phu Loc Pass where we will paddle to Hoi An. There is no better way to enjoy this beautiful distance from Phu Loc Pass to Hoi An than on our bike. Our first climbing is an easy to everyone but the second climbing is absolutely a challenge for all to reach the peak of Hai Van Pass. It is 10 km all the way up hill and then other 10km downhill. As we reach the bottom at Man 0 Beach, the road is flat and smooth until Hoi An Ancient Town.

Morning enjoy our breakfast at hotel, we start our walking to ancient quarter of Hoi An. Our first visit is Fukien Assembly Hall where is also the Thien Hau temple located. This temple was built in early century and dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea and the Protector of sailor when Fukien traders traveled down South of China by the Sea to Hoi An for their business. Later on they decided to stay permanently in this trade port until now. This place has become very popular local attraction for not only Vietnamese but also the foreign travelers as its architecture style is absolutely amazing figure. Then we keep on our walking from this temple to Tan Ky, ancient trading house. There are 7 generations of the Vietnamese merchant family has lived in this beautiful house and they carefully protect their home as its original for over 2 centuries ago. The architecture model of this house is the combination of Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese style. Come and see this place, we have a chance to talk to the owners who will inform us many useful and interesting things in the house, their daily life and how they have kept their home beautifully since 19th century. It is not far from this home as it takes us 5 minutes to walk to Japanese Bridge, an iconic of Hoi An ancient town. This temple bridge (the bridge where there is a temple on it) was built by Japanese community in 15905 and it dedicated to the God of the weather. It is said that he controls all kinds of weather changes and natural calamities, so most of the sailors worship him.

Finishing our history walking tour in this morning section with a visit to Sa Huynh Culture Museum nearby Japanese bridge, we have an opportunity to learn more about Hoi An ancient town. Then we have our free time to wonder around this lovely town.

Morning check out our hotel and depart for Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh province, we lake a snort drive from Hoi An to Dien Ban and join the national high Way 1 then travel southward along the coastline. We will stop at Sa Huynh beach for lunch and then we get our bike to ride to Quy Nhon City (70 km). Quy Nhon has a varied topography, being extremely diversified with mountains and forests, hills, fields, salt marshes, plains, lagoons, lakes, rivers, shorelines, peninsulas and islands. lts coastline 42 km 1009 with sandy beaches, abundant seafood resources and other natural products of economic value. On arrival check in hotel then free at leisure.

Today we continue our journey southward to Nha Trang City that is well known for its beaches and scuba diving and has developed into a popular destination for international tourists, attracting large numbers of independent traveler as well as more affluent travelers on the Southeast Asia circuit; it is already very popular with Vietnamese tourists. With Nha Trang Bay widely considered as among the world's most beautiful bays. Tourists are welcome to participate in the Sea Festival, held biennially. Morning our bus support us to Phu Yen City on our halfway for lunch at beach front restaurant, then we continue our bus trip to Co Ma Pass where we start our riding to Nha Trang City. This is a fantastic distance to cycle especially as we are going down Co Ma Pass toward to Van Phong Bay, a picturesque scenery.

On arrival Nhatrang, we check in hotel then free at leisure.

A full day boat trip offshore Nha Trang bay is our activity today. Just prepare our towel, swimming clothes, sun cream and sunglasses, we take a short drive to the pier then get on the boat for our trip to Num Island. This Island is the marine protected area which is one of four first marine protected area in the world admitted by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. We will enjoy our swimming and snorkeling in this marine protected area with the variety of marine life and colourful coral reefs. Then we cruise 10 the fishing village for our lunch. After lunch time, we walk 10 Tri Nguyen Aquarium. Return to our boat then go back the pier for disembarkation. Rest of the day is free at leisure. Barbecue seafood dinner at local restaurant is a great experience for us to try. We just eat, drink and have fun like most local people do here.