Simply Vietnam

This ten-day escorted tour with Explore Worldwide begins in Ho Chi Minh City, once officially Saigon, where colonial-era buildings share space with bustling markets and street food stalls. From there, a short internal flight takes you to Hoi An, a former trading port that still wears its 400-year-old Japanese Bridge and riverside market with easy charm.

Next comes the coastal route up to Hue via the Hai Van Pass, where the slow-moving Perfume River bisects an imperial city with quiet pagodas and reminders of Vietnam’s royal past. Ahead lies an overnight sleeper train north to Hanoi, followed by a ferry crossing to Cat Ba Island in the Bay of Tonkin, where limestone cliffs and caves provide a contrast to the city streets.

Lan Ha Bay offers the chance to paddle or swim among islands that are quieter, if no less dramatic, than their better-known neighbour Halong Bay. The trip ends back in Hanoi, a city with narrow, craft-named alleys, French colonial buildings, and a mausoleum that pays tribute to Ho Chi Minh himself.

Halong Bay, and the dragon that explains nothing

3 min read

These are the places the trip visits, in order. Explore Worldwide publishes the day-by-day itinerary on its own site.