Wander to Vietnam

Jan 20

Highlights: Arrival day, welcome dinner

Included: Dinner

Upon arrival you’ll be picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel in the city center. After getting settled and having a good rest, we’ll start off with an evening orientation and group dinner at one of the city’s great restaurants where we'll enjoy our first Vietnamese meal.

Jan 21

Highlights: Full tour of Ho Chi Minh City, cultural acrobatic show

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today we're in for a great day as we explore the vibrant energy of Ho Chi Minh City. We'll get around using a mix of a traditional cyclo ride and a laid-back walking tour, giving us a close-up look at different neighborhoods and everyday life in the city. We’ll move through different neighborhoods and everyday street scenes, stop at the colorful flower market, visit the Reunification Palace to learn how it fits into modern Vietnamese history, and take in the French era architecture around the opera house. Along the way we’ll pass temples, markets, and side streets, with time to stop for a few standout Southern Vietnamese dishes. In the evening we’ll return to the opera house for a cultural show with live music, traditional instruments, and choreography that tells stories from Vietnam’s past and present.

Jan 22

Highlights: Flight to Danang, Hoi An, markets and culture

Included: Breakfast, Dinner

After a short 1.5-hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Danang, we’ll drive about an hour to Hoi An, a former trading port and UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European influences. Once we check into our centrally located hotel, we’ll head out for lunch and then slow down with a coffee stop in one of Hoi An’s old style cafés set inside historic buildings. We’ll spend the afternoon walking through lantern lit lanes and riverside neighborhoods, getting our bearings and enjoying the easy rhythm that makes Hoi An such a good place to settle in.

Jan 23

Highlights: Full walking tour of Hoi An

Included: Breakfast, Dinner

We’ll spend the day exploring the charm and character of Hoi An on foot. This town is best discovered slowly, and we’ll start by visiting a time-honored merchant’s house to see how families lived when Hoi An was a major trading port. We’ll stroll through the lively central market, where vendors sell everything from fresh produce to handmade lanterns, then continue on to admire the detailed architecture of a Chinese temple that still plays an important role in the community. We’ll also stop at the famous Japanese Covered Bridge, one of the town’s most photographed landmarks and a symbol of its multicultural past. As we walk, we’ll get a feel for how centuries of Vietnamese tradition blend with Chinese, Japanese, and French influences in both the buildings and the rhythm of everyday life. In the evening we’ll enjoy dinner, tasting some of the regional specialties that make Hoi An’s food so memorable.

Jan 24

Highlights: Special cooking class, free time in Hoi An

Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Today we’ll spend the morning in a hands on cooking class that gives you a real look at Vietnamese home style cooking. With a local chef guiding us step by step, we’ll prepare a full meal from scratch, including dishes such as shrimp ball soup, crispy banh xeo, marinated chicken skewers grilled over charcoal, and a mango salad that hits that sweet, sour, and spicy balance Vietnam does so well. After the class we’ll sit down together to enjoy what we’ve made, then the rest of the day will be yours to use as you want in Hoi An, with options such as getting something tailor made, taking a boat ride on the Thu Bon River, visiting the Precious Heritage Museum, browsing the market again, or settling into a riverside café and watching the town move around you.

Jan 25

Highlights: Marble Mountain, Hai Van Pass, Lang Co Beach, An Bang Cemetery

Included: Breakfast, Lunch

This morning we’ll climb into restored 1960s jeeps and head north to Hue, with stops that will make this into one of the most memorable days of the trip. We’ll begin at Marble Mountain, a cluster of limestone and marble hills with cave temples, Buddhist sanctuaries, and viewpoints that open up over the coast once you climb a bit. From there we’ll drive the Hai Van Pass, one of Vietnam’s great coastal roads, with misty mountains on one side and the South China Sea on the other, then we’ll stop for a fresh seafood lunch at Lang Co Beach. Before reaching Hue, we’ll visit An Bang Cemetery, often called the City of Ghosts, where families build elaborate tombs to honor ancestors in a way that is both moving and visually striking, then we’ll arrive in Hue in the late afternoon, check into our hotel, and unwind.

Jan 26

Highlights: Tour of Hue city and countryside, Perfume River cruise/dinner

Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Today we’ll explore Hue from a close up perspective, with an option to ride on the back of motorbikes with experienced local drivers or to join in the backup vehicle if you prefer. We’ll visit a family run incense making workshop to see how each stick is crafted by hand, then stop at a hidden colosseum where emperors once watched fights between tigers and elephants. We’ll meet local artisans working in traditional crafts, then enjoy a peaceful vegetarian lunch prepared by nuns at a Buddhist nunnery. In the afternoon we’ll step into the Imperial Citadel and the Forbidden Purple City and hear how Vietnam’s last royal dynasty lived and ruled, then we’ll visit one of the Imperial Tombs where architecture and landscape are designed to tell a story together. As evening comes, we’ll board a dragon boat for a sunset cruise on the Perfume River, with dinner on board and Hue’s riverside atmosphere all around us.

Jan 27

Highlights: Drive to Phong Nha, Vinh Moc Tunnels, DMZ

Included: Breakfast, Lunch Dinner

This morning we’ll travel north along the coast, passing small seaside towns and quieter beaches that show a different side of the region beyond the main tourist routes. Our first major stop will be the Vinh Moc Tunnels, an underground network where entire villages lived during the war, complete with living spaces, meeting rooms, and even a maternity area, which makes the scale of survival here feel very real. After exploring we’ll stop for lunch, then continue into the DMZ, the former demilitarized zone that divided North and South Vietnam, and we’ll walk across the Hien Luong Bridge, once both a physical crossing and a symbol of separation. From there we’ll continue through countryside toward Phong Nha, arriving in the late afternoon to a landscape of rice fields, limestone cliffs, and winding rivers, then settle in for a relaxed evening.

Jan 28

Highlights: Local villages

Included: Breakfast, Dinner

After breakfast, we’ll head out for a laid back countryside tour near Phong Nha, a day built around the calm of the area. We’ll visit villages and take our time walking around, meeting local families and getting a feel for daily routines in this part of Vietnam, where fields, rivers, and weather still shape the day. There will be plenty of chances to pause when something catches your attention, water buffalo in a field, kids on bikes, a small riverside scene, or a view that makes you stop talking for a minute. Later we’ll return to the hotel with time to unwind, and you’ll have the option to use the sauna, go for a swim, or simply relax before we meet again for dinner.

Jan 29

Highlights: Phong Nha National Park, cave exploration

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today we're ready to explore the stunning Phong Nha National Park, which is home to some of the most impressive scenery in all of Vietnam. Hopping on the back of motorbikes (there's also an option to ride in a vehicle), we'll enter the national park and soak in all of its magnificent landscapes. We'll wind through mountains and valleys, along dramatic limestone peaks, through lush jungle and across bright blue rivers, all offering a wondrous experience in nature. Soon we'll reach Paradise Cave, where we'll explore the largest cave system in the world. This cave is absolutely beyond breathtaking and we'll have a chance to walk 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) inside of it, passing spectacular natural formations in all directions. From here, we'll wind our way out of the national park as we return to our accommodation for dinner. *Please note: Visiting the Paradise Cave requires a 1500 foot / 500 meter walk along an uphill switchback path, followed by 300 steps down into the cave, and back out again. Once inside the cave, the 1.3 mile (2 kilometer) walk takes place on a wooden boardwalk.

Jan 30

Highlights: Hanoi, orientation tour of the city

Included: Breakfast

Off to Hanoi we go! This morning we’ll take a 1-hour drive to Dong Hoi Airport and catch a short flight to Vietnam’s capital. After landing, we’ll make our way into the city and check into our hotel right in the center of town. After lunch we’ll head out for a light stroll that shows Hanoi’s two sides, the Old Quarter with its narrow streets, shops, and food stalls, and the French Quarter with wider boulevards and colonial era buildings. We’ll keep the walk flexible and stop when something looks worth a closer look, then we’ll slow down with time around the lake or in a quieter courtyard where locals gather. In the evening, we’ll sit down for dinner at one of Hanoi’s best restaurants and try classic Northern Vietnamese dishes that feel very different from what we ate in the south.

Jan 31

Highlights: Full city tour of Hanoi

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today we’ll dive into Hanoi’s history and culture, starting at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to understand the figure who shaped Vietnam’s independence story and still holds a powerful place in national memory. We’ll continue to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university, where courtyards, stone steles, and traditional architecture create a calm space in the middle of the city. Then we’ll visit Hoa Lo Prison, often called the Hanoi Hilton, to understand a harder chapter of the country’s past across French colonial times and the Vietnam War. For lunch we’ll have what many locals consider the best banh mi in the city, then the afternoon will be open so you can rest, wander, or find your own corner of Hanoi for a while. In the evening, we’ll gather for a performance at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, a traditional northern art form with live music and storytelling that is genuinely fun and very Hanoi.

Feb 1

Highlights: Overnight boat cruise in Ha Long and Bai Tu Long Bays

Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast we’ll leave Hanoi and drive to Ha Long Bay, then board our traditional style boat, settle into our cabins, and start cruising through calm water surrounded by limestone islands and small fishing boats. We’ll enjoy a fresh seafood lunch as the scenery starts stacking up around us, then in the afternoon we’ll visit a floating fishing village, with a choice to kayak or to hop into a small boat and be rowed through quieter corners of the bay. As the sun drops, we’ll relax on deck and watch the light change across the water, and you’ll have the option to enjoy a Vietnamese massage before dinner. We’ll spend the night on the boat in comfortable cabins, with the sound of water and the bay settling in around us.

Feb 2

Highlights: Bai Tu Long and Lan Ha Bays, Hanoi, farewell dinner

Included: Breakfast, Dinner

We’ll start our last morning out on the soothing waters of Bai Tu Long Bay, with an optional Tai Chi session at sunrise for anyone who feels like easing into the day with some gentle movement and quiet views. After we eat, we’ll visit Thien Canh Son Cave, tucked into the cliffs with a short climb and beautiful formations inside, then return to the boat and begin cruising back toward the harbor. Once we’re back on land we’ll drive to Hanoi, check back into our hotel, and you’ll have time to rest or freshen up before we head out for one last dinner together at one of the city’s best restaurants, a good final night to look back on the trip and everything we covered from south to north.

Feb 3

Departure day

Included: Breakfast

You will be picked up at the hotel by a private driver who will take you to the airport for your departing flight.