Lunar New Year (Tet) Tour (14 Days/13 Nights)
 (Tour Code: NYR 02)

Included in the tour prices: private English speaking guide, vehicle with A/C, driver, domestic flights or trains, hotels, boat trips as mentioned in the tour itinerary, breakfast, taxes, entrance fees to museums where mentioned.

Not included in the tour prices: visas, traveler insurance, international airfares, lunch & dinner (except where indicated in the itinerary), suggested and optional activities, tips for drivers and guides, and fees of a personal nature (for example, bar bills, laundry service, souvenirs, telephone).

Dates:
13 February to 26 February 2008

Prices:
2/3 star hotels - $1720 US per person (based on double occupancy)
4/5 star hotels - $2600 US per person (based on double occupancy)

Day 1 : Arrival HCMC (Saigon)
Arrive at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) also known as Saigon. Your driver will meet you at airport and bring you to your hotel in the downtown district of HCMC.

Relax after your flight or spend the afternoon exploring the downtown shops of Nguyen Hue St. stopping at a cafe for a drink. Some historical sights to look for near your hotel: The Rex Hotel (formerly used as a base for American operations), Caravelle Hotel (used by foreign correspondents), Municipal Theater (formally used by the South Vietnam National Assembly), and Hotel Continental (its former terrace café used by journalists and diplomats).

Day 2 : HCMC - Can Tho
HCMC is the city that never sleeps. Go on a half day tour of the city highlights including the Reunification Palace, War Remembrance Museum and Cho Lon (China Town). Tour begins about 8 in morning and ends about noon.

After lunch, drive south to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. Arrive at Can Tho and check in at hotel. At about 6 or 6:30 pm take one hour walking tour of Ninh Kieu Park and market. Evening is free.

Day 3 : Can Tho - HCMC
At 8:00 in morning start boat trip to Cai Rang Floating market and fruit farm. Return to hotel between 10:30 and 11:00 for shower and check out. Drive to Vinh Long. Take a boat trip through small village canals to experience the lazy fishing trap, visit the villages of Mekong Delta as they prepare for Lunar Tet holiday. Return to HCMC late afternoon.

Day 4 : Flower Market Walking Tour & Cu Chi Tour
In preparation of the Lunar Tet celebrations, take a walking tour of downtown HCMC to visit the flower markets.

In the afternoon drive outside HCMC to Cu Chi to explore the amazing underground tunnel system built by Vietnamese guerilla fighters during the American war. Return to HCMC in evening.

Tonight we celebrate Lunar New Year 2006 – Year of the Dog – with a special dinner in HCMC.

Day 5 : First Day of Lunar Tet
Celebrate the first Day of Lunar Tet (Chinese New Year) visiting Tuan’s family in Bien Hoa. The city of Bien Hoa is located about 30 km northeast of HCMC. See first hand the customs of this special family-oriented holiday. Your driver will pick you up at about 10 in morning for drive to Bien Hoa. There, have lunch with Tuan's family. Return to HCMC in late afternoon. Evening free.

Day 6 : HCMC - Da Nang - Hoi An
In morning transfer to airport for approximately 90 minute flight to Da Nang International Airport. Then, transfer to nearby Hoi An. In this ancient port town, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese influences of earlier centuries are reflected in the charming architecture. It is also an ideal place for shopping, having a silk outfit tailored, relaxing on the beach or touring the countryside.

Your guide will accompany you through the Old Quarter of Hoi An with its Chinese community houses, tailor shops and merchant homes. Evening free.

Day 7 : Hoi An & My Son Tour
Today we visit the ancient Cham temple complex of My Son, which is located 40 km southwest of Hoi An in a lush overgrown valley. Most of the My Son monuments date back between the 7th and 13th centuries when this region was under control of the Champa Kingdom. In its heyday there were more than 70 structures, mostly Hindu style brick towers dedicated to various deities and the god kings. After the Vietnamese took over the area in the 16th Century it was neglected and became overgrown as the surrounding forests slowly but surely engulfed the temples. Then in the 1960s the Viet Cong used the area as a base and the resulting bombing by B52s destroyed many structures. Now My Son is an UNESCO World Heritage site and is undergoing a renaissance.

Return to Hoi An in afternoon. Evening is free.

Day 8 : Hoi An - Hue
In the morning depart Hoi An and drive north by van to the Imperial City of Hue. On the way to Hue, stop at the Cham Museum in Da Nang and famous China Beach. Stop at the Hai Van Pass for a spectacular view over the central Vietnam coast.

In the afternoon, take a walking tour of the Citadel, the former home of the Nguyen emperors. Evening free. Optionally, you may want to take part in an Imperial dinner.

Day 9 - (Thu 02 Feb 07): Hue > Ha Noi > Ha Long
Morning is free to shop, explore, or rest. Take an approximately 70 minute flight in afternoon from Hue to Noi Bai Airport outside Ha Noi. Our driver will meet us at the airport and drive us to Ha Long City. Evening free.

Day 10 : Ha Long - Ha Noi
Taking a boat cruise among the 2,000 towering limestone outcrops of Halong Bay is a serene experience. In the morning your guide and driver will take you to Halong Bay, where you will take a four-hour boat tour of this UNESCO cultural heritage site.

In the afternoon, drive to Hanoi with a stop at local handicraft shop.

Optionally, attend an evening performance of the famous water puppet theatre in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi.

Day 11 : Ha Noi City Tour & Bat Trang Village
Ha Noi is one of Asia's most enchanting cities because of its slower pace of life, tree-lined boulevards and French colonial architecture. Its busy alleys of the Old Quarter have changed little since the 15th Century. Your tour guide will take you on a half-day tour to the historical and cultural highlights of the capitol of Vietnam, including the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House, Single-Column Pagoda and West Lake.

In the afternoon, we will go outside Ha Noi to Bat Trang, a handicraft village specializing in ceramics.

Day 12 : Perfume Pagoda Tour
Sixty kilometers southwest of Ha Noi is the most famous pilgrimage site in northern Vietnam: the Perfume Pagoda. It is located among steep-sided limestone hills rising from the surrounding paddy fields. The area, containing some 30 pagodas, is sacred to Vietnamese worshippers.

A visit to the pagoda consists of three parts: a two-hour drive through the rice fields outside Ha Noi; an hour-long sampan ride up a quiet and flooded valley; and, a one to two-hour walk up the three-kilometer path to the Perfume Pagoda. (A cable car ride is also in operation for taking visitors to the summit.)

Return to Ha Noi in evening.

Day 13 : Free Day
A final, free day to do any final, optional sightseeing, shopping or resting.

Day 14 : Departure
Today you say farewell to Vietnam. Your driver will take you to Noi Bai Airport outside Ha Noi for your flight with wishes of good memories and hopes of seeing you again.