Accommodation
Hotels 10 nights, overnight train 2 nights, village house 1 night.
Transport
Private vehicle, train, domestic flight and on foot.
Meals
13 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 1 dinner.
Staff
Local guides and drivers.
What To Bring
Light cottons, a sweater or fleece, rain proof jacket. Long trousers and something to cover shoulders when entering temples. Comfortable walking shoes or lightweight trail boots, trainers and a water bottle. Warmer clothes for Sapa.
Group Size
This is a Guided Private Journey and can operate with a minimum of 2 travellers.
Other Information
Visas
We offer a free visa service for clients travelling to Vietnam with us. All you have to pay is the visa stamp, varied from US$25 to US$70 (check with your Embassy).
Please note that this facility is only available to people who have booked an itinerary with us - we cannot process visas for casual visitors.
Choose one of the three options below:
Option 1: Visa in advance
I send you a form requesting basic information (full name, passport details and so on). You fill in one for each person and send them to me. I will then apply for the visas at the Immigration Office in Hanoi. About five working days later, I'll receive the approval paper and will fax it to the Vietnamese Embassy in your country. I’ll then notify you to send your passports to the Embassy by post with a cheque to pay the visa stamp. Alternatively, you can pick up your visas in person. Please ring the Embassy for their opening hours, cost of visa stamps and for other arrangements.
Option 2: Visa on arrival
We will apply for visas upon arrival for you. For this, we will send the approval document direct to you by fax or by a scanned attached file. Upon your arrival at the airport, the approval document will be sufficient proof of your visa status. Please ensure that you pick up the visa form near the custom check points and fill in the details before you queue for immigration. You'll need a colour passport photo and the fee for the visa stamp (about $25 at present).
Option 3: Do it yourself
This option is only available to people living in a country with a Vietnamese Embassy. If you prefer to obtain a visa by yourself, feel free to do so. Please contact the Embassy for application information, their opening hours, cost of visa stamps and for other arrangements.
Please note that Vietnam hotels do not recognise provisional reservations, so specific hotels cannot be guaranteed until you have booked your chosen tour. As many of the better hotels are often full during the October to April peak season, early booking is advisable.
Operator Remarks
Below we suggest some alternative ways of spending time at different parts of the trip
Alternative for Day 2 to Day 8:
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City/Danang/Le Domain de Tam Hai (Breakfast)
After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to board the noon flight to Danang. When you arrive, you’ll be met by our driver. After a 90-minute drive, you’ll board a speedboat to cross to Le Domain De Tam Hai Resort where you’ll spend the next six nights. All breakfasts are included and limited recreational facilities are available.
Day 3 to day 7: Le Domain de Tam Hai (Breakfasts)
Le Domaine de Tam Hai offers 12 well-appointed villas with Vietnamese traditional architecture. Each villa has a large private garden opening directly on to a more or less deserted soft sand beach. It’s located on a tropical island just off the coast of central Vietnam about 40km from Hoi An Ancient Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Whilst offering luxurious facilities, the natural beauty of way of the island is preserved, and its seclusion and exclusivity makes it an ideal honeymoon hideaway. Also within easy reach is Danang’s Marble Mountain and two more World Heritage Site s – the mysterious My Son Sanctuary and the Imperial City of Hue.
Day 8: Le Domain de Tam Hai/Danang/Hanoi (Breakfast)
After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to Danang airport for a flight to Hanoi. Upon arrival, a private car will be waiting to take you to your hotel in the city centre. After checking in, you’ll be free for a preliminary wander around the Hanoi Old Quarter. Late in the afternoon, you’ll have a ticket for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry, an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture. Your overnight will be in Hanoi.
Alternative for Day 9
Day 9: Cycling and exploring villages around Hanoi (Breakfast and lunch)
In the morning, you’ll be picked up to drive to Bat Trang. On arrival, you’ll be able to stroll in the small alleys of this old village to watch local people producing their fine products and visit some of the houses used as workshops and showrooms. You’ll then pick up your bicycles and ride along the riverside dike, through some more of the many villages surrounding Hanoi. The total distance on bicycles is about 7km along a small road that runs beside a tributary of the Red River.
You’ll then drive to Dong Ho village - famous for its traditional paintings. After a picnic lunch, your vehicle will take you to Tam Tao village to enjoy its traditional Quan Ho music performed by villagers in the commune house. The singers have recently been officially designated as part of Vietnam’s ‘living heritage’. In the late afternoon, you’ll return to Hanoi. Around 9 p.m., a private car will arrive to take you to Hanoi railway station in time to board the 10 p.m. overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai.
Alternative for Day 10 to Day 12
Day 10: Lao Cai/Ethnic market/Sapa/Topas Eco lodge (Breakfast, lunch and dinner)
You’ll arrive in the early morning, where you’ll be met and taken by a Land Cruiser to visit a market frequented by ethnic minority peoples. After a picnic lunch, you’ll return to Lao Cai and continue your journey into the mountains to Sapa, a small town perched on the mountainside opposite Mt. Fan Si Pan, Vietnam’s highest peak, and then to the Topas Eco lodge for your overnight accommodation.
The Topas Eco Lodge is about 18km from Sapa. It's a newly built development of 25 individual bungalows perched on the top of a hill together with a restaurant and bar complex. Needless to say, the views across the wide valley populated with small communities of Tay, Red Dao and Black H’Mong ethnic minority people.
The bungalows are built of stone with a thatched roof and a private balcony. At 32m², the rooms are spacious and equipped with a decent bed and an en suite bathroom with a hot water shower. However, they’re quite Spartan - a matt tile floor, woven rattan chairs, a rack in lieu of a wardrobe, and no television or telephone (the latter is an inconvenience as the further bungalows are quite a distance from the reception/restaurant building.
There's also no air-conditioning, but the cool climate of the northern mountains renders it superfluous.
The restaurant is located in a Tay stilt house. Three meals are served daily - a Western-style breakfast and Vietnamese lunch and dinner, the latter a buffet. The bar serves drinks, beverages, snacks and light meals, and has a fireplace for chilly mountain evenings.
Please note: if you choose this option, you will not be able to travel in a ‘Victoria’ railway carriage, but we can book VIP cabin on other carriage for your privacy.
Day 11: Sapa tour (Breakfast)
After breakfast and a morning stroll to the town’s busy market, you’ll hike down a scenic valley calling in at the H’mong ethnic minority villages on the way. After a streamside picnic lunch, you’ll drive to more villages belonging to the H’mong, Day and Red Dao ethnic minority groups. You’ll spend the night in Topas Eco lodge
Day 12: Sapa/Lao Cai (Breakfast and lunch)
After lunch at the eco lodge’s restaurant, you’ll return to Sapa. The afternoon will be free for you to stroll around the town or do some last shopping before your driver arrive and take you to Lao Cai station for the overnight train to Hanoi.