18-Day Vietnam and Cambodia Tour with Angkor Wat and Halong Bay

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Day 01

Arrival in Hanoi and Welcome Dinner

• Welcome to Hanoi! Our representative will be at the airport to make sure you're headed in the right direction. Check in at your hotel and get your bearings before meeting your tour leader at 6 pm. Get the inside scoop on the tour during the meeting, and then get to know your travel companions over a welcome dinner.

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Day 02

Cruise Through Halong Bay

• Don't trip over yourself at breakfast this morning in anticipation of the drive to the Halong Bay complex, one of Vietnam's most enduring natural attractions.
• Step on board your cruiser once you're done with your drive and get an eyeful of the thousands of towering limestone pillars that rise imperiously from an emerald sea. Depending on the weather, take a plunge in the gentle waters or kayak through some of the hollowed-out karst mountains.
• Hunker down for some delicious food on board and let the day take its gentle course as you hit the beaches, caves, and perhaps a secret treat from the floating market.

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Day 03

Karst Landscapes and Overnight Train to Hue

• Wake up to the buoyant rhythms of the sea this morning and open your eyes to the giant-like karst mountains that still keep sentinel over the sampans and junks that float with increasing ardour as they go about making their first catch of the day.
• Plunge in and soak your mind deep in these idyllic locales until the clock urges you to head back to Hanoi.
• Browse through the streets of Hanoi, sampling the food as you go, before catching the overnight train to Hue.

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Day 04

Hue Imperial Citadel and Đông Ba Market

• Attend to your stomach over a local breakfast and make your way to the airport. Dust yourself off as you arrive in Hue and head to the hotel to drop off your bags. Strap your shoes on and hit the pavement as we make our way to the Imperial Citadel, where further exploration takes you to the threshold of the Forbidden Purple City, so called because no one apart from the royals was allowed to enter its precincts.
• Walk through some of the ruins here that were razed to the ground during the American War and have since been renovated, while deconstructing the life of the emperors and their entourage who lived here during the 1800s.
• Visit Đông Ba Market if you're up to it after the tour and sample some locally made goods, fresh produce, and some good old lip-smacking street food.

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Day 05

Thanh Toan Bridge and Tu Duc Tomb

• Ride out on cycles to the 18th-century Thanh Toan Bridge that straddles a canal amid the lush green Vietnamese countryside, and then walk through a local market nearby.
• Get a sense of Vietnam's history as you walk along the vast grounds of Tu Duc Tomb, which houses, among other things, a temple where the emperor and empress were worshipped, the oldest theatre in Vietnam, and a lake fringed with a reception area. All of it harks back to a time of excesses practised by the ruler, as his country stepped unaware into an impending storm with the approach of the French at Da Nang in the south.

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Day 06

Scenic Journey to Hoi An Old Town

• Follow the scenic coastal train route to Hoi An. Breeze through the old town with your tour leader in the afternoon, slack-jawed and eye in the sky, without worrying about having to fling yourself to the sidewalk to dodge a wayward vehicle because none are allowed entry here.
• There is plenty of time to discover the makings of this 16th-century port town that stopped being one when the river silted up. Yet despite running out of favour with merchants, Hoi An remains one of Vietnam's most loved destinations, with its weathered yellow buildings that used to be shop houses but have now transitioned comfortably into cafes and coffee shops.
• Submit to the amalgam of European, Chinese, and Japanese architecture that defines the buildings and temples here, along with a street grid system that hasn't changed even with the encroachment of modernity. Communal houses, assembly halls, and trading centres each wait patiently for their stories to be heard. Once you're done with this cultural scene, perhaps head out to the beach for some R&R.

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Day 07

Free Day in Hoi An and Thu Bon River BBQ

• You've got a free day at your disposal to take time out and wander off on your own through the Old Quarter. Between strolling through the street corners, consider approaching some of the tailoring shops that are a quintessential part of the Old Quarter scenery.
• Get some advice on the cut of a suit or the nuances of different fabrics and have it ready to don on your back in just a couple of hours. Alternatively, swing up onto the saddle and bike your way to An Bang Beach or wind your way through the rural areas of Hoi An, making way for the occasional buffalo or reaching out to some school kids ready to practise their language skills on you.
• Later in the afternoon, float down the Thu Bon River on board a local boat and make the most of a barbecue on its lazy banks.

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Day 08

Fly to Ho Chi Minh City and Street Food by Scooter

• We take a short flight to Ho Chi Minh City early this afternoon to avoid the hectic morning commute.
• Head off for an orientation walk around the vicinity with your tour leader and, if you've got time, flip a coin between a visit to the War Remnants Museum or the Reunification Palace.
• Later in the evening, morph into the skin of a true Vietnamese as you swing by Saigon nightlife on board a scooter and join its inhabitants on a street food tour.

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Day 09

Explore the Cu Chi Tunnels

• Travel approximately 40 km northwest this morning to discover the Cu Chi Tunnels, a living reminder of the country's fractious relationship with France and later, America.
• Lower yourself under the surface and get a first-hand experience of how the Viet Cong personnel flitted in and out of these warren-like passages, building an underground city and working out ingenious ways to paralyse an enemy that was far better equipped.
• Drive back to Ho Chi Minh City and wander around the city centre to get a last sense of the city and, as the evening closes in, gather with your travel companions for a final dinner together.

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Day 10

Free Day and New Group Welcome

• Today's a free day, so wake up at your own leisure to say goodbye to some of your new friends and tour leader. As some people leave and new travel companions and tour leaders join, we kick-start this section of the tour with a group meeting at 6 pm and then proceed to familiarise ourselves with some authentic Vietnamese fare over an included dinner.

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Day 11

Saigon City Tour and Street Food Walk

• Ho Chi Minh City's pulse and character reflect the bewildering mix of cultural influence and class that has brushed through its history over the ages. Trade relations with the Chinese, French, Malay, Thai, and Indians enriched its own Khmer customs and thus sprouted a cultural crucible that's immediately noticeable as you step out for a tour of the city this morning.
• Start from the General Post Office, tinged with Gothic and Renaissance flavour. Walk past elegant colonial buildings through Paris Square and then enter the Reunification Palace, which seems eerily like a slice of history arrested in time, with its tunnels, war rooms, radio transmitters, and card tables sitting mutely as if waiting for the clock to start ticking again.
• Follow this up with a visit to the War Remnants Museum to get a more personal understanding of the Vietnam War as well as the First Indo-China War through exhibits, photographs, documents, and much more.
• Later in the evening, strike out for a street food tour where a variety of local dishes sizzle, pop, crackle, and make as much noise as the vendors trying to vie for your attention.

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Day 12

Fly to Phnom Penh

• Rise and shine, have some breakfast, and say goodbye to Vietnam.
• As we leave Vietnam and take a short flight to Phnom Penh, we enter Cambodia's capital. If you've got some time on your hands this evening and you're itching to get a taste of the city, hop on board the eco-friendly cyclo - a remnant of a colonial past - as it gently negotiates Phnom Penh's roads and allows you to breeze through some of the city's most popular landmarks.

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Day 13

Reflection at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek

• Today is a day for remembrance and reflection. After breakfast, we will be cycling to S-21 and thereafter to Choeung Ek, two sites that chronicle a grim past. Yet as grim as it is, these are stories that need to be told, heard, and preserved for generations to come because they serve as a reminder and a testament to Cambodia's brutal past. Tuol Sleng, code-named S-21, was originally a school that was converted into an interrogation centre where no fewer than 12,000 people were tortured and murdered on the orders of Pol Pot when his Khmer Rouge movement took control of Cambodia in April 1975. Sometimes graphic and almost always heartbreaking, the museum hosts photos, accounts, and tools that were used to torture the detainees here. Much of that dark history follows you as you head for the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, or the Killing Fields, where prisoners from S-21 and elsewhere were taken to be exterminated. Rows of bones and human skulls feature in this surprisingly well-kept field, underscoring the irony of all human intentions.

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Day 14

Road Journey to Siem Reap via Local Landmarks

• We board a private vehicle to bridge the journey between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap this morning. Although the journey is typically 6 hours, we'll be making several pit stops along the way to enjoy a wide variety of experiences and keep things interesting.
• Stop by the Skun Spider Market, plonked right at the intersection of two highways and playing host to local delicacies that include locusts, tarantulas, and other creepy crawlies. Make a bet or two with your travel companions by testing your squeamish quotient, and then wheeze your way up the 809 steps to Phnom Santuk, where images of reclining Buddhas, pagodas, and recalcitrant monkeys survey a kingdom of exposed boulders and green forest cover.
• Kick some dust as you walk across the Dragon Bridge that hangs over the muddy Kampong Kdei River, your next and last stop before reaching Siem Reap. Marvel at the 12th-century engineering that still keeps it standing through wars and weather.

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Day 15

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

• If ever there is a single memory that lodges itself in the minds of people travelling through Cambodia, it is the sight of the sun crawling cat-like upon the ancient stones of Angkor Wat, breathing life into it yet again just as it has done for centuries.
• Rise in the early hours of the morning to catch this brilliant spectacle and then sink deeper into the historical, religious, and cultural associations of this monument that has come to define Cambodia more than anything else. Though gigantic in aspect, walk through this fascinating complex while taking in the little details as well that warrant pride of place in the Cambodian heart.
• Finish the tour with a picnic lunch and then return to the city centre to do as you please for the rest of the day.

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Day 16

Angkor Complex and Sunset Quad Bike Tour

• As impressive as Angkor Wat is, the other sites around the Angkor complex are equally impressive.
• Weave your way through the giant silk cotton trees that wrap themselves around Ta Phrom temple like constrictors reluctant to let go of their prey, as well as Angkor Thom lined with busts of gods, bas reliefs, and a stone tower.
• Discover, as you do so, their own independent architectural details and history.
• Later in the day, take a guided quad bike tour just outside Siem Reap and snatch impressions of daily life beyond the cities.

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Day 17

Bangkok Grand Palace and Rattanakosin Walk

• We will leave Cambodia today and catch a flight to Bangkok. Before you've got time to settle your hair in place, you'll be sitting on the super-efficient sky train and heading straight to the Bangkok Grand Palace, the number one site to visit while you're in the country's capital. A stunning amalgam of Thai and European architecture, the palace dazzles with its beautiful grounds, gilded buildings, detailed murals, and its crowning glory, Wat Phra Kaew, or the Emerald Temple.
• Take time to soak in the palace complex and, after you're done, head for your hotel. For the latter half of the day, follow your tour guide around the riverside enclave of Rattanakosin district, or the old quarter, where side streets lined with weathered buildings and 16th-century temples still recall a time when the first monarch of Thailand's present ruling dynasty founded the kingdom in 1782. Flit through the ghosts of colonial buildings and open your senses to the smell of flowers, fruits, and incense as street vendors sell their wares through holes-in-the-wall cubicles.
• Later in the evening, raise your glasses and settle in for one final meal with your tour leader and fellow travel companions as the tour comes to an end.

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Day 18

Departure from Bangkok

• It's time now to bid farewell to your tour leader and new friends, but not without a backpack full of memories. Departure transfers are included on the day. Please consult your tour leader or the hotel desk to confirm the check-out time.