11-Day Northeast Vietnam Tour with Ban Gioc Falls and Halong Bay

• Your guide and driver will pick you up upon arrival at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi.
• Transfer to your hotel in the city centre and check in around noon.
• In the afternoon, enjoy a walking tour around Hoan Kiem Lake, the "Restored Sword," and visit Jade Mountain Temple (Ngoc Son) on the lakeside.
• Then take a cyclo ride through the ancient streets for a first glimpse of the daily life of Hanoians.
• In the evening, attend a water puppet show.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Breakfast at the hotel.

• Set out on a Hanoi city tour to visit Tran Quoc Pagoda, the "Defense of the Fatherland," on the shores of West Lake, Quan Thanh Temple, the "Great Genius," and the Temple of Literature, first dedicated to Confucianism and later transformed into the first university of Vietnam.
• In the afternoon, visit the Museum of Ethnography, where about 1,500 objects from the daily life of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups are exhibited.

Night in Hanoi.

• After breakfast at the hotel, depart for Thac Ba, the largest closed lake in Vietnam.
• Upon arrival, enjoy a cruise on Thac Ba Lake, followed by a walk through a minority village, with opportunities to meet and talk with local people.
• Dinner and overnight at a local home with the Dzao Quan Trang, residents of Thac Ba.

• After breakfast, visit a local market and then transfer to Ha Giang, stopping along the way to visit ethnic minority villages and take photos.

Overnight in Ha Giang.

• Depart for Dong Van, with stops at the Sunday markets, colourful gatherings of a mosaic of ethnic groups.
• Visit old houses, the village of the LoLo minority, and the former palace of the king of Meo.
• Continue on to Meo Vac.

Night in Meo Vac.

• After breakfast, visit a Dao minority house, the Nho Que River, and Ma Pi Leng cape.
• Take a boat trip on the Nho Que River before driving to Bao Lac.

Overnight at a hotel in Bao Lac.

• After breakfast, visit the local market and the village of the Black Lolo, then depart for Ba Be via Na Ban and Na Phac.
• Stop along the way to visit vestiges from the colonial period.
• Upon arrival in Ba Be, quietly discover the village and the landscapes around the lake.

Dinner and overnight at a local house.

• After breakfast, take a boat ride through the magical scenery of Ba Be Lake. Known as the "three seas," this lake stretches over 9 km in length and 100 to 1,800 m in width, at an altitude of 145 m. It lies at the mouth of three valleys that meet in an arc.
• Ba Be is not only a place for the imaginative, but also for nature lovers. Nearly forty species of mammals live here, along with more than a hundred species of birds and many butterflies.
• Continue by road to Cao Bang.

Night in Cao Bang.

• After breakfast, depart to visit Ban Gioc Falls, Phat Tich Truc Lam Pagoda, Nguom Ngao Cave, and nearby villages, with meetings and conversations with local inhabitants.
• In the afternoon, transfer to Lang Son via RC4, Colonial Road Number 4, a route deeply marked by wartime history.
• Arrive in Lang Son later in the day, visit the Ky Lua night market, and check in at the hotel.

Night in Lang Son.

• After breakfast, depart for Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Upon arrival around noon, board a traditional junk for a 2-day, 1-night cruise in Halong Bay.
• During the cruise, discover this immense chaos of karst mountains, caves, and lagoons, with ghostly shapes appearing from time to time. It is a pleasure to feel totally lost here and to keep discovering new, ever more tormented rock formations at every moment.
• The play of light, clouds, and mist creates unexpected atmospheres, while life on the bay unfolds around fishing boats and entire families living either in floating houses or aboard simple boats.
• At the end of the afternoon, the boat drops anchor for the night in the bay.
• You may then swim in the open sea or go kayaking beneath the extraordinary sugar loaves.
• Lunch and seafood dinner are served on board.

Night on board the junk.

• Continue your cruise in Halong Bay, with the return route revealing other corners of the bay.
• Disembark around 11:30 am and transfer to the airport for your departure flight.

End of your journey.