• 6 Dinner (D)
• 14 Breakfast (B)
• 3 Lunch (L)

• Hanoi: Travel past the colorful shopfronts and street food vendors of Hanoi’s Old Quarter on a cyclo tour.
• Hanoi: On a sightseeing tour of the city of Hanoi, see the imposing Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature.
• Hanoi: Enjoy a traditional evening Water Puppet performance in a local theater. This northern Vietnamese art form beautifully illustrates scenes of rural life and natural history and began approximately a thousand years ago, possibly in the flooded rice fields of Vietnam. Puppeteers stand in waist-high water and manipulate their charges in such a way that you can’t help but be swept up in the legend being told. Each short sketch in the performance relates to the daily life of the people.
• Ha Long Bay: Start your day on beautiful Ha Long Bay with a T’ai Chi class led by a Local Specialist. 
• Hoi An: Hoi An is famous for its bespoke tailoring, where skilled tailors create custom suits, dresses and more—often in just a day or two. Whether you’re after the perfect fit or a stylish design tailored to your preferences, your Travel Director will be on hand to ensure you’re well taken care of throughout your visit.   
• Hoi An: Red Bridge Cooking School is a culinary gem in Hoi An. Begin your learning with a welcome drink at Hai Cafe before you explore the bustling central market with your chef, where you’ll select fresh ingredients. Take a boat to the school to enjoy a private cooking class and dine on your creations overlooking the river. 
• Hoi An: Cruise down the scenic Cua Dai River on a local boat and experience the art of casting traditional Vietnamese fishing nets. Guided by friendly fishermen, you’ll learn this centuries-old technique, adding an authentic and unforgettable adventure to your journey.
• Hue: See Hue by land and water today. Enjoy a cyclo tour past the Imperial Citadel and Thien Mu Pagoda before boarding a local dragon boat. 
• Ho Chi Minh City: Enjoy the sights of the French colonial-era buildings and even a former CIA residential block as you partake in a walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City.
• My Tho: Cruise along the canals of Cai Be in a small sampan boat during your visit to this market town.
• After a stroll through the streets of Cai Be, meet a local family in their home. Hear stories from your Local Specialist about surviving the Khmer Rouge and learn about the family’s handicraft, making paper. 
• Ho Chi Minh City: Visit the home of the former American Ambassador to South Vietnam in the 1960s.
• Ho Chi Minh City: Gain insight into a challenging period of Vietnam’s history as you join a Viet Cong veteran on a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, built to protect Viet Cong guerrillas.
• Siem Reap: Dine on traditional Cambodian flavors during a performance of local Apsara dancers and musicians. Marvel at vibrant silk costumes and see the symbolic hand gestures of this historic art form. 
• Angkor Wat: Join your Local Specialist and immerse yourself in the stories of the celestial nymphs and mystical serpents. 
• Angkor Wat: Discover the Banteay Srei Temple, also known as the “Citadel of Women” where you can admire delicate 10th-century carvings.
• Angkor Thom: Enjoy a visit to Angor Thom and admire the iconic sites of the Terrace of Elephants, the Royal Enclosure and the Temple of Bayon.
• Wat Damnak: Experience a private blessing with a Monk where a sacred thread is tied around your wrists to protect you against evil spirits.

• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• 4-star hotel and overnight cruise stays
• Deluxe coach and cruise travel, and select flights

Travel the storied Hai Van Pass, a summit road curling between sea and mountains with misty mountain views that open to the East Sea. Coastline, cloud forest, and wartime bunkers punctuate this cinematic stretch.

Pause at Red Beach, linked to the first U.S. Marine landing, to pause for photos and reflection. The stop pairs panoramic beauty with history written on the sand and surf.

Drift across Southeast Asia’s great floodplain on a sunset boat cruise over Tonlé Sap Lake. Stilted homes, fishing traps, and floating villages silhouette against a widening sky as colors wash over the water.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Seasonal water levels and birdlife add a dynamic backdrop to floodplain villages that rise and fall with the lake’s pulse.

Pass through monumental gates into Angkor Thom, the last royal city of the Khmer Empire. At Bayon’s stone faces, serene visages gaze from towers above galleries of battle and daily-life reliefs.

Walk the Terrace of Elephants and Royal Enclosure to imagine pageantry along the parade ground. Carvings, moats, and banyan shade create a powerful sense of a city built for kings and gods.

Enter the serene courtyards of Wat Damnak for a private monk blessing. Incense drifts as chants rise, and a sacred thread is tied around your wrist as a symbol of protection and goodwill.

Monastic rituals, saffron robes, and the temple’s learned past as a Buddhist school provide quiet context for Cambodia’s living spiritual traditions.

Experience a quintessential northern art form during a traditional water puppetry show, hosted by master artisan Mr. Liem. Watch lacquered characters skim a waist-deep stage as musicians beat out village rhythms and singers narrate scenes from rural life and legend.

Gain insider insight into this ancient Red River Delta tradition and try your hand at puppet-making. The craft’s origins in flooded rice fields come to life as you learn how puppeteers conceal movement and create the splash and sparkle that animate these folk tales.

Cruise the UNESCO seascape of Ha Long Bay, sailing amid limestone towers draped in jungle. Paddle by kayak through the serene inlets of the Ho Ba Ham area to slip beneath arches and along quiet coves, far from the main cruising lanes.

Back on board, savor deck-top views as the limestone karsts glow gold in late-day light. The bay’s legends of dragons and hidden grottoes feel tangible in the hush between islets and the rhythm of the boat on emerald waters.

Begin with sunrise T’ai Chi on deck as the bay’s haze lifts from jade pinnacles. Choose to venture underground in Tien Ong Cave, where chambers reveal stalactites and traces of prehistoric settlement, or glide by kayak or rowboat to the Cua Van Floating Culture Center to learn about life on the water.

Both paths uncover a different facet of the Gulf of Tonkin’s heritage, from karst geology to communities shaped by tides, casting nets, and sheltered lagoons.

Stroll the lantern-strung lanes of UNESCO-listed Hoi An Ancient Town, where timber shop-houses and Chinese guildhalls trace the arc of a 15th-century port. Cross the Japanese Covered Bridge and admire woodwork and incense curls inside the ornate Chaozhou Assembly Hall.

Markets hum with spice, silk, and river breezes as you learn how merchant families and maritime trade shaped facades, courtyards, and altars. Photogenic hues and hand-crafted wares reveal a living town museum rooted in the Thu Bon River.

Join a chef-led, market-to-table cooking class beginning with a welcome at Hai Café and a guided ingredient shop in Hoi An’s bustling market. Board a riverboat to the leafy riverside campus for your hands-on session.

Chop garden herbs, stir fragrant broths, and plate dishes that balance sweet, sour, and umami, then dine on your creations with water views. This boat ride to Red Bridge School turns a meal into a cultural immersion in central Vietnam’s cuisine.

Learn to cast traditional fishing nets with local fishermen before stepping into a round thúng chai to paddle a basket boat through the nipa coconut-palm waterways. Calm channels reveal mangrove birdlife and river-borne livelihoods.

Hear stories of wartime hideouts and seasonal fishing, then float past stilted homes and palm fronds. It’s a close-to-the-water glimpse of the communities sustained by Hoi An’s estuaries and tides.

Roll through Hue’s streets on a cyclo ride to the moated Imperial Citadel, the Nguyen emperors’ walled palace complex. Courtyards, gates, and throne halls evoke ceremonies and dynastic intrigue.

Continue to Thien Mu Pagoda, a riverside icon with layered towers and monastic calm. From royal architecture to Buddhist devotion, Hue reveals Vietnam’s cultural heart with incense, drumbeats, and dragon-adorned tiles.

Board a traditional craft for a dragon boat cruise along the Perfume River, gliding past temple roofs and riverside gardens. The gentle current frames Hue’s landscapes like scroll paintings.

Step ashore at the historic residence of Princess Ngoc Son for a Be My Guest lunch with the Phan family, whose heirlooms and stories illuminate courtly life and modern Hue hospitality.

Trace colonial boulevards on Dong Khoi Street to see the Notre Dame Cathedral and the elegant Central Post Office, before pausing by the Opera House and City Hall facades. Grand arcades meet buzzing side streets and café culture.

Deepen your understanding at the War Remnants Museum, where photographs and exhibits offer Vietnamese perspectives on conflict, resilience, and recovery. Conclude amid the aromas and chatter of Ben Thanh Market.

Dine at KOTO, a pioneering social enterprise where trainees transform fresh ingredients into Vietnamese classics. Your meal directly supports hospitality education for disadvantaged youth, aligning with our Make Travel Matter ethos.

Share stories with staff and taste dishes that balance herbs, citrus, and regional spice. This purpose-driven dining experience turns an evening in Ho Chi Minh City into meaningful impact.

Set out by traditional boat to cruise the Mekong near Cai Be, where orchards, stilted homes, and workshop cottages line the banks. Visit a lovingly preserved 19th-century ancient house to glimpse timber artistry and family heirlooms.

Slip into narrow waterways by sampan beneath palms and footbridges, then gather for a home-hosted lunch of Delta specialties. Conversations and river breezes reveal the pulse of life on Southeast Asia’s great waterway.

Journey upriver by private speedboat to the Cu Chi Tunnels, an extensive network of underground passages once used for shelter, supply, and survival. A veteran guide shares first-hand perspectives on wartime ingenuity and everyday realities.

Peer into concealed entrances, see trapdoor designs, and learn how kitchens, clinics, and command posts functioned below ground. The Saigon River return offers a striking contrast between today’s skyline and yesterday’s struggle.

Savor Khmer flavors as you watch an Apsara dance performance, where silken costumes, intricate hand gestures, and courtly choreography evoke Angkor’s golden age. Musicians on traditional instruments set a lilting rhythm for the stage.

The blend of classical Khmer music and culinary tradition offers a captivating introduction to Cambodia’s cultural soul, bringing ancient myths and royal pageantry to life.

Enter the monumental precincts of Angkor Wat to study celestial apsaras and epic bas-reliefs carved in sandstone. Causeways, lotus-crowned towers, and a vast moat frame one of the world’s great sacred complexes.

Continue to Banteay Srei, the “Citadel of Women,” famed for pink sandstone and exquisitely detailed 10th-century carvings. Intimate scale and luminous stone make this temple a jewel of Khmer artistry.

Meet residents of Krabei Riel to learn traditional skills such as palm leaf weaving. Your time and hosted visit contribute a community donation that supports school supplies and elder care, ensuring tourism benefits stay local.

Walk shaded lanes, chat with artisans, and see how seasonal rhythms shape daily life. This Make Travel Matter experience connects culture, craft, and community resilience near Siem Reap.

Explore Ta Prohm, where strangler figs and silk-cotton trees weave roots through galleries and towers. Stone and jungle intertwine to create one of Angkor’s most atmospheric sites.

As light filters through leaves onto root-tangled galleries, trace Sanskrit inscriptions and lintel carvings that speak to the temple-monastery’s past. Nature’s slow embrace lends this sanctuary its haunting beauty.

Support Khmer heritage at Artisans d’Angkor, where apprentices and master craftsmen revive traditional silk weaving, stone carving, and lacquer techniques. Walk the workshops to see raw materials transformed by skilled hands.

Stories of training, fair employment, and design innovation reveal how craft can power social renewal while preserving time-honored aesthetics found across the temples of Angkor.

Venture into the jungle-fringed ruins of My Son Sanctuary, the spiritual center of the Cham people. Explore brick temple towers dedicated to Shiva and admire reliefs that reveal the Champa kingdom’s artistry and Indian Ocean trade links.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Early light, birdsong, and moss-softened bricks combine to create an evocative window into Central Vietnam’s pre-Vietnamese heritage.

Discover the lesser-known Ky Anh Tunnels beneath Tam Thanh’s coastal hamlets, a warren engineered for shelter and supply. Hear local accounts of wartime ingenuity and walk short sections to understand life below ground.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Village murals, sea breezes, and coastal gardens frame a poignant contrast between conflict memories and today’s creative revival.

Join the crew after dusk to try squid fishing under deck lights, learning techniques used by local mariners. Pair the experience with a convivial rice wine tasting as the bay’s silhouettes fade into night.

This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Quiet waters, starry skies, and gentle swell make this a relaxed way to enjoy Ha Long’s evening mood between islets.

Trafalgar

Explore Hanoi’s layered heritage on a guided visit taking in the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s 11th-century national university, and the tranquil grounds around the One Pillar Pagoda and Ho Chi Minh’s House on Stilts. Glide through the Old Quarter on an Old Quarter cyclo, where narrow streets still echo the city’s merchant past.

Hear stories of Confucian scholarship and modern nationhood as you view the Mausoleum’s austere exterior and pass lakeside pagodas. Lively market stalls, incense-swirled shrines, and French-Indochine facades create a vibrant portrait of the capital’s culture and craft traditions.