Trip overview
This route treats Vietnam as three different countries stitched into one: the terraced hills and ethnic villages around [Sapa](travel-guide/sapa-things-to-do) in the far north, the limestone seascape of [Ha Long Bay](destinations/ha-long-bay) and the trading-port charm of [Hoi An](destinations/hoi-an) through the centre, then the beach city of [Nha Trang](destinations/nha-trang) and the waterways of the [Mekong Delta](destinations/mekong-delta) further south.
Getting between them uses a mix of transport that becomes part of the experience — an overnight train up to the mountains, a cable car to one of Southeast Asia's higher peaks, a junk slept on in the bay, short domestic flights down the coast. It's a fuller picture of the country than a single-region trip gives, at the cost of repacking more often.
Good for a first visit that wants breadth, or a repeat visit filling in what got missed the first time. Expect two nights on trains and one on a boat, so light luggage helps.
Highlights
- A hands-on session at Bat Trang, the ceramics village just outside Hanoi
- Rice terraces and hill-tribe villages on a full day out from Sapa
- The cable car to Fansipan, the highest point on mainland Southeast Asia
- A night at anchor on a junk in Ha Long Bay
- A walking tour of Hoi An's old quarter and a farm lunch in Tra Que village
- The Golden Bridge and Ba Na Hills above Da Nang
- A boat trip to Mun Island off Nha Trang for snorkelling
- A Vespa-led food tour through Ho Chi Minh City after dark
- A private sampan cruise on the Mekong Delta's Cai Be waterways
Reserve this trip
Tell us your travel dates and group size and we will hold the arrangements while the itinerary is finalised.
- Days
- 15
Sending this does not charge you. We hold the space and confirm within 24 hours.
Day by day
Day 1 — Arrival in Hanoi
Land in Hanoi, meet your guide past the arrivals hall, and take the roughly 45-minute drive into the city. Check in and settle — there's nothing else scheduled today.
Meals: none
Overnight in Hanoi
Day 2 — Bat Trang pottery and old Hanoi
Morning drive along the Red River to Bat Trang, a village that has fired ceramics for generations. Watch the process and shape a piece of your own before heading back into the city for pho or bun cha, plus a taste of Hanoi's dense, sweet egg coffee.
Afternoon covers the exterior of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the wooden stilt house nearby, the One Pillar Pagoda, and the Temple of Literature — Vietnam's first national academy. The day closes with a water puppet performance, a rural art form that began in the flooded rice paddies of the Red River Delta, where farmers once staged shows from waist-deep water using long poles hidden beneath the surface.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight in Hanoi
Day 3 — Ninh Binh day trip, sleeper north to Lao Cai
About two hours south, Ninh Binh holds the old royal capital of Hoa Lu, where two temples honour the Dinh and Le dynasties that ruled here roughly a thousand years ago. From there, transfer to Tam Coc for a sampan ride past limestone cliffs, caves and rice fields or lotus ponds depending on the season, followed by an easy bike ride to Bich Dong.
Drive back to Hanoi, arriving early evening, with a day-use room available before boarding the overnight train north to Lao Cai.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight on the train
Day 4 — Arrival in Sapa
The train reaches Lao Cai early; breakfast is at a local restaurant before a stop at a colourful hill-tribe market. From there, drive up into Sapa itself, check in, and spend the rest of the day exploring the town at your own pace.
Meals: breakfast
Overnight in Sapa
Day 5 — Muong Hoa Valley and Fansipan
Your guide meets you after breakfast for a full day out. Morning heads into Muong Hoa Valley, taking in two of the local villages — a pairing of Ma Tra with Ta Phin, or Cat Cat together with Sin Chai, depending on how the day is routed.
Afternoon rides the cable car up to Fansipan, 3,147 metres above sea level and the highest summit on mainland Southeast Asia, earning it the nickname roof of Indochina. Opened in 2016, the line set a pair of world records for cable transport: the longest continuous three-rope system, running 6.3 kilometres, and the biggest height gain covered without a stop, at 1,410 metres. Come late afternoon, head back to Lao Cai to board the sleeper bound for Hanoi.
Meals: breakfast
Overnight on the train
Day 6 — Ha Long Bay cruise
Arriving back in Hanoi, a hotel room is held for a quick freshen-up and breakfast before the drive out to Ha Long Bay, roughly three hours through rice paddy country. Board a wooden junk for a day drifting among the bay's limestone islets, with lunch served on deck and an afternoon of activities that depends on the boat and the weather. The junk anchors for the night once the sun goes down.
Note: this is a sample itinerary for the cruise — the exact programme shifts with weather and water levels on the day.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner
Overnight on board
Day 7 — Cruise back, fly to Hoi An
An early, optional Tai Chi class on the sundeck, then coffee and pastries as the boat heads back toward the pier for a final breakfast on board. Drive back into Hanoi, catch a flight down to Danang, and finish the day with a road transfer straight through to Hoi An.
Meals: breakfast
Overnight in Hoi An
Day 8 — Free day in Hoi An
A day with nothing booked — good for wandering the old quarter without a schedule, hiring a bicycle out to the beach, or simply resting between the mountain and coast legs of the trip.
Meals: breakfast
Overnight in Hoi An
Day 9 — Tra Que village and the old quarter
Morning at Tra Que, a village growing vegetables on raised beds, with lunch cooked by the family who works the land. Afterwards, a walking loop through the old quarter takes in a merchant house that has stood for centuries, the Fujian traders' Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, a look at the Japanese Covered Bridge — around 400 years old and still the town's best-known landmark — and the daily trade of the riverside market.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight in Hoi An
Day 10 — Ba Na Hills and flight to Nha Trang
A cable car climbs into the hills west of Da Nang to Ba Na, a hilltop resort area built around the Linh Ung Pagoda, the French-style Le Jardin gardens, and a row of colonial-style villas from an earlier era. Its best-known feature is the Golden Bridge, a 150-metre walkway seemingly cradled by two enormous stone hands.
Afternoon transfer to Danang airport for a flight down to Cam Ranh, then on to your hotel in Nha Trang.
Meals: breakfast
Overnight in [Nha Trang](destinations/nha-trang)
Day 11 — Nha Trang Bay boat trip
Pick-up at the hotel for a boat out to Mun Island, where snorkelling and a glass-bottom rowboat give two different views of the reef. Lunch is at a restaurant on Con Se Tre island before the boat heads back to the pier, leaving the rest of the afternoon free.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight in Nha Trang
Day 12 — Fly to Ho Chi Minh City, Vespa food tour
Morning flight down to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, where the old French quarter and glass towers sit within a few streets of each other. Evening brings a Vespa-led food tour: pillion seats behind local drivers, stops at two neighbourhood restaurants, a coffee shop with live music, and a bar where the city's younger crowd unwinds, all with food and drinks included along the way.
Meals: breakfast, dinner
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Day 13 — Cu Chi Tunnels and city sights
Morning at the Cu Chi tunnels, a network of narrow, hand-dug passages that sheltered guerrilla fighters during the war — a site that lands hard for some visitors but explains the period better than most museums manage.
Afternoon covers the city centre on a half-day loop: the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office from outside, then a market walk through Chinatown and a stop at Thien Hau Temple.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Day 14 — Cai Be sampan cruise, Mekong Delta
About two hours from the city, Cai Be sits amid wide rice fields and a maze of waterways. Board a private sampan for a cruise along the Cai Be River, stopping wherever the season allows at small riverside operations turning rice into paper or sweets, or roasting puffed rice, plus a handicraft hamlet where families still weave spring-roll wrappers, brew fish sauce and thatch roofs from coconut leaves by hand.
A rowboat takes over for the narrower canals before the trip finishes at Le Longanier, a colonial-style villa set among fruit trees, where lunch is served with a strong sense of the region's old Indochinese past. From there it's a brief stroll beside a canal back to the waiting car for the drive to the city.
Meals: breakfast, lunch
Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City
Day 15 — Departure
Free time before a transfer out to Tan Son Nhat for the flight home.
Meals: breakfast
What's included
- A round-the-clock help line for the length of the trip
- Hotels on a twin or double-share basis, breakfast included daily
- A same-star alternative hotel if your first choice runs out of rooms
- Private air-conditioned transport following the day-by-day plan
- An experienced, English-speaking guide throughout
- All entrance fees named in the itinerary
- Two bottles of drinking water per person, per day
- International flights, and the three domestic hops — Hanoi to Danang, Danang onward to Nha Trang, and Nha Trang down to Ho Chi Minh City — priced on request
- Travel insurance and personal spending
- Meals not listed above, and drinks with meals
- Visa fees where applicable
- Tips for guides and drivers
- Anything not specifically named in the itinerary
Good to know
Two overnight trains and one night on a boat make this a trip where hand luggage matters — keep a small bag packed with what you need for those legs, since checked bags travel separately or get stored.
Sapa sits well above sea level and can turn cold, even wet with mist, from December through February; pack a warm layer regardless of season. Central Vietnam's rainy stretch runs roughly October into November, which can affect the Hoi An and Da Nang days.
- Walking is moderate throughout, with one full trekking-style day around Sapa's valley villages
- The Fansipan cable car and Ba Na Hills cable car both involve queues at busy times of year
- Domestic flights link Danang, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City — build in some buffer for delays
- This route can be shortened or reordered; talk to us if fifteen days is more than your schedule allows
Plan your trip
Tell us your dates, your group and what you want out of the trip. We reply with a costed itinerary within one working day.
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
In pictures
