Summary:
From dreams to reality
Imagine a romantic honeymoon staying in a luxurious beachfront villa on an isolated peninsula in the south and a wonderful cultural tour of delightful northern Vietnam. Understand the lifestyle of ethnic minorities, stay in a stilt house and homestay and experience the warmth of Vietnamese hospitality! Enjoy peaceful and tranquil settings. Your dreams of the Vietnam honeymoon have now come true!
Details:
Start or finish in Ho Chi Minh City. It’s your choice. So is how you long you stay, where you wish to go, for how long and your preferences. Just tell us. Within 24 hours we will devise a special Vietnam honeymoon, tailored to your dreams. Want to make changes and add extras – no problem and at no cost. We want your honeymoon to be perfect – a joyful experience you’ll both never forget!
Day 1: Ho Chi Minh City Arrival
Arriving at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey before a special Welcome dinner. You spend the night in Ho Chi Minh City.
Meals: Dinner
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City/Nha Trang/Evason Hideaway and Spa
After breakfast, you’ll be free until your driver arrives to take you to board the noon flight to Nha Trang. On arrival, your car and driver will be waiting to take you to the resort private jetty where a speedboat will whisk you to the Evason Hideaway where you’ll spend the next five nights.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3 to Day 7: Evason Hideaway and Spa
The Evason is probably Vietnam's most exclusive hotel - luxurious, ultra-stylish and an ideal honeymoon hideaway set in 120ha (300 acres) of pristine scenery. It's also one of Vietnam's most environmentally-conscious hotels.
There are 53 private villas. The lowest category is the 158m² ‘Beach Villa’ complete with wine cellar, outdoor plunge pool, in-house video, DVD/CD player and movies available on request. At the other extreme, the ‘Presidential Villa’ extends over 271m² with a pool, two bedrooms (each with bathrooms), living room with a toilet, an open air dining room, and even a pantry! All villas are designed to be completely private. There's a first-class restaurant and bar, large swimming pool, and a range of leisure pursuits including tennis, water sports and dive facilities, a gymnasium, and trekking and nature trails.
The Evason is part of the international ‘Six Senses’ group, specialists in luxury resorts and spas and offers a complete range of mind and body treatment and therapies.
Service standards in the resort are appropriate to the remarkably high quality of the Villas and facilities. Discover small shelters and resting places throughout the site where you can recline and relax with cold drinks and a cool flannel. Meals can be served more or less anywhere - a cook and attendant will prepare and serve the meal in situ.
Guests are encouraged to provide as much information about their likes and dislikes as possible so that everything is waiting on arrival, down to the last detail.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8: Evason Hideaway and Spa/Nha Trang/Hanoi
Your time will be your own in the morning. You’ll then take a speedy boat for the short ride to the mainland where your car and driver are waiting to take you to the Cam Ranh Airport for your flight to Hanoi.
On arrival, a private car will be waiting to take you to your chosen hotel in the city centre. After check-in, you’ll be free to wander around the fascinating Hanoi Old Quarter. Late afternoon, you’ll have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry, an art form unique to northern Vietnam - and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture. You stay overnight in Hanoi.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 9: Hanoi/Cycling in Ninh Binh/Hanoi/Overnight train to Lao Cai (15 km)
In the morning, you’ll be picked up to travel to Hoa Lu – the former capital of Vietnam, about a two-hour drive from Hanoi. On arrival, you’ll visit two temples, one of them dedicated to Emperor Dinh and the other in memory of Emperor Le, followed by a brief visit to the remains of the Old Palace. You then pick up your bike to cycle along a scenic canal. Walk around open rice fields to look at the amazing folds of rock formations. You’ll learn about Vietnamese agriculture and cycle through different villages and a unique area known for its magnificent limestone peaks.
After lunch at a local restaurant, your route will take you further 2 km to Thung Nang, a peaceful valley among limestone ‘karst’ hills. There you’ll be rowed along a gentle river between paddy fields and through the caves. After that, you’ll follow a small dirt road to a local family where your dinner will be prepared by the owner. In the late evening, 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. You’ll be accommodated in a two-berth ‘Victoria’ compartment.
Duong Lam Commune is a community of six traditional villages some 50 km from Hanoi. It’s notable for a number of reasons, not least the extraordinary longevity of its people. Find out the secrets!
Considering its close proximity to Vietnam’s sprawling capital city, it not only emerged almost unscathed from half a century of warfare, but also escaped the recent rampant urbanisation of the area. The latter owes much to the commune’s atypical local traditions and beliefs – your guide will explain.
It’s a picture postcard patchwork of verdant fields, shady trees and small huddles of cottages and pagodas built of reddish laterite blocks. One village in particular, Mong Phu, is an architectural treasure house with dozens of buildings dating back to the 17th century.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 10: Lao Cai/Ethnic market/Sapa
You arrive early morning and will be met and taken by a car 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 delightful small town perched on the mountainside opposite Mt. Fansipan, Vietnam’s highest peak. You’ll arrive with time to relax and stroll around the town. You’ll spend the night in a Sapa hotel with good mountain views.
Although it’s quite a long drive, the landscape is attractive and the ethnic markets are a fascinating experience. Unlike those in the tourist areas, the markets that we choose are for not only buying and selling but also meeting places for ethnic minority people to meet and exchange news. There will be plenty of colour and authentic costumes, but very little to buy as souvenirs unless you want to barter for a water buffalo or a sack of fertiliser!
The trips to ethnic minority markets must be on Tuesday (Coc Ly Market), Thursday (Lung Khau Nhin), Saturday (Can Cau) or Sunday (Bac Ha, Muong Khuong or Muong Hum Markets).
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 11: Sapa/Lao Chai/Ta Van/Thanh Phu
After breakfast at your hotel you’ll hike down a scenic valley calling in at the H’mong and Dzay ethnic minority villages on the way. You’ll have lunch with a local family. Later in the afternoon you’ll be picked up by car to a convenient start point for hiking. Enjoy picturesque scenery and diverse ethnic minorities as you hike to Thanh Phu village where you’ll have dinner and spend the night in a Tay ethnic minority group stilt-house.
There are several possible trekking routes varying in difficulty - your guide will adjust the itinerary to suit you. Stout walking shoes and good sun protection are essential. Transport can be available for some, or all, of the distance if necessary.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 12: Thanh Phu/Nam Toong/Ban Ho/Sapa/Lao Cai
After breakfast you’ll trek to the village of Xa Pho tribe, the smallest ethnic group in Sapa who have very little contact with modern Vietnam and they can speak very little Vietnamese. The route will continue taking you through the rice fields to the Red Dao village of Nam Toong where your guide will prepare your lunch in a local house.
After lunch you will ascend back to Ban Ho where your driver is awaiting for your return to Sapa. Later in the evening you will be taken to Lao Cai station to catch the overnight train to Hanoi.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 13: Hanoi/Ky Son/Moon Garden Homestay
This morning you will be picked up and transferred to Moon Garden Homestay in Ky Son Village Upon arrival, you will have some free time to explore the grounds of Moon Garden and the village, before participating in a cooking class to learn more about Vietnamese cuisine and to have lunch. This afternoon you will enjoy a hand spa treatment with traditional herbs, take a bicycle ride to discover the paths of Thang Thac Village and follow a local guide to explore Duong Lam ancient village and Mia Pagoda. Returning to Moon Garden, you will be treated to a traditional foot bath and can participate in a Vietnamese prayer ceremony. You transfer back to Hanoi late afternoon.
Moon Garden Homestay (50km from Hanoi) was originally a summer home for the family of a Hanoi-based architect. The Homestay offers visitors a peaceful escape from bustling Hanoi. The architect specializes in the full restoration of old buildings, a skill you’ll see reflected in the design, furniture and antiquities that adorn the rooms. Moon Garden has a lovely central courtyard with outside seating, a 100 year old church, a small pond and a bonsai garden overlooking a lake and surrounding rice fields. At Moon Garden, you will join activities which are designed to promote interaction with the locals for a real taste of the rural life and culture of Vietnam.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 14: Hanoi Departure
You’ll be free in the morning until your car and driver arrive to take you to Noi Bai airport in Hanoi for your departure flight. Your dream Vietnam honeymoon tour ends!
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch