Vietnam Adventure

Touch down in Hanoi and meet the rest of your group over dinner in KOTO restaurant, a social project that gives young people the chance to learn new skills. The next day, join an optional walking tour around the city with your guide. You’ll stop off at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the One Pillar Pagoda and the Temple of Literature, before spending the afternoon exploring the streets of the Old Quarter and discovering the French colonial architecture. Later on, visit the home of a water puppet artist before catching a puppet show.

Head east towards the sea and Halong Bay, where you’ll hop on board your junk boat and cruise among the towering limestone peaks to Sung Sot Grotto. If you like, you can swim or kayak in the emerald waters. In the evening you’ll enjoy a Vietnamese cookery demonstration and watch Indochine on the sundeck of your boat. Spend the night bobbing peacefully on the water underneath a blanket of stars.

After a morning on the water, with further kayaking and swimming opportunities, plus the chance to try Tai Chi and visit Luon cave, you’ll catch a flight to Danang, where you’ll stop for lunch on the beach before continuing to Hoi An. Once in Hoi An, you’ll call in at a tea house before heading for Cam Thanh, where you can meet the locals and try the local coconuts. Take a basket boat back to Hoi An for a cocktail evening. The next day, you’ll have a free morning in photogenic Hoi An.

Fly on to Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, and visit a local fruit market. Later on, hop on a cyclo for a tour of China Town with lunch and a cookery demonstration at Mandarine Resturant. You’ll have the rest of the afternoon free to explore the city, formerly Saigon, where you might choose to visit the Reunification Palace, scene for the end of the Vietnam War, or the War Remnants Museum, before your farewell dinner on your final night.