ROCS Guided Holidays 2024

VISITING: Hanoi, Halong, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue, Ho Chi Minh 15-Day Timeless Vietnam

15 DAY GUIDED TOUR € 3299 FROM 06 - 20 AUG

VIETNAM 2024

DAY 1 - MALTA – VIETNAM Meet your Tour Manager at Malta International Airport for your flight to Vietnam. DAY 2 - HANOI Arrival in Hanoi and transfer to your 5* Melia Hanoi for check in. Meanwhile, you can get a first impression of Hanoi. DAY 3 - HANOI After breakfast, start the Hanoi tour the capital of Vietnam, the only Asian city with tree lined avenues, French colonial architecture, peaceful lakes, and oriental temples. The tour includes the view of the Temple of Literature, the first university in the country, founded in 1070 and considered the symbol of Hanoi, we will continue with the Museum of Ethnology (closed on Monday), where you can admire a varied and interesting collection of Vietnamese culture. We will move to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: visiting the outside of it from Ba Dinh Square, we will continue to the Single Pillar Pagoda, built in 1049 by Emperor Ly Thai Tong, who reigned from 1028 to 1054. Built of wood on a single stone pillar, it is designed in the likeness of a lotus flower leaf in honour of Buddha. In the afternoon, we will have an experience with flowers and their traditional way of decorating them. Visit a handcrafted flower shop to see how the bouquets are made, how this beautiful and traditional Vietnamese spiritual art is passed down and preserved, and how it has come down to us generation after generation. Guests will learn to recognize exotic flowers while enjoying preparing a spiritual flower

offering. Later visit the Ngoc Son temple located in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake. Finally, we will take a panoramic ride on a cycle pousse through the old quarter of Hanoi, also known as the neighbourhood of the 36 streets, since in its time it was known for the craft of the artisans who inhabited them and for the workshops that were there. DAY 4 – HANOI - HOA LU - TAM COC - HANOI Breakfast at the hotel. Today we have to get up early because we will leave Hanoi at 8.00 am to head to Ninh Binh province. After 2/3 hours (depending on traffic), we will arrive in Hoa Lu, the former capital of Vietnam around the 10th century. Along the way, we will contemplate countless rice fields dotted with karst rock formations and limestone caves (This area is also known as the Dry Halong). Here we will discover the ruins of the ancient capital, before the legendary Ly Thai To decided to move the capital to Hanoi. At the end of the morning, we will visit Tam Coc, (which means three caves). In the afternoon and in a typical boat of the area, where the locals paddle with their feet, we will take a ninety-minute ride through beautiful landscapes of rice fields and the famous three caves: Hang Ca, Hang Giua and Hang Cuoi. DAY 5 - HANOI – HALONG BAY After breakfast,depart by road towards Halong Bay, a journey through the rich agricultural lands of the Red River Delta, its landscape of rice fields and water buffalo, an example of rural and traditional life, will be your first encounter with the authentic Rural Vietnam.

Arrival in Halong and embarkation aboard the 5* Paradise Elegance Cruise a traditional wooden boat, “junco”. After lunch, we will continue sailing and discovering the many islands of the Bay such as that of the Turtle, that of the Dog, the Head of Man, etc. Enjoy free time. Vietnamese cooking demonstration on the sun terrace. DAY 6 - HALONG - HANOI - HOI AN We continue sailing through the bay enjoying its unique landscapes. At sunrise and for those interested there is a Tai Chi class on board on the solarium terrace. We will have a good brunch to recharge our batteries and start our return to land. We disembark at the Halong Pier, from where we transfer to Hanoi by road to the airport to take the flight to Danang. Upon arrival, we have the direct transfer to Hoi An for check in at the 5* Hotel Royal Hoi An, MGallery DAY 7 - HOI AN After breakfast, we begin the visit of the city of Hoi An, an important commercial port of Asia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, whose architecture and relaxed lifestyle have changed little in recent years, we will take a boat ride on the Thu Bon river, passing through the small villages that border the river. Arrival in the old quarter, from where we start the walk through the centre of the old city to visit Phung Hung (Old house of the merchants), the Japanese covered bridge, with more than 400 years old, the Phuc Kien room, the old Casa Tan Ky, with traditional architecture, the

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