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Day 1: Hanoi arrival |
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Upon arrival at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport, our guide and driver will welcome you and transfer you to your hotel. You are free to stroll around the city and catch a first glimpse of this peaceful city. Overnight in Hanoi
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Day 2: Hanoi city tour –overnight train to Lao Cai (B, L) |
At 8am, our guide and driver will meet you at your hotel and begin the full day city tour with Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and “House on stilt” at the same area with the Presidential Palace and the famous One Pillar Pagoda. We also make a visit to the Temple of Literature – the first university of Vietnam, which is now dedicated to Confucian worship and “Hanoi Hilton” –a nick name given by US pilots during the war.
Enjoy lunch with authentic delicious Vietnamese cuisines, then we continue our day to the Ethnology Museum. After that, the trip will be followed by one –hour cyclo tour through the busy Old Quarter where you can see peddlers are selling wares as if they have done that for centuries!
In the evening, a transfer to Hanoi ‘s Railways Station for an overnight train to Lao Cai.
Late check out is arranged
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Day 3: Lao Cai –Sapa –Tavan Village (B, L, D) |
Arrive in the early morning (around 6am), you will take a 45 –minute drive by Russian jeep to Sapa. After refreshing and breakfast, you will start the trekking day (6km) on the hillside trails up and down to Ta Van area. Picnic lunch and you will visit two different hill tribes (Black H’mong & Zay) on the way. You will have dinner and interact with local people and have great experiences staying in the Zay people's home
Optional: overnight at hotel in Sapa Town
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Day 4: Tavan –Ban Ho –overnight at Ecolodge (B, L, D) |
The roosters will wake you up early in the morning, you will have breakfast and say goodbye to the host. Today we will do about 7 hours trekking through forests, villages, suspension bridge and so to meet the locals working on the mountainsides or the rice terraces. We will break for a picnic lunch en route, keep trekking to Ban Ho village inhabited by Tay tribe with their houses on stilts.
Further 4 km trekking out through breathtaking scenery and perhaps the most picturesque of the whole Challenge bring us to the Ecolodge, where we can have a comfortable night. Our lodge is situated high on a grassy knoll with fantastic views of the scenic Sapa Valley- homes to the Tay and Red Dao minorities.
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Day 5: back to Sapa –Bac Ha Market & overnight train back to Hanoi (B, L) |
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After breakfast, you will venture back into Sapa! It is a new day off to Can Cau Market (Saturdays only), Bac Ha Market (Sundays only) or Coc Ly Market (Tuesday only) to see minority groups mix and mingle. It is also a chance for you to take nice photos of spectacular scenery on the way. In the late afternoon, we will visit some other hill tribe villages nearby before returning to Lao Cai railway station for overnight train back to Hanoi.
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Day 6: Hanoi arrival- Free Day (B) |
Arrive in Hanoi in the early morning, our guide will transfer you back to your hotel for check- in and breakfast. You will have whole day for your relaxation as well as exploring around the city on your own. Overnight in Hanoi.
*early check –in is arranged this day
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Day 7: Hanoi –Halong Bay (B, L, D) |
At 8h30, we start 3 – hour journey through the rich farmlands of the Red River Delta to Halong Bay. Stop over in Hai Duong for a break. Arrive in Halong around noon, we join our group and board a deluxe junk for a wonderful cruise on the emerald green waters of Halong Bay among the 3,000 spectacular limestone islands with a fabulous seafood lunch served on board.
After lunch, we enjoy a fantastic cruise to visit Dinh Huong Island, Ga Choi Island, Dog Island and Sail | |