Hanoi to the Mekong: A 12-Day Family Journey

This morning, the family climbs aboard an open-top Jeep for a hands-on exploration of Hanoi. Begin with the city’s highlights: the Ho Chi Minh Complex, with Ba Dinh Square, the Presidential Palace, the residential quarter and the One Pillar Pagoda, then the Temple of Literature, a thousand years old and the place to start understanding what Vietnam thinks about learning.

Then leave the guidebook behind and dive into the real Hanoi, riding through a maze of zigzagging backstreets, narrow alleys, and bustling markets amid the city’s river of motorbikes - watching, hearing, tasting, and taking in the good, the quirky, and the unexpected. A visit to the famous Train Street is part of the adventure. Lunch is included along the way.

Note: please shoulders and knees must be covered at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which opens from 7:30 to 10:30 AM on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, and closes annually from late July to 2 September. The jeeps have open roofs and ponchos are carried in case of rain. No experience is needed and the route is easy going.

Overnight in Hanoi.

After breakfast, depart for Ninh Binh, often called the “Halong Bay on land” for its towering limestone karsts, lush countryside, and peaceful waterways.

Hoa Lu comes first, the ancient capital of Vietnam under the Dinh and early Le dynasties, where the temples to the country's early kings still stand and your private guide fills in how a tenth-century court ran and why the capital eventually moved.

Continue to Trang An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and board a traditional sampan to cruise the tranquil river, passing beneath natural caves and between the towering karst mountains-a highlight the whole family will remember. After lunch at a local restaurant, return to Hanoi.

The rest of the day is yours, whether that is the hotel pool or a walk out into the surrounding countryside.

Overnight in Hanoi.

Today you head for Halong Bay. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Halong Bay is the jewel of northern Vietnam, famous for its thousands of dramatic limestone islands rising from emerald waters.

Around midday, after a scenic drive through the rice fields of the Red River Delta, arrive at the pier and board your cruise with a welcome drink and briefing. Settle into your cabins over lunch as the ship heads out among the jungle-clad karsts and hidden caves.

The afternoon is open and there is plenty of it: climb to the top deck for the view across the whole bay, or take a kayak out among the karsts, which is the better option if anyone in the family has energy to burn. The ship then cruises to its anchorage in a quiet corner of the bay.

In the evening there are cocktails on the sundeck while the light goes, then dinner of Vietnamese dishes. Afterwards, the boat stays busy: games, a film, or squid fishing off the back deck, which sounds unpromising and turns out to be the thing everyone argues over.

Overnight on the cruise.

The day starts with a Tai Chi session on deck, early enough that the bay is still completely quiet. Breakfast follows as the ship works its way back through the karsts and caves, and after that you check out of the cabins, with time on deck and brunch served on the way in.

From the harbour, a shuttle limousine returns you to Hanoi, where your private car and driver take you on to Noi Bai for the domestic flight to Hue. A driver meets you on arrival and transfers you to your hotel, with the evening free.

Overnight in Hue.

A private full day in the old imperial capital, beginning at the Imperial Citadel, the royal seat of the Nguyen Dynasty. You walk through the great gates and across the Forbidden Purple City, where Vietnam's last emperors held court, among the halls that survived the wars.

A stop follows a garden house laid out according to the strict rules of geomancy, which is a quieter sort of interesting, then Thien Mu Pagoda, seven storeys on a hill above the Perfume River and the most recognisable building in the city.

After a Hue-style lunch at a local restaurant, at your own expense, you continue to the tomb of King Khai Dinh, where European and Vietnamese architecture collide in mosaics, concrete and a grand staircase of dragons. Of all the royal tombs, this is the one that photographs best.

End the day at Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village, where artisans have handcrafted delicate paper flowers for over 300 years, and the family can try making their own colorful blooms to take home.

Overnight in Hue.

After breakfast, your guide escorts you to the station to board the heritage train for one of Vietnam’s most scenic rail routes.

The train leaves in the morning and runs south through countryside, villages and eventually out along the coast. The stretch everyone comes for is the Hai Van Pass, where the line is cut into the mountainside with the sea a long way below, and the best photographs of the whole trip are taken from a train window or the viewing area between carriages. Light refreshments are available on board.

After about three to four hours, arrive in Da Nang, where your driver and guide transfer you to your hotel in Hoi An.

Overnight in Hoi An.

A private experience of around four and a half hours, taken either in the morning or the afternoon.

After breakfast, begin at a vibrant local market, learning to pick out fresh Vietnamese ingredients, then board a traditional bamboo basket boat through the serene waterways of the Cam Thanh Coconut Jungle, trying your hand at net fishing and catching “purple crabs” in the canals as the rowers show off their basket-spinning skills.

Then the cooking venue, and the part of the day with something to show for it. Under an experienced chef you prepare four traditional dishes - papaya salad, deep-fried spring rolls, a Vietnamese pancake and braised chicken in a clay pot - and then sit down and eat what you have made, with morning glory, steamed rice and dessert alongside. You leave with the full recipes, which is how this one keeps paying off long after you are home.

Note: vegetarian and other dietary requirements can be accommodated on request.

Overnight in Hoi An.

Enjoy free time until your driver transfers you to Da Nang Airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City, where your guide and driver greet your family for the transfer to your hotel.

After check-in, the rest of the day is free for your teenagers to rest or take a first walk into Saigon’s lively streets.

Optional evening experience, at additional cost: dinner aboard the Saigon Princess, cruising the Saigon River past the lit skyline, with live music and return transfers by private car. Pick-up at 6:00 PM, sailing from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Your private guide and driver collect you at 8:00 AM for Ben Tre, the province they call the land of coconuts.

You leave the city behind and walk through shaded villages, past old houses, into the ordinary daily life of the southern delta. At a family-run workshop you watch coconut fudge and crisp rice popcorn being made the way they have always been made, and taste both straight off the stove. In an orchard afterwards there is seasonal fruit and a performance of Don Ca Tai Tu, the UNESCO-listed folk music of the south, played by local musicians a few feet away rather than on a stage.

At midday, join a hands-on garden lunch, cooking regional specialties such as the famous “Elephant Ear Fish” with your local hosts. In the afternoon, continue to Can Tho, the vibrant hub of the Mekong Delta, and after check-in, stroll Ninh Kieu Wharf and the lively Can Tho Night Market as the city lights reflect on the Hau River.

Overnight in Can Tho.

Between 5:30 and 6:00 AM a private motorboat takes you out to Cai Rang, the largest and busiest floating market in the Mekong Delta, at the hour it actually works. Hundreds of boats trade hull to hull, and each one advertises its stock by hanging a sample from a tall bamboo pole, the cay beo, so you can read the whole market from the water. Nobody is up this early for the tourists.

The morning continues at a family noodle workshop, where you learn how Vietnamese rice noodles are made and try pressing out a few sheets yourself, then the Ba Lang fruit orchard, where you walk under loaded fruit trees in the cool part of the day. The last stop is Binh Thuy Ancient House, a nineteenth-century mansion that marries French colonial proportions to Vietnamese detail and has been used as a film set more than once.

Lunch at midday is a spread of Can Tho specialities, after which you settle into the car for the drive back to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving late in the afternoon to collect the luggage you left behind.

Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

On the last day of the journey, enjoy breakfast and whatever free time your flight allows - a last hour at the hotel, or a last run at the markets for souvenirs - until your transfer to Tan Son Nhat International Airport for your onward flight. Check-out is typically at noon.

We hope your family leaves with a camera full of memories and a love for Vietnam that brings you back again one day.

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