Hanoi with Ninh Binh & a Ha Long Bay Day Cruise, 3 Nights

You land at Noi Bai Airport, where you are met and driven to your hotel in Hanoi. Rooms are available from the hotel's standard check-in time. The afternoon is a private tour with your guide. It starts at the Ho Chi Minh complex: the mausoleum, seen from outside because it is closed in the afternoons, the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh's stilt house and the One Pillar Pagoda. A walk through the Old Quarter follows, past its trading streets, old shophouses and French-era buildings, ending at your hotel. You stay overnight in Hanoi. No meals are included today.

A shared guided day trip, with pick-up at about 7:00 and return at about 18:30. Ninh Binh province is some 120 kilometres south of Hanoi. The first stop is Hoa Lu, Vietnam's capital in the tenth century, and its temples to King Dinh and King Le. A 45-minute cycle ride through the village follows, then a buffet lunch of local dishes. The afternoon is at Trang An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014, where a rowing boat takes you along the river and through caves such as Sang, Toi and Nau Ruou. You are dropped back at your hotel in Hanoi. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

A shared day trip, with pick-up at about 8:30 and return at about 20:30. The coach runs to Tuan Chau harbour, where you board the boat for a cruise of more than five hours among the limestone islets, with a Vietnamese lunch on board. In the Bo Hon group you walk through Sung Sot, the Surprise Cave, then kayak or take a bamboo boat into the lagoon at Luon Cave. The last stop is Titov Island, for the beach or the climb to the viewpoint. Afternoon tea is served on the way back to the harbour, and the coach returns you to your hotel in Hanoi. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast and check-out the time is your own until a driver takes you to Noi Bai Airport for your flight home. The package services end at the airport. Meals included today: breakfast.