Saigon, Angkor, Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, 8 Nights

You land at Tan Son Nhat Airport, where you are met and driven to your hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. Rooms are available from the hotel's standard check-in time. The afternoon is a private tour with your guide: the Independence Palace, also called the Reunification Palace; Notre Dame Cathedral, seen from outside while restoration continues, and the Central Post Office beside it; then the War Remnants Museum. The tour ends at Ben Thanh Market, with free time among its craft, souvenir and food stalls. You stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City. No meals are included today.

The shared morning tour picks up at about 7:30 and returns at about 14:30. The Cu Chi tunnels are about an hour and a half from the city by bus. A short film explains how the network was dug and how people lived in it during the war. You then walk the site with the guide: living quarters with kitchens and bedrooms, storerooms, a weapons workshop, a field hospital, a command post and the concealed trap doors. Tea and cassava, the wartime staple, are served at the end. The firing range is optional and paid for on the spot. The rest of the afternoon is free. You stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast and check-out a driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Siem Reap. The flight itself is not part of the package and is quoted separately. On arrival at Siem Reap airport you are met and driven to your hotel. The rest of the day is free. You stay overnight in Siem Reap. Meals included today: breakfast.

A shared guided day, with pick-up at about 7:40 and return at about 18:30. The morning is inside the walled city of Angkor Thom, at the Bayon with its carved stone faces, and at Ta Prohm, the temple left among the tree roots. The afternoon is at Angkor Wat, the largest temple of the complex. The day ends on Phnom Bakheng for the sunset; numbers on the hilltop are limited to 300 at a time. You stay overnight in Siem Reap. Meals included today: breakfast.

After breakfast and check-out a driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Hanoi. The flight itself is not part of the package and is quoted separately. On arrival at Noi Bai Airport you are met and driven to your hotel. The rest of the day is free. You stay overnight in Hanoi. Meals included today: breakfast.

A shared guided day, with pick-up at about 8:00 and return at about 16:30. It begins at the Ho Chi Minh complex: the mausoleum, which is closed on Mondays and Fridays and during its annual maintenance, the two houses where he lived and worked from 1954 to 1969, and the One Pillar Pagoda. The Museum of Ethnology follows, or the Vietnamese Women's Museum on Mondays. After lunch, with vegetarian dishes available, you visit Tran Quoc Pagoda on West Lake, the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 as Vietnam's first university, and Hoa Lo Prison, built by the French between 1886 and 1901. Dress to cover shoulders and knees for the mausoleum and pagodas. Meals included today: breakfast and lunch.

After breakfast and check-out the cruise's shuttle bus takes you from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of around 2,000 limestone islands and islets. You board around midday and lunch is served as the boat heads out. The afternoon includes a guided visit to one of the bay's caves and a stop at an island, for the beach or a short climb to a viewpoint. Back on board there is sunset on deck, a cooking class and dinner, with squid fishing in the evening for those who want it. You sleep on the boat. The exact programme depends on the cruise chosen, and an English-speaking guide stays on board. Meals included today: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The day starts with tai chi on the sun deck, with tea and coffee as the boat moves on through the islets. There is time to kayak or take a bamboo boat in to the foot of the cliffs. You check out of the cabin at about 9:00 and brunch is served on the way back to shore. The boat docks at about 11:00 and the shuttle bus returns you to Hanoi, where the rest of the day is free. You stay overnight in Hanoi. Meals included today: breakfast and brunch.

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.