Saigon, Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, 6 Nights

Tan Son Nhat is close to the centre, and bags can be left at the hotel if the room is not ready. The afternoon tour starts with the War Remnants Museum, whose photographs of the American war and its aftermath are hard to look at and important to see. The Reunification Palace follows: the 1960s presidential palace whose gates were broken by a tank on 30 April 1975, with its war rooms and telephone bunkers left as they were.

South-west to My Tho, the nearest Mekong town to the city. Vinh Trang pagoda, rebuilt in the nineteenth century in a mix of Vietnamese, Khmer and French styles, is the first stop. Then a boat crosses the wide river to the islands named for the dragon, unicorn, phoenix and tortoise, with fruit tasting in an orchard, southern folk songs, and a hand-rowed sampan through a narrow canal under water-coconut palms. Lunch is served on an island before the drive back.

North-west of the city to Cu Chi, where the Viet Cong dug more than 200 km of tunnels under the rubber plantations, with kitchens, hospitals and meeting rooms below ground. A short film explains them before the guide shows the concealed entrances and traps; one stretch has been widened enough for visitors to crawl through, and it is entirely optional. Back in the city by early afternoon, then to the airport for an evening flight to Hanoi and a late check-in.

Tran Quoc pagoda first, on a spit of land in West Lake and about fifteen centuries old, which makes it the city’s oldest. Then the Ho Chi Minh complex on Ba Dinh: the granite mausoleum, the yellow French governor’s palace, the modest stilt house where Ho actually lived, and the One Pillar pagoda beside it. The afternoon covers the Temple of Literature and ends in the Old Quarter, where each street was once given over to a single trade.

Checkout, and the shuttle east across the Red River delta to the pier near Ha Long city, arriving around midday. The cruise sails straight out into the karsts while lunch is served. In the afternoon the boat stops at one of the large caves, then there is time in a kayak or a rowing boat among the smaller islands. A cooking demonstration, dinner on board and an evening on deck under the stars fill the rest.

Up early for the light on the water and a tai chi session on deck, then a slow cruise past rocks named for what they look like before brunch and disembarkation late in the morning. The shuttle is back in Hanoi by mid-afternoon. With the evening free, the water-puppet theatre beside Hoan Kiem lake is the classic choice, followed by bun cha at a pavement table.

Breakfast and free time until checkout at noon; a walk around Hoan Kiem lake is the easy last hour. The transfer to Noi Bai airport takes about forty-five minutes outside the rush hours, so plan to leave the hotel three hours before an international flight.