Hanoi – Sa Pa – Ha Long Bay – Ninh Binh
The north at full length. A sleeper bus takes you up to Sa Pa for Cat Cat village and, the next morning, the cable car and 600 steps to the summit of Fansipan at 3,143 metres. Back in Hanoi you set out again for Ha Long Bay, sleep on board, and start the second day with Tai Chi at 06h00 and Sung Sot Cave at 08h00. Ninh Binh takes a full day of its own, and day seven is left open.
Day 1
You are met at the airport and driven to your hotel in the Old Quarter. The guide comes for you at 13h30. The walk goes first to Hoan Kiem Lake and Nam Huong Temple, where you hear how King Le gave the sword back and see the turtle kept on display, and The Huc Bridge leads across to Ngoc Son Temple. By 14h30 you are at St Joseph's Cathedral for the French Gothic front, a banh mi from the stall the street swears by and a sugarcane juice or coffee, with half an hour to look around the shops. Train Street from 15h20, close enough to the doorways to see how people live with the timetable. The walk finishes there at 16h00.
Meals: No meals included
Day 2
The sleeper bus collects you at the hotel at 06h30; take breakfast with you if the hour is too early for the dining room. It stops on the highway at 09h00 for a rest and reaches Sa Pa town at 13h30. Luggage goes to the hotel, then lunch. At 14h30 you walk down into Cat Cat, a Black H'Mong village in the valley at the foot of Fansipan, where a local guide explains daily life here before you carry on to the waterfall and the hydro station the French built early in the last century. Local dress can be hired for photographs at your own cost. The bus back leaves at 17h30, dinner is at 19h00, and the evening is yours for the stone church, the night market and the grills.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3
After breakfast at 08h00 you are driven to the cable car station. The cabin crosses Muong Hoa valley with the Hoang Lien Son range and the sea of cloud below; the ride takes 15 minutes and about 600 steps remain to the summit of Fansipan, 3,143 metres and the highest point in Indochina. The view runs over the Hoang Lien Son forest and back down the valley. You can ride down or walk, which brings you past Bao An Thien Tu, Bich Van Thien Tu and the tall Buddha and Guanyin statues. Back in town at 11h30, check out at 12h00, then lunch and free time to shop before the sleeper bus at 13h30. Hanoi by 20h00.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Day 4
A limousine leaves Hanoi at 08h00. Check-in is at the lounge on Tuan Chau Island at 11h45 and you are aboard by 12h15, welcome drink in hand while the cruise manager sets out the plan for the two days and the safety briefing. Lunch at 13h00 while the boat works southeast through the bay, past the Fighting Cock and the Finger. At 14h45 you take a kayak or a bamboo boat to Luon Cave or the pearl farm; at 16h00 comes Titop Island, for a swim or the climb to the viewpoint. Back on board at 17h30 for the sunset party on the sundeck, happy hour at the bar until 19h00, then dinner. Later there is the spa, a cocktail, or squid fishing tackle from reception.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 5
Tai Chi at 06h00 on the sundeck as the light comes over the bay, then a light breakfast at 07h00. Sung Sot Cave at 08h00, one of the largest caves in Ha Long Bay, where the stalactites and stalagmites have taken millions of years to reach the shapes they hold now. You are back on board at 09h30 to check out while the boat runs in to Tuan Chau. Brunch at 10h00, ashore at Tuan Chau Marina at 10h45, and the limousine takes you back to Hanoi, where the rest of the day is yours.
Meals: Breakfast, brunch
Day 6
The road south covers 110km through farmland, with a stop on the way, and puts you at Hoa Lu by 10h15, where the temples to King Dinh and King Le, seventeenth-century buildings, stand on the site of Vietnam's first capital. At 11h30 there are bicycles for an easy hour on the lanes beside the canals. Lunch at 12h15 is a buffet of local cooking, goat meat and fried rice among it, always with vegetarian dishes. The Trang An boats leave at 13h00 and row you through Sang, Toi and Nau Ruou caves, a landscape UNESCO listed in 2014 and Kong: Skull Island used in 2016. Mua Cave at 15h15, nearly 500 steps to the top of Lying Dragon Mountain, then back in Hanoi at 19h30.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
Day 7
No fixed plan after breakfast. Most guests use the day to go back to the parts of Hanoi they liked, or to shop; your guide can tell you which street sells what. A car and guide can be added for a half day at short notice.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8
Breakfast, check out, and a private transfer to the airport timed to your flight.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 1 also runs in a version that ends with an egg coffee class at a local coffee house. Hiring local dress for photographs at Cat Cat is paid on the spot. Day 2 begins at 06h30, so ask for a takeaway breakfast the night before.
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