North Vietnam 9-Day Itinerary from Hanoi

Product Description

North Vietnam 9 Days Itinerary is another 9 days tour we customize for family travel in Vietnam. This multi-activity tour includes hiking, cycling, kayaking, sightseeing, history, culture discovery. The itinerary is arranged in the northern Vietnam – Tam Coc, Kenh Ga, Mai Chau, Sapa, Lao Cai, Cao Son, Halong Bay, Hanoi and Cat Ba island.

Map of North Vietnam 9 Days

North Vietnam 9 Days Itinerary

Day 1: Hanoi – Ninh Binh.

8:00: You will be met up with Lotussia Travel team at your hotel in Hanoi. Depart for Ninh Binh. Enjoy beautiful landscape of the Red River Delta and firstly visit Hoa Lu old capital (968-1009) with two temples of two Kings. After visiting these two temples, you start cycling to Tam Coc through the beautiful villages and landscapes. You will arrive in Tam Coc around noon. Lunch will be provided in a local restaurant in Tam Coc. After lunch take the boat trip to see Tam Coc that means ”three lakes” and is called ” Halong Bay on land ”, really amazing with the rocky mountains, and you will be completely dazzle when paddling through the green paddy fields on two sides of the lakes and more interesting to go through three caves. It takes about 2 and a half hour to discover the beauty of the nature here before getting off boat to visit an old temple (Thaivi Temples), That is located on a nice scenery and more interesting to know about its history. Check in hotel. Take the rest before cycling through the rice fields and beautiful rocky mountains to visit Bich Dong pagoda and a cave. Overnight in Tam Coc in a hotel.

Day 2: Ninh Binh – Mai Chau.

Transfer to Kenh Ga – “The Chicken Canal” for another boat trip along the Hoang Long river to experience the real life of a Vietnamese catholic community. Set on the banks of the Hoang Long River, Kenh Ga is a remarkable place, not only because it is surrounded by the same massive rocks that dominate Hoa Lu, but also because for most of the year the entire community lives on the water itself. The floating village of Kenh Ga receives relatively few visitors compared to nearby Hoa Lu and the peoples’ aquatic way of life has changed little over the centuries. After the boat trip, you have lunch in a local restaurant. Then continue the journey to Mai Chau valley where you stop for overnight. In the evening, assist to the traditional music and dance show which is performed by the Thai young girls and boys who all come from the village. Try also some rice alcohol which is made of traditional plants and local sticky rice. Overnight in a house on stilts.

Day 3: Mai Chau – Hanoi – Lao Cai.

Breakfast at the Thai stilt house then you leave the village for a half day walking around. You pass by different Thai hamlets, through rice fields, hill sides…You will stop by some local houses to talk with local people to understand their customs and culture. Walk back to Mai Chau around noon for lunch. After lunch, drive back to Hanoi. Stay free at leisure until taking the overnight train to Lao Cai. Train??? Departure at ??? Overnight on board train.

Day 4: Lao Cai – Sapa.

Arrive Laocai train station early this morning. You will be greeted by Lotussia local team and transferred to Sapa. Breakfast will be provided in a local restaurant in town. After breakfast and a short rest, you will be transferred downhill to Mong Sen village, where you start trekking uphill through mountainous area. Enjoy while walking the spectacular view over rice paddy terraces, corn fields. Your picnic lunch will be provided on the spot. After lunch, we continue our trek downhill towards Taphin village where you will meet Red Dao and Black Hmong minorities, two largest ethnic groups in Sapa area. Stop by a house to talk with local people to know a bit more about their daily life, their customs and tradition. Have dinner and overnight in the village.

Day 5: Sapa Trekking.

After breakfast, we start our trek towards Sapa. We will pass through several minority villages, rice paddy terraces along the way. Upon arriving in Matra village inhabited by Black Hmong people, we will stop for our lunch. Then, we continue our walk to Sapa. Arrive back in Sapa town in the afternoon. Check into a local hotel for overnight (free dinner).

Day 6: Sapa – Cao Son – Lao Cai – Hanoi.

Depart for Muong Khuong district. We will travel via tea plantation and forest of pine. You might encounter Giay tribe in their traditional dress in Ban Lau or Thanh Binh. Reaching Cao Son about 10.am, enjoy the excitement of this weekly market. The shining dress of colorful Hmong girls attracts you much as you fall down to a new world, a world of interest and fun. Having lunch in Cao Son lodge. In the afternoon, commence your walk to the most secluded yet peaceful village – Tin Thang. In this village, people still distill the wine from corn, making bacon in the most basic way and offering special corn cake to anyone who drop by their house. Transfer to Laocai train station for taking the overnight train back to Hanoi. Train??? Departure at ???? (to be advised). Overnight on the train.

Day 7: Hanoi – Halong Bay.

Arrive Hanoi Train Station early this morning at ??? (to be advised). You will be greeted again by Lotussia Travel team and transferred to a local restaurant for breakfast. At 8:30: Depart for Halong bay. Enjoy the journey through the scenery of rice fields and everyday Vietnamese village life. Arrive in Halong around noon and board the Bai Tho traditional sailing junk (or similar junk). Whilst cruising the exquisite waters sample the regions fresh seafood. Round over Thien Cung cave (palace of heaven), Dau Go ( grotto of wood ), Tuan Chau island, Dog island, Dinh Huong, Ga Choi (fighting cock mountain), Turtle island. Enjoy a two-hour kayak paddling on the emerald waters of Halong bay. Watch the sun set over the bay whilst enjoying a delicious dinner. Overnight on board junk.

Day 8: Halong Bay – Cat Ba Island.

After breakfast, we leave the boat-house joining a small wooden boat for another cruise towards Catba island. Upon arrival in Catba island pier, you will be picked up by local motor-taxi (“xe om”) and transferred to Cat Ba town. In the afternoon, enjoy a half day trekking to Cat Ba national park. We will trek through jungle and have a chance to see the panorama of Halong Bay from one of the mountain summits we would conquer during the trek. Return Catba town. Check into a local hotel for overnight (free dinner).

Day 9: Cat Ba Island – Hanoi.

The whole morning will be let free at leisure. Free lunch in town. In the afternoon, take a speed boat to travel to Haiphong where our vehicle will wait for us for the drive back to Hanoi. End trip.

Vietnam private tours

Lotussia Travel is a Hanoi tour operator offering a wide selection of multi-activity holidays in Vietnam. Options include countryside cycle, mountain biking, road cycling, jungle trek, trekking homestay, mountain hiking, peaks climbs, motorbike, scouter touring, camping, caving expeditions, kayaking, boat trips, cruise, sightseeing, culture tours. Most of our trips are private customized, and specially designed for small group tours, family vacations. The itinerary above – North Vietnam 9 Days Itinerary is only a sample that can be further customized to better fit your requirements. Just follow it or contact us for designing your perfect adventure.

Additional Information

Primary activity	Multisport
Trip duration	9 days
Depart from	Hanoi
Travel destination	Cao Son, Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay, Kenh Ga, Lao Cai, Mai Chau, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Sapa, Tam Coc, Vietnam
End at	Hanoi
Adventure level	Easy

Itinerary disclaimer

Occasionally our tour itineraries are updated during the year to incorporate improvements stemming from past travelers’ comments and our own research. The information given in this itinerary may be slightly different to that in the service proposal. It’s very important that you print and review a final copy of your itinerary a couple of days prior to travel, in case there have been changes that affect your plans. If you have any queries, please contact us. We are here to help you!

Please note that while we operate successful trips in Vietnam throughout the year, some changes may occur in our itineraries due to inclement weather and common seasonal changes to timetables and transport routes. This can happen with little notice so please be prepared for modifications to the route. The order and timing of included activities in each location may also vary from time to time.

Inclusions

Depending on the proposed option (semi-guide tour or all-inclusive package tour), the price may include the following services. Please bear in mind Lotussia Travel is specialized in tailor-made trips. Trip cost vary depending on group size and other details.

Car transfers.
Local tour guide. The English-Speaking guide is provided by default. Other language may be available upon request (with extra charge).
Meals.
Entrance fees.

Exclusions

Unless required most of the following services are usually not included in our tour price.

Visa
Flight/Train tickets.
Accommodation.
Tour leader.
Local porter(s).
International travel insurance.
Drinks.
Tips.
Personal expenses.

Tour guide

Our tour guides speak English or French. They hold a university degree in tourism and national license as a guide. If you wish to send a tour leader along with any group, he or she can fully rely on the knowledge and experience of our local guides.

Remote treks are always accompanied by a local representative to deal with permits and authorities and manage the porter team. They speak the local dialects, know the cultural traditions and give tips on suggested behavior in fragile ecological areas and tribal communities. For some itineraries, the role of tour leader and representative is combined.

Driver

Our drivers don’t speak English. It’s possible that a few of them might know some basic words, such as telling time, stop, and lunch. If you’re looking for effective communication throughout the journey, we highly recommend booking a tour guide.

Trip routes

Principally, Lotussia Travel requires all the trip associates to know the destinations well by any means of traveling or enquiry to the local suppliers to figure out all the relative details of any trip. For adventure tours such as jungle trekking, mountain hiking, sea kayaking, river rafting or biking, cycling tours, Lotussia Travel will never add any new routes into available schedule until survey or pre-view it.

Accommodation

Lotussia Travel carefully choose all the hotels, guest-houses or home-stays based on service quality, location, and characteristics, doing best to make the accommodations in the remote small places as comfortable as possible. Please bear in mind that hotels in Vietnam might not be in the same standard in other country. Generally hotels in major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, Hoian, Hue…are much better than hotels and guest-houses in mountainous areas.

Meals

Lotussia Travel take dinning as an indispensable experience to clients since it is an important part in Vietnamese culture. Therefore, Lotussia Travel will not intend take clients to the most expensive restaurants but non-touristy local ones which offer delicious, local food, with nice or interesting atmosphere. The restaurants might be simple in the country but LOTUSSIA Travel guarantee is sanitary and cleanliness. Or even on our trek, we encourage our cook offer client food with new tastes from day to day. During adventure itineraries to mountainous or remote areas, there is sometimes no choice for hotel and restaurants. We will try our best to bring you the best taste of local food.

Drinks

As the tap water in Vietnam is undrinkable, Lotussia Travel recommend clients to drink bottled water throughout your trip, or boiled water on treks. Lotussia Travel offers bottle water all the day, and soft drinks like Cola, Sprite or Vietnamese Tea or if possible juice in restaurants (if mentionned in itinerary). This is not automatically included in the packages. In simple restaurant or on camping, Lotussia Travel offers boiled water, instant coffee or juice, wrapped milk (Details are confirmed in bottom of your itinerary).

Transportation

In most destinations of Vietnam, all the roads are well paved though the traffic is quite messed up like in Hanoi, Hai Phong… We use proper vehicles, car, minibus or coach in good condition based on the size of the groups. We use 4WD only on the rough road where the other vehicles could not pass through or based on clients requirement on overland journeys or treks. For cycling itineraries, we usually use our support minibus or minibus with support truck. For sea kayaking, river rafting trips, diving packages we use standard boat as support. Detailed information is provided on our service proposal.

We use drivers who are native or local of each travel destination and maintain good safety records for all trips. Most of our drivers can speak English but a little bit. This is just enough to understand basic words such as “time of departure”, “stop”, “restaurants”, “hotels”…If you want to learn more about Vietnamese culture and information about sightseeing sites, booking a tour guide is highly recommended.

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North Vietnam 9-Day Itinerary