Day 1: Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City (D)

Upon your arrival at Tan Son Nhat Airport, you will be picked up and transferred to hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Ho Chi Minh City is a center of commerce, finance, culture and tourism in Vietnam. This bustling metropolis, contradiction of its northern counterpart, is crowded with motorbikes and cars, and has numerous shopping areas and sidewalk cafés. (If time permits) we stroll around the down town to explore the different local ways of life. Welcome dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City (B/L)

Take a sightseeing tour. Stop at a colorful Chinese temple and Binh Tay wholesale market. Visit Historical Museum with thousands of historical and artistic objects followed by a lacquer ware factory. Relax. 

Day 3:  Ho Chi Minh - Da Lat (B/L)

Drive to Da Lat, the old French mountain resort with its cool weather. Pass many mulberry fields and enjoy the beauty of Dam’bri water fall. Stop at tea house. Walk through the Da Lat market full of local products.  

Day 4: Da Lat - Buon Ma Thuot (B/L)

Tour the major sightseeing spots of Dalat such as Tuyen Lam Lake, Bao Dai King’s Summer Palace. Drive to Buon Ma Thuot. Stop at Lake lake. Take an elephant ride around the lake at the M’Nong Jun village. Minority style lunch at the village. Arrive Buon Ma Thuot City, hotel check in. Relax.  

Day 5: Buon Ma Thuot - Pleiku (B/L)

Visit Buon Ma Thuot museum of ethnic minorities. Drive to Pleiku, optional stops at coffee and rubber plantations.  

Day 6: Pleiku - Kon Tum (B/L)

AM: Visit Dektu and Dekcop villages of the Bana minority. Experience Bahnar ethnic community life at their Rong communal house and look at their cemetery and learn about their burial customs. Enjoy Bahnar Gong music and "Can" wine. In Kontum, visit the old-style wooden church and the Bishop’s residence. 

Day 7: Kon Tum - Da Nang (B/L)

Drive to Da Nang on Hochiminh Trail. Visit Cham museum and Marble mountain.  

Day 8: Da Nang - Hue (B/L)

Drive north along the dramatic coastal road at Hai Van Pass to Vietnam’s former imperial capital, Hue is a beautifully Vietnam’s capital throughout the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). In the afternoon wander the last empire’s Forbidden City, the Citadel, Thien Mu Pagoda, as well as boarding the dragon boat for a cruise along the Perfume River out to the tomb of Minh Mang. 

Day 9: Hue - Hanoi (B/L)

Transfer to Phu Bai airport for a short flight to Hanoi. City tour: the restored Sword Lake, which is the habitat of a rare giant species of tortoise.  

Day 10: Hanoi (B/L)

AM: Visit President Hochiminh’s Mausoleum and One Pillar Pagoda that looks like a lotus lower. Then see the mythical Sword Lake, the habitat of rate giant tortoises. PM: Ruins of Co Loa Citadel. After dinner, enjoy the unique water puppet show created by Ly King in the 11th century.

Day 11: Hanoi - Departure (B)

Breakfast at hotel. Free until transferred to Noi Bai Airport for departure.