Day 01 Day 02 Day 03 Day 04 Day 05 Day 06 Day 07 Day 08 Day 09 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 01 - Arrive in Hanoi via flight With ochre-colored colonial buildings, tree-lined boulevards and scenic lakes, Hanoi is full of charm. Its history is tied to French colonialism and the architecture, cuisine and local culture still bear evidence of the French influence. Embark the comfortable car for transferring (approx. 60mins) to your hotel in downtown of the city, check-in and spend the remainder of the day at leisure. Day 02 - Hanoi Led by an art instructor, you visit the Fine Arts University for a glimpse of the place where future artists develop their skills. Wind your way to the Fine Arts Museum for an overview of contemporary art and its development. Lunch is at a local restaurant where the instructor will share life experiences with you. Then, visit the studio-home of a well-known Vietnamese painter, sculptor and performance artist. Enjoy a cocktail reception and enjoy the exhibition on the ground floor of the wooden stilt house. Day 03 - Hanoi Embark on 45mins drive from Hanoi passing urbanized areas, Dao Thuc village still owns its old charm. Interact with a local artisan to learn how he and his family bring this traditional art out to the world. How do those wooden guys move? Then, enjoy a private 30-min outdoor water puppet show on the village pond with live traditional orchestra music background accompanied. Admire the puppeteers standing chest-deep in the water to manipulate puppets. Day 04 - Day trip to Halong Bay Early this morning, embark on a 3.5 hour drive to Halong Bay. Upon arrival we board our boat for a cruise around the 3,000 islets that rise from the clear emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Bizarre rock sculptures jutting dramatically from the sea and numerous grottoes have created an enchanted, timeless world. Enjoy a seafood lunch on board our junk boat before returning to the wharf. Travel back to Hanoi arriving later this evening. Day 05 - Hanoi / Hue via flight Take the morning flight to Hue. Afternoon, set out on a trip with a local scholar from Hue Monument Conservation who is in charge of cultural heritage management and restoration projects. Then, stroll around the Imperial Citadel and explore Capital Citadel, Royal Citadel, and the Forbidden Citadel for an insight into the projects. Enjoy Royal Martial Arts, a great cultural performance inherited from the Nguyen Dynasty. A 25-minute long performance is reminiscent of the past heroic plots of Vietnamese patriots against colonialists’ suppression. Day 06 - Hue After leisure breakfast, embark on a half-hour boat trip on the picturesque Perfume River to visit Thien Mu pagoda, Hue’s best-preserved religious monument. Continue to visit the serene Tu Duc Royal Tomb, designed to blend in with its natural surroundings and built on principles of feng-shui. Enjoy home hosted lunch at Tha Om restored royal home, a harmony of nature and royal architecture, where the green space is replete with a water-lily pond, orchid pots and chatter of birds, offering peace of mind to visitors. In the afternoon, meet with the artisan, a famous expert at Enamel Hue and learn about his endeavor to restore this way of art by combining industries of many sectors of handicrafts. If time permits, for a change of scene, visit Phuong Duc bronze casting ward whose products have become national treasures, including the bronze cauldron inside Hue’s Citadel, and the nine ancient bronze canons in front of the old city. Learn about their efforts to the preserve this traditional craft for future generations. Day 07 - Hue / Hoi An Depart Hue for Hoi An (approx. 2,5 hours) with a stop at the Lang Co Fishing Village located on a sand dune line for a photo opportunity. Continue the scenic drive over the Hai Van Pass (Ocean Clouds Pass), the summit of which presents a spectacular panoramic view of the central coastline. Then, stop at the Cham Museum, where houses the best collection of the Cham ruins dating back to the 2nd to 15th century. Next stop is the Marble Mountains, a cluster of 5 marble and limestone mountains which rise dramatically from the flat land along the coast of Non Nuoc Beach. Then, visit to one of the nearby stone-carving villages. Day 08 - Hoi An Enjoy a walking tour around Hoi An Ancient Town. Visit the 400-year-old Japanese Covered Bridge; the Assembly Hall of the Chaozhou Chinese Congregation with outstanding wood carvings; and the colorful market with stalls brimming with local specialties including silk, which can be turned into fashionable garments within a day or two. In the afternoon, enjoy a 40min boat ride on Thu Bon River to a local pottery village. Walk around the zigzagging alleys, interact with the villagers and try your hand at making a vase. Day 09 - Hoi An My Son is one of the foremost Hindu temple sites in South East Asia. A 1.5-hour drive from Hoi An will bring you to My Son where there are 20 monuments still standing today. The temples are set in a verdant valley surrounded by hills and overlooked by the impressive Cat Tooth Mountain. Stroll around this UNESCO listed temple complex to learn about the Cham culture, architecture and civilization before returning to Hoi An. Day 10 - Hoi An / Danang / Saigon via flight After breakfast, take the morning flight to Saigon. Late afternoon, visit a local family of musicians who are members of a local theater, home to talents of performance art in Vietnam. Learn about traditional musical instruments through conversations with the artists and listen to the performances from each family member (3-generations). You then have the chance to try the instruments with the musicians, a memorable if somewhat noisy experience. Day 11 - Saigon Morning, enjoy a two hour drive northwest of Saigon to the famous Cu Chi tunnels which was initially protect the Viet Cong guerrillas from the French air and ground sweeps. The tunnels also served as communication routes, storage facilities for food and weapon caches as well as hospitals and living quarters for guerrilla fighters throughout the American war. In the afternoon, visit the ochre-coloured Fine Arts Museum and learn more about the past, present and future of the arts movement in Vietnam. Then, visit some art galleries in town. Day 12 - A day trip to Mekong Delta Visit the small Cai Be floating market, experience how people exchanging goods, fruit and many other commodities on their boats. Lunch will be served at an ancient Mandarin house where four generations of family members live together. After feasting on Mekong Delta specialties, you may wish to take a stroll around the orchard to see how fruit is cultivated. Day 13 - Saigon departure via flight Check-out of your hotel no later than 12:00 noon and transfer (approx. 30mins) to the airport for your onward flight to next destination or returns your home.