Scenic Northern Vietnam Tour
- Culture & Heritage
- Family
- Nature and Wildlife
Overview
Day 1: Hanoi – Arrival – Drive to Mai Chau
Day 2: Mai Chau – Ninh Binh – Trang An Complex – Hoa Lu Temples
Day 3: Ninh Binh – Nam Dinh National Park – Local Homestay
Day 4: Hanoi – Transfer to Ha Long Bay/ Bai Tu Long Bay
Day 5: Halong – Yen Duc Village – Hanoi
Day 6: Hanoi City Tour
Day 7: Hanoi City - Departure
Customizable itinerary
Embark on an enchanting journey through our Northern Vietnam tour with captivating landscapes and cultural wonders in 7 days.
Discover the serene beauty of Mai Chau, the awe-inspiring Trang An Complex, the tranquil Xuan Thuy National Park, and the majestic Halong Bay. Immerse yourself in the vibrant history and dynamic energy of Hanoi as you explore its iconic landmarks and savor the local cuisine. This Northern Vietnam trip promises an unforgettable adventure, blending breathtaking natural scenery with immersive cultural experiences that will leave a lasting impression.
Arrival at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, collect your luggage process through custom. Your private tour guide and driver from Asia Pioneer will be waiting for you outside the baggage claim/ custom area to transfer you in a private vehicle to Mai Chau through a spectacular mountain range. This is an authentic hill tribe region and a fantastic base for treks, local markets, and villages. Arrive after mid-day, we will check into the hotel and free for lunch.
Later in the afternoon, we will explore the surrounding villages on foot, meeting local people and learning about their lives raising crops and livestock. Tonight we will enjoy a welcome dinner cooked and served by the local family. You can join a local traditional dance show performed by the White Thai people (optional). Enjoy the traditional Thai massage to help you unwind and relieve any aches and pains during the whole traveling.
Overnight in Mai Chau
Meals: (Welcome dinner) – Halal Food Available Upon Request

Mai Chau
08:00
After breakfast, we will depart Mai Chau and wind our way for 4 hours to Ninh Binh where we take an amazing rowing boat to visit Trang An Ecotourism area. Trang An Eco-Tourism complex is a home of 600 kinds of flora and over 200 kinds of fauna that many of them in the Red book of Vietnam. It is also a gathering of 31 valleys, 48 cross-water caves and we will visit 3 to 6 of them.
12:00
Arrival Ninh Binh, we will head to a local restaurant for lunch.
13:00
After lunch, we will embark on the rowing boat, we can enjoy the fresh air, clean and clear water with underwater grass. Experience ourselves the feeling and emotion when we are on the water caves.
16:00
Return to the Wharf and transfer to visit Hoa Lu ancient Capital city of Vietnam between 968 & 980AD. Here we will visit the ancient temples of King Dinh and King Le.
17:00
Finish the day tour and drive to the hotel to check in.
Overnight in Ninh Binh
Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/_) – Halal Food Available Upon Request

Ninh Binh

Trang An Complex
We will depart Ninh Binh in the morning and drive for 03 hours to Nam Dinh Province, 150 km south-west of Hanoi in the coastal zone of the Red River Delta. On the way, we will stop to visit the Ancient Co Le Pagoda dating back to the 10th century. This is one of the biggest and nicest pagodas in North Vietnam. Besides its special architecture, Co Le pagoda has the largest bell in Vietnam.
We will then continue on to Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh, formally known as a Nature Reserve of the area and later became Vietnam’s first Ramsar site, for the conservation of wetlands.
We’ll embark on a boat trip to discover the wetland. After a one-hour boat trip through the National Park, we arrive at a Clam Hut where we will be served a delicious seafood lunch. We can rest and relax in the Hut for a while before transferring back to the mainland. From here we will be picked up and driven to a local homestay where we will spend the night with our host family.
Alternatively, if you are not keen on the homestay we can always replace it by the hotel in the City without any surcharge.
Overnight in Nam Dinh
Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) – Halal Food Available Upon Request
Morning
08:00
After breakfast, your guide and driver will collect you from the hotel and drive you 4 hours (140km) to Halong City and port. As Halong Bay is so popular, there is usually a crowd of boats at the docks -please be reassured that the cruise itself will be scenic and relaxing.
12.00 – 12.30 approx
Arriving Tuan Chau marina. Welcome aboard the cruise. Refresh with our welcome drink. Meet the captain, crew in the cruise briefing.
Check into your cabin. Time to refresh and unwind.
Set sail as lunch is served.
Join us for a typical local lunch in the dining room or at the outdoor dining area. Mingle yourself in the stunning views of the Bay and it’s dramatic limestone islets as we sail through the calm emerald waters heading to Maze cave.
Afternoon
Arrive at Surprising Cave, explore the cave and find out how the cave was named Amazing.
Reach to the peak point of the cave for a breathtaking panoramic view of the bay.
Back to the boat, our cruise will take you to a stunning tranquilizing isolated lagoon for swimming or just simply relaxing on the boat with our spa service and mingle in the picturesque seascape.
Heading back toward the sleeping area.
Early evening
Summit on the sundeck watching the sunset, enjoy our pre-dinner local wine appetizer. It’s an ideal time to make acquaintance with new friends, sharing your traveling experience or simply watching the sunset.
An authentic Vietnamese menu will be served.
After dinner, reward yourself with a large selection of cocktails at our bar, or take for you one of our onboard activities: book reading, games, movies, and squid fishing, etc.
Overnight on board
Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) – Halal Food Available Upon Request

Halong Bay

Surprising Cave
06.30
For the early risers, join us for a Tai Chi session on the sundeck. Tai chi helps focus the mind and condition the body, joining Tai Chi session to full charge your energy for the day.
07.00 – 08.00
Local breakfast is served.
08.00
Our guide will brief you information and the highlights of this fascinating floating village and its local community.
Take your option either exploring the village yourself on a kayak or comfortably capture the daily life of the fishermen on bamboo boat rowed by the locals.
09.00
Check out the cabins, at your leisure while our cruise taking you to pass by other beautiful highlights in the bay.
10.00
You will join our short class of Cooking demonstration, how to make spring rolls before an early lunch is served.
Ready to get off the boat.
11.45 – 12.00
Disembark the boat, your guide and driver will bring you back to Hanoi. On the way back we stop to visit the charming Yen Duc Village, a typical authentic Northern village. Here we will attend a traditional water puppet show performed by the local artists. While watching the show, we will enjoy plenty of local snacks.
17:00
Get back to our hotel in Hanoi. Have a rest before the exciting evening food adventure and nightlife experience.
18:00
Your private guide will collect you at the hotel and take you out for the evening food tour.
We will wander past street stalls and quiet residential lanes where we can observe local life that has changed little since Hanoi was founded over 1000 years ago. This will bring us lots of sights and sounds of the evening in Hanoi.
During our walk we will have plenty of opportunity to interact with the locals and sample various street food such as Banh Cuon (Vietnamese Steam Rice Rolls), Banh My (Vietnamese baguettes), Nom Du Du (papaya Salad with beef), Bun Cha (grilled pork with vermicelli) and especially the amazing Egg Coffe. You will also venture down a small alley to join in the local tradition of feasting on fresh fruit served in a cup and smothered with crushed iced – this specialty is one not to be missed!
Overnight in Hanoi
Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) – Halal Food Available Upon Request

Hanoi's Old Quarters

Food Tour in Hanoi
08:00
After breakfast, your adventure tour in Vietnam will begin as your private tour guide picks you up and takes you on a full-day city tour of Hanoi, famed for its tree-lined boulevards, French colonial architecture, and a thousand years of history. Below are the recommended sites, but of course, your guide will be happy to modify the list based on your preferences.
Visits:
– Thang Long Citadel (the most recent UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vietnam), built in the 11th century by the Ly Viet Dynasty, marking the independence of the Dai Viet (former Vietnam)
– Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace
– One Pillar Pagoda, one of the most iconic temples in Vietnam
– Temple of Literature (a Confucius temple considered the first National University of Vietnam)
Lunch will be served at KOTO (Know One Teach One), sponsored by an NGO (a non-governmental organization) for the disadvantaged children of Hanoi. The staff is former street children being trained in culinary and hospitality skills.
After lunch, return your hotel for some rest before strolling along the iconic HoanKiem lake and the most exciting shopping part of the Old Quarter including Hang Gai– Hang Bong – NhaTho street, the best place to pick up some high quality, fashionable silk items, lacquerware, embroidered goods, and ethnic-minority crafts; Hang Dau (Shoes street), where hundreds of shoe-sellers lining. Most of the footwear consists of brand names made at Vietnamese factories that have been rejected as seconds, making them a great purchase with usually only a small imperfection. There are also plenty of fake North Face, Samsonite bags where Hang Dau Street meets Lo Su.
15.00 – 15.30
Be picked up by the private car for a 20-minute drive to Japanese retail giant AEON Shopping Mall. Here you can spend 1 – 2 hours at the huge Japanese food court, shopping for local brand clothes (Canifa, The Blue, etc.) at a remarkably good price, as well as households and other stuff. Get back to the hotel at about 18.00. Maybe have a shower or rest before relaxing your whole body with the Vietnamese traditional massage 90’ at the SF Spa center (check review)
Note: the city tour program is flexible. Our guide would be more than happy to adjust the tour itinerary at your needs. You can skip one site or add another if you so wish.
Overnight in Hanoi
Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/_) – Halal Food Available Upon Request

Imperial citadel of Thang Long

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Today will be on your own leisure. Breakfast will still be included and check out will be at mid-day.
Depending on your departure time a private driver will collect you from the hotel and transfer you back to the airport for your departure flight.
Meals: (Breakfast/_/_) – Halal Food Available Upon Request
Useful Information
This tour is built upon our firsthand knowledge & experience, offering you the best choices available. The price of this trip varies depending on the number of people in your party, dates of departure, and availability of ground services. Please click on REQUEST A FREE QUOTE (above) and supply the required information, enabling us to send you your personalized quote within 24 hours!
Note: Amendments CAN be made to this tour to suit your requirements.
What’s Included?
- Accommodation with daily breakfast at selected hotels
- Private Vehicles and Drivers
- Private English Speaking Guides (Other languages if available, upon request)
- Meals as mentioned in the itinerary (B= Breakfast, L= Lunch, D= Dinner)
- All domestic flights
- Airport Taxes and Fuel charges
- Entrance fees for all mentioned sights visited
- Service Charge & Government Taxes
What’s Not Included?
- Your International Flights Vietnam and Cambodia entry Visa Fees (contact us for further information)
- Personal Expenses (such as laundry, telephone, drinks, etc.)
- Any bank fees or charges at your end
- Meals other than those mentioned in the itinerary
- Personal Travel Insurance
- Tips for guides and drivers
Free service. No credit card required
Reviews on Our Service
Experiencing across different cultures with Asia Pioneer Travels
we planned a customized tour with Asia Pioneer travels to visit Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia from mid January to Early February 2025. Adam Duong , travel designer of our trip had done an excellent job to give us the best comforts and addressing our requirements requested. Everyday contacting us. Thank you very much for your commitment. It was a hazel free enjoyable tour since our departure from Sri Lanka until our arrival. They planned this tour in such a way that we were greatly cared and looked after. We were in the comfort zone during the whole tour. All tour guides and drivers were on time and well taken care of us. We had great experience and informative guidance about culture, food, history, shopping and night markets and many more which we not even thought of…… Its worth for the money we spent and a big Thank you for Asia Pioneer Travels for organizing this great tour for us. Highly recommend this company for my friends and others.
An enjoyable family trip
Our trip from Ho Chih Minh to Hanoi was seamless and wonderful. Chloe and previously Jolie have drawn our itinerary to meet to our preference. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly.
Year End Vietnam Adventure
Asia Pioneer Travel turned our Vietnam trip into an absolute dream! Huge shoutout to Stella, the ultimate tour coordinator—she’s like a travel wizard with lightning-fast responses and a knack for making every detail perfect. Seriously, her itinerary was next level (probably the most detailed proposal we’ve ever seen!), and she sprinkled in some jaw-dropping surprises in every city: Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, and Sapa—each stop more magical than the last!
And let’s talk about our incredible tour leaders: Mr. Phong, Vinh, Thi, and Bob—these guys were the real MVPs! Not only were they walking encyclopedias of Vietnam’s history and culture, but they also made sure we were comfortable, happy, and laughing the whole way.
This trip wasn’t just about seeing beautiful places—it was about creating unforgettable memories and bringing us even closer as a family.
Thailand – beautiful country, fantastic sites, friendly people, a profound experience!
We went to Thailand; Bangkok, Ayutthaya, and northern Thailand, specifically. We were in a group of 4, three seniors and a niece in her 20s, also one of us was wheelchair bound.
Ms. Elly Do worked hard and imaginatively to help us design the perfect vacation. We would highly recommend Asia Pioneer Travels. Our itinerary met all our needs and our guides were totally reliable. Our group of 4 was able to split up to meet our different interests and abilities and reunite seamlessly. This, again, was due to the diligence of Ms. Elly Do.
We would especially like to reach out and thank Mr. Bigz who helped us out (twice!) in circumstances beyond Asia Pioneer’s control. It was wonderful to have backup in a faraway place!
Pros: We wanted to see the temples (wats), learn about Thai culture and history (particularly the hillside village tribes), and scenic views. We worked with Ms. Do – she was very responsive to our many emails to tailor our itinerary until it was just right! Our guides and drivers were always on time. Asia Pioneer used local guides who spoke English and were knowledgeable. Ms. Kanoon guided us every day while we were in Bangkok and also visited Ayutthaya. We also went out with her every night for dinner. She took us to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai, which was perfectly smooth and without stress for us.
Mr. Poly was our local guide in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. He also met us at the airport and from there, we were in good hands. Mr. Poly spoke good English, was very personable. He related the history of the different hillside villages we visited. He was always on time. All our drivers were very competent and our rides were in beautiful vans with ample room, AC (wonderful!) and coolers of cold water.
To sum up: Asia Pioneer Travels worked with us, so to speak, from appetizers to entrees to dessert! We always had friendly and reliable guides, drivers, and transportation. The price we were quoted was the price we paid. There were no hidden fees. We had flexibility on our tours.
Cons: Asia Pioneer told us there were no handicapped rooms left in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We found them online and booked our hotels ourselves. Often in Bangkok, we had dinners that were quite disappointing. Our guide will no doubt in the future know better dining options – it is a learning curve and she tried hard.
Tips: Research options if you are planning to use a guide service. We recommend Zicasso, who evaluated our expressed objectives and recommended two different services who would meet our needs. There are scammers out there, of course, but we felt very comfortable using Zicasso as our starting point.
Next, the more details we shared with Ms. Do, the better Asia Pioneer Travels could customize our trip and recommend options.
Handicapped accessibility: It is difficult to find any information concerning wheelchair accessibility online in Thailand. The information we read was often incorrect or conflicting in nature. The following is what we found in person…
Wheelchairs are not allowed inside many of the temples. Many boutiques or smaller hotels do not have accessible rooms. We did find wonderful rooms at the TK Palace and Bonovoy Marriott Hotel in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai. Although they were extremely nice, none had grab bars by the toilets or in the showers. Sidewalks are often rough or absent outside the main tourist areas. It was challenging or impossible to participate in some activities…the hillside villages and the elephant sanctuary were extremely hard on both myself and the wheelchair! It must be mentioned, however, that the guides wanted to be helpful but probably didn’t have experience with travelers with disabilities. This was just my personal opinion.
Finally: We drank bottled water and reused the bottles at safe refilling stops. Only use ice cubes with holes as they indicate manufactured with purified water. Always be polite, never loud or upset, be respectful. The Thai people we interacted with were kind and helpful. We will review our hotels separately elsewhere.
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