Luxury holiday in Vietnam
| country: | Vietnam |
| departures: | This trip can be tailormade year round to suit your requirements, interests and budget. The best months for this tour are from the middle of December to May and from September to late October. |
| price: | From US $5695 - US $5831 (14 days) excluding flights, depending on accommodation chosen. Please note if you stay at Topas Eco lodge (days 5 & 6), there is a US $75 price reduction. |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
You’ll visit Hanoi, Vietnam’s stately capital city, and its hinterland, then head north by train to visit colourful hill-tribes around Sapa in the Northern Highlands. From there, you’ll fly south to relax in a luxury resort on an isolated peninsula to the north of Nha Trang Bay or on an island just off Vietnam’s central coast.
This tour is a once in a lifetime experience for couple who want luxury and exclusivity together with responsible tourism that cares about environment and cultural issues. The holiday includes visits to Vietnam’s capital city and the remote northern highlands followed by nearly a week of relaxation and indulgence.
We’ve included two accommodation options, the Deluxe Le Domaine de Tam Hai, and the First Class Evason Hideaway. You’ll have complete freedom to modify the programme to suit your preferences and circumstances - relax as soon as possible and be active later, spend less time on the beach and see more of Vietnam, etc. Dates, durations of stay, activities and so on are up you - we design all our holidays individually, so you can have exactly what you want.
Price includes: Twin accommodation & breakfast, meals per itinerary, pick-ups and transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle as specified, domestic flights & return train tickets, and the services of an experienced English-speaking guide and entry fees per itinerary. One of hotels we use levies a US $172 per room per night surcharge during peak season (20 Dec - 15 Jan).
Note: Please note that Vietnam hotels do not recognise provisional reservations, so specific hotels cannot be guaranteed until you have booked your chosen tour.
This tour is a once in a lifetime experience for couple who want luxury and exclusivity together with responsible tourism that cares about environment and cultural issues. The holiday includes visits to Vietnam’s capital city and the remote northern highlands followed by nearly a week of relaxation and indulgence.
We’ve included two accommodation options, the Deluxe Le Domaine de Tam Hai, and the First Class Evason Hideaway. You’ll have complete freedom to modify the programme to suit your preferences and circumstances - relax as soon as possible and be active later, spend less time on the beach and see more of Vietnam, etc. Dates, durations of stay, activities and so on are up you - we design all our holidays individually, so you can have exactly what you want.
Price includes: Twin accommodation & breakfast, meals per itinerary, pick-ups and transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle as specified, domestic flights & return train tickets, and the services of an experienced English-speaking guide and entry fees per itinerary. One of hotels we use levies a US $172 per room per night surcharge during peak season (20 Dec - 15 Jan).
Note: Please note that Vietnam hotels do not recognise provisional reservations, so specific hotels cannot be guaranteed until you have booked your chosen tour.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival at Hanoi. Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, you’ll be met and driven to your hotel. You’ll have time to relax after your journey before a candle-lit dinner at a restaurant in a restored French colonial building. In the evening, a performance of traditional Water Puppetry, an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture. |
| Day 2: | Hanoi. After a champagne breakfast, we’ll help you to unwind with a visit to a local Spa for massage and full body treatment. After that, your guide will arrive to take you on a gentle stroll around the centre of Hanoi taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Indochina’s most elegant capital city. |
| Day 3: | Exploring old villages in the Red River Delta. Duong Lam Commune is nine traditional villages 50 km from Hanoi. It’s notable for a number of reasons, not least its extraordinary longevity – many date back to the 17th century. It’s a picture postcard patchwork of paddy fields, shady trees, small huddles of cottages and pagodas. Mong Phu village is an architectural treasure house. You’ll visit a commune house, the Mia Pagoda and the local market, meet the residents and talk about the daily life of the commune over a cup of green tea. In the afternoon, you’ll return to Hanoi, stopping en-route to visit the Van Phuc silk village. In the late evening, a private car will to board an overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai. |
| Day 4: | Lao Cai/Sapa. After disembarking in the early morning, a jeep or Land Cruiser takes you to Sapa, a small town perched on the mountainside opposite Vietnam’s highest mountain. You’ll hike down a scenic valley through terrace fields and H’mong ethnic minority villages. After a streamside picnic, your each a Day ethnic minority village and spend the night in a family house. The route is along undulating terraces that can be rough in places, so stout walking shoes are necessary – the day’s total distance is 12 kilometres. Travel by jeep is an alternative. |
| Day 5: | Sapa. A shorter hike takes you to a Red Dao ethnic minority village for lunch. Late, a jeep takes you to Ban Ho, an ethnic Tay village before returning to Sapa for an overnight stay at the best hotel in town. Alternatively, you can stay at the Topas Eco Lodge (20km south of the town). The bungalows are built of stone with a thatched roof, spacious rooms and a private balcony. It’s somewhat spartan - matt tile floor, woven rattan chairs, no television or telephone. On the up-side, it’s comfortable bed, an en suite bathroom with hot water, a restaurant in a replica of a Tay stilt house, and stunning views. The Eco-lodge was purpose-built as an example of ‘best practice’ environmental conservation. |
| Day 6: | Sapa/Hanoi. A gentle stroll? More hiking? Lazing about? It’s up to you – your guide is on hand to assist. In the evening, you’ll be driven to Lao Cai station for overnight train to Hanoi. |
| Day 7-13: | Hanoi/NhaTrang. Free time before the noon flight to Nha Trang and the Evason Hideaway where you’ll spend the next six nights. It’s probably Vietnam's most exclusive hotel - luxurious, ultra-stylish and an ideal hideaway set in 120ha (300 acres) of pristine scenery. It's also one of Vietnam's most environmentally-conscious hotels The smallest of the 53 private villas is the 158m2 Beach Villa complete with wine cellar, outdoor plunge pool, in-house video, DCD player and movies on request! All villas are completely private. There's a first-class restaurant and bar, and a range of leisure pursuits including tennis, water sports and dive facilities, a gymnasium, and trekking and nature trails. The Evason also offers mind and body treatment, and therapies. Service standards in the resort are very high. For example, meals can be served more or less anywhere - a cook and attendant will prepare and serve the food in situ. You’re asked to provide information about your likes and dislikes so that your room, service plan, toiletries, wine, even your preferred room temperature, will be waiting for you on arrival. |
| Day 14: | Nha Trang/Ho Chi Minh City. Around noon, your car takes you to Nha Trang for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City and your departure flight. |
| Deluxe option: | An alternative to the First Class Evason is the Deluxe standard Le Domaine de Tam Hai, a small, family-run 12-villa resort on a tropical island just off the coast of the central area of Vietnam. Whilst lacking the ultra-luxury (and high cost) of the Evason, it offers large well-appointed traditional villas, spacious private gardens with direct access to the soft sand beach, good quality food and wine, a friendly atmosphere, and seclusion. Further details are available on request. |
travellers' tales
It was all highly memorable. We particularly liked our visit to a village outside Hanoi where we met with local people and were able to ask questions. (more)
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
 This tour combines luxury with environmental and cultural conservation. In Sapa, we use ethnic minority local guides and accommodation and pay directly to the individuals involved. The Eco-Lodge is an example of good practice sustainable development. All the bungalows use solar panels to generate energy for heating water. To avoid pollution, wastewater disposal facilities have been installed. Building materials and supplies were sourced locally, and the employees are ethnic minority people. The Evason is one of Vietnam’s most environmental hotels. For example, all its building materials and employees are resourced locally. Timber is from sustainable sources. No combustion engines are allowed in the resort area - small solar-powered buggies carry luggage and customers. All furniture, fixtures and fittings are made by hand and by trained local craftspeople. Ingredients are supplied by a large on-site organic garden, supplemented by produce from local farmers and other suppliers. Mosquitoes are suppressed by organic insecticide, harmless to other species and plants. Water is supplied from reservoirs high on the cliffs and a treatment plant ensures that nearby coral reefs are not harmed by pollution. Solid waste is treated and transported to a hygienic disposal centre inland. Many of the actions listed above apply to Le Domaine, but the smaller resort has also gone to great lengths to blend the resort into the local culture. Local shamans were recruited to ensure that all the local geomantic principles and religious ceremonies were applied to the full, and artisans on the island were employed to build the villas in local style. The exception was the resort’s high thatched roofs. The traditional skills on the island dwindled away, so an expert from the original source in Malaysia was brought over to train the locals, thus re-establishing a forgotten craft and a new source of income. Shining examples of best practice of sustainable development and environmental conservation are rare in Vietnam. As a company deeply committed to responsible tourism, we are very pleased to work with these three establishments. This tour fits our philosophy admirably. It’s a means of alleviating poverty, conserving our indigenous culture, protecting the natural environment and, at the same time, providing our customers with an unforgettable luxury holiday. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |