Vietnam Central Highland tour
| country: | Vietnam |
| location: | Central Highlands, Hill Tribes |
| departures: | This trip can be arranged at a time to suit you, and adapted to your requirements as necessary. |
| price: | From £478 (8 days) excluding flights. Price includes shared bed & breakfast accommodation, internal flights and an English-speaking local guide, entrance fees & meals per itinerary |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Vietnam Central Highland tour
Saigon - Dalat - Lak lake - Pleiku - Kontum: This Central Highlands tour will take you over mountains and rivers and give you a chance to experience first-hand the unique culture of the Bahnar and Jarai Minorities as you visit their villages.
Formerly known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is a sprawling metropolis that is home to more than 5 million people. Vibrant and alluring, this city offers something for everyone. It is a study of contrasts: traditional and modern, young and old, rich and poor. If you ever wondered what Bangkok must have been like before the gridlock, or Hong Kong before the high rises, this is your chance.
Dalat is popular with visitors because it has a cool and equable climate usually remaining between 10º C and 20º C throughout the year. This ‘eternal spring’ is responsible for its increasing importance as a fruit and flower growing area. First class blooms, soft fruits and vegetables are grown for export and airlifted all over Asia. Dalat has many natural and artificial lakes such as Ho Xuan Huong, Than Tho, Da Thien, and Tuyen Lam bordered by lines of pine trees, which are a well-known feature of Dalat. A trip to Dalat is not complete until one goes to the Dalat Flower Gardens. The temperate climate of Dalat is suitable for flowers such as orchids, roses, lilies, and camellias.
Serene Lak Lake (offering travel in a dugout canoe across the lake to ride working elephants and meet their mahouts), Nam Ka forest and dozens of ethnic villages, some with homestay facilities, are other attractions.
Pleiku and Kontum are located on the National Route 19 and 14, 540km from Ho Chi Minh City. Pleiku - the Foggy City - is well-known for its natural attractions such as Bien Ho lake which provides deep blue and clean water all year round. Chu H’Drung mountain can be seen from the centre of the city and bares a striking resemblance to the roof of a Roong House. Add to these natural features a diverse range of cultural relics, green parks, pagodas and warm friendly Highlanders, and Pleiku becomes one of the must-see areas of Vietnam.
Formerly known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is a sprawling metropolis that is home to more than 5 million people. Vibrant and alluring, this city offers something for everyone. It is a study of contrasts: traditional and modern, young and old, rich and poor. If you ever wondered what Bangkok must have been like before the gridlock, or Hong Kong before the high rises, this is your chance.
Dalat is popular with visitors because it has a cool and equable climate usually remaining between 10º C and 20º C throughout the year. This ‘eternal spring’ is responsible for its increasing importance as a fruit and flower growing area. First class blooms, soft fruits and vegetables are grown for export and airlifted all over Asia. Dalat has many natural and artificial lakes such as Ho Xuan Huong, Than Tho, Da Thien, and Tuyen Lam bordered by lines of pine trees, which are a well-known feature of Dalat. A trip to Dalat is not complete until one goes to the Dalat Flower Gardens. The temperate climate of Dalat is suitable for flowers such as orchids, roses, lilies, and camellias.
Serene Lak Lake (offering travel in a dugout canoe across the lake to ride working elephants and meet their mahouts), Nam Ka forest and dozens of ethnic villages, some with homestay facilities, are other attractions.
Pleiku and Kontum are located on the National Route 19 and 14, 540km from Ho Chi Minh City. Pleiku - the Foggy City - is well-known for its natural attractions such as Bien Ho lake which provides deep blue and clean water all year round. Chu H’Drung mountain can be seen from the centre of the city and bares a striking resemblance to the roof of a Roong House. Add to these natural features a diverse range of cultural relics, green parks, pagodas and warm friendly Highlanders, and Pleiku becomes one of the must-see areas of Vietnam.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Saigon - city tour. Arrive Tan Son Nhat airport, transfer to hotel & rest before city tour. You will visit sites of Reunification Hall, City hall, Notre Dame Cathedral, War crimes Museum, Chinatown, Ben Thanh Market. Overnight in Saigon. (D,G) |
| Day 2: | HCM city - Dalat. Breakfast at hotel, depart for Dalat. En route, visit Dambri waterfall and lunch in Da Lat. Visit Dalat market and XQ embroidery workshop. Dinner and overnight stay in Dalat. (B,L,D,G) |
| Day 3: | Dalat. After breakfast, we take you to visit the Valley of Love, Dalat flower park and take an old train trip to Trai Mat for sightseeing. After lunch you'll be visiting Truc Lam pagoda, Bao Dai King’s Holiday Palace. Dinner in a good restaurant in Dalat and overnight stay in Dalat. (B,L,G) |
| Day 4: | Dalat - Lak Lake. In the morning we leaving Dalat to visit Lak lake. After lunch we visit Jun and Le villages of M’nong ethnic minority, taking a dugout canoe trip on Lak lake. we have dinner and overnight stay in the long house in Lak Lake. (B, L, G, D) |
| Day 5: | Lak Lake - Pleiku. After breakfast we transfer to Pleiku. En route, we stop over at Banmethuat city for coffee and see coffee and rubber plantations. Lunch in Banmethuat. Take an elephant ride at Phu Cuong waterfall. Dinner and overnight in a hotel at Pleiku. (B,L,G,D) |
| Day 6: | Pleiku - Kontum - Pleiku. After breakfast, we visit Pleiphun village of Jarai ethnic minority and continue to Kontum for lunch and visit Wooden Church, Kontum seminary and Konklor suspension bridge. Driving to Kondong to visit Dektu village of the Bahnar ethnic minority with the folk music and dancing show. Dinner and overnight in a hotel at Pleiku. (B,L,D,G) |
| Day 7: | Pleiku - HCM City. In the Morning you visit Minh Thanh pagoda, Bien Ho lake, Gialai Museum of Ethnology and shopping at Pleiku market. Then transfer to Pleiku airport for the flight to HCM. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City. (B,G) |
| Day 8: | HCM City - departure. You are free until we transfer to Tan Son Nhat airport for your departure flight. (B,G) |
how this holiday makes a difference
 The land of wonders and hospitalities in the Central Highland with many interesting tour programs such as ethnology, eco-tourism, boat excursion, elephant riding, biking, adventure tours to the primitive forests and villages with the typical features of Highlanders, especially the veteran & trekking tours.We providing you transportation of local car with well - experienced local drivers who are always at your service and receive benefit from you. Our local guide staff are ready to serve you and remind you how to keep environment and protect our forests on your trip. We stay in bungalows, the stilted - houses of ethnic minorities and tents are ready to meet your holidays in Pleiku city as well as staying overnight in tropical forests or remote villages and enjoying their interesting folk shows. We arrange tailor made holidays with small group max 8 people and give my clients much flexibility and more contact with local people. For example we use local guides, drivers just allowed clients can see my country by their own. They can see how the local people live and work to make the handicrafts product in Dalat instead of seeing in workshop. They can see how the local people make coffee in Lak lake and Pleiku . |
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. |
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