Group Tour- TET Holidays (Vietnamese New year) Discover the Vietnamese Spirit

Welcome to Hanoi - the capital city of Vietnam with beautiful tree-lined streets and colonial buildings, a heaven of vendor foods and hospitable people. 

Arrive in the Noi Bai International Airport, our guide will be waiting there to take you to your hotel in the city center for a short rest. 

In the afternoon, you will take rickshaw tour along the streets of Hanoi, taking in the vibrant Old Quarter. 

The Old Quarter is busier these days due to the increasing number of people go shopping for Lunar New Year. 

Later on, savor an authentic Vietnamese dinner in one of the local restaurants.

Flowers can be one of the most purchased items of Vietnamese people before Tet Holiday. 

Flowers placed in the house for decoration or on a family altar for worship. People also bring flowers to pagoda when they come there to pray.

To see how local people choose flowers for this special occasion, we will come to visit a beautiful morning flower market in Quang Ba - an early morning market start at 2:00 am mainly for wholesalers. 

Start the tour at around 5:00 am, we drive to Quang Ba, steep into the market, and then you will walk to the shops and admire the colourful, wide variety of flowers in the picturesque market. 

There is one kind of flower you can only see during Tet: the peach- blossom which is indicative of the spring and Tet. 

When you travel in North Vietnam during this time, you will see peach-blossom in every corner. 

Come back from the flower market, you will have breakfast at your hotel and have a short rest before taking the city tour to discover Hanoi. 

The tour includes visits to main sites as the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex (you just pass by), the nearby One Pillar Pagoda, the Presidential Palace, Temple of Literature, the Sedate Tran Quoc Pagoda and Quan Thanh Temple and then, one of the city museums. 

Conclude the day with an interesting water puppet show - a traditional folk dance that stems from Southeast Asian wet rice culture.

A journey to Duong Lam ancient village is a trip that traces back to the origin of Vietnam's culture and traditions. 

After breakfast at your hotel, our driver and guide will take you on a 2-hour drive to the west of Hanoi to visit Duong Lam - a purely agricultural village of the Red River Delta which still preserves many old houses. 

After arriving in the village, you start walking along small roads to visit the Mong Phu Hamlet - the only hamlet in the village with its original gate is still intact. The Mong Phu hamlet dedicated to national heroes. 

After leaving the hamlet, you continue walking through the village then visit the local ancient house - dated back over 400 years. Have a chat with the host family to understand more about the long history of the village and also their current daily lives. Lunch in the village. 

In the afternoon, continue driving to visit Mia Pagoda, built in the 15th century. 

Admire its 287 statues of all sizes, some famous ones being the statue of Buddha in the Himalayas and the statues of the Eight Vajra Deities. 

Next, visit the Ngo Quyen temple and Phung Hung temple, which dedicated to two national heroes, Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung. Enjoy your night at a local house.

Have breakfast then bid farewell to the lovely homestay and continue on your way to Tien Le and Son Dong villages. 

Arrive in the peaceful Tien Le village, hop on the bicycles and start cycling along the beautiful roads passing through the veggie field. 

Put on farming clothes and farming tools, and get ready to get dirty as you will do some farming activities like ploughing, growing the vegetables, watering and fertilising. 

Next, head back to your host family to cook some traditional foods with the fresh ingredients prepared for you. 

In the afternoon, say goodbye to your lovely host family, then continue the biking journey to a nearby village to visit a local family who produces rice wine. 

Rice wine here made the traditional way: fermentation and distillation. Listen to a member of the family share about this tradition and try some rice wine if you feel brave enough (yes this rice wine is powerful!!!). 

As today is the last day of Vietnam’s lunar year, you can have a chance to observe exciting activities that local people prepare for Tet. 

These include cleaning houses and roads, house decorations and making traditional cakes – “Chung cake”. Let’s join one hand with the local family and try making “Chung cake”, you will have a great time. 

In the evening, have a traditional dinner with your host family before driving back to your hotel in Hanoi.

Today is the 1st day of the lunar year, Hanoi will be very quiet and boring as almost all people come back to their hometown to gather with their family members. 

Hence, we will set out of Hanoi on a 3-4 hour journey to Halong Bay – a natural wonder of the world. 

Spend a night onboard an elegant junk, cruising on the emerald water to the far and less touched areas of Halong; it is a lifetime experience that you will never forget! 

Arrive at the dock around noon then you will embark on the cruise, followed by a delicious lunch while the cruise sails further to the secluded, island-dotted bay. 

You will join the cruise's activities such as visiting caves and sandstone islands, and kayaking. 

At night, relaxing on the sundeck or go squid fishing.

Awake early to capture the most beautiful moments of the bay during sunrise, then join a Tai Chi lesson with other passengers. 

Light breakfast is served with pastries and coffee while your cruise continues sailing through the islands. 

Depending on each cruise; you might visit nearby islands using a rowboat then navigate back to Halong jetty. 

Pack your luggage then enjoy the brunch onboard before disembarkation. 

Our driver will be waiting at the jetty to take you back to Hanoi. 

Enjoy rest of the day to discover your hotel’s surrounding area on your own.