Explore Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia And Laos – 17 Days

Begin at the former Royal Palace, now the National Museum, where the kings of Laos lived until 1975. Next door, Wat Mai is crowned by a five-tiered roof and a facade of gleaming gold reliefs. Continue to Wat Visoun, one of the oldest temples in town, whose carved wooden windows recall the Khmer temple of Wat Phou in the south.

Walk down to the pier and board a traditional long-tail boat for a slow cruise up the Mekong, past fishermen and riverside gardens. Lunch is served in the village of Muang Keo.

Climb to the sacred Pak Ou Caves, set in a limestone cliff above the river and filled with hundreds of Buddha statues left there by pilgrims over the centuries.

Cruise back downstream to Luang Prabang as the sun sets over the water. Dinner tonight is at your own choice.

Start at Wat Xieng Thong, the Temple of the Golden City, a graceful cluster of halls and chapels whose sweeping roofs almost touch the ground. Then drive out into the countryside towards Kuang Si Waterfall, through villages and rice fields, stopping along the way to meet the people who farm them.

Enjoy a countryside lunch by the falls, where the water tumbles down the hillside into a series of milky-blue pools. If the weather allows, bring your swimming things and take a dip.

On the way back, stop in local villages to watch paper being made by hand from the bark of the sa tree, and to see the weavers at their looms. Then transfer to the airport for your flight to Hanoi, where your driver takes you to your hotel. Dinner tonight is at your own choice.

After breakfast, drive south from Hanoi to Bai Dinh, the largest Buddhist complex in northern Vietnam. Here a small, ancient cave pagoda sits beside a vast modern temple complex of bronze Buddhas, bell towers and long galleries of carved arhats.

Lunch is served at a local restaurant.

At Trang An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, settle into a small rowing boat and glide along the river through a landscape of steep green peaks, quiet valleys and caves carved into the rock, some so low you must duck as you pass. The area is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, several of them rare.

Drive back to Hanoi for the night.

Leave Hanoi by highway for the pier in Hai Phong, where the crew welcomes you aboard with a cold towel and a welcome drink.

Settle into your cabin, then enjoy lunch in the restaurant as the boat sails out through the channels towards the bay.

At the Light and Dark Cave, explore the still lagoons by kayak, or sit back in a bamboo boat rowed by a local villager. Back on board, watch the sun go down over the Gulf of Tonkin at the complimentary sunset party, then join the chef for a cooking demonstration and learn a few secrets of Vietnamese cuisine.

After dinner on board, relax on the top deck under the stars with a drink and gentle music, or try your hand at squid fishing off the side of the boat.

Start the day with a gentle tai chi class on deck, then sip coffee or tea on the top deck as the sun rises over the islands, before a buffet breakfast in the restaurant.

After checking out of your cabin, head for Cat Ba Island and ride inland past forested mountains to Hospital Cave, a hidden hospital built inside the rock during the American War, which tells the story of the island’s wartime years.

Return on board for lunch as the boat cruises slowly back to the pier.

Disembark and meet your driver for the journey back to Hanoi.

Begin at the Ho Chi Minh Complex, where the granite Mausoleum stands beside the modest stilt house in which the country’s founding father lived and worked. Nearby, the One Pillar Pagoda rises from its pond like a lotus flower. Continue to the Temple of Literature, nearly a thousand years old and home to Vietnam’s first university.

At the Museum of Ethnology, homes, costumes and everyday objects bring the country’s many ethnic groups to life. Then explore the Old Quarter on foot, a maze of narrow streets, family workshops and street food stalls.

Transfer to Noi Bai Airport for your flight to Hue, the old imperial capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Your guide meets you on arrival and takes you to your hotel.

Visit the Imperial Citadel on the northern bank of the Perfume River, built by Emperor Gia Long in the early 19th century for the emperor and his household alone. Then take a boat along the river to Thien Mu Pagoda, one of the oldest religious buildings in Hue.

Continue to the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc, a peaceful complex of pavilions and lotus ponds set among the pines, before the drive south through Da Nang to Hoi An.

Drive inland to My Son, the most important Cham sanctuary in central Vietnam, set in a green valley ringed by mountains. Its towers are made of fired brick fitted so precisely that no mortar was needed, decorated with finely carved sandstone panels. Even after the damage of the war, the ruins and the surrounding jungle make this one of the most atmospheric places in the country.

Return to Hoi An for lunch.

Explore the ancient town on foot with your guide. Recognised by UNESCO for its remarkably well-preserved streets and houses, it is a place of wooden merchant homes, some more than two centuries old. Cross the Japanese Covered Bridge, step inside a Chinese temple and visit Phung Hung, a merchant house that blends Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese styles.

Transfer to Da Nang Airport for your flight to Ho Chi Minh City, still called Saigon by most of the people who live here.

Set out on a tour of the city’s landmarks: the old Central Post Office, the red-brick Notre Dame Cathedral, the Opera House and elegant Dong Khoi Street. Then head to Cho Lon, the Chinese district, where trading houses and temples line the streets.

Finish at Ben Thanh Market, where it pays to bargain with a smile for coffee, silk and souvenirs.

Drive to Ben Tre province and stroll through the flower fields, then visit a handicraft workshop before walking down to the jetty. A rowing boat carries you along narrow canals lined with coconut palms, past riverside homes, to a garden of pomelo and coconut trees where you can sip fresh coconut water and taste tropical fruit.

Ride a motorbike cart along village lanes through coconut groves and cocoa gardens to lunch in a garden restaurant, with dishes typical of the Mekong region.

Walk along the village paths, chat with local people and, if you like, lend a hand watering and tending their coconut, cocoa and pomelo gardens. Then take a boat along the peaceful Ba Lai River, past riverside workshops where coconuts are turned into rope and mats, and stop at a brick kiln where bricks are still shaped and fired by hand.

Return to Ho Chi Minh City. Dinner tonight is at your own choice.

Leave the city for the Cu Chi Tunnels, a network that once ran for about 250 kilometres and sheltered thousands of guerrilla fighters. Begun in 1948 as a refuge from the French, the tunnels later held living quarters, kitchens, stores and field hospitals during the American War. Crawl a short stretch yourself to feel how tight and hot they are, and hear how people survived down here for years.

Return to Ho Chi Minh City for your flight to Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor, and transfer to your hotel.

Begin at Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century in honour of Vishnu and the largest religious monument in the world, with soaring towers and long galleries of carved bas-reliefs. Then visit Ta Prohm, the temple the jungle never let go, where giant tree roots wrap around the walls and graceful carved devatas peer out from the stone.

Enter Angkor Thom, the Great City, through its stone gates. At its heart stands the Bayon, with dozens of towers carved with more than two hundred serene smiling faces. Finish along the Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King, decorated with carvings of elephants and dancing apsaras.

Head out to Chong Khneas on the edge of the Tonle Sap Lake, where houses stand on stilts above floodplains and rice fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. Wander through the village and meet its friendly residents, then take a boat along the canals and out onto the lake, where whole families live in floating homes that move with the changing water level.

Transfer to Siem Reap Airport for your flight to Bangkok and onward connection to Yangon, where your driver meets you and takes you to your hotel.

Set out on a tour of the city, passing People’s Park, St Mary’s Cathedral and the Martyrs’ Monument. At Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda, a huge reclining Buddha lies with every detail of the soles of his feet carefully painted. Stroll by Kandawgyi Lake, a favourite with local people, for a view of Karaweik Hall and the golden spire of Shwedagon on the skyline.

Continue to the National Museum and the busy Gem Market, then visit Botataung Pagoda on the riverfront and Sule Pagoda, the golden landmark at the heart of downtown.

Save the best for last at Shwedagon Pagoda, whose great stupa, about 100 metres tall, is covered in gold. Climb the eastern stairway past stalls selling monks’ robes, alms bowls, incense and offerings as your guide explains the rituals of Myanmar’s Buddhists, then watch the gold change colour in the softening light.

Drive to Bago and browse its colourful local market, bright with flowers, fresh produce and spices. Continue to the reconstructed Kanbawzathadi Golden Palace, then to Shwemawdaw Pagoda, more than a thousand years old, whose spire rises even higher than Shwedagon’s.

Visit the Shwethalyaung Buddha, a reclining figure 55 metres long and one of the most remarkable images in the country. Time allowing, climb to Hintha Gon Pagoda, with its colourful nat spirit figures and views over the town, before the drive of about an hour and a half back to Yangon. Lunch and dinner today are at your own choice.

Enjoy a last breakfast and some time at leisure.

At the agreed time, your driver takes you to the airport for your flight home.