Vietnam Drift: Market Streams to Ocean Dreams – 10 Days

Begin in Cho Lon, Saigon’s Chinatown, where Binh Tay Market buzzes with traders and Thien Hau Pagoda, dedicated to the goddess of the sea, is wreathed in the smoke of giant incense coils. Visit the Fine Arts Museum, set in an elegant colonial mansion that blends French and Chinese styles, with a collection that runs from paintings to historic artefacts. Then browse the stalls of Ben Thanh Market, piled high with everything from coffee to lacquerware.

After lunch, learn about the country’s recent past at the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace, where the war came to an end in 1975. Finish among the landmarks of the colonial centre: the ornate Opera House, City Hall and the red-brick Notre Dame Cathedral.

Drive out of Saigon to the jetty and step aboard your sampan. As the boat sets off, your crew serves tea and seasonal fruit while life on the riverbanks unfolds around you. Along the way, stop at small cottage industries such as a brick kiln where everything is still made by hand, and pass slender monkey bridges and little riverside towns on the way to a Cao Dai temple.

In Sa Dec, stroll through the open-air market and visit the house of Huynh Thuy Le, the real-life lover of the French writer Marguerite Duras, whose story inspired her novel and the film The Lover.

Lunch is served on board as you travel along a busy canal towards Can Tho. Later, switch to a local rowing boat to explore the quiet countryside along the smaller waterways.

Your last stop before dusk is a 19th-century country house, a nha co, where the owner welcomes you into his home for a candlelit dinner. Afterwards, return to the sampan as it heads out towards the Hau River for the night.

Rise early and cruise towards Cai Rang Floating Market, which is at its busiest just after dawn. Breakfast is served on board as barges overflowing with fruit and vegetables gather around you, with traders hanging samples from tall poles so buyers can spot them from afar. It is a wonderful moment for photographs.

Disembark at Ninh Kieu Pier in Can Tho and transfer to the airport for your domestic flight to Da Nang.

Settle in to your hotel and spend the rest of the day at leisure, perhaps by the pool or on the beach.

Your driver and guide meet you in the hotel lobby for the short drive to Hoi An, now loved for its unique architecture, skilled tailors and riverside cafes. Walk the narrow, winding lanes of the ancient town, from the incense-filled Chua Ong Pagoda to the ornate Chinese Assembly Hall, then step inside the 200-year-old Tan Ky house and cross the Japanese Covered Bridge, the town’s best-known landmark.

After lunch, a short boat ride brings you to a nearby island village known for its ceramics, where potters shape clay on the wheel much as their families have done for generations.

Return to your hotel in Da Nang and spend the evening at leisure.

Spend the day as you please. Swim, read under a parasol or simply share a slow day with the people you love on one of Vietnam’s most beautiful beaches. If you feel like exploring, the Marble Mountains, Linh Ung Pagoda with its towering statue of the Lady Buddha, and the old town of Hoi An are all an easy drive away, and the ruins of My Son and the imperial city of Hue can be reached on a longer day out.

Enjoy a last morning in Da Nang at leisure before your short flight to Hai Phong, Vietnam’s third-largest city. On arrival, settle in to your hotel.

Set out on a half-day city tour on foot along Hai Phong’s tree-lined streets. Begin at the Opera House, also known as the Municipal Theatre, one of three theatres the French built in Vietnam. Close by on the city square stand the flower stalls and the statue of Le Chan, a woman general who fought under the Trung Sisters in their uprising against Chinese rule in the 1st century.

Finish at Du Hang Pagoda, first built under the Early Le dynasty, where priceless Buddha statues, lacquered boards and carved couplets show the artistry of the Nguyen dynasty.

After breakfast, visit the Iron Market, Cho Sat, a sprawling city market named for the iron and steel it was built with. Even if you buy nothing, it is a lively window on everyday life. Stroll around Tam Bac Lake, passing the old post office, then visit the Hai Phong Museum, housed in a grand colonial mansion, with a small but fascinating collection of historic artefacts, gems, traditional objects and old photographs.

Transfer to Dinh Vu Port, where a tender carries you to your cruise. Enjoy a welcome drink and a briefing as the boat sets sail past Da Chong islet and its French lighthouse, more than a century old. Lunch is served as you glide between Con Vit (Duck) and Gia Luan islets, a remote corner of the bay that few other boats reach.

Continue to the Ba Trai Dao area of Lan Ha Bay, geologically part of Halong Bay but quieter, with around 400 small, forested islands and pristine little beaches. Take a ride in a round bamboo coracle, the craft local fishermen have used for centuries, or paddle a kayak or swim in the clear water. From December to March, you instead visit Viet Hai village on Cat Ba Island, cycling along village paths through forest and past rice fields.

Back on board, watch the sun set over the Gulf of Tonkin or join the chef for a class in a few Vietnamese dishes. After dinner, linger with a drink on the top deck or try your hand at squid fishing under the stars.

Rise early for tai chi on the sundeck as the light spreads across the bay.

After breakfast, head out by canoe through the still water around the Dark and Bright Cave. Return to the boat to check out, then enjoy brunch as you cruise back to Dinh Vu Pier.

Meet your guide and drive to Hanoi on one of Vietnam’s most modern highways. Check in to your hotel and spend the rest of the day at leisure, shopping or wandering the lanes of the Old Quarter.

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, close to the One Pillar Pagoda and the yellow Presidential Palace. Continue to the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius and later home to Vietnam’s first university, then to West Lake and the peaceful Tran Quoc Pagoda.

The rest of your time is at leisure until your transfer to Noi Bai International Airport for your flight home.