Vietnam and Cambodia: from Hanoi to Angkor

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1. Day1 Athens → Hanoi: the long flightAthens → Hanoi

   We meet at Athens airport with your Greek coordinator and fly to Hanoi on a scheduled flight with one connection. The journey crosses several time zones and includes a night in the air: rest as much as you can, because Hanoi is waiting.

   • Flight
2. Day2 Hanoi: Old Quarter and water puppetsHanoi

   Arrival in Hanoi and transfer to the hotel. We walk into the Old Quarter, where streets still bear the names of old trades, between motorbikes, bowls of steaming pho and shops piled high. After a stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake, an evening show of water puppets, a folk art born in the villages of the Red River delta. Welcome dinner.

   • Coach
   • Dinner
3. Day3 Ha Long Bay: cruise and a night on boardHa Long Bay

   We drive east to Ha Long Bay and board a traditional wooden junk for an overnight cruise. We sail among over a thousand limestone islets rising from emerald water, with time to swim or kayak in a sheltered cove, visit a cave and learn to roll spring rolls. Sunset on the deck, dinner and the night on board.

   • Coach
   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
4. Day4 From Ha Long to Hoi AnHa Long → Hoi An

   At sunrise, tai chi on the deck, then brunch while we sail back among the karsts. After disembarking we return to Hanoi and fly to Da Nang; a short drive takes us to Hoi An, where we arrive in the evening and find the first lanterns lit along the old streets.

   • Flight
   • Breakfast · Lunch
5. Day5 Hoi An: old streets, tailors and lanternsHoi An

   Hoi An, the old trading port with its mustard-yellow houses. After a bicycle ride through rice fields and a village, we walk the old town: the Japanese Covered Bridge, merchants' houses and tailors' workshops. Lunch with a cooking demonstration; at dusk the silk lanterns light up and candle lanterns float on the Thu Bon river.

   • On foot
   • Breakfast · Lunch
6. Day6 Hoi An → Ho Chi Minh CityHoi An → Ho Chi Minh City

   A slow morning in Hoi An, with a last walk by the river or a coffee in a courtyard. We then drive to Da Nang and fly to Ho Chi Minh City, the southern metropolis still often called Saigon, where the roar of motorbikes and the warmth of the evening welcome us. Dinner in a local restaurant.

   • Flight
   • Breakfast · Dinner
7. Day7 Ho Chi Minh City: colonial centre and CholonHo Chi Minh City

   A day in Ho Chi Minh City: the French colonial buildings of the centre, including the Central Post Office, the Reunification Palace and the bustle of Ben Thanh market. In the afternoon, Cholon, the Chinese quarter, with the Thien Hau temple heavy with incense. Evening free.

   • On foot
   • Breakfast · Lunch
8. Day8 Mekong Delta: canals and islandsMekong Delta

   A day in the Mekong Delta. We drive south and board boats to cruise between the green islands of the delta, then continue by rowing boat along narrow canals shaded by palms. Tasting of tropical fruit, a coconut-candy workshop, a ride along village paths and a lunch of delta specialities. Return to Ho Chi Minh City by evening.

   • Boat
   • Breakfast · Lunch
9. Day9 Flight to Siem ReapHo Chi Minh City → Siem Reap

   Flight to Siem Reap, in Cambodia. After check-in, an afternoon at leisure by the hotel pool or in the old market quarter, with its stalls of silks, spices and krama scarves. Early dinner: tomorrow we rise before dawn for Angkor Wat.

   • Flight
   • Breakfast · Dinner
10. Day10 Angkor Wat at dawn, Bayon and Ta ProhmAngkor

    Before dawn we are at Angkor Wat to watch the five towers emerge from the dark and mirror themselves in the pond as the sky turns pink. Then we enter Angkor Thom: the Bayon, with its towers carved with enormous smiling faces, and the Terrace of the Elephants. In the afternoon, Ta Prohm, where giant roots swallow the galleries.

    • Coach
    • Breakfast · Lunch
11. Day11 Banteay Srei and the Cambodian countrysideSiem Reap · Banteay Srei

    A gentler day. We drive to Banteay Srei, a small temple in pink sandstone with carvings so fine they look like lace, then cross the countryside among palms, rice fields and wooden houses on stilts. Free afternoon for the pool, a massage or the markets. Farewell dinner with a performance of Apsara dance.

    • Coach
    • Breakfast · Dinner
12. Day12 Siem Reap → AthensSiem Reap → Athens

    After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight home on scheduled services with one or two connections. You return to Athens with the scent of lemongrass in your memory, the lanterns of Hoi An and the stone faces of the Bayon.

    • Flight
    • Breakfast