عطلة الشاطئ في جنوب فيتنام

Southern Vietnam has two distinct moods, and this seven-day private itinerary takes both in turn. Four of the six nights are based in Ho Chi Minh City, where the Cu Chi Tunnels and a half-day circuit of wartime and colonial landmarks fill the opening days, followed by a full day in the Mekong Delta. The other two nights are on the coast at Mui Ne. It suits travellers who want the history first and the beach afterwards, one of several Vietnam itineraries we arrange.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Three Nights In Ho Chi Minh City

Your guide meets you at Ho Chi Minh City international airport and takes you to your hotel, the first of a three-night stay. The next morning goes to the Cu Chi Tunnels, the underground network Vietnamese fighters built during the long struggle for independence, which held hospitals, accommodation and schools and was a Vietcong base in the American war. The afternoon is a half-day city tour: the now-demolished wartime American Embassy, the Reunification Palace, residence of Southern Vietnam's President until April 1975, the French colonial Old Saigon Post Office and neo-Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral, the Jade Emperor Pagoda and the War Remnants Museum. If time permits, it closes at the bustling Ben Thanh Market.

A Full Day In The Mekong Delta

Day three heads into the delta, crossing by ferry to Tan Phong island and a Mekong ecolodge, where you rest before a cooking session and the lunch you helped prepare. A walk takes in fruit and flower gardens where you may pick and eat what is ripe. Around 11:50 bicycles are handed out for a circuit of the island: a farmer who built his own church to President Ho Chi Minh, the largest Van Nien Tung ornamental garden, sugarcane juice and hammocks at the next house, rice paper rolling and water hyacinth knitting. You then make jackfruit cake, a specialty of the island, before the ferry back across the river around 16:00.

The Road To Mui Ne

Day four begins with a 9:00 pick-up at the hotel and a scenic 200km transfer to Mui Ne town, made without a guide. The road passes bustling cities and dense rubber plantations before the terrain turns to arid semi-desert, with cactus and the strange-looking dragon fruit plants around Phan Thiet. After checking in at the resort you can relax by the pool or wander onto the beach. For the north instead, there is a six-day North and Central Vietnam trip and a nine-day Panorama of Vietnam.

Two Free And Easy Nights At The Beach

Day five is entirely unscheduled, with no guide and no transfer. Stay at the hotel, try the water sports on the beach, take a jeep tour to the enormous sand dunes or ride a bike through the rural landscape to local villages and fishing ports; the Nick Faldo-designed Ocean Dunes Golf Course is excluded. On day six a private driver returns you to Ho Chi Minh City, around four to five hours, for the final night, and the last morning is free until the airport transfer. For an island alternative, see our Bali holiday collection.

GOOD TO KNOW

This private trip includes accommodation on twin or double sharing, all transfers in a private air-conditioned vehicle, a private boat cruise in the Mekong Delta, entrance fees, water, cool towels and government taxes. The English-speaking guide covers guided time only: days four to seven run without one, and the Mui Ne free day has no transfer either. Meals are breakfast daily plus the delta lunch; all others are at your own expense. Flights, airport taxes, insurance and the Vietnam visa are excluded. Tipping for the local guide and van driver is compulsory at fixed per-person daily rates. Christmas, New Year and Tet surcharges apply; check-in 14:00, check-out 12:00.