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Activities: Arrive at Tan Son Nhat international airport and transfer to your hotel before a half-day tour shows you the best of Ho Chi Minh City.
Land in Ho Chi Minh City and take your first steps into the former capital of South Vietnam. The driver will meet you at the airport and show you in your vehicle, which will bring you to your hotel in the city centre.
Once here, check in and relax at your hotel. Take some time to get used to the fast-paced lifestyle of Ho Chi Minh City before the guide arrives in the afternoon. They will take you on your half-day tour of Ho Chi Minh City, starting first at the Reunification Palace, where the war was ended in powerful fashion in 1975. From here, we can move onto the War Remnants Museum to learn more about the events that took place during the 20-year Vietnam War.
After this, we see sites of French colonial Vietnam at Note Dame Cathedral, Saigon Central Post Office and Dong Khoi Street, where we will find the Saigon City Hall. After all of these sites, we make our last stop at the bustling market of Ben Thanh to find a bargain before returning to the hotel.
Meals:
Notes: Check-in at the hotel is available from any time after 2:00 pm
Activities: Transfer to the Cu Chi Tunnels for a half-day exploration of this incredible wartime system.
Take breakfast at your hotel before the driver arrives. The 2-hour journey to the northeast of Ho Chi Minh City starts after this, ending in the wild jungle that hides a secretive underground – Cu Chi Tunnels.
Once we arrive, we will have a quick introduction to the tunnels before climbing into the section that has been enlarged and rendered completely safe for tourists. Here, we can learn more about the horrific conditions that the Viet Cong troops withstood while conducting their operations, either in the form of tending to the wounded, stockpiling weapons or coming up with a plan to topple neighbouring Saigon.
Afterwards, we have a look for trap doors and entrance holes on the jungle floor. Due to their very effective camouflage, this is much, much harder than it sounds.
Lunch follows this in a local restaurant, after which we will begin the transit back to Ho Chi Minh City. You will have the second half of the afternoon and the whole evening to spend however you like here, either with exploration or relaxation.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Activities: Head to the Mekong Delta to enjoy two river cruises, a workshop tour and a cycling tour before returning to Saigon.
Take breakfast and then transfer down to Ben Tre, one of the most luxuriant provinces of the amazing Mekong Delta. There is a calm and laidback atmosphere to Ben Tre, which is something we will discover once we arrive and board our long-tailed boat.
From here, we glide down the Mekong River and its various estuaries, finding lush greenery along the banks. Our path will take us between this greenery and through the languid backwaters of Ben Tre.
We embark onto land to have a look around a brick kiln factory, where we can see how pottery in the Mekong Delta is traditionally fired, as well as how the prominent coconut here is processed into candy, popcorn and various building materials.
Continuing our walk, we pass exotic fruit orchards and golden rice fields before a cycling (or rickshaw) tour of a riverside village. Lunch will be served here as we relax into the early afternoon.
We finish our explorations of the Mekong Delta with one final boat ride, this one through some of the narrow canals tinted green from the sunlight filtering through the leaves of coconut trees and nipa palm. After this, we dock on land and head back to Ho Chi Minh City by bus, arriving at your hotel in the late afternoon.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Activities: Take the drive to the airport and your onward flight to your next destination.
Relish your final breakfast in Ho Chi Minh City. Your driver will arrive at your hotel about 3 hours prior to your flight in order to transfer you to the airport. If you have any time before this, you can spend it savouring the last of the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the city.
Once at the airport, you will board your flight home or to the next destination on your travels.
This marks the end of your four-day tour around Saigon.
We hope that you enjoyed it and have a safe remainder to your trip!
Meals: Breakfast