Northern Vietnam Explorer

The First Taste

All your senses will be ignited upon arrival at Hanoi International (Noi Bai) Airport (HAN) in Hanoi, Vietnam. After meeting the local guide and driver, it’s a 45-minute transfer (depending on traffic) from the airport to our accommodations in the buzzing historic district of the capital city, Hanoi. This ‘city of lakes’ is a foodie hub and is also known for its tube houses, French Colonial architecture, water puppetry and unreal stream of motorbike traffic. The world’s largest mosaic mural is found here too!

We have an orientation and welcome drink with our guide at our hotel at 5:30 p.m. followed by a set menu dinner together (around 6:30 p.m.). Over our first bites of traditional Vietnamese fare at A Ban, our guide will provide finer details about our upcoming days and what to expect, in the cool atmosphere of a woman-owned restaurant that celebrates a hyperlocal menu, the unity of textures found in wood, wool, trees and textiles.

Included Meals

Dinner

Accommodations

Apricot Hotel or similar

Travel

45 minutes (airport transfer)

An Edible Journey

We begin the day tastefully with an interactive Vietnamese cooking class at a riverside house. At 8:30 a.m. our guide and driver will meet us at the hotel for a transfer to Ngoc Thuy market outside the Old Quarter where we will meet our female chef. We learn about unfamiliar vegetables during a wander through the colorful stalls. After a cup of tea, we begin lunch prep under the supervision of our talented host who will share stories about the generational Vietnamese culinary culture. Lunch will be a true taste test of our efforts!

In the afternoon we have an hour-long tea tasting experience at an artfully designed tea house near the historical Temple of Literature. We deepen (and steepen!) our tea history knowledge courtesy of a female tea master who will explain the origins, field-to-cup process, customs and values of tea in Vietnam. We learn how to properly make, taste and distinguish three types of tea.

Afterwards, we visit the Vietnam Women’s Museum which opened in 1995. The exhibits focus on the role of women in family, history and fashion with displays that share stories about marriage and birth customs, traditional costumes and the evolution of Vietnamese women from wartime to modern day.

We then walk through the sleepy alleys and jammed streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter. It’s a bombardment of sights, sounds, smells, vendors, revving motorbikes and the fluidity of life.

Tonight we share a meal of classic Hanoian dishes with a local family in their home while hearing stories about their customs and traditions. We may have the opportunity to meet the head of the family, a veteran in his mid-80s who loves to storytell and entertain with his đàn bầu (a musical instrument). 

We return to our hotel, satiated after a very filling day of flavors and local experiences.

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch (cooking class) and dinner

Accommodations

Apricot Hotel or similar

THe Walk

1 – 1.5 hours (city tour)

Cruise Control

We depart at 8:30 a.m. for Halong, arriving around noon for lunch on the ship. We unpack for two nights.

Lan Ha Bay (a part of Halong Bay) is one of the most startling landscapes in Vietnam with its stretch of uninhabited giant rock islets growing taller with lush vegetation. Halong Bay’s 1,900 wind and time-scraped limestone karsts, islands and islets of rocky peaks were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. 

After lunch we travel by bus to Trung Trang cave on Cat Ba island which is sandwiched in the middle of Cat Ba National Park with Kim Giao Forest fringing the cave. 

The 984-foot long (300m) Trung Trang is an extensive system of 150 large and small caves pocketed in Trung Trang Valley, northwest of Cat Ba town. The supernatural beauty of this cave is an open geology textbook of stalactites, stalagmites and formations of curious shapes and sizes. Trung Trang is also referred to as “Hospital Cave” as it served as a shelter and sanctuary during the Vietnam War. 

Back aboard, we cruise into a less populated area at Tra Bau. In Lan Ha Bay, we can dip into the emerald waters of the archipelago before dinner.

Note: Please be aware that the cruise itinerary can be subject to change due to prevailing weather conditions or changes in regulation by governing bodies. 

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodations

March and April departures – Indochine Cruise
November departures – Orchid Trendy Cruise
*Please note that these boats are not 100% Wild Women exclusive and may include co-ed passengers and staff.

Travel

2.5 hours (private transfer)

Peaches and Beaches

It’s an early bird start around 6:30 a.m. but we ease into things easily with a Tai Chi session on the sundeck. Breakfast will be served in the dining room, offering a knock-out view of the bay’s marine landscape as we begin cruising.  

Around 8 a.m. we transfer to a smaller boat to visit Viet Hai village where we can bike along the village path, witness local life in the valley and cut through the shade of the rainforest and a tunnel. The jade rice fields color the way as we spin along, stopping for rest breaks and to see an ancient house constructed from straw, mud and bamboo. For those who don’t wish to bike, an electric car service is available for a small fee.

After lunch onboard, we visit Ba Trai Dao (Three Peaches Islets) via a smaller boat. The isles are so-named for their appearance though some insist that the name stems from a romantic legend involving a fairy and a fisherman. Either way, this parakeet-green body of water is designed for chilling out.

We return to the boat around 5 p.m. for an optional cooking demonstration, more swimming or Happy Hour while watching the sun melt into the Gulf of Tonkin before dinner.

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodations

March and April departures – Indochine Cruise
November departures – Orchid Trendy Cruise
*Please note that these boats are not 100% Wild Women exclusive and may include co-ed passengers and staff.

Exploring the Ancient Capital

We rise early again to take in the serenity of the bay during another Tai Chi session on the sundeck. If we wish to see dawn break, our sailors can let us know the exact time to be ready for the all natural show.

A light and leisurely breakfast will be served (pastries with tea or coffee) as we continue our scenery-soaked cruise. As we make our way back to the marina, we visit a nearby cave—-the underground system of chambers and dazzling formations of stalactites and stalagmites are an otherworldly experience. We reach the cave by vehicle before returning to our boat to pack up before enjoying brunch as we cruise back. 

We disembark at the Tuan Chau Marina and then it’s onward to Ninh Binh where we visit Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam. The King Dinh Tien Hoang and King Le Dai Hanh temples serve as timeworn 10th century architecture. 

Hoa Lu is a renowned part of the dual UNESCO World Heritage Site: Trang An Landscape Complex. The site has both impressive cultural and ecological significance. Here, limestone karst peaks poke the sky, valleys are submerged and surrounded by near-vertical cliffs. Exploration of these caves has revealed tell-tale traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. After visiting the UNESCO site we travel to our accommodations and can stop for snacks along the way.

After checking into our hotel, we gather for a chatty dinner at our hotel to reminisce about our time in Halong Bay.

Included Meals

Breakfast, brunch and dinner

Accommodations

Ninh Binh Hidden Charm Hotel and Resort (or similar)

Travel

3.5–4 hours (Halong to Ninh Binh)

Stalactites and Serenity

We have the option of an early morning climb up the famed 486 stone steps to reach the summit of the Ngoa Long mountain (known as the Majestic Crouching Dragon mountain). The view of Tam Coc, the chartreuse rice fields, the river and the mountain range from the Hang Mua viewpoint are worth the sweat equity. This is one of the most memorable panoramas of the Trang An Landscape Complex. 

After the climb and a refueling breakfast, we head to the boat pier to see the caves of Tam Coc by sampan (a flat-bottomed wooden boat). The landscape is surreal as gigantic rock formations push out of the water’s surface and heave into limestone cliffs. Tam Coc refers to three caves: Ca Cave, Hai Cave and Ba Cave. The low cavern ceilings drip with stalactites and were created by millions of years of rain, pounding waves, geological shifts and cliff erosion.

After our sampan returns us to shore we will check out of our hotel in Ninh Binh and make a beeline to a small village with a limestone peak backdrop for lunch in a local home. Our hosts live beside a rice field and lake where we may try fishing if we wish. Lunch will be a simple but generous one in the courtyard under the shade of an old tree. We sample traditional local specialities while learning more about their family and daily life through shared stories.

In the afternoon, we make our way to Mai Chau, a valley that has been populated by the White Thai tribe for centuries. Our final destination is the  mountainside luxury villas of Avana Retreat. Here, nature abounds and three ethnic groups live in the embrace out the tropical forest. Avana’s design is wholly inspired by the local ethnic culture and visible in the rattan ceilings, earth walls and thatched roofs that naturally blend into the stand of forest, rice fields and verdant valley below.

There will be time to enjoy the spectacular everything before dinner on-site.

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodations

Avana Retreat

The Walk

1 hour

Travel

4 hours (Ninh Binh to Avana Retreat)

Beauty and Batik

To continue on with our gentle rise and shine theme, there is an optional one-hour private yoga class scheduled for our group. There are also complimentary Hatha or Yin yoga sessions, singing bowl meditation, breathwork and Vietnamese language classes provided by the resort on a rotating daily schedule as well.

After breakfast, we travel to Pa Co village where the Hmong or “Blue Hmong” reside. This name stems from the indigo-dyed batiked head cloth, fabric and knee-length skirts women wear. A local woman will introduce us to the village before we participate in a batik workshop and learn how patterns are created using melted beeswax and coloured thread. We also visit the tea plantation where we are invited to pick some leaves for tea. On our walk we may see hemp crops which the locals harvest and use to make fabric. In the village, we can visit a few houses to see the indigo dyeing process and batik beeswax drawings that are part of this unique wax resist technique.

Lunch will be in another nearby village in a house owned by a Thai minority woman. We then transfer to Mai Hich to walk around the rice paddy fields and through the different villages of the White Thai ethnic people. With an imposing mountain backdrop, we pass by corn, sugarcane, cassava and peanut plantations before a gentle uphill climb to reach the Buoc village. Here, we will relax before dinner at a local home with a traditional musical performance. It’s a quick 15 minute drive back to Avana Retreat.

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodations

Avana Retreat

The Walk

3.7 miles (6 km) or approximately 2–2.5 hours depending on the group’s pace with a 492 feet (150 m) elevation gain.

Laze a Little Longer

This morning we will immerse ourselves in nature, following a route from the resort through the countryside. Peace emanates from the depths of the forest, deserted country roads and omnipresent rice paddy fields. Local life unfolds in daily rhythms as we pass through ethnic villages along the way. We should arrive back at Avana by noon.

We have the afternoon to spend as we wish. It’s easy to while away the day at Avana—there are on-site complimentary activities to choose from or enjoy a rejuvenating swim in the Cloud pool. This heated three-tier pool was inspired by the surrounding terraced rice fields of Mai Chau. At the Orchid Spa, choose from a menu of services (additional fee) including Vietnamese energy work, mountain stone massage, As the retreat suggests, “laze a little longer.”

There are koi-filled ponds, a bamboo forest, a hidden springs lagoon and a terrace to linger with your fellow Wild Women over a signature Fingers of the Dragon cocktail (a blend of vodka, apricot brandy, and marinated artichoke blossom).

In the evening we reunite for dinner together by the ribbons of the cascading waterfall.

Included Meals

Breakfast and dinner

Accommodations

Avana Retreat

The Walk

3.7 miles (6 km) or approximately 3 hours with a 328–984 foot (100–300m) elevation gain (walk is optional)

Kayaking Escape

After breakfast, we check-out of the spoils of the Avana Retreat with a sigh. It’s a two hour drive to Hoa Binh Reservoir where we will have our tandem kayaking experience on one of the largest manmade lakes in Vietnam located on the Da River. Known as “Ha Long Bay on the mountain” the construction of a hydroelectric dam swallowed the former hills and mountains which now appear as islands. This is an optional activity–you may opt to stay on the boat instead.

We paddle the calm waters of the lake for two hours, absorbing the enveloping surroundings of forested mountains and clusters of islands and islets. 

Lunch will be at a local home where we can reflect on our serene paddle before returning to the congestion and buzz of Hanoi.

At 4 p.m. we check into our city hotel and have time to refresh and reset before gathering for our farewell dinner at the hotel.

Included Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Accommodations

Apricot Hotel or similar

Kayaking

2 hours (approximately 6 miles/ 10km), Intermediate level

Travel

4 hours (from Avana to Ba Lake: 2 hours; Ba Lake to Hanoi: 2 hours)

Hanoi Hugs

After breakfast, there will be one group transfer to the Noi Bai airport. Sigh. With Vietnam’s vibrancy firmly etched on our hearts, we have to determine where to travel together next. Hug your fellow Wild Women goodbye, for now, at least. What a soul-enriching time it’s been. 

Looking to travel more in the same area of the world? Consider our Northern Cambodia Explorer!

Included Meals

Breakfast