Out of Hanoi, Hanoi

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We had a really great holiday with the right measure of activity versus rest days. Initially we had a concern about being at the older end of your clientele as we are both 60 but this proved unnecessary as not only were we able to "Keep up". This kept us perhaps more active than we might otherwise have been. (We were the oldest in the group of nine though but possibly a being reasonably fit helped.)

No special memories as they were all special in their own way. It is important to be prepared to not always get your own way and go with the flow however and from time to time to do your own thing. Whilst our group was great all having experienced this sort of holiday before it would have been a pain if one our two had been selfish in their requirements.

Hai our tour leader was first class and very very knowledgeable and helpful we would love to have him again if possible. You will see us again of that there is no doubt.

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We booked a trip with Vega Travel to "HANOI– HOA LU– TAM COC" in 2009. Less than US$10, you can travel outside of Hanoi to visit ancient temples and ride boat along the river at Tam Coc.

We traveled south from Hanoi to Hao Lu ancient citadel for about 2 hours. We arrived at Hao Lu, and visited two old temples, Denh and Le King Temple. This area was surrounded by hill, mountains and paddy fields. Then we continued the bus ride to Tam Coc. When we arrived Tam Coc, we had lunch in a nearby restaurant at Tam Coc Harbour front. I remembered it was a good lunch with fish, meat, vegetables, and fruits. After lunch, we boarded into one of those small paddle boat cruised along the river. We had seen beautiful scenery along Tam Coc tunnel grottes. A middle-age mother and a teenager daughter were paddling the boat, and they tried to sell somethings to us during the ride. We thought this might be their part-time job for her to raise her family, so we bought something from her and a small tips.

This is a tour to go with if you have an extra day in Hanoi. Highly recommended!!

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Cat Ba Island is the largest outer island of Ha Long Bay area. The island has a town with schools, a hospital, shops, local communities,restaurants, hotels, and etc. They developed this island as one of the tourist attractions in Ha Long Bay area.

They transferred us to a smaller boat to visit Cat Ba Island. They stopped us at a fish village for lunch. We had a great time as we had lunch on the boat viewing at those stunning stones and Islands. They dropped us at Cat Ba National Park, and walked around Viet Hai Dock area and visited a local farmer village. Then the tour guide drove us to Cat Ba tourist area along the coast and left us at the Hotel. We explored ourselves the Cat Ba area including the beach, school, and community.

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When we arrived at Hanoi, we walked in to a travel agency, Vega Travel which was recommended by lonely planet guide book, to book a 3 day 2 night Ha Long Bay -Cat Ba Island package. Overall, the travel experience was good with Vega.

The tour guide picked us up at the hotel at 8am. It took 3.5 hours to reach Ha Long Bay, and stopped at Bai Chay town for a drink and toilet. When we reached Ha Long Boat station, we boarded a Vietnamese boat and cruised around many limestone mountains. Some of the beautiful islands and sights scenes including Dog Stone, the fighting cock islet, the floating villages and fish farms. We visited the largest cave, Hang Sung Sot, in the bay. The cave was nothing special, but the views outside the cave was stunning. We spent a night on the boat surrounding by Bai Tu Long Bay, Ha Long Bay and Lan Han Bay. The morning sunrise views worth a night stayed on the boat.

We continued our trip to Cat Ba Island.

Ha Long Bay is a must visit destination in Vietnam.

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The second time I go Halong bay we had hard time to decide which travel agent to choose. We finally picked Vega Travel (Fansipan) based on Lonely planet recommendation. http://www.fansipantours.com.vn/aboutus.php

We had a great time as their boat is beautiful and clean. Although their boat is bigger than most other travel agents, their group size is smaller only 12 compared to the usual 16. Their itinerary was comprehensive, we did kayaking, visited caves, swimming in ti-top beach, climb -up to have a panaromic view of the wonderful jewel bay.

The food was excellent, we had delicious fish and prawn fresh from the nearby fish farm(some travel coampany only serve egg, veg and small fried fish), their crew also very friendly. In fact after the tour, we had a very pleasant surprise of getting a very good luncheon in a nearby restaurant on land before driving back to Hanoi.

I have no hesitation to recomend them, thumps Up. Especailly their manager/boss Mr Kien is very friendly providing very good service, very prompt in replying to our all email queries before we booked the tour. We were not asked to pay deposit yet everything went on so well on our arrival.

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There are many good trips outside Hanoi, ranging from one day to a few days. These can be easily organised by the many tour operations in Hanoi, especially in the Old Quarter area. Walk around and compare prices, the company which I joined was ODC Travels (recommended by several VT members) which I found to be good and of reasonable price, Their website is below for your reference.

Trips that are worth considering are:

Ha Long Bay - The scenery here is very beautiful and one of the most famous in Asia. This is also an UNESCO world heritage site. Best is to spend at least 2-3 days here. More information and photos are at my VT Ha Long page.

Sapa - Sapa is a very picturesque town located in the mountains of northern vietnam close to china. You need to take a night train to reach Sapa. It is a very popular tourist attraction in Vietnam and you need to spend at least 2-3 days here to enjoy. More information and photos are at my VT Sa Pa page.

Perfume Pagoda - This famous pagoda can be reached via a day trip from Hanoi. It involves going through a picturesque river before doing quite a tough climb up to the pagoda.

Tam Coc - This place is known as "Halong Bay of the Land", consisting of many beautiful limestone hills, rivers, caves etc. It can be done via a day trip from Hanoi.

Village visit - There are also day tours for you to visit various villages near to Hanoi to experience the life of the local people, handicrafts etc.

I took one day tour to Ha Long bay.
We're picked up from Hanoi at 8 am, arrived at 11, had lunch and then 4 hours cruise tour by boat, climb a hill and see a cave, see floating houses, and by a smaller boat go through a tunnel.
Arrived in Hanoi at 7 pm. It cost 20 USD.
There's a guide who has intention to speak English but we don't really understand what he was saying.

If you're in Hanoi take at least 1 day to see Ha long . It's really beautiful !

If someone should ever compile a list for the seven Natural wonders of the modern world, I'm quite sure Ha Long Bay would make it. It has already been noted by Patricia Schultz as one of the spots in the famed tome "1000 places to see before you die".


1,600 islands and islets, beautiful jade green waters and countless of gigantic limestone pillars. Need I say more? You need to be here to understand what I am saying. Go for a tour package with a reliable agency here. So far ODC and Handspan seem to be the agencies of choice in VT. I went on a 3d2ntour with ODC and had loads of fun!

Cost
About USD56 per person for a full board trip. This also included canoeing.