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3 Day North Vietnam Adventure

Highlights

  • Hike through the Cat Ba National Park to the local village of Viet Hai
  • Kayak to Luon Cave
  • Tour around the less visited Lan Ha Bay on a traditional Vietnamese boat
  • Hike up Marine Hill for some of the best views in the country
  • Visit to the floating fishing village of Cai Beo
From £420 pp
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What you'll do

Overview

Say hello to North Vietnam. A region so mindbogglingly astounding there aren't many words to describe it. With cascading mountains, lush karst studded waters, floating villages, it's clear there's plenty of adventure to be had.

This 3 day tour takes you to all the best, off the beaten track places in the region. You'll hike to local villages, cruise on a traditional sailboat to some of the less visited bays, snorkel at secret beaches, kayak to hidden caves and stay with a local family, wow will definitely be the word of the trip.

Hanoi - Cat Ba National Park

On day 1, you’ll be picked up from your hotel at 08:00 and be whisked straight away on your Northern Vietnam adventure. Starting with a drive to Dinh Vu Harbour, from which you’ll board a high speed boat for the journey to one of the jewels in Vietnam’s crown, Cat Ba Island. Upon arrival at this wonderful island, you’ll head straight for a bite to eat in the local town. Afterwards, accompanied with your expert local guide, you’ll spend the afternoon in the Cat Ba National Park hiking to the Viet Hai Village, this stunning protected reserve takes up half of the Cat Ba Island, so it’s fair to say  it’s wildlife is very much in abundance. With a myriad of  indigenous plant and fascinating animal species, including native cats, spotted deer, snakes, thousands of species of butterfly (yes there are that many) and if you’re lucky you’ll spot one of the rarest primates in the world, the Cat Ba langur, with a population of around just 70, these little guys are critically endangered (But conservation efforts are on the up) and are indigenous to Vietnam only. Even in the human-inhabited areas of Cat Ba National Park, the only real evidence of man made influence is limited to gravel roads and a few local villages. So you’ll be fully off the beaten track here.

Your accommodation for the evening  will be a homestay at the Whisper Nature Bungalow in Viet Hai Village.

(Meals included: lunch and dinner).

Lan Ha Bay

After an early 07:30 breakfast, with your guide, you’ll hike to the top of Marine Hill which serves up panoramic views of Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay. On your return, you’ll have some time to relax before cycling to to Viet Hai Harbour. From here, you’ll board a boat to explore Lan Ha Bay, located just south east of Cat Ba town, this is one of the most naturally beautiful bays in the country. Filled with small local fishing craft and water villages, that float on the gorgeous green limestone tinged water. And the best part about it? Not as many tourist venture here, due to it being away from the hotspot of Halong City, so you don’t have to worry about sharing the waters with shed loads of other tour boats. It’s even possible to have it all to yourself (apart from the locals, obviously).

You’ll have lunch aboard the boat and then set out kayaking around Hang Luon Cave, this wondrous open air cave can only be accessed by boat and is made up of limestone cliffs and a cool, green lake, with a vibrant natural ecosystem of mammals and fish.

Afterwards, your guide will take you to some of the beautiful local beaches for a swimming and snorkelling session.

You’ll then head back to the boat for dinner and this spend the night here aboard the ship!

(Meals included: breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Lan Ha Bay to Hanoi

You’ll be up early to enjoy your breakfast watching the sunrise over the bay. You’ll then continue on the boat to explore more of Lan Ha Bay. Today, you’ll head to the colourful local village Cai Beo. This fascinating little village is home to just 450 families, the houses here have walls, roofs and ceilings just like any humble abode. But the garden? Yep, it’s all just ocean.

After your visit to Cai Beo, you’ll have some lunch either on board the boat or on land. And disembark travel back to Hanoi City.

 

(Meals included: breakfast and lunch).

What's included

Included

  • Meals stated in itinerary
  • Accommodation stated in itinerary
  • All tours and sightseeing fees
Your local host

Nguyen Tuan Linh

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born in Vietnam up in the rural areas of the tea country and growing up I developed a passion for the outdoors and just exploring the unexplored. I worked for my grandfather, in the rice fields in the Phu Tho province. And as I grew, so did my curiosity for the world, bringing the ambition of working to discover the world.

At 19, I took my first footsteps in following my dream, and travelled to Hanoi to study tourism at university and to learn English.

With a dream of becoming a professional tour guide, I continued studying tourism and spent three years working in the tourism industry as a tour guide for a number of travel companies in Hanoi. Responding to the travel aspira... Read All

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born in Vietnam up in the rural areas of the tea country and growing up I developed a passion for the outdoors and just exploring the unexplored. I worked for my grandfather, in the rice fields in the Phu Tho province. And as I grew, so did my curiosity for the world, bringing the ambition of working to discover the world.

At 19, I took my first footsteps in following my dream, and travelled to Hanoi to study tourism at university and to learn English.

With a dream of becoming a professional tour guide, I continued studying tourism and spent three years working in the tourism industry as a tour guide for a number of travel companies in Hanoi. Responding to the travel aspirations many international travellers seek, I sought out off-the-beaten-track places to show visitors, and approached many ethnic minority villages to arrange visits there too. I gained expertise in everything from giving travellers tips on how to get around the country, to itineraries ideal for business travellers.
The combination of volunteering, environmental protection and sustainable tourism development gave me the idea of forming my own tour company and have been doing this ever since.

What inspired you to work in travel? 

The one thing that sticks out as being the main inspiration has to be the country I grew up in, Vietnam.When I was working as a tour guide, I would ask people where they were going and it would always be the main tourists places. So I realised there was so much that people were not seeing and I wanted to change that.

I also love travelling myself, the people you meet, the stories you hear, and the things you learn are just fascinating. So I wanted to share this passion with others.

What makes your experiences special? 

Finding off the beaten path experiences has always been a passion of mine. I always make sure the experiences I offer are truly authentic, that you can’t find anywhere else.

All of our partners are local people living in and around the places that we visit. We make annual trips to all of our destinations to research and re-verify the quality of service provided, as well as spend time training and teaching the people how to best run accommodation and other services for visitors. When staying in luxury hotels, we always pick ones situated near nature, and the homestays we work with work exclusively through us, ensuring that we offer unique experiences through our partners that you can’t find with anyone else.

Nguyen Tuan Linh image
Sustainability Efforts

What Sustainability Efforts are we Taking?

At Not in the Guidebooks we’re committed to empowering the local communities in Costa Rica. We work closely with the local people and their businesses to make sure that they receive a fair percentage of the money you spend on your holiday there. By partnering with local guides and suppliers, we’re able to create meaningful, authentic experiences that directly benefit the people who call this incredible country home.

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What our travellers are saying...

Leaving Hanoi we were collected at the hotel by shuttle bus & went to Cat ba national park hiked for approximately 3-4 hours to a homestay where we spent our first night, the second day we travelled to Halong bay stayed overnight on a “cruisie” which my daughter and I had to ourselves. The captain preparing the freshest taste bud tingling food for us, you would struggle to get that kind of quality in many restaurants.Views from the boat amazi

Julian

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