HA NOI - HA LONG BAY INCENTIVE 5 DAYS

On arrival at the airport or hotel, guests are met by ladies in traditional Vietnamese dress presenting a jasmine floral garland to each guest. Transfer to your hotel for private check in, enjoy welcome drink and live music when check in. 

Enjoy ‘Streets of Hanoi’ Dinner at the Sofitel Metropole Hotel.

A wonderful welcome to Vietnam with the restaurant and terrace set up in a Hanoi street buffet style with bamboo trays and show cooking of traditional dishes. 

‘Streets of Hanoi’ dinner at La Veranda Function room and terrace inclusive: 

• Pre lunch cocktails will be held on the courtyard in the arms of the Opera Wing with a view to the grass garden, swimming pool and Metropole colonial 100-year-old building. Price excluding pre lunch drinks
• Vietnamese ‘Streets of Hanoi’ Buffet dinner including show cooking stations
• BBQ Stations set up outside
• Tables decorated with Vietnamese art and handicraft
• Performance of traditional Vietnamese music and dances.

Breakfast at hotel. City tour starting with the Ho Chi Minh complex (Closed on Mondays and Fridays mornings and whole September and October for annual repairs). Visit One Pillar pagoda, founded by King Ly Thai To in 1049. This structure has become an important symbol for the people of Hanoi. Our next stop will be the Temple of Literature - Vietnam’s first university. Constructed in 1070. The temple is dedicated to one of the world’s most famous scholars, Confucius. Inside the temple grounds huge stone stele rest on the backs of even larger stone turtles (in Vietnamese culture the turtle represents longevity). 

Lunch at “Wild Rice” Restaurant. 

This relatively new addition to the Hanoi restaurant scene offers fantastic Vietnamese cuisine in beautiful surroundings.  With quite modern décor, the restaurant give the feel of light and air with windows floor to ceiling, sky lights offering natural light and walls painted in soft whites, rice padi green or peach.

After your lunch, enjoy a cyclo ride through Hanoi’s Old Quarter, also known as “36 streets.” This bustling area of narrow streets and alleys is home to thousands of small businesses and shopkeepers. It’s a great place to explore with plenty of photo opportunities all around you. We will travel around the famous Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword.) - The heart of Hanoi Capital. 

Start your evening with a traditional water puppet performance (Roi Nuoc). The stage is actually a large container of water where the characters (carved wooden puppets} “act” out the story. Most of the stories are whimsical and fun, and the puppeteers stand in waist deep water behind a screen controlling the puppets with rods that mostly are under the water.

Western Set Dinner on the Terrace of the Press Club Restaurant.

Distinguished as the city's most prestigious dining establishment, The restaurant offers a fine dining experience without being too formal, where you will enjoy award-winning cuisine housed in sophisticated and elegant surroundings complemented by an adjacent open-air Terrace and a relaxing bar.   
The restaurant has won the 'Best Fine Dining Restaurant' 1999 2000, 2001 and 2002 by the Vietnam Economic Times.  Here guests will be met at the ground floor entrance by hostesses dressed in Ao Dais bearing chilled jasmine scented hand towels.  

Free your time at leisure. Overnight in Hanoi.

Breakfast at hotel. We depart for Ha Long city (170 km), approximately three hours away to visit Halong bay (a World Natural Heritage site and a New World’s Wonder). Halong bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes with 1969 islets. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, other support floating villages of fishermen. You have chance of observing scenic country side of Vietnam dominated by enormous lush rice field. 

Upon arrival in Halong. Check-in between 11:30 - 12:00 at the boat port. Enjoy a refreshing “Welcome cocktail” upon check-in on the sun deck. Enjoy your lunch as the vessel sails to Halong Bay passing the Fighting cocks islet, the Elephant leg islet, the Castle islet, the Soi Sim island...

After taking a lot of photos and admire the beauty of the cave we will visit the fishing village by local rowing boat with the opportunity to interact with fishermen who have been living in the bay for almost three generations then we return to the vessel for free time at your leisure. You can swim in the clear emerald waters, soak up the sun over a cool beer on the top deck sun lounge or try your hand at some kayaking (your account) amongst the huge limestone outcrops that surround us. We retire to the junk and relax on the top deck and enjoy a refreshing drink from the bar. Enjoy and learn the Vietnamese cooking demonstration on the sundeck.

Enjoy Gala Dinner in the Trong Cave (maximum 90 guests).

Tenders will transport you from the Junk Boat to the cave. Arrive at the Cave Entrance and greeted by women in Ao Dai (traditional dress) with torches. The cave entrance is short (30 m). The path leading to the cave is quite sloping. However staffs will stand there & assist all guests to access the cave. The floor in the cave is relatively flat and easy to walk on. The Cave will be lighted by scattered candles.

All table and chair are covered with red bows and red table runners, rose and candle centerpieces, full table setting. 

Enjoy special dinner with Jazz Band with Singer.

(The itinerary above may be changed depending on the cruise we choose and weather permitting).

Greet the day with a morning Tai Chi exercise with an opportunity to view the sunrise over the bay Coffee, tea and breakfast pastries served in the dining room. Cruise to Surprise Cave area then transfer to the Cave by tender. This is one of two most beautiful Caves in Halong Bay with great collection of stalagmites and stalactites in the beautiful space. It is really a wonder of nature. Back to the boat for a final glimpse of the Halong Bay while cruising back to the dock with Set Menu or Buffet Brunch served in the dining room.

On the way back to Hanoi, visit Tho Ha the famous village of terracotta products before 20th century. Discover village through narrow and zigzag alleys with the old houses had been constructed from broken part of terracotta from the past. Walking over village cemetery to the dike, where you can see the village from distance over the beautiful lake. 

Enjoy dinner at Wild Lotus. 

Wild Lotus, whose second-floor dining room — a high-ceilinged space with pale walls adorned with faint lotus paintings — may be the grandest in Hanoi.

Free your time at leisure. Overnight in Hanoi.

Breakfast at hotel. Free time to relax or visit the exciting Dong Xuan covered market, the oldest and largest market in Hanoi. Here you can buy anything from ‘ghost money’ (usually fake $100 bills!) to replica Louis Vuitton bags. Our guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel and transfer to the airport for your departure flight.