Northern Vietnam & the Sapa Highlands

Your Pai Dai guide meets the group in the arrivals hall at Noi Bai International Airport, where a private coach is already waiting. The run into the centre takes around forty minutes, and the drive is the first orientation of the trip, an unhurried sketch of the eight days ahead with nothing for the group to arrange.

Check-in to the hotel on the edge of the Old Quarter, within walking reach of Hoan Kiem Lake. Rooms are confirmed before arrival and the afternoon is kept light after the flight, a first slow walk to the lake or simply time to settle.

A welcome dinner in the Old Quarter, the first taste of the northern kitchen, and an early briefing on the climb to the highlands to come. Nothing is over-scheduled on the first night by design.

A guided morning through the parts of Hanoi that reward a slow pace: the thirty-six guild streets of the Old Quarter, each historically given to a single trade, and the Temple of Literature, the country's first university, founded in 1070, with its courtyards and the stone stelae of the scholars who passed the royal examinations.

Across the red The Huc bridge to Ngoc Son Temple on its island in Hoan Kiem Lake, then time in the French Quarter, the tree-lined boulevards and the cafes. The afternoon stays flexible enough to fold in the group's own pace.

An evening water-puppet performance, the thousand-year-old delta art of the north, followed by dinner. An early night ahead of the move to altitude.

Out of Hanoi for the run northwest to Lao Cai and up into the mountains, by the new expressway or by overnight train depending on the group, climbing from the delta into the cloud country of the far north. The road gains altitude through tea and bamboo until the terraced valleys open below.

Arrival into Sapa and the first view down the Muong Hoa Valley, the rice terraces stepping a thousand metres from the ridgeline to the river, cut by the Hmong and the Dao over generations. Check-in to the highland lodge and an afternoon to acclimatise to the cooler air.

Dinner in the highlands, the kitchen leaning on the mountain larder, smoked buffalo, foraged greens, and the local rice spirit for those who want it. The night is cool and quiet this high up.

A guided walk down into the Muong Hoa Valley with a local hill guide, on the paths between Lao Chai and Ta Van, through the terraces and the villages of the Black Hmong and the Giay. The walking is gentle and the pace is the group's, with the coach meeting the trail at the valley floor.

An option on the high roof of the country: the cable car and funicular up Fansipan, at 3,143 metres the highest peak in Indochina, to the summit complex and its pagodas above a sea of cloud. For groups who would rather stay in the valley, the Cat Cat village and its waterfall sit a short walk below the town.

Back in Sapa town for the evening, the stone church on the central square, the night market, and a last highland dinner before the descent. A free evening to wander the cool streets.

The descent from the highlands and the run south, leaving the mountains for the limestone country below the delta. The drive is long but broken, and the landscape shifts from terraced ridges to the flooded paddies and karst towers that give Ninh Binh its name as the Ha Long Bay on land.

Arrival into Ninh Binh and the climb at Mua Cave, around five hundred stone steps to the dragon ridge above the Tam Coc valley, where the river threads between the karst towers and the paddies run gold or green with the season. Check-in to the hotel below.

Dinner in the karst country, the local goat and the crisp rice the region is known for, and a quiet night between the towers before the morning on the water.

A small sampan rowed through the Tam Coc or Trang An channels, low between the limestone walls and through the river caves, often rowed by foot in the local way. An unhurried hour and a half on still water before the towers, the quietest morning of the trip.

Overland east across the delta to the coast and the Ha Long embarkation pier, around three and a half hours with a break, the guide using the drive to brief the cruise and the bay. We board on the quieter side, away from the busiest day lanes.

Board the private overnight junk in the early afternoon and settle in as the boat moves out among the limestone islands. Sunset cocktails on the sundeck, then dinner on board built around seafood landed by the families who work the bay. The night is silent out here, the islands black against the stars.

Tai chi on the top deck at first light for whoever wants it, then the bay programme, kayaking through narrow limestone passages no motor can reach, a swim off a quiet beach, or a bamboo rowboat past a floating fishing village before the junk lifts anchor.

Brunch on board, disembarkation, and the private transfer back to Hanoi, around two and a half hours through the delta. The group is checked in to the city hotel with the late afternoon still open after a day that began on the water.

A final dinner in Hanoi, a relaxed close to the circuit, with the last evening left open for a walk around the lake as the city softens and the lights come up on the water.

A final breakfast and a leisurely checkout arranged around the group's flights rather than the hotel's clock. Time for a last coffee on a quiet Old Quarter street or a final lap of Hoan Kiem Lake if the timing allows.

Private transfers to Noi Bai International Airport, with flight timings cross-checked the evening before so there is nothing to organise on the morning itself. For groups extending south, the Da Nang and Hoi An leg or a Thailand connection runs on most afternoon schedules.

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