Day 6: Bai Tu Long Bay - Hanoi

Waking up early in the morning by the sounds of the sea, you will be able to see the beautiful sunrise in the bay. After breakfast, you can visit Bai Tu Long National Park which is a treasure of the biosphere on the northeastern coast of Vietnam. Bai Tu Long National Park’s main area is Ba Mun ecology-island which is located in the Bai Tu Long Bay. It is the repository of a lot of genetic samples regarding rare animals and plant species recorded in the Red Book. There are plenty of rare and endangered animal and plant species living in the forests and water areas of the National Park. They have high values for the conservation of genetic resources.

Apart from the National Park, the highlight of Bai Tu Long Bay is the Bat Cave Valley which includes 10 hectares of mangrove forests. Flowing seawater through underground caves helps create the diversity of plant and animal species here. Additionally, this is a reserved area of natural landscape along with culture, and history as archaeologists discovered the existence of the ancient Vietnamese here.
Leaving Halong, you will need to have a good sleep before the exciting adventure to Central Vietnam on the 7th day of the Vietnam journey.Let's find the best cruise at GalaTourist.

Day 7: Flight to Hue

You should catch a morning flight to Hue from Noi Bai airport. It will take about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there. After you land in Hue, check-in at your hotel and list the things you should do while you are here, so you will not miss and regret anything.

Hue was not only the national capital but also the political, cultural, and religious center of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty. This city has an elegant setting on the bank of the Huong River (Perfume River) and is one of the World Heritage Sites recognized by UNESCO.

Visiting Hue, you will be amazed at how small and quiet this city is along with the magnificent architecture of the historical destinations such as citadels, palaces, royal tombs, pagodas, and temples. All of them were built under the Nguyen dynasty. Additionally, Hue has preserved its cultural heritage which includes music, the arts, and other traditions. This is considered the best place in Vietnam to get a sense of imperial life because of its well-known historical values.
If you are a history-lover, a Hue city tour is the perfect idea for you. It represents the outstanding demonstration of the vanished Vietnamese feudal empire’s power. There is a complex of monuments, tombs, and pagodas in the city that has attracted tourists from all around the world. Besides, Hue also has beautiful beaches (Thuan An and Lang Co) for you to bathe and lie under the sun. In addition to that, there are several mineral hot springs (Thanh Tan) where you can relax after a long day.

Another thing that you cannot miss when you visit Hue is food. Hue is famous for a diversity of traditional food which you cannot find anywhere else with the same flavor. All the dishes are not only to satisfy basic needs but also they are forms of art. One of the popular dishes in Hue is rice with baby clams (com hen). It is very simple and cheap but offers the delicious flavor of rice and herbs, mixed with buttery, sour, spices, grease, and baby clams. You should also try other famous dishes such as rice pastry with meat and shrimp (banh bot loc), sweet sticky rice wrapped in leaves (banh la), rice vermicelli with grilled meat (bun thit nuong), rice vermicelli with beef and pork (bun bo gio heo) and sweet soups (che) while you are here.

Day 8: Hue one-day tour

You can start to explore Hue by a visit to Thien Mu Pagoda (Pagoda of the Celestial Lady). Thien Mu Pagoda was built on a hill overlooking the Perfume River. It is only 5km from the city center, not too far for visitors to approach. You can get there by boat, by car or by motorbike.

The oldest pagoda in Hue has its own legend. When Nguyen Hoang (the first Lord of the Nguyen dynasty) was sent to Central Vietnam to rule this area, he needed to find a site for settling down. One day, when he was riding his horse along the Perfume Riverside, he saw a small hillock that looked like a dragon turning its head back. The local people told him a story about an old lady in a red blouse and green trousers who came here every night, saying that a true Lord would come to this place and build a pagoda which made the prosperity of the country. That’s the reason why it is called Thien Mu pagoda (Pagoda of the Celestial Lady).

By the time, with the development, prosperity, and spread of Buddhism, the Thien Mu pagoda was rebuilt on a larger scale with many great architectural structures. In 1710, a big bell was installed here. With its enlarged scale and natural landscape, Thien Mu pagoda was said to be the most beautiful one in the area at that time. Visit the Pagoda today, you can see its unique architecture surrounded by a garden of flowers and plants. At the end of the garden, you will see the Tower of the Superior Buddhist monk Thich Don Hau. He is the most famous head of Thien Mu Pagoda who devoted his whole life to promoting Buddhism.
Next stop, we recommend the Imperial City of Hue (the Hue Citadel). Famous for its poetic and charming beauty, Hue was chosen to place the Citadel where royal families can live. The Imperial City of Hue is an enormous complex of executive bureaucracy. It is enclosed within a square fortress. Each of the four walls is about 2 kilometers long and there is a wide moat on the outside. There are temples, palaces, offices, gardens, and residences inside the Citadel. It takes about 2 hours to walk through the Imperial City because of the sheer size and also, and there are quite a few different sections that are worth looking at.

The most important bit is the Purple Forbidden City which is located in the middle of the Citadel. It was where the emperor and his closest confidants lived and worked. No one could access the place at the time. Today, of course, tourists can walk through and see what remains in it. All the buildings in the Imperial City of Hue have been restored over the years. Visiting the Hue Citadel, there are plenty of historical marks for you to see, you will also be told about the history of the Nguyen dynasty while taking a tour around it.

To fulfill your day tour in Hue, don’t forget to enjoy some of the foods that we mentioned above. Then get some rest in the evening, or you can take a short trip on the Perfume River by boat.

Day 9: Hue - Danang - Hoi An

From Hue, you have two options to transfer to Hoi An Old Town. As there is no airport or train station in Hoi An, the first option is to travel by bus from Hue to Hoi An which takes 4 hours. The second one is to travel by train to Da Nang (which is only 20 km from Hoi An) and then travel by bus to get there. This option takes you longer to get there (about 5 hours), however, Da Nang is a beautiful beach city, so it is a perfect stop for you to relax, it also offers a lot of services for tourists.
Once you get to Hoi An, you will be amazed at this World Heritage Site. Hoi An Old Town is a well-preserved example of a trading port in Southeast Asia from the 15th to the 19th century. It is said to be a living museum of old-town architecture with notable heritage buildings such as Chinese temples, a Japanese design bridge with some pagodas, wooden shophouses, and old canals. Not only the buildings but also the streets reflect the influences of both indigenous and foreign architecture.

Hoi An has been preserving and restoring its charming roots successfully even though large-scale trading had been moved. One of the best destinations to spend the night is Hoi An Riverside which is lit by old-fashioned lanterns. Visiting Hoi An, you can enjoy its great food, have fun shopping, meet friendly people and enjoy the cozy atmosphere.

Day 10: Hoi An one-day tour

Hoi An’s Old Town is a small town so you can get around it on foot. The traffic here is very light too. Only bikes and motorbikes are allowed on some streets, some others even allow only pedestrians. You can also explore the beauty of Hoi An by getting a cyclo-riding tour instead of going on foot. That’s why Hoi An is very attractive and inviting for most travelers to Vietnam, especially for those who want to escape from the bustling and vibrating big cities.

A lot of buildings in this Old Town were built more than 100 years ago and they feature strong Chinese influences. If you take a look at the wooden signboards, you can see them bearing the company names which are carved and gilded in Chinese characters. Many of the old shops have been converted to modern businesses with care to preserve the past. All the businesses today include tailors, souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, and art galleries aimed at tourists. All the major attractions or landmarks of Hoi An are located near each other, so you can easily walk there while looking around the streets.

Although Hoi An is a small and quiet town, you can find a lot of locals and Western cuisines at the restaurants. Many of these restaurants have big lounge bars on the ground floor and eating sections with balconies upstairs. You can choose to have Western food if you miss your home food, however, you will be pleased if you try Vietnamese specialties while you are here too.Some restaurants also offer Hoi An Cooking Class Tour in English. You will be taught to cook 3 to 5 dishes and eat them afterward. After dinner, you can enjoy the nightlife or go back to the hotel to get some rest. The nightlife here is not special and hectic, given Hoi An is a very quiet place. However, you can still find some bars to have a few drinks or play games. Some bars here even start at 4 p.m., but in general, things get quiet after 10 p.m. That makes Hoi An a perfect destination for visitors who want to relax in a quiet and peaceful place.

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