Vietnam Arts & Handicrafts
$0
per person
16 Days
Discover Vietnam’s rich artistic heritage and traditional craftsmanship on this 16-day journey from vibrant Saigon to historic Hanoi. Explore bustling markets, visit master artisans, learn age-old skills from calligraphy to marble carving, and immerse yourself in the country’s vibrant cultural scene. Alongside hands-on experiences, you’ll cruise the Mekong Delta, stroll through ancient towns, trek among rice terraces, and sail past Halong Bay’s majestic limestone cliffs. This is an inspiring adventure for travelers who love art, history, and authentic cultural encounters.
Highlights:
- Cruise the Saigon River with a welcome dinner and introduction to Vietnamese cuisine
- Meet local artists, explore craft workshops, and enjoy a cyclo ride through Saigon’s nightlife
- Discover Mekong Delta orchards, bonsai gardens, and Cai Rang floating market
- Visit marble sculpture workshops and lantern-lit streets of UNESCO-listed Hoi An
- Join a market tour and cooking class with a Vietnamese chef
- Experience rural life with farming, fishing, and bamboo basket boat paddling
- Explore Hue’s Imperial Citadel, royal tombs, and traditional garden houses
- See incense-making and conical hat villages in the countryside
- Meet ethnic minorities at colorful hill tribe markets in Sapa
- Learn traditional music in Bac Ninh and see Dong Ho woodblock painting
- Take a cyclo ride through Hanoi’s Old Quarter and enjoy a water puppet show
- Sail overnight through Halong Bay’s breathtaking limestone islands
Excerpt:
Discover Vietnam’s arts and handicrafts in 16 days: from Saigon and the Mekong Delta to Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Sapa, and Halong Bay — meeting master artisans, learning traditional skills, and exploring markets, villages, and iconic landscapes.
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Reviews
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Departure/Return Location
Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon (start) - Hanoi (finish) -
Departure Time
Flexible, depending on your flight schedule -
Return Time
Flexible, depending on your flight schedule
Tour Plan
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Day 1: Arrival in Saigon (D)
On arrival in Saigon, you will be transferred to your hotel. Freshen up and relax rest of the day. This evening board the Saigon River Boat for your welcome dinner and your introduction to Vietnamese cuisine as you cruise the Saigon River.
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Day 2: Saigon (B)
The first introduction to Vietnamese handicrafts as we visit a Latin Calligraphy Artist, some of the best galleries, several craft workshops and retail outlets in Saigon during our city tour. This evening, enjoy a cyclo ride for two hours to see the nightlife. Free to make as many stops as you wish, for pictures or for a drink or anything that takes your fancy.
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Day 3: Saigon-Mekong Delta (B, L)
A visit to the Mekong is one of the best ways to experience rural life. Drive through beautiful agricultural areas well known as the fruit and rice basket of Vietnam. This afternoon, take a boat trip to explore some of the myriad of estuaries and islands. Visit orchards, bonsai gardens, a candy making home industry and sample a wonderful home cooked lunch on an island with amateur musicians.
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Day 4: Mekong Delta-Saigon (B, L)
This morning, very early, hop on a boat and roam in the extraordinary river market of Cai Rang. Famous as one of the largest on the complex of water-ways that comprise the Mekong Delta, this market provides exotic fruits and vegetables domestically and internationally. The boat tour is capped off with a visit to My Khanh, a genuine working Delta village. En route back to Saigon we’ll pay a visit to a Cao Dai temple.
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Day 5: Saigon-Danang-Hoian (B, D)
This morning we transfer to the airport for your flight to Danang in Central Vietnam. Arrive Danang and transfer to Hoian the Marble Mountain where we’ll visit the best marble sculpting workshops. Everything from small nik naks to carved lions and eagles the size of a room. Then we’ll be on to Hoian for hotel. Dinner at Full Moon restaurant then touring the ancient quarter of Hoian in style. Tiny town, narrow paths, antique landmarks, raised lanterns, seemingly endless parade of shops…altogether make it a fabulous walk.
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Day 6: Hoian (B, L)
Rise early and be accompanied by a reputed chef to the colorful market of Hoian. No rush, we’ll experience the amazing sights, sounds and aromas of this place, interact with the local sellers and learn about all the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later. Bring our picks to the boat cruising along the Hoian River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. On arrival, we explore the school’s herb garden before learning about some of Hoian’s and Vietnam’s well-known dishes. The cooking lesson runs for about 2 hours – the Red Bridge chefs first demonstrate each dish before we prepare the same dish ourselves. Included in the class is a brief introduction to Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration). After the lesson, we sit down and eat what we have cooked. Rest of the day at rest.
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Day 7: Hoian-Hue (B, D)
We commence today’s tour with a bike ride along country roads, witnessing rural life first hand. Visit a beautiful village where we can water and plant vegetables, hoe soil with a local-farmers and ride a water buffalo in a rice paddy field. Later, meet and engage the local fishermen and try fishing with a net in local way. We will also experience paddling the unique Vietnamese bamboo basket through the palm-flanked waterways. Enjoy rural fares for lunch on boat then transfer to Hue, check-in the hotel and relax
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Day 8: Hue City tour (B, L)
After breakfast we set out on a full day tour to look into the beauties of Vietnam’s former capital city. We first explore the Imperial Citadel, workplace and home of the Nguyen Emperors, a complex of palaces and temples built in the early 19th century and a recognized UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Next site is the beautiful Thien Mu pagoda on the bank of the Perfume River. After lunch, we visit a typical garden house of Hue city, which was built according to precise rules of geomancy. Experience the serene and pleasant feelings it might bring. Continue to the grand mausoleum of Emperor Tu Duc on a serene hill, which nicely reflects Vietnamese thinking about life after life. It is also an opportunity to learn about the history of Nguyen dynasty and the French colonial invasion. Later, we visit the nearby villages crafting incenses and conical hats. A wonderful photograph opportunity!
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Day 9: Hue-Hanoi -Train to Lao Cai (B)
Morning flight to Hanoi, transfer by car to city center to tour Ho Chi Minh Memorial Complex, the Single Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature. We spend one or two hours in the Museum of Ethnology gaining an understanding of the cultures by the 54 ethnic groups in the country before boarding the night train bound to Lao Cai province up north. Overnight on train.
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Day 10: Lao Cai-Sapa (B)
After breakfast, we’ll pay a visit to the busy market, where Red Dao, Black H'Mong, Tay and other ethnic minority people converge from the surrounding countryside to sell their produce and to buy provisions. Next, we set off on a trek through rice paddy terraces downwards the Muong Hoa Valley. Reaching the valley bottom, we will walk along a narrow river till Y Linh Ho village of the Black H’mong. Enjoy lunch then continue to Lao Chai, another Black Hmong village, and then Ta Van village of the Dzay. The return to the town will be by vehicle.
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Day 11: Sapa-Hilltribe Market-Train Back to Hanoi (B, L)
Today we’ll be visiting one of the hill tribe markets in the environs of Sapa. Hill tribe markets are colorful places for not only trade but also socialization. Minority people gather to sell their products, or simply catch up on the latest news, gossip, and enjoy a drink or two. Early afternoon drives back to Hanoi for the night.
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Day 12: Hanoi-Bac Ninh-Hanoi (B, D)
Morning visit the School of Traditional Music. Afternoon proceed to Dong Ho woodblock painting village. Evening enjoy dinner and a Quan Ho show.
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Day 13: Hanoi (B)
Today we'll be touring the most outstanding attractions of Hanoi. First, we pay a visit to the complex of memorials to Ho Chi Minh to know the amazing life of the founder of modern Vietnam. Continue to the Temple of Literature to gain understanding of one of the driving forces in Vietnam culture. Our next stop is the Museum of Ethnology which exhibits a large collection of artifacts about the 54 ethnic groups in the country. Enjoy a rickshaw ride through the lively Old Quarter, a series of 36 ancient streets where peddlers still trade the way they have done for centuries. The rickshaw tour ends up at an old house on Ma May Street, an example of dwellings in the 19 century. Enjoy a performance of the water puppetry, the famed traditional art form created by village farmers around the Red River Delta region. Unique but widely known!
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Day 14: Hanoi-Halong (B, L, D)
Today we journey east to Halong Bay, the greatest natural wonder of Vietnam, through the Red River Delta, where we see daily Vietnamese village life. On arrival, we board a beautiful traditional junk and spend a full day and night cruising the bay's 3000 magnificent limestone islets. In the evening when the boat is anchored in the middle of the stunning lagoon, we enjoy a wonderful seafood meal and later there is opportunity for an evening swim from the side of the boat. Spend the night on our boat.
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Day 15: Halong-Hanoi (B)
Wake up early in the morning to enjoy aquamarine water of the bay at its best. After tea break, the boat continues to cruise quietly through spectacular limestone formations of Halong Bay. Enjoy this more isolated bay’s spectacular and unique islands of the bay. Return to Halong harbour after brunch for a private transfer back to Hanoi.
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Day 16: Departure (B)
Sadly we have come to the end of our unique and fascinating tour. It is time to say “tạm biệt” (goodbye) and transfer to the airport for your flight home.
Tour Location
Saigon – Mekong Delta – Hoi An – Hue – Hanoi – Bac Ninh – Lao Cai – Sapa – Halong Bay
The 16-day Vietnam Arts & Handicrafts tour connects Vietnam’s creative traditions with its most atmospheric destinations, combining hands-on workshops, cultural encounters, and classic sightseeing.
- Saigon – Saigon River dinner cruise, introduction to Vietnamese cuisine, calligraphy artist visit, art galleries, craft workshops, and cyclo ride through the nightlife.
- Mekong Delta – Boat trips through estuaries and islands, orchards, bonsai gardens, candy-making home industry, Cai Rang floating market, and My Khanh village.
- Hoi An – Marble sculpture workshops at Marble Mountain, lantern-lit ancient quarter, market visit, boat ride to Red Bridge Cooking School, herb garden, and cooking class.
- Hue – Imperial Citadel, Thien Mu Pagoda, traditional garden house, Tu Duc Mausoleum, and incense & conical hat villages.
- Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh Memorial Complex, One Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature, Museum of Ethnology, Old Quarter cyclo ride, Ma May ancient house, and water puppet show.
- Bac Ninh – School of Traditional Music, Dong Ho woodblock painting village, and Quan Ho folk singing show.
- Sapa – Hill tribe markets, Muong Hoa valley trek, visits to Y Linh Ho, Lao Chai, and Ta Van villages of Black H’mong and Dzay people.
- Halong Bay – Overnight junk cruise among limestone islets, seafood meals, swimming opportunities, and quiet cruising through spectacular formations.
A creative journey for travelers who love art, history, and authentic cultural encounters — with Vietnam’s landscapes and local life as the backdrop.