14 days Vietnam bicycling tour

Arrival in Hanoi. In the Arrivals Hall, your driver stands with a sign with your name applied, helps you out to the car and drives to the centrally located hotel. The hotel is located in the old quarter of the city with its nice narrow commercial streets and within walking distance of Hoan Kiem Lake and Dong Xuan Market, both of which are some of Hanoi's landmarks.

Dong Xuan Market

City tour by bike with visits to the city's main attractions: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Presidential Palace. President Ho Chi Minh's pile house. The one-pillar pagoda. Temple of Literature. After lunch, a guided walk around the Old Town.

Presidential Palace Historical Site

One Pillar Pagoda,

Transfer by car to Halong Bay. In a junke (boat) you will be traveling around Halong bay with its marvelous limestone landscape on a 2 day 1 night cruise. Along the way, a dripstone cave, a floating fishing village is visited, and kayaking will be possible. Overnight stay in 2 persons cabins with own toilet / bath.

You stand up to this peculiar natural landscape, and continue your boat trip in Halong Bay until the end of the morning. Ashore, the driver waits and drives you to Ky Son, where you will be staying at a wonderful lodge in the middle of Vietnam's countryside.

Opportunity for 4 p.m. 7 to attend a small yoga session. Bike ride through a rural area to the historic village of Duong Lam. Visit of the market, Mia pagoda and Emperor Ngo Quyen's tomb. After lunch and a hand massage by car to the mountainous Mai Chau, where you will stay at the completed 2014 Mai Chau Ecologde, which has the most beautiful location at the foot of a mountain and overlooking the fields.

Bike ride through rice fields where working local farmers are typically on their land. In pedal rides through open countryside and to smaller villages, where you get to know 2 of Vietnam's 54 ethnic minority groups, namely the people of the Muong and White Thai tribes.

Free in the morning for a walk or bike ride on your own in the beautiful Mai Chau Valley before check out and lunch at the lodge. You are transported to Hanoi Airport, from where you fly to Hoi An in Central Vietnam - a city that many former visitors say is Vietnam's most beautiful city.

Day off to stroll around the cozy streets with the old grocery stores built at the time that French, Chinese and Japanese traders settled here. In the historic setting today there are restaurants, galleries, artifacts shops and tailors. Time to get selected fabric and sew something to the wardrobe. Or time to go to the beach or ride a bike in rural uplands.

Bike tour through private housing districts and rural surroundings. Several stops are made along the way by small contractors who do wood carving, incense sticks, fishing boats, and when you encounter local attractions. You will have lunch in a private setting in the countryside to Hoi An, before returning by boat and then car back to the hotel in Hoi An.

By car to the old capital and the imperial city of Hue, where after lunch you cycle to the tomb mausoleums for two of the emperors of the Nguyen dynasty, namely Minh Mang (the longest-standing emperor) and Khai Dinh (the most recently built mausoleum).

The bicycle wheels roll to the Thien Mu pagoda, where you become acquainted with Buddhism. On to the imperial palace and the inner imperial city with the generous buildings where the emperor and his family lived. You have lunch in an old official's residence. The afternoon is at your own disposal, but it is possible to cycle with the guide in the private neighborhood in the citadel area during the pleasant late afternoon hours.

Fly to Ho Chi Minh City and car to the Mekong Delta, which is a riverine delta area. Accommodation at Mekonglodge, a hotel built with architectural eyeview for the green surroundings of the delta. You take a bike ride on a larger island and get an insight into life on the rivers and in the villages. You stop at small sights along the way, and visit a garden and taste some of the exotic fruits.

Accommodation at Mekonglodge, a hotel built with architectural eyeview for the green surroundings of the delta

Boat trip to a small floating market, where both lie rocking side by side and trade fruits and vegetables over the peel. Ashore is a family-owned business that makes snacks specialties from rice and fruit. You are going to sampan boat down the tributaries and stop at a classic Mekong house and have lunch here. Back at the lodge, you should go on a bike ride out of the Mekong countryside (a different route than day 13).

By car to Ho Chi Minh City, where you have a few hours on your own before transferring to the airport. Departure back home.