Hi DCLeigh,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and apologies for the confusion. Here is the full itinerary for the pre-tour add-on:
Itinerary
DAY 1 UK to Hanoi
Today we'll fly to Hanoi.
DAY 2 Hanoi
On arrival in Hanoi, we'll transfer you to your hotel. After time to settle in, get to know your travelling companions over dinner this evening at a local restaurant.
DAY 3 Hanoi
Wake up early and start your day by taking a 25 minute train ride over the historical Long Bien Bridge to reach to outskirt of Hanoi. Considered as one of the most stunning bridges in the world when it opened in 1903, it is the lively witness of Hanoi history during more than one decades. The train takes you to a small suburb station where you drop off and take a short stroll to the alley leading to a local morning market. Explore local life and learn anything from tropical fruits/stuffs that you might never seen or tasted before reaching to the handicraft ceramic workshop. Immerse yourself in a small garden workshop, you are welcomed by friendly artists. Sit down for a sip of tea that Vietnamese often do in the morning and listen to the stories of the host. The ceramic workshop is a family business through three generation. With their love to ceramic, they preserve and make it go further in their own way: handicraft and unique glazed skills. Next with the guide of the artists, you are encouraged to make your own creation such as a cup or a small flower vase. Enjoy your product after few hard working hours, saying goodbye your friendly host to transfer to Co Loa to discover the oldest citadel in Vietnam. Due to history, not all part of citadel is preserved fully. Nowadays, althought there are only 3 earth walls left, with total length of 16 km, it is not only a lively evidence of the creation, the technique skill but also cultural values, the familiar landscape of a peaceful northern village. Transfer back to Hanoi for lunch. The rest of day is your free time to discover Hanoi.
DAY 4 Hanoi
Today is a day at leisure or you may wish to join our optional tour to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. This morning you will met by your guide and driver to drive about 100 kilometres south to Hoa Lu the ancient capital of the Dinh and Le dynasties dating back to the 11th century. Not much of the capital remains, but fortunately some of its ruins and tombs have survived for a millennium. The scenery is spectacular and more than make up for the lack of ruins. After lunch in a local restaurant you will continue to nearby Tam Coc or Three Caves in Vietnamese, an area of natural beauty that is often referred to as Halong Bay on land. Board a small boat and meander lazily down the river to the ancient caves. See limestone karsts jetting skywards out of electric green rice paddies - you won’t be able to stop taking photos! Returning back to the pier where your vehicle will be waiting to take you back to Hanoi, arriving late afternoon.
DAY 5 Hanoi
Free day at leisure or choose to do optional private street tour with a local chef. Start your day at the Hanoi Cooking Center to meet your street food guide, one of the local chefs. Your personal chef guide is a graduate of the incredible KOTO organisation who give disadvantaged youth in the community opportunities to learn new skills in the culinary world. Enjoy a cup of “La Han” tea which is traditionally a welcoming tea for visitors in Vietnam. Your first tasting of the day is a steaming bowl of Pho. This typical Hanoian breakfast of beef or chicken noodle soup is a favourite world-wide and may be Vietnam’s best culinary export. In Vietnam, flavours vary from city to city, but Hanoi is where it all began. Wander on to Chau Long market, a classic wet market in a local neighbourhood. Discover the unsual variety of foods on offer including fruits, livestock, frogs and silkworms. From here, take a taxi to Hang Ga, where you can try Banh Cuon Thanh Van. This is another of Hanoi’s most well loved dishes and consists of lightly seasoned pork mince and mushrooms wrapped in layers of delicate steamed rice pancake. Get a taste for Vietnamese fish sauce, the traditional dipping sauce of this dish, and learn about its significance in Vietnamese cooking. Take a short walk to Dong Xuan Market to find your final famous Hanoi dish of the day among the small, busy alleys. Enjoy Bun Cha, grilled pork patties and pork belly with sticky rice noodles, in one of the best stalls in Hanoi. Finish with a bowl of refreshingly sweet che, a classic Vietnamese dessert. On your way back, stop on Yen Phu Street to visit a traditional Hanoi Café, establised in 1936. Here you can try traditional Vietnamese drip coffee, a perfect digestive, as well as coffee with yogurt or fruity alternatives like passionfruit with yogurt. Your driver will be waiting to transfer you back to your hotel where you will join your fellow travellers and UK tour manager arriving in from the the UK. You will now follow the main brochured itinerary from day 2.
Many thanks,
Vickie
