Details for the  add on are very vague. Apparently  there will be a local guide, will there also be a tour  manager?  Also, what is the  board basis for the stay in Hanoi?  I rang to ask these questions, but was only connected to an agent  after listening to  over  a minute of  advertising material!   She  appeared to have no more information than I had already found on the Internet.  Finally, a number of included activities are listed for Hanoi. Do these all take place on the same day, or, will they be spread across the add on days, and are there any optional excursions available? A day by day itinary for the add on would be  very helpful.

Good Morning SarahS,

Customers choosing the Vietnam Add on (such as yourself) will be accompanied by a local guide. The UK tour manager will fly from home with people who are on the main tour.

Board basis for the Vietnam add on is bed and breakfast with lunch included on day 15.

The day by day itinerary for the Add-on is listed below:

Day 14 - Luang Prabang to Hanoi

Breakfast at hotel (as main group)

Your guide will meet you at your hotel and transfer you to the airport for your flight to Hanoi

Upon arrival in Hanoi your guide will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel for the next 3 nights.

Accommodation: Sunway Hotel

Day 15 - Hanoi

Breakfast at hotel

Begin your Story of Hanoi with a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Here, you will hear about the man who led Vietnam’s campaign for independence from French colonial rule. Next, visit the imperial citadel, the apex of regional political power for more than a millennium where research and excavation is still underway. You will then visit the One Pillar Pagoda. After a Vietnamese lunch, head to another 11th century relic, the Temples of Literature, which was built as a homage to the Chinese scholar Confucius.

The tour continues with a 30-minute cyclo-tour through Hanoi’s bustling Old Quarter, a place where Hanoians buy everything from noodles to light fixtures to Buddha statues. The quarter’s 36 streets were named for the product that were sold from their shops. Today, vendors on Tin and Bamboo Streets still sell the same wares. After exploring the old quarter’s shady alleyways, sip a strong Vietnamese coffee in a café overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake – an important symbol in Vietnamese folklore. Snap a photograph of the downtown skyline before returning to your hotel at around 4.30pm.

*Please note the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is closed every afternoon and on Monday and Friday*

Day 16 - Hanoi

Breakfast at hotel. Day at leisure

Day 17 - Hanoi

Breakfast at hotel . Morning at leisure . Late check out.

This evening your guide will meet you at your hotel and transfer you to the airport for your flight.

Day 18 - Hanoi to UK

Arrive UK

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Hi Sarah & Amy,

I am already booked on, and looking forward to, this trip.

I visited Vietnam & Cambodia some years ago when Cambodia was almost a little bonus after the main Vietnam tour. I booked this because Cambodia was, for me, almost the highlight last time and on this trip all transportation is at ground level so you get to see so much more of the country. Also we go to Laos where I have not previously been.

Hanoi itself is quite easy to negitiate (You will already have mastered the art of dodging mopeds as you cross the road although Hanoi is blessed with plenty of traffic lights & pedestrian crossings). There is plenty to see and do & last time I was a block away from the "Hanoi Hilton" where USA PoW airmen were detained which I shall check out again.

Amy: In your postscript you say the HCM mausoleum is closed on Mondays. I have been inside before so not such a concern for me but by my calculations day 15 when we visit here is a Monday! I can't remember from last time if we paid to get in or where we got tickets from but it was probably all done as a group booking! Presumably our local guide could arrange for a visit on the Tuesday to go inside if there was sufficient demand.

Ian

Thank you. One more question, do Vietnam Airways offer a premiun economy grade

Hi SarahS,

Vietnam Airways does offer a premium economy but I would give us a call so that one of our friendly holiday advisors can talk this over with you.

Kind Regards,

Amy