7-Day Northern Vietnam Retreat Tour: Ninh Binh, Mai Chau & Pu Luong

Overnight: Tirant Hotel, Hanoi  |  Meals: Lunch and dinner on your own  |  Guide: Guide pickup

On arrival
Welcome to Vietnam. Your HYNA guide and driver wait for you in the arrival hall at Noi Bai International Airport with a name sign and take you to your hotel in the Old Quarter, about 45 minutes away.

Evening
Rest after your flight, then wander the Old Quarter at your own pace – a maze of narrow streets, each once named after the trade practised there. Pull up a plastic stool for street food, browse the small shops and join the evening stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake as the lights come on.

Overnight: Tirant Hotel, Hanoi  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch · Dinner on your own  |  Guide: Full day guide

Morning
Your guide and driver meet you at your hotel around 8:00 AM and you head for Ba Dinh Square, where the marble Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum stands.

Wander past the yellow Presidential Palace to his simple stilt house and the One Pillar Pagoda, rising from its pond like a lotus. The mausoleum opens in the morning and closes on Mondays, Fridays and during its yearly maintenance; on those days you see it from the square.

Next come Tran Quoc Pagoda, the city’s oldest, its red tower rising above West Lake, and Train Street, where the railway runs a few steps from front doors and tiny cafés.

Midday
Lunch around midday brings a taste of Hanoi’s cooking at a local restaurant.

Afternoon
At the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university, founded in 1070, shaded courtyards lead past a lotus pond to stone stelae carved with the names of doctoral laureates.

Then wander the lively Old Quarter and the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Evening
Around 5:00 PM, lacquered puppets glide across the water to live folk music at a water puppet show, an art born in the rice fields of the north. You are back at your hotel by about 6:30 PM, free for dinner at your own arrangement.

Overnight: Emeralda Resort Ninh Binh, Ninh Binh  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch · Dinner on your own  |  Guide: Full day guide

Morning
After breakfast and check-out, your guide and driver meet you in the lobby around 8:00 AM for the drive of about 2 hours south to Ninh Binh. Limestone peaks begin to rise from the rice fields, and by around 10:00 AM you are stepping into a wooden sampan at Trang An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For the next two and a half to three hours a local rower guides you along quiet waterways between the karst mountains and through cool, dripping cave tunnels, with green paddies running alongside the river.

Midday
Back on land, lunch around 1:00 PM is at a local restaurant in Ninh Binh, a short drive from the pier.

Afternoon
Around 3:00 PM you arrive at your resort in the quiet countryside of Ninh Binh. Spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool, or cycle along the rice fields as the evening light turns the peaks gold.

Overnight: Mai Chau Ecolodge, Mai Chau  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch · Dinner on your own  |  Guide: Full day guide

Morning
After breakfast, your guide and driver meet you at the resort around 9:00 AM. The drive to Mai Chau takes about 3–3.5 hours, with a rest stop on the way, as the karst plains give way to rolling green hills and small villages.

Midday
Lunch around 12:30 PM is at a local restaurant in Mai Chau.

Afternoon
In the afternoon, cycle or walk with your guide along the narrow paths between the rice fields to the Thai villages of the valley. Wooden stilt houses stand above the fields, and in the shade beneath them women work their looms, weaving brocade in bright patterns passed down through generations. Along the way you glimpse the unhurried rhythm of farming life in the valley.

Evening
Around 4:30 PM you check in at your lodge. As dusk falls, the valley settles into a deep, green quiet.

Overnight: Pu Luong Retreat, Pu Luong  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch · Dinner on your own  |  Guide: Full day guide

Morning
Enjoy a slow breakfast, then set off with your guide and driver around 9:00 AM. The mountain road to Pu Luong takes about 1.5–2 hours, winding past terraced fields and limestone peaks, with a new view at every bend.

Midday
Lunch around midday is at a local restaurant in Pu Luong.

Afternoon
In the afternoon, take an easy walk through a Thai village among the rice terraces. Paths lead past stilt houses and rustling bamboo groves, and the views open out across the nature reserve, where forested mountains fold into one another.

Evening
Around 4:00 PM you arrive at your retreat. Sit back and watch the light fade over the valley as evening falls.

Overnight: Pu Luong Retreat, Pu Luong  |  Meals: Breakfast, Lunch · Dinner on your own  |  Guide: Full day guide

Morning
Your guide meets you at the retreat around 8:30 AM, after breakfast. At an easy pace, you walk the paths through the terraced valley, past small hamlets and fields that change colour with the seasons – brilliant green as the rice grows, gold before the harvest. Out here, the loudest sounds are birdsong and running water.

Midday
Lunch around midday is at a local restaurant in the valley.

Afternoon
In the afternoon, follow the stream to the bamboo water wheels. Creaking slowly as they turn, these simple wheels, built by the Thai people, lift water from the river into bamboo channels that feed the fields, a clever design that needs no engine at all. You are back at your retreat by about 3:30 PM, with the rest of the day to relax.

Overnight: —  |  Meals: Breakfast · Lunch and dinner on your own  |  Guide: Guide dropoff

Morning
Enjoy a last breakfast with a view over the valley, then check out. Your guide and driver take you north through the hills and across the plains, about 5 hours with a rest stop, straight to Noi Bai International Airport. The departure from the retreat is timed to your flight, so an afternoon or evening flight home fits this day.

Departure
Your guide accompanies you to the airport for your flight home. Thank you for travelling with HYNA – we hope Vietnam stays with you long after you leave.