8.00am: meet Asia Top Travel's tour guide at your hotel lobby and head to Cu Chi through the pleasant countryside. Explore the maze of tunnels where the Vietnamese could escape bombings, hide from enemy, and mount surprise attacks. Also on display are various mantraps and the remains of an American tank as well as numerous bomb craters made by 500 pound bombs dropped by B52 bombers.

 

After lunch in Cu Chi, head back to Saigon. Start your half-day city tour by looking at the Notre Dame Cathedral, built between 1877 and 1883. This is one of the best examples of classical French colonial architecture. Nearby is the Old Post Office, another site with French colonial architecture and it is also the country’s largest post office. Move on to the Reunification Palace, one of the most important buildings in the city. Here on April 30th 1975, the ‘American War’ officially ended when tank number 843 of the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates of the former residence of the President of the Republic of Vietnam.

Continue to the War Remnants Museum (Museum of American War Crimes), this is a poignant display of the futility of war. If the time allows, there is a wide selection of goods at Ben Thanh Market.

Around 6.00pm: Tour ends with a transfer back to your hotel.

08.00 AM: Asia Top Travel's tour guide will meet you in Ho Chi Minh city in the morning and take you to Ben Tre.

 

On arrival, embark on Ben Tre river, a tributary of the Mekong river. Sail along the mangrove and witness lively morning activities as fishing, coconut cargo boats carrying on river, etc. Stop at traditional brickwork to see how handmade brick was formed. Turn on Cai Son canal winding through the coconut jungle, visit a coconut workshop, have a look on the stages of coconut processing from husk off, prize out to peel out by hand. Go on small waterway and stop at a local house to enjoy a home-made honey tea. Walking along the canal to a coconut candy workshop, observe locals making candies, try some sweet, enjoy some fruits and listen to traditional music as well. Go on by boat and walk to a farmer house where sleepmats are made.

 

Cycle on the rural tracks or take a tuktuk through coconut groves and vegetable plains. Embark on a rowing boat on shady palm tree canal and stop for a lunch at riverside restaurant.

Sail back to Hung Vuong pier by motorboat and head back to Ho Chi Minh City in late afternoon. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh

After breakfast at the hotel, free time at your own leisure until the transfer to the airport for your departure flight. Service ends!