Event Highlights

Starting from Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, we spend our first four days exploring the mountains and coastline of this beautiful country, including a spectacular loop around the city of Da Nang. 

Heading into neighbouring Cambodia, we cross the mighty Mekong River, before arriving in Siem Reap where we will have a free day to explore this vibrant city and the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

From there, we press on northwards into Thailand to Nakon Ratchasima before heading to Mae Sot, close to the border with Myanmar. No visit to Northern Thailand would be complete without a stop in Chiang Mai where we spend the event’s second leisure day in a very comfortable hotel on the outskirts of the bustling city.

We cross into Laos and return to the Mekong River as we pause in the nation’s capital Vientiane, before moving on to Luang Prabang and then continuing along minor roads to the very north of the country where we pass back into Vietnam. The terrain will look very different from that which we experienced at the start as we head ever more north following part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

We tackle a spectacular 200-kilometre mountain loop that includes Vietnam’s highest road, the Tram Ton Pass, from our base in the market town of Sa Pa with its iconic rice paddies. Then for the next few days we blaze a trail through spectacular and remote scenery before winding our way down to Halong Bay, another World Heritage Site. We plan to take in a day-long cruise through the famous limestone isles on a luxury boat on the penultimate day of our journey. From there it only remains to take the highway that leads us to Hanoi, where our grand colonial-era hotel will be a real treat after four wonderful weeks on the road.