Rare Earth, Vietnam
A thoughtfully designed journey through the country’s most compelling landscapes, grounded in sustainability and meaningful connection. Blending stays at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Topas Ecolodge and Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, the itinerary pairs refined comfort with a genuine commitment to responsible travel.
Journey highlights
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A journey built around genuinely responsible travel, combining conservation-led experiences with stays at Topas Ecolodge, Six Senses Ninh Van Bay and Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi properties that take a considered, long-term approach to their environmental and community impact
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Go beyond observation with behind-the-scenes insight into wildlife protection efforts, from rescued bears to endangered primates, experiences that connect you directly to Vietnam’s most urgent environmental work.
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Structured to avoid unnecessary rush, the itinerary balances movement with stillness, from the energy of Hanoi to the quiet of the mountains and the complete switch-off of the coast, allowing each place to be experienced properly.
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Experiences are shaped around genuine interaction rather than performance from time spent in highland villages to learning textile traditions at their source
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Itinerary
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At a Glance
Day 1: Arrival in Hanoi
The Sofitel Legend Metropole sits at the edge of the Old Quarter, its white colonial façade a calm counterpoint to the city humming outside the windows. Check in, find your bearings, and let Hanoi introduce itself at its own pace. Tomorrow begins early.
Day 2: Water Puppets and Street Food
The morning goes to water puppetry, one of those art forms that is easy to dismiss as a tourist fixture until you're actually watching it. The performers stand chest-deep behind a screen and command their puppets across the water's surface with long wooden rods, the scenes drawn from Vietnamese folklore and accompanied by drums, bamboo flutes, wooden bells and cymbals. An hour that asks for patience and rewards it.
The evening is a different kind of performance, the Old Quarter after dark, moving through it on foot with a guide who knows where the locals actually eat. Vietnamese coffee first, then banh cuon, the delicate steamed rice paper parcels stuffed with pork and mushroom that fall apart if you look at them wrong. Nem chua ran, fried spring rolls, other dishes that don't have a tourist menu equivalent. Dinner is barbecue, grilled meats and vegetables at a popular local shop, and the night ends at a bia hoi, a pavement spot selling cold draft beer for almost nothing, watching the city move around you until it feels like enough.
Day 3: Ninh Binh Bears, Gibbons and Prehistoric Caves
An eight o'clock departure south to Ninh Binh, and a day that goes somewhere most Vietnam itineraries don't. The Four Paws Bear Sanctuary is the first stop, a refuge for bears rescued from bile farming and the illegal wildlife trade, run by people who are serious about what they're doing. The tour moves through the bear kitchen, the veterinary clinic and the bear houses where rehabilitation happens, and the stories the guide tells about individual animals are not easy to forget.
Cuc Phuong National Park fills the afternoon Vietnam's largest nature reserve and one of its most important. The Endangered Primate Rescue Centre houses some of Asia's rarest langurs and gibbons; the Carnivore and Pangolin Education Centre is home to animals whose rescue stories explain precisely why each one cannot be returned to the wild. Pangolins, binturong, leopard cats, Owston's civet creatures most people have never seen outside a photograph. The day ends at the Cave of Prehistoric Man, where human skeletons and stone tools dating back seven and a half thousand years were found in the rock.Where to stay
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi (3 nights)
Alternative Places to Stay Nearby
More Experiences in This Area
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At a Glance
Day 4: Journey to Sapa
A long drive north into the highlands, the landscape changing gradually as the plains give way to mountain ridgelines and the air cools. Topas Ecolodge waits at the end of it granite and glass perched high above the Muong Hoa Valley, with views that need no embellishment. Check in, eat well, and rest. The mountains are best approached with a full night's sleep behind you.
Day 5: Sin Chai Village and the Black H'Mong
A transfer to Sin Chai village at the foot of Fansipan Mountain, where the Black H'Mong community has maintained its way of life across generations of change around it. The H'Mong arrived from China centuries ago and proceeded to turn the steep slopes of the northern highlands into the terraced rice fields that define the Sapa landscape, an act of collective agriculture that took decades and reshaped a mountain range. The village sits within the rainforest edge of Hoang Lien National Park, and the walk out of it follows a dirt trail through rice paddies and corn fields alongside a narrow river.
A suspension bridge leads to a family home belonging to one of the few H'Mong families still living in this more remote part of the valley. The visit is not a set piece, it's a conversation, in the home where the family actually lives. Back to Topas by early afternoon.
Day 6: Lao Chai Textiles, Lunch and a Walk to Ta Van
A gentle thirty-minute walk downhill from Topas brings you to Lao Chai, where the morning is spent with H'Mong artisans on the textile tradition that defines this community. The full production process runs to forty-one steps, you won't cover all of them, but the key stages are demonstrated properly: hemp preparation, the application of hot beeswax to create batik patterns, natural indigo dyeing, and the folk symbolism embedded in every motif. The meaning behind the patterns is as interesting as the technique used to make them.
A traditional H'Mong lunch is served in the village, then an easy hour's walk through terraced fields and past local homes leads to Ta Van, where the vehicle is waiting. Back at Topas by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day at your own pace.Where to stay
Topas Ecolodge (3 nights)
Alternative Places to Stay Nearby
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At a Glance
Day 7: Return to Hanoi
A morning departure from the mountains, retracing the road back to Hanoi as the landscape slowly softens from highland ridgelines to the low, busy plains. By mid-afternoon, you’re back at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, familiar now.
No plans for the rest of the day. A late lunch in the courtyard, a walk if you feel like it, or nothing at all. The city carries on outside; you don’t need to keep up with it. An early night, or a final drink at the bar tomorrow is a travel day, but an easier one.Where to stay
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi (1 night)
Alternative Places to Stay Nearby
More Experiences in This Area
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At a Glance
Day 8-12: Five Days of Relaxation at Ninh Van Bay
After the mountains, the bay. Ninh Van Bay is accessible only by boat, which is most of the point, it keeps the pace of the place intact. Four nights here are not too many. The options are an adventure hike through the granite landscape behind the resort, a masterclass in making the property's signature cocktail, a wellness consultation that shapes the days that follow around what you actually need, and much more. Or none of the above. The beach, the water, and time to relax.
What makes this place harder to leave than most is that it earns its keep on more than one level. The forest rising behind the villas is not just scenery. A biodiversity survey conducted in collaboration with GreenViet found over 300 species of flora and fauna on the property's land, including species listed as rare and precious in the Vietnam Red Book and at risk of extinction on the IUCN Red List. Six Senses Camera traps set in the hills have captured something remarkable: three critically endangered species previously unknown to be living in such close proximity to the resort, the Sunda pangolin, the pygmy slow loris, and the silver-backed chevrotain, a mouse deer once thought lost to science. Six Senses The black-shanked douc langurs, meanwhile, are less camera-shy, guests regularly spot them swinging through the canopy above the villas, a reminder of what this part of Vietnam still holds, and what Six Senses is actively working to protect.
That commitment takes a hands-on form in the resort's Earth Lab. Make sure to visit for a sustainability workshop and guided tour of the property's Mushroom Hut, Organic Garden, Chicken Villa, and the Alembic, the on-site essential oil production facility that turns the surrounding botanicals into something you can actually take home. It brings the journey full circle: the same landscape that shelters critically endangered wildlife also supplies the kitchen, the spa, and the still.Where to stay
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay (4 nights)
Alternative Places to Stay Nearby
Our tailor made journeys include:
- Your dedicated Travel Consultant who will take care of arrangements
- Private international airport transfers in destination and your own private, English-speaking local guides
- Unique experiences, hand-picked by our Journeys team
- Entrance to must-see local sites
- Dedicated 24/7 team providing in-country support and guidance
Price Guide: ( based on double occupancy and excludes international flights)
| Departing |
Price from*
|
Deposit from * | Enquire |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | £5,600 | £800 | plan your trip |
| May 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| June 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| July 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| August 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| September 2026 | £4,600 | £700 | plan your trip |
| October 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| November 2026 | £5,100 | £800 | plan your trip |
| December 2026 | £5,300 | £800 | plan your trip |
| January 2027 | £5,600 | £800 | plan your trip |
| February 2027 | £5,600 | £800 | plan your trip |
| March 2027 | £5,600 | £800 | plan your trip |
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April 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,600
Deposit from*£800
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May 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
-
June 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
-
July 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
-
August 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
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September 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£4,600
Deposit from*£700
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October 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
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November 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,100
Deposit from*£800
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December 2026
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,300
Deposit from*£800
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January 2027
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,600
Deposit from*£800
-
February 2027
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,600
Deposit from*£800
-
March 2027
Price from *
- Pricing is a guideline only, is based on two people sharing and excludes special offers.
- Travel over peak periods (e.g. Christmas, New Year, festivals and other public holidays) can affect prices considerably, as can exchange rates, flight class and room type.
- Solo traveller pricing is available upon request.
£5,600
Deposit from*£800
Experiences in this tour
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![Sapa Trek]()
View ExperienceHalf Day Trek to Sin Chai Village
The Black H’mong village of Sin Chai is still surrounded by jungle. The trek leads through beautiful landscapes carpeted with rice terraces, stopping off at local dwellings. Whilst on the trek gain insight into villagers’ traditional way of life.
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![Bear at Sun Bear Sanctuary Vietnam]()
View ExperienceFull day Cuc Phuong National Park & Bear Sanctuary
A must for all lovers of the natural world, this full day tour of Cuc Phuong National Park includes a visit to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, a 6km trek, lunch, and a chance to see the Cave of the Prehistoric Man dating back 7,500 years.
We design each itinerary around you, so this suggested itineraryis a starting point that we can tweak or transform into something completely bespoke to you. Call us on 020 8682 5060 to start planning your holiday.
