Cruise boats sail among limestone karst islands on Ha Long Bay under a hazy sky.

Excursions

Excursions by starting city

Six excursions, each with an hour-by-hour plan. The table puts the numbers side by side so you can compare the road time against the time on site before you open a page.

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All excursions at a glance

Excursion	Starts	Length	Pickup window	Each way	Back by	Price
Ha Long Bay day cruise	Hanoi	1 day	07:30–08:00	2.5–3 h road	19:30–21:00	On request
Trang An and Hoa Lu	Hanoi	1 day	07:30–08:00	about 2 h road	17:30–19:00	On request
My Son Sanctuary	Hoi An	Half day	05:00–05:30	~40 km; we plan about 1 h	10:30–11:30	On request
Cu Chi and the Mekong	Ho Chi Minh City	2 days	07:00–07:30	1.5–2 h, then about 4 h	Day 2, 15:00–17:00	On request
Angkor sunrise, small circuit	Siem Reap	1 day (morning-heavy)	04:30–05:00	20–30 min (planning time)	13:30–15:00	On request
Pak Ou Caves and Kuang Si	Luang Prabang	1 day	07:30–08:00	2 h boat up, 1 h down; 40–50 min road	17:00–18:00	On request

Times are our planning ranges built from the sources on each excursion page. The pickup depends on where your hotel is; the return depends on traffic and, on boats, on weather. Every plan includes the step we cut first if the day runs late.

Choosing between them

If you have one free day in Hanoi

Trang An and Hoa Lu is the easier day: about two hours each way and a rowing boat through caves at water level. Ha Long Bay asks for five to six hours of road in exchange for four to six hours on a bigger boat among more islands. Neither is wrong; they suit different tolerances for the van. The Hanoi page sets them side by side.

If you are based in Hoi An

My Son is the half day that fits around everything else. Leave at five, be among the towers when the gates open at 06:00, and be back in town by late morning. Hue is possible as a day from Hoi An or Da Nang, but the road takes about two hours each way from Da Nang alone, and longer from Hoi An.

If you are in Ho Chi Minh City

Cu Chi alone is a half day. The Mekong at Can Tho is not a day trip: the floating market is a dawn event and the city is about four hours away by road. That is why our Mekong excursion is two days.

If you are in Siem Reap or Luang Prabang

At Angkor the drive is short and the walking is long. At Luang Prabang the drive is short and the boat is slow. Both are full days if you do them properly.

What every excursion includes, and what it never does

Always

A written plan

Pickup window, each leg with its time, and the latest realistic return.

Always

A cut list

The stop we drop first if traffic or weather eats into the day.

Always

Third-party fees named

Entrance fees appear with their source so you can check them.

Never

Shopping stops

No commission stops are written into our plans. If you want to shop, ask.

Not on this list

Multi-country packages of a week or longer, treks, and hotel-led luxury journeys are outside what we do. If your free day is in Hue, Phnom Penh or Vientiane, the planner lists sourced options; send the form and we write a plan for that city.

Plan your trip

Have a free day and a city?

Send your hotel area, date and the time you must be back.

Plan my day

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Why do you show a pickup window instead of a fixed time?

Because hotels in the same city can be far apart in morning traffic. We fix the exact time when we know your address, and it stays inside the window shown.

Can two excursions be combined into one day?

Sometimes. My Son in the morning and a Hoi An afternoon works; Ha Long and Ninh Binh in one day does not. The planner page lists pairs that share a road.

Are entrance fees included in your price?

Yes for the sites written into the plan, except the Angkor Pass, which you buy in your own name. We list each fee with its source so you can see what it is, and fees can change before you travel.

Do you have excursions from Hue, Phnom Penh or Vientiane?

Not as full pages yet. The planner lists sourced day-trip options from those cities and we write a plan on request.