Destination: Vietnam

Hanoi

Vietnam’s capital city is full of history and culture, especially in the Old Quarter. This is the epicentre of tourism in the city, with market streets, a buzzing nightlife and some of the best Vietnamese food on the planet.

Hạ Long Bay

The Unesco World Heritage Site Hạ Long Bay is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Vietnam. Halong Bay is a beautiful natural wonder in northern Vietnam near the Chinese border. The Bay is dotted with 1,600 limestone islands and islets and covers an area of over 1,500 sqkm. This extraordinary area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. For many tourists, this place is like something right out of a movie.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is the business and financial hub of Vietnam, with a prominent history going back hundreds of years.

Today, Ho Chi Minh City is a popular tourist destination due to its fascinating culture, classic French architecture, and sleek skyscrapers as well as ornate temples and pagodas. The city is also filled with rooftop bars that overlook Saigon and beyond, while fantastic restaurants offer a combination of French, Chinese, and, of course, local Vietnamese cuisine.

To enter Vietnam, you must have either a:

• visa
• visa exemption certificate

Apply for an e-visa through the Vietnamese Government’s e-visa portal.

You can also apply for a tourist visa through the Vietnamese embassy’s website (Australia).

Odyssey specialises in educational small group tours for seniors, typically groups sizes are between 6 to 12 people, and no more than 14 travellers on our tour through Vietnam. Odyssey has been offering this style of adventure and educational programs to since 1983. We offer a wide range of fully escorted, cultural and heritage journeys that expand horizons and broaden the mind. Our tours are designed for active, inquisitive travellers in a small group environment.

The Vietnamese dong is the official currency in Vietnam. Most payments are made with Vietnamese Dong, but US dollars can be directly used for some hotels, restaurants, tours, or other services. You may see the prices for food, drinks, and souvenirs in Ho Chi Minh City’s airport are all in US dollars. However, it is not recommended to pay with US dollars, because they will be converted at a lower exchange rate and you will end up paying more.

Visit Smarttravellers website for the latest updates: https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/vietnam

The most common food in Vietnam is rice and fish sauce, rice noodles, rice paper wrappers, rice porridge, sticky rice, fried rice, puffed rice snacks, and rice wine.

Vietnamese recipes use lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird’s eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves.^[1] Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised with using fresh ingredients, not much use of dairy nor oil, interesting textures, and the use of herbs and vegetables. A leading soy sauce manufacturer’s research confirms that fish sauce (nước mắm) is the predominant table sauce in Vietnamese homes, where it captures over 70% of the market, while the market share for soy sauce is under 20%. It is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are made with rice noodles, rice papers and rice flour instead of wheat.

Vietnamese is the official language; English is increasingly favoured as a second language. French, Chinese, Khmer and various highlander languages are also spoken. Between 85 percent and 90 percent of Vietnam’s residents are ethnically Vietnamese.

The safety of our travellers, tour leader, local guide and support staff has always been our top priority and with the new guidelines for public health and safety for keeping safe for destinations around the world, we’ve developed our plan to give you peace of mind when travelling with us.

Frequent visitors to Vietnam report that you usually have no problems speaking English in any of the main cities like Hanoi, Sai Gon and Ho Chi Minh. The 50% English speaking proportion is over the country as a whole; it is actually much higher than this in the cities, and lower in more rural areas.

Odyssey uses modern, air-conditioned, medium-sized coaches that are thoroughly cleaned throughout the tour.

In major cities, Odyssey stays in centrally located 3-4 star hotels, with easy access to public transport. In smaller towns or rural areas, we usually stay in family-run hotels or guesthouses. On our long-stay tours, during which you spend the length of the tour in a single location, we use serviced apartments.

Odyssey specialises in educational small group tours for seniors, typically ages between 60 to 80 years.

The majority of Odyssey’s tours have an activity level 2 (moderate):

Participants must be able to carry their own luggage, climb and descend stairs, be in good health, mobile and able to participate in 3-5 hours of physical activity per day, the equivalent of walking/hiking up to 8 kilometres on uneven ground

Please do not read into this too much, 8 kilometers is actually not very far if spread out over a day; Odyssey’s tour are developed for seniors, with an inquisitive mind and a good general physical health. We do not expect our participants to be walkers or with great strength or endurance. Our tours are also very flexible due to our smaller groups and we often offer alternative activities for participants who would like to skip an activity/sightseeing, or take a day of rest.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a logistical network of roads and trails that ran from North Vietnam to the South Vietnam through the kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the Viet Cong and the People’s Army of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.

The railway system in Vietnam is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways. The principal route, the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, accounts for 1,726 kilometres of the network’s total length of 2,600 kilometres. The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge, although there are several standard gauge and mixed gauge lines in the north of the country.

Rail transport remains relatively underused as a mode of transport in Vietnam. According to reports by the Asian Development Bank, however, the role of rail transport is growing, carving out a significant role for itself in long-distance bulk cargo transport.

Vietnam’s air-conditioned trains are the ideal way for i travellers to get around Vietnam. The train journey is a genuine Vietnamese experience, an integral part of your trip and you might even meet some Vietnamese people

You will get a real insight into Vietnam when you travel by train, both urban and rural. Rice fields, palm trees, water buffalo, Vietnamese towns and villages. And if you’re good at people watching you’ll get insights on board the train, too – the real Vietnam is as much inside as outside the train. The most magical part of a Hanoi to Saigon train journey is the world-class scenic section between Hué and Danang. The train runs along the South China Sea, snaking from cliff to jungle-covered cliff past beaches and islands, then heads through the lush green mountains via the Hai Van Pass to reach Danang.

The train cabins are allowed to carry baggages not to exceed the weight limitation of 20 kgs per adult.