Journey Through Indochina

On this exceptional private tour through Bangkok, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, experience the history, culture and natural beauty of Indochina's most evocative places. With your private guides and drivers, tour atmospheric towns filled with traditional homes and French colonial architecture. Explore stunning ruins and ancient temples. Visit traditional workshops, modern art galleries and new design boutiques. Learn to cook local dishes, and cruise on a wooden junk.

Begin in Bangkok with introductory city touring and an overnight stay at the Oriental Bangkok.

In the morning, fly to Luang Prabang, a charming UNESCO World Heritage-listed town along the Mekong River in northern Laos. During private touring, experience the unique blend of traditional Lao and French colonial architecture lining the streets of this former royal capital. Visit major sites such as the National Museum and Wat Xieng Thong, a revered 16th-century temple. Enjoy unique cultural experiences such as interacting with monks at a local temple, participating in a baci ceremony (a traditional Lao celebration) and visiting local hill tribe villages. Meet local silk weavers and noted contemporary textile designers. One morning, tour a local market and learn to cook Lao specialties.

Next, fly to leafy Hanoi, Vietnam's cultural and political capital. Stay at the Sofitel Metropole, the city's colonial-era grand dame hotel. Explore the fascinating Old Quarter and its hundreds of specialty shops selling silk clothing, lacquerware, embroidered linens, furniture, bamboo, cooking utensils, ceremonial objects and more. Visit Hanoi's main cultural attractions, including the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, House on Stilts, One Pillar Pagoda, Fine Arts Museum and Temple of Literature. Walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, and watch a performance of water puppet theater. Take a cyclo tour around town. Dinner in French colonial villas converted into a gourmet restaurants. Meet with local artists and visit Hanoi's most noted art galleries.

Next, cruise on a deluxe boat through romantic Halong Bay, where 3,000 limestone islands rise dramatically from the sea. Explore grottoes on the islands, enjoy meals of fresh seafood, and spend the night onboard the boat, surrounded by the bay's calm water and fantastic forms.

Continue to central Vietnam and stay at a luxury beach resort in atmospheric Hoi An, a UNESCO-listed riverfront town crammed with hundreds of historic structures. Tour ancient houses, picturesque backstreets, and bustling silk and fish markets.

Fly to Saigon, Vietnam's bustling commercial center. Tour the city's local markets, Chinatown, best museums and major cultural attractions. One day, take an excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels and Tay Ninh to watch an eccentric religious ceremony at the main temple of Cao Daism, a unique fusion of world religions.

Continue to Siem Reap for a three-day exploration of Angkor—the ruins of the ancient Khmer empire. Visit Angkor Wat, an enormous temple city built as a model of the Hindu universe in stone. Nearby is Angkor Thom, a former capital believed to have once housed a population of approximately one million people around its Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King. See how the jungle grows over and through Ta Prohm, and stop at the serene Preah Khan, originally a monastery and teaching center. Drive through the countryside to the popular Banteay Srei (“citadel of the women”), a petite temple with elaborate carvings in pinkish sandstone. Watch the sun set over Angkor from atop Phnom Bakheng. Observe local students learning traditional Cambodian arts. Also visit lesser known temples and let us arrange special activities according to your interests (options include bike riding, cooking classes, private yoga, visits to orphanages and children's centers, photography excursions, shopping, and village tours). Accommodation is at the exclusive Amansara resort.