Itinerary (7:00 Am to 7:00 PM):

07:00 AM Holong Cruise Pier Pick Up Halong Cruise Port Pick Up (Approx 3 hours ride from Halong to Hanoi the old capital city of Vietnam)

08:30 AM Stop to visit the famous Dong Trieu ceramic village on the way, then continue to Hanoi. (Optional pit stop)

10:00 AM Tour Ba Dinh Square, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, The Presidential Palace & HCM’s residence, The Colonial buildings square, One Pillar Pagoda

11:00 AM Visit the Temple of Literature (The 1^st University of Vietnam)

12:00 PM Enjoy lunch with local famous Vietnamese rice noodle soup

01:00 PM Visit Hanoi Hilton Prison Museum

02:00 PM Take a fantastic trishaw ride through the hustle and bustle of Hanoi for 60 minutes

03:00 PM Stroll & shop around Hanoi Old Quarter

04:00 PM Transfer back to Halong Habour (3 hours). Stop at the Hong Ngoc handicraft center. (Optional pit stop)

07:00 PM Drop Off at Halong Cruise Pier

Points of interest:

**Ba Dinh Square is the name of a famous square in Hanoi where president Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945.  It is named after the Ba Dinh Uprising, an anti-French rebellion that occurred in Vietnam in 1886-1887 as part of the Can Vuong movement.  When Ho Chi Minh died, the granite Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was here to display his embalmed body. It remains a major site of tourism and pilgrimage.

**One Pillar Pagoda is a historic Buddhist temple in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It is regarded alongside the Perfume Temple, as one of Vietnam's two most iconic temples.  The temple is built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25 m in diameter, and it is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond. In 1954, the French Union forces destroyed the pagoda before withdrawing from Vietnam after the First Indochina War, It was rebuilt afterwards.

** Hilton Prison Museum, The Hỏa Lò Prison, was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietname War when it was sarcastically known to American prisoners of war as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was demolished during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.

**The Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem lake, has the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi. At the beginning of the 20th century the city consisted of only about 36 streets, most of which are now part of the old quarter. Each street then had merchants and households specialized in a particular trade, such as silk traders, jewelers, etc. The street names nowadays still reflect these specializations, although few of them remain exclusively in their original commerce. The area is famous for its small artisans and merchants, including many silk shops. Local cuisine specialties as well as several clubs and bars can be found here also. A night market (near Dong Xuan market) in the heart of the district opens for business every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening with a variety of clothing, souvenirs and food.