Da Lat park to plant special trees; Tours to mark Ha Noi anniversary; Mt Fansipan to fly flag for Ha Noi; City to welcome charter tourists

The organisers hope this project will create a unique tourism product for Da Lat – like Japan’s cherry blossoms. The cost of this project is VND6 billion (nearly $335,000), with a quarter being provided by the Government.

Rex has been recognised by the Viet Nam tourism authorities as one of the 10 best five-star hotels in HCM City.

Tours to mark Ha Noi anniversary

Ha Noi will organise seven special tours to provide visitors an insight into its history on the occasion of its 1,000th anniversary next year, according to the city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The “Journey to Ancient Vietnamese Capitals” will take visitors from Ha Noi to Phong Chau in Phu Tho Province where the nation’s legendary founders – the Hung Kings – set up their capital, and then to the old seats of the Ho, Le and Nguyen dynasties.

It also includes a tour focusing on Buddhism and the Ly dynasty, which played a major role in popularising the religion in Viet Nam, covering famous pagodas like Luy Lau, Yen Tu, Huong, Tay Phuong, and Thay.

The city tourism authorities are working on programmes that take in museums like the museums of History, Fine Arts, Military History, Ethnology, and the Truong Son Trail, and traditional craft villages and ancient villages and citadels.

Mt Fansipan to fly flag for Ha Noi

Lao Cai Province will offer a special tour for foreign visitors called “Pitching the 1,000th Thang Long – Ha Noi flag on the peak of Fansipan” in October 2010 to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi.

Mt Fansipan, 3,143m above sea level, is the highest peak in Indochina.

The first time a flag will fly atop Fansipan for a national festival, the tour would give Lao Cai a chance to promote is attractions, the province’s tourism authority said.

Victoria Hotels promote ox races

The Vietnamese equivalent of Spain’s Running of the Bulls is featured in a festive package with the hotel group Victoria Hotels&Resorts from September 17-19.

Victoria Chau Doc Hotel is offering a fun-filled “Oxen Race Day” adventure during the region’s annual Khmer Dolta Festival, which is a tradition of An Giang Province and celebrates the planting of the autumn-winter crops.

Highlighting the festival are the ox races, attracting thousands of visitors from all over Viet Nam and abroad. Each race involves two contestants, who lead a pair of oxen and compete in muddy and slippery paddy fields along a 100m race.

The festival also features colourful parades, cultural shows and dancing.

The three day and two night package offered at the Victoria Chau Doc Hotel, a grand colonial style hotel deep in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, is priced at US$211 per person.

City to welcome charter tourists

HCM City will receive international charter tourists every week starting in December following a deal between city tour operators and travel firms in Sweden.

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, director of Asian Trails Co, said the tourists, most of them from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, would come on tours arranged by three Swedish companies.

An Airbus A330 aircraft will bring them to the city every Wednesday until March 2010. Guests will spend two weeks in the country, including two or three days in HCM City before leaving for beach towns like Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, and Phan Thiet.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News