Travel the length of Vietnam, uncovering centuries of history and culture in Hanoi, Hue, and Hoi An; and witnessing everyday life in spectacular places from Ha Long Bay to the Mekong Delta.

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Starting at: $5,497 * Price includes special offer * Includes airfare, taxes & all fees Make a Reservation Ask Us A Question or Call 855-330-1542

Terraced rice fields in Vietnam. Credit: Hoang Long Ly

Throwing fishing nets along the river in Vietnam. Credit: Amanda Mack

The village of Hoi An, a World Heritage site

Pavilion at the Tomb of Minh Mang in Hue

Woman working with flowers on the Mekong. Credit: Nhiem Hoang

Discovering Vietnam

15 days from $5,497 | includes airfare, taxes and all fees

Travel the length of Vietnam, uncovering centuries of history and culture in Hanoi, Hue, and Hoi An; and witnessing everyday life in spectacular places from Ha Long Bay to the Mekong Delta.

departure passengers

or Call 855-330-1542

WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY

This was our first Smithsonian tour and we were impressed! It combined first class transportation and accommodations with intelligent and thought provoking seminars plus knowledgeable tour directors and study leaders. It won't be our last Smithsonian Journey.

- Carol R.

JOURNEYS DISPATCHES

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Experts

Oct 19 - Nov 2, 2023 Departure

Professor Ullman is a professor of American history at Bryn Mawr College. She received her PhD at the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. She specializes in 20th-century America with an emphasis on media and memory, gender, and the social history of American Cold War policies in Asia after WWII. After publishing two books on the history of gender and sexuality in the U.S., her more recent research has turned to the ways in which the Korean and Vietnam Wars impacted American society from 1950-1980, particularly focusing on the often forgotten prisoners of war from the Korean conflict. Her courses at Bryn Mawr College include such topics as “Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War,” “Political Culture of the Cold War,” and “Movies and History: The Past Lives Forever.” Professor Ullman has taught in China for the Bryn Mawr College summer program and has been the study leader on multiple trips for the Bryn Mawr College Alumni Travel Program, including to Vietnam.

Jan 11 - 25, 2024 Departure

Dana Sachs

Dana Sachs first traveled to Vietnam in 1990 and she has been visiting the country and writing about it ever since. Her first book, The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam, chronicles her experiences living in Hanoi in the 1990s. Her novel If You Lived Here tells the story of the friendship between two women, one a Vietnamese exile in the United States and the other a North Carolina native, who travel together to Vietnam. In 2010, she published The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam, the result of a Fulbright Foundation Fellowship that allowed her to conduct extensive research in Vietnam. Dana’s love of literature and Vietnamese culture led her to translate, with Vietnamese partners, many Vietnamese short stories and to co-edit Crossing the River, a collection of short fiction by the acclaimed writer Nguyen Huy Thiep. With Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Bui Hoai Mai, she compiled a collection of Vietnamese folktales, Two Cakes Fit for a King, which includes beautifully illustrated versions of some of the country’s most beloved stories. Dana and her sister, documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs, also produced Which Way is East, a documentary film about contemporary Vietnam. Her journalistic articles and essays on Vietnam have appeared in numerous places, including National Geographic, The International Herald Tribune, Travel and Leisure Family and the Huffington Post. She lives with her family in North Carolina.

Feb 17 - Mar 2, 2024 Departure

Elvira Masson

Elvira Masson, College Professor of History and Director of the Confucius Institute at New Mexico State University, teaches courses in Asian history and Chinese literature and language. Elvira holds a Master’s degree in Chinese from Stanford University, has traveled widely in Asia, and lived for many years in Beijing. She returns often to Asia, (especially China, Korea, and Vietnam) as you will recognize when she discusses contemporary issues. You can also count on her to recommend a favorite restaurant or specialty market and invite you for morning walks through the local neighborhoods. For the Smithsonian, Elvira has also been a “Beyond the Podium” Speaker for a Southeast Asia Cruise and an Invited Lecturer for the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program’s “Campus on the Mall.”

Discovering Vietnam