Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions the 2020 tour has been cancelled.
Since 2012, Chapter 160 of Veterans For Peace has hosted a yearly two-week insider tour of Vietnam, a former war-torn country that is now a nation of peace and beauty. These tours are truly memorable, the second experience of a lifetime for Viet Nam veterans.
2020 Insider Tour Information (PDF)
Contact us for more information about this tour
This is the ninth year that Viet Nam’s Hoa Binh (Peace) Chapter 160 of Veterans For Peace has hosted a two-week custom tour of Viet Nam, the place that resonates with most of us vets as an unforgettable part of our lives. For many, the memories are painful; for others, not terribly unpleasant but the experience is not one we’d want to repeat. Others – spouses, friends, anti-war activists, ordinary citizens – have experienced Viet Nam in their own formative ways as well. Viet Nam is part of us.
This year we have also been invited to participate in a unique conference based on the Waging Peace exhibit and book, and related touring events that have been held in the U.S. in recent months. The topic, The Outcome of the American War in Viet Nam: American and Vietnamese Perspectives — A Conference of Historians and Peace and Conflict Scholars, will feature a number or distinguished professors and researchers, historians, veterans, students, and journalists. It will explore how the United States and the Saigon government, despite superior military power and weapons technology, were unable to defeat the Vietnamese liberation forces or achieve political control over the south of the country. The date is 3 October, the day before our tour ends.
Costs
- Tour Fee: $2,950 USD, which covers all in-country Viet Nam travel (domestic flights, trains, buses, boats, but not tire sandals); single occupancy hotel accommodations; food and drink (alcohol not included); event tickets.
- Donation: $1,000 required minimum charitable donation.
- Airfare: less than $1,000 (from San Francisco; currently coach fares are $728.75 and premium economy $1388.75 with China Air), plus airfare from your home to our departure point at SFO. You can, of course, arrange your own direct flight to Viet Nam as long as you are in Ha Noi when the group arrives September 15.
- Tourist Visa: $80 USD for a 30-day, one-entry tourist visa. Multiple entry or 90-day visas cost more.
Note: VFP organizers and in-country hosts receive no compensation. The Hanoi travel company which handles in-country logistics, Viet Dreamland Travel Co. has always given us generous discounts and some-times separate donations to allow the maximum amount possible to go to VFP 160’s beneficiaries.
About the mandatory minimum donation
On each tour, each participant must bring a donation of at least $1,000 to be pooled and divided among projects we visit, including: bomb clearance efforts, help for victims of Agent Orange, support for hospitals, orphanages, and schools, as well as other community needs in Viet Nam. The $1,000 donation is mandatory. We encourage additional donations from individuals not joining the tour and their families, neighbors, civic organizations. Over the years, we’ve collectively contributed approximately $250,000 to these local projects in Viet Nam.
