Linh Do

We traveled in April from North to South. I was trying to miss crowds, have fewest rain days, and coordinate with our Indonesia trip in May. We had a heat snap when we reached Hue that lasted three days. It was 102; the average in April is typically 85. I enjoyed our entire trip. 30 days allowed us to have many experiences and not be rushed.

We booked our trip prior to Covid and had to reschedule a number of times. This contributed to the problems we had booking this trip and getting confirmation. It was frustrating to not have final information until days before we departed.

We loved all our guides: Quynh, My, Viet, Quy, and Hoang. Each of them was outstanding in contacting the next guide and passing on information about the kinds of activities we enjoyed. They were great at tailoring our travel experience. We would have loved to have spent one more day in Hanoi with Quynh, he was a wealth of knowledge. We loved the home visit with Dao. Viet kept us busy with great experiences in art, food, and local culture. Quy provided us with great directions and information so we could navigate Nha Trang and Da Lat on our own. And Hoang was amazingly knowledgeable about the Nam Cat Tien National Park, which we really appreciated.

Notes I made that I would suggest my friends change if they book a trip, (I've already given the information to 6 people): In the future, I would not buy any pre-arranged lunch or dinner. Every hotel offers breakfast. You can always ask your guide for local favorites or recommendations at lunch stops. I prefer ordering off the menu or having the guide order for me with some guidelines like, I don’t need a 7 course meal for lunch.

I would be move forceful in getting all the information earlier. We didn't have time to research our hotels as the information provided by the travel company, Sens Asia, was so late in getting to us.

I would not take another night train the rest of my life. Almost 8 hours to train from Hanoi to Sa Pa, 5.5 hrs to drive. Train, one toilet for about 40 people in a train car and no one seems to be able to pee in the toilet. Noisy, a number of stops, uncomfortable, plastic, non-breathing bed. Totally not doing this ever again.

Ha Noi
Mk Premier Boutique Hotel Luxury https://www.mkpremier.vn
Loved staying in old part of Hanoi, walking around the lake, having egg coffee, being close to the old town. We met Dao, a retired teacher, very interesting visit.

Mai Chau
Mai Chau Ecolodge http://maichau.ecolodge.asia/
Loved the remoteness, and the hiking.

Thanh Hoa
Pu Luong Retreat (Hotel)
http://puluongretreat.com/
Liked the village we walked to and biked to.

Ninh Binh
Hidden Charm Hotel & Resort http://hiddencharmresort.com
Nice hotel, good Indian restaurant nearby, close to lake boats.

Ha Long Bay
Bhaya Cruise Deluxe https://www.bhayacruises.com
Nice boat trip. I liked all the excursions, the kayaking, and the caves and hiking.

Sa Pa
Aliana Boutique www.airaboutiquesapa.com
Loved Sa Pa. The hotel was quiet and out of the hub but a close walk to the town center. The village walks with My were interesting and the scenery was beautiful. Sens Asia had a number of issues arranging the transportation. Using the local taxi's might have been a better solution.

Sa Pa
Topas Ecolodge. http://topasecolodge.com
Wish we would have stayed two nights. One night is definitely not enough. Very beautiful, quiet, and unique.

Hue Eldora Hotel http://www.eldorahotel.com
Loved all the activities in Hue. Great hotel, staff. Bamboo paper making, incense making, weaving, etc. loved our guide, Viet. Recommend getting a room on one of the upper floors for the quiet and the view.

Hoi An Aira Boutique http://www.airaboutiquehoian.com/
Nice but too far from the old city. I wish we would have stayed closer to the old city. Walking along the river at night in the old city was beautiful. . Hotel was okay but I would have rather stayed on the river front.

Quy Nhon Anya Hotel & Spa https://anyahotel.com/
Nice hotel, nice staff. We liked the biking and sightseeing.

Phu Yen Rosa Alba Resort https://rosaalbaresort.com/
Over the top accommodations. I would have loved to stay here two nights at a minimum. Great boardwalk to walk along in the evening. Staff was exceptional, food was amazing.

Nha Trang Ibis Styles https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-9578-ibis-sty
Loved the boardwalk and town. The hotel location was great. The hotel itself was the 2nd poorest accommodations on the trip and the staff was uninspiring. A shame to go from Rosa Alba to Ibis. Ibis is a hotel you stay at when you are 20 and can’t afford anything else. I wouldn't stay at this hotel.

Da Lat Ttc Hotel http://ngoclan.ttchotels.com
I didn’t expect worse accommodations but this was it. The hotel is very noisy, that is an understatement. It is conveniently located but you won’t get any sleep. The breakfast was awful. We switched to the Du Parc, a wonderful hotel. Absolutely quiet. Good staff. We should have stayed here two nights and not at Da Lat Ttc.

Dong Nai Forest Floor Lodge www.forestfloorlodges.com
Loved this experience. I recommend this if you don’t mind the tent accommodations, being in the forest, and having a few less options for food. Hoang did a great job showing us around the park.

Ho Chi Minh Silverland Yen Hotel
Okay, I wouldn’t stay here again. Breakfast was okay, not great. Accommodations were just okay. The location is good, close to a large market, close to the lake, close to the ocean. Loved the city and the sightseeing we did. The old post office, Temple of Enlightenment, Landmark 81 (the tower), boardwalk. The hotel, find something better.

Thanks to everyone who helped make our trip memorable. I would change a few things, mostly hotel accommodations, but the sightseeing, activities, experiences were fantastic.

We decided to create our own "excursions" while traveling through Asia on a cruise. Linh helped us plan activities for three of the ports we visited. We gave her our destinations and she gave us various options to pick and choose from. Our first port was in Koh Sumai, Thailand, where Mr. Sonthaya gave us a great tour of all the island highlights and brought us to a beautiful beach side restaurant to enjoy the view and some local food.
Our second stop was in Laem Chabang, the port south of Bangkok. Ms. Angie and a driver picked us up from the port and drove us west of Bangkok, to ride a river boat that brought us to her favorite floating market, Don Wei Market. It did not disappoint, as it was a fascinating market filled with the smells, sounds and tastes of Thailand. We were truly immersed in the wonderful culture. We enjoyed tasting some foods while wandering and then ate a delicious lunch in a restaurant on the water. We boarded another boat and were taken to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), a tower on the Chao Phra river bank built in Khmer architectural style. It is the tallest temple in Thailand, decorated in beautiful ceramic pieces. We finished our afternoon in Chinatown, one of the largest in the world, then headed back to the ship in the evening.
Our third adventure was in beautiful Halong Bay in northern Vietnam. Our guide, Mr. Sam, met us early at the pier and brought us to a favorite coffee shop to have authentic Vietnamese, drip into your own cup, coffee. It has just a touch of sweetness from some added condensed milk and is the smoothest, non-bitter coffee! So enjoyable. Next we were brought to a pearl factory to learn and watch how oysters are inseminated, farmed, harvested, and pearls sorted for size and quality. We were then brought to Halong Bay, where we were given a private boat tour of the beautiful bay, filled with 1000's of islands. It was so relaxing and fascinating! We were brought to Sung Sot Cave (Surprise or Amazing Cave). Found by the French in 1901, this is one of the largest and most beautiful caves in the area! Be ready to do some walking! It truly was amazing! Back on the boat, we were served an amazing lunch of freshly steamed prawns, squid salad, stuffed crab and other delicious delicacies that had been caught by the captain and his first mate! It was too cold for kayaking that day, but that would have been a great option as well.
We were very please with Linh's help in finding us very informed and interesting guides. Every "excursion" went off without a hitch. I would highly recommend KimKim and their local guides next time you plan a trip or just plan excursions while on a cruise!

We enjoyed so many experiences: elephant visit, hiking through the jungle, kayaking around the floating village, cycling round Angkor Wat, butterfly farm, night markets, temple visits, Aspara dance show, all smoothly organised by our guides. It was so nice to be chauffeured from airport to hotel to the visits for the day.

We had a great Thailand trip this past December. Working with Linh and her team was relatively easy and where able to customize the experience to our needs. Overall a positive experience for my husband and I, we had private tours and our guides were very professional and helpful. There were minor issues we faced (we were asked for tickets for transportation by the drivers, which were not given to us) but where addressed by the local KimKim team. I would strongly recommend to get a local SIM card on your mobile device, so that you can call/connect with other services as needed. Thank you Linh! We had an unforgettable trip :)

We had a superb experience with every detail custom-fitted so that we got to see as much as we wanted in the way that we wanted. Perfect in every respect.

Mr. Sauce was my tour guide while in Bangkok, he was extraordinary. He was very knowledgeable, kind and complacent. I loved the floating market, never seen anything like it. Miu was my tour guide while in Chiang Mai and she was awesome, my most memorable experience from Chiang Mai are the temples. Phi Phi islands is like being in fantasy island! I loved my entire trip, thank you so much for putting it together.

Miss Linh did a fabulous job! Our only trouble was not understanding that we had to take care of the Vietnam Visa ourselves. However, she ended up handling it for us and even did the fast track. I would recommend KimKim or the agency for Vietnam take care of it and include it in their fees because most Americans don't know how to do the Visa on their own. We were so worried about the Hong Kong portion of the trip that we overlooked doing the visa ourselves. Anyway that got resolved and she helped put together a fabulous trip. We loved the hotels. We only had one hotel in which the rooms were really small so I wouldn't recommend the Rex hotel in Hanoi. I liked all the tours she recommended and tried to limit our tours to just half days with many free afternoons. My husband and I are the types that don't want a hectic holiday, just running around from one tour to the next. We enjoyed most of the local tour guides. It was difficult in that we had in one city, sometimes several guides and at one point there was confusion and we had 2 tour guides taking us back to one place. In my previous experiences in Thailand and Laos, we had only one local guide for each city and that was much better. That tour guide had the chance to get to know us and we had the chance to build a better relationship with him/her. The Kim Kim platform was easy to use and to make payments. Sometimes the communication threads got long and it took awhile to scroll down to previous conversations. That was perhaps the only drawback. This is the 2nd time we have used KimKim and we have been very happy. We really loved our Slovenia/Croatia trip from 2 years ago. Unfortunately we did not use KimKim for Portugal because your Portugal rep was difficult to communicate with and seem to have a bit of an attitude. We really liked Miss Lihn and she helped me when I got sick in Saigon. I would suggest somewhere in the KimKim description some emergency information. I got sick in Saigon and she told me to go the International hospital there, which was excellent and I got treatment from an English speaking Doctor. I would for sure mention Miss Lihn to my friends. At times, it was a bit difficult to understand her English; however she really made an effort to be understood. I do understand that Vietnam, since it's tourism is still developing, that many tour guides and tour operators do not have the command of English as many of the European countries. However I had 3 outstanding guides that spoke very good English, Miss Song from Topas Eco-lodge, Ben from Saigon (our first guide who picked us up at the airport and lead our city tour) and Mr Kha from Les Rives Mekong delta cruise. Those 3 were the most outstanding. Again thank you KimKim for the great travel experience. Vietnam will definitely be included as a trip of a lifetime.

Best of Vietnam Review

Tour leader Ms Linh was very good.
Ms Pi was a very good tour guild in Hanoi. She was informative and helpful.
The boat cruise to Halong Bay was great....a must do if in Hanoi.
Taking the night train to Sa pa was very worth while. Sa pa is a stunning part of Vietnam and well worth visiting. Mi was a very good tour guild in Sa pa.
Phong was a very good tour guild in Hue and Hoi An. He was very flexible with our times and very informative.
Ben our tour guild in Ho Chi Minh City was very good. Very informative and helpful.
The Vespa scooter tour in Saigon was very fun! The drivers were excellent and the places we visited were great. The Mekong Delta Tour was very informative and highly recommend this to anyone who is visiting Saigon.
All of the hotels we stayed at were great in there location and easy to reach.
All of the drivers who took us from place to place were excellent.
Would highly recommend this tour for someone who wants to see the most Vietnam has to offer!

Ms Nit in Bangkok was great. The itinerary day were we went to the floating markets, Grand Palace and then were suppose to go to China Town for dinner was too busy. Given that it was early in the itinerary we were still jet lagged and there was no way we had energy to go to out at night. We skipped the china town food tour because we were exhausted even though it sounded great.

Ms Nook in Chiang Mai was equally great. All experiences were great. The elephant tour day could have used some preparation. We had no idea the transportation was so long and in the back of a truck. Our son got motion sick and vomited in the back of the truck on the way there which was a bit of a struggle and rough start to the day. With some warning the night before we could have prepared and given him something for motion sickness. Also it would be nice to have clear direction to bring bathing suits for the swimming part. Overall the elephant tour was very memorable and a highlight of our trip.

Both dinner shows were great too.