Camellia Nguyen

Our guide in Hue and to Hoi An via Da Nang was great (Quinn). He had a lot of knowledge about Viet Nam and its history and his English was good. Really an asset. He also wanted us to get the most of our trip and our experience, it was genuine.
He could also answer most of our questions.
Our guide in Hoi An (Bao) had so-so English skills and was not super responsive in our questions. The trip to Cham Island was a turist trap and we had a tough time getting over the pollution in plastic and the bad use of the island. Tourists should be limited and there should be better protection of Cham Island. Also the diesel fumes in the harbour area of Da Nang was awful. Lots of cheap sellers, too many tourists and very hard to breathe from the fumes.
Last guide in HCMC was fine (David). English skills was fine and he was a good guide. The trip to the Mekong Delta (Ben Tre) was a good taste of what the delta is and what is possible. For a next trip we would love to go deeper into this, perhaps on an overnight trip if possible to be able to explore more. Our day was good.

We are very impressed with the travel organization and all guides who were very imformative and sociable. The two guides we spent the most time with: Lam in the south and Hiep in the north were really helpful and personable, and we really liked spending time with them. They were both very flexible, and adjusted the program to fit our needs when necessary.
The program was intense, but we enjoyed all parts. The highlights were Pu Luong Nature Reserve, Ninh Binh and Halong Bay.

Hotel Reviews

Sanouva Saigon

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bamboo Eco Village

Can tho

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hanoi HM Boutique

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tam Coc Boutique garden

Ninh Binh

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Swan Cruise

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Betel Garden Villas

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

HCM City - Cu Chi tunnels

Ho Chi Minh City

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ho Chi Minh City - Cai Be - Vinh Long - Can Tho

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Bicycle Tour of Rural Villages - Cultural Tour of Hanoi

Hanoi

We spent some time with a very lovely family who helped celebrate my husband´s birthday.

Can Tho - visit floating market then drop off Can Tho airport for a noon flight to Danang then transfer to Hoian

Can Tho

Visit Tra Que Village & Hoi An City Tour

Hoi An

Great farm visit, cooking class and a bonus massage.

Hue - Hanoi

Vietnam

Hanoi and walking street food tour

Hanoi

Cu Lao Cham Snorkeling (Join in a group) - Then transfer to Hue

Vietnam

Forbidden Purple City - Royal Tombs

Vietnam

Camellia did a nice job planning and executing our trip. Here are a few comments about the itinerary and overall experience of our time in Vietnam.

The eight day trip gave us a great sense of the northern regions of Vietnam. Four destinations in eight days was a bit more ambitious than we might have liked. Since we spent so much time in the van en route to Mai Chau, Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay, and back to Hanoi, perhaps three destinations rather than four would have been a bit better. The hotels were all nice with pleasant service.

Our guide Hiep was a lot of fun and shared interesting information about the country. Our driver, Mr. Hong, was also very good and helpful. I would say that Hiep tended to be a bit more reactive than proactive in terms of telling us about the culture and history of the country. That said, we enjoyed our time with him.

We found that a couple of the activities didn't quite map to the description. The "food tour" in Hanoi as described didn't happen. We sat down to eat at one location for Bun Cha, then walked around the neighborhood without stopping to taste or learn about different kinds of foods. By the end, we had a chance to have Bahn Mi, but were tired and by that point and just returned to the hotel after coffee (and didn't learn anything about egg coffee, as an example of something that was described in the write up, but never happened). By comparison, a food tour we did through Kim Kim in the Netherlands included about seven different spots to try seven different dishes and learn about them. Also, the bike rides were more challenging than expected so Carla didn't have a good experience. I have more experience cycling so they were fun for me.

The food was all good and we particularly enjoyed the opportunity to make spring rolls in a home in Hanoi. We appreciate Camellia's and Hiep's efforts to explain Carla's food allergies at all of the meals to keep her safe.

Overall, we enjoyed our time in Vietnam and are grateful for the different experiences that were organized for us.

Fab trip with amazing helpers/guides overall. With some corrections from us they were able to put together an unforgettable experience. Watch out with the number of days allowed to visit Vietnam without a visa. We got caught out and had some issues during the ultimate departure.

Overall we are very pleased with the tour guides and the local specialist, Camellia. This was our honeymoon trip and the coordinators, tour guides and hotel staff went out of their way to make sure our room was nicely made up. Most hotels had rose petals on the bed. At 3 hotels provided cake, a special message, balloons or a special honeymoon drink. It was really lovely. The tour guides, and coordinators, Camellia and Thuy were extremely responsive during our trip. Any question we had they were quick to respond. We had several guides throughout the trip as we visited many places. Not only were the guides great but the drivers were also wonderful and helpful. From Mr Hiep and Mr Hi, to Ms Trang, Mr Giang, Mr. Lam and Mr. Phanh, Mr Kakada, all are great and knowledgeable about the places we visited.

Our trip to Vietnam was out of this world! The trip planning was super easy with Camellia, and she accommodated all our ideas on the trip plan. We had absolutely no issues on the trip! The smoothest trip I have had in my life! All our guides and drivers were amazing and super nice. Shoutout to Daniel in Hanoi and Thanh in HCM City. We visited Hanoi, Pu Luong, Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay and HCM City. We had tours every day; our favorites were the Mekong Delta Tour, where we stopped by a local shop and enjoyed some tea and local fruits and bought handmade coconut candy; we also loved our Ha Long Bay Cruise; our guide, Cong was AMAZING and it was super fun, one of the highlights of the trip was kayaking to a beach and swimming in Ha Long Bay. Ninh Binh was also out of this world; I recommend it 100%! We did a two-hour hike with Daniel in Pu Luong, despite it not being harvest time, the rice paddies looked stunning, filled with water. The sunset reflecting on them prompted us to appreciate the beauty of nature, and witnessing the dedicated work of the locals in the area only deepened our admiration. Our hotels were all super good! The locations were super central, allowing us to walk around in our free time. We also had the Footprint Travel team check on us every few days, which was super valuable. We also enjoyed the gastronomy, history, and culture of Vietnam! It's such a BEAUTIFUL country with the sweetest people. It's definitely on my list to go back and explore other areas. Thank you, Camellia, for this amazing trip that my mom and I will forever remember!

Hotel Reviews

MK Premier Boutique

It has a central location and has super nice staff! Also has a super nice rooftop for drinks.

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Pu Luong Valley Home

Thanh Hoa

You will wake up to the most beautiful sunrise ever! Expect some insects around the area as it is in the middle of nature, however, the room was really big and they have a super nice common area.

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Tam Coc Boutique garden

Ninh Binh

Authenticity & Character

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Renea Cruises Halong

Hon Gai, Ha Long

The cruise is AMAZING! It has super nice staff and super fun as all the activities are for all the people on the cruise. As it is a small cruise, it allows you to meet other travelers and we had the best guide ever! The food was also really good!

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Sanouva Saigon

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Activity Reviews

Hanoi and walking street food tour

Hanoi

I loved that our guide took us to places we probably would not have found ourselves. Our favorites were the Green Papaya Salad and the cooked rice cakes

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A day trip to the fertile Mekong delta, Ben Tre

Ho Chi Minh City

One of our favorite tours! The people in the Mekong were the nicest! The highlight was visiting a coconut candy workshop where we bought local products!

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Hanoi City Tour of Capital of Vietnam

Hanoi

This tour was really complete; we started with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where you can not take any photos but it is pretty impressive. Our guide was super informative and told us everything about Vietnam's recent history and Ho Chi Minh's role. Then we visited the Temple of Literature, which was super pretty and interesting. We enjoyed local lunch and then we could choose between a museum or a prison. We chose the prison, which was also super interesting! We ended the day with a water puppet show and a cyclo ride around Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter. It was a really complete tour!

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Transfer to Mai Chau, Hiking in Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Mai Chau was a complete surprise for us! We stopped there for a short hike around the rice paddy fields and had lunch there. It is a super beautiful village and a great first contact with nature. It was good that we only went there for lunch as apparently it gets quite busy with tourists and locals, and we also went on a Monday, which really helped! The food and the views were amazing. Then we drove to Pu Luong, which was astonishing. The hike was beautiful, and it was great that our guide gave us the option on how long we wanted the hike to last, we decided on 2 hours, and it was the best option, as the route we took gave us the most amazing views.

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Don Village to Ninh Binh & Tràng An

Ninh Binh

The boat ride in Ninh Binh was beautiful, it lasted for two hours, and we went through four different natural caves, which was one of the highlights!

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Ninh Binh - Bai Tu Long bay welcome on board

Ha Long Bay

One of the highlights of our trip was our Bai Tu Long Bay Cruise. The boat was super comfortable and cosy as we where not many people. The crew was super nice, and our guide was amazing! Kayaking to the beach and swimming in the bay was a memory we will always remember

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More cruising on the bay - back to Hanoi then transfer to Noi Bai airport for flight to HCM City

Vietnam

It was really special the cave visit we did as we ended up in a beach with amazing views! We also had a super fun cooking class back on the cruise.

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HCM City - Cu Chi tunnels

Ho Chi Minh City

The Cu Chi tunnels were really fun and interesting! It is a long drive from the city but totally worth it! We enjoyed an amazing lunch with our guide (not included in the tour), who took us to a great restaurant he knew. Our HCM City tour was also really good!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Big shoutout to our guide, Thanh!

Transport

The trip went off okay. The pluses were the transfers , as they were all on time and the accommodations all were amazing! There was a few small issues with Quan our guide in Hanoi. First it was hard to understand him at times and we know he didn't understand us a lot of the times we asked questions. We understand English was his second language however when you are assigning a guide to an English speaking group you should make sure they have and understand enough English to carry out their tour successfully. In addition to the language barrier we felt Quan wasn't as truthful as he could/should have been. We felt, at times, that he was making up answers just to provide one when he should have just said he didn't know the answer or understand the questions. In addition to these issues our guide feel asleep numerous times when we were in route to different places. We understand that he didn't need to provide constant commentary the entire time however he should have been available for us if and when we wanted to ask something about the sights...instead we resisted because we didn't want to wake him.

In regard to the tour itself, we had issues with the bike portion of the tour. We thought, according to the description, that the village tour was going to be in a quiet remote/rural area however the first portion of the ride was through a very busy village and we had to keep dodging motorbikes/cycles, cars and trucks which wasn't just dangerous but NO FUN! The second portion of the bike ride, through the flower village, was a little less trafficed however because of the season we didn't see the flowers in bloom so you should either offer this tour when the flowers are in season or disclose to the tourists/customers that seeing flowers will be dependent upon the season.

Another issue we had was the fact that most of the restaurants that we visited were also visited by many other tour buses therefore the restaurants were busy, causing our meals to come out at different times even to the point that sometime one person would be finished with his/her meal before others even get theirs. In regard to the restaurants choices should be given to the travelers and they shouldn't have to go to the same restaurants that all other tour buses go too.

Now that I have expressed my disappointment in the tour I will say that there were some really great highlights to the tour. One was the Halong Bay cruise. Not only was it an amazingly beautiful but our guy Thai was amazing as well, we really enjoyed him. But by far we truly LOVED Micky our guide in Cambodia. He was funny, truthful, provided picture images to go along with his verbal explanations and was all around a very good guide.

What an awesome trip. Our guide, Than, was super nice and helpful. Even helped my mom down the 500 steps in Tam Coc. Vietnam is a beautiful country and Ha Long Bay was more incredible than we could have imagined. Endless islands and gorgeous weather. Really recommend working with Camellia too. She was responsive, helpful, and made sure the trip was exactly what we wanted.

Hotel Reviews

Dragon Legend Cruise

Hon Gai

The rooms are surprisingly nice for a boat. Way better than like a cruise ship. Food is great. They have an affordable spa. And the views are simply incredible. Boat staff are also super nice.

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Hidden Charm Ninh Binh

Ninh Thang, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh

The Hidden Charm hotel in Ninh Binh was quite nice. The staff were friendly, the rooms were clean, and it felt safe. It was conveniently located about 10 minutes from the next day's tour. The hotel also had a restaurant, which was a plus.

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Tirant Hotel

Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

The Tirant Hotel in Hanoi was quite luxurious. The rooms were very nice and the beds comfortable. There was a rooftop restaurant which offered great food and a beautiful view of the sunset. Even though I arrived late and didn't do much in Hanoi, the hotel was a positive part of my experience.

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Activity Reviews

Mua cave - Hoa Lu ancient Capital - Tam Coc boat trip - Bich Dong Pagoda

Ninh Binh

Beautiful scenery.

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Food

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Hanoi arrival - pick up and transfer to Ninh Binh

Vietnam

I felt at ease with the transportation from the airport to Ninh Binh. The driver and guide were friendly and professional, making the two-hour drive more comfortable. The journey was a bit hectic and stop-go, which might be a problem for those who get motion sickness easily. But overall, the pick-up and transfer service was efficient and reliable.

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Hanoi -Bai Tu Long Bay welcome on board

Ha Long Bay

The Halong Bay cruise was far more incredible than I expected. The views of the islands were absolutely stunning. The cruise itself was a highlight of the trip.

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Bai Tu Long - Thien Canh Son Cave - Return to Hanoi

Vietnam

The Thien Canh Son Cave was part of the Halong Bay tour. It was a bit crowded and not as memorable as other parts of the trip. It was a short walk through a small cave. It wasn't a must-see activity, but it was included and gave us a chance to get off the boat.

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