FABULOUS FAMILY HOLIDAY
Vietnam
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Jan 4 - Jan 19, 2023
We recently completed a holiday in South and central Vietnam. After partially organising the holiday from Australia, I realised I needed some assistance from someone with local knowledge. I was travelling with my husband and my 3 older children. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Kim Kim but after reading the reviews I thought I'd give them a go. I cannot express how fantastic they were. Throughout the planning stage I dealt regularly with Long. He was so helpful and provided so much advice and assistance in planning the trip. He responded promptly to all of my enquiries and replanned the holiday four times due to my changes of mind. Long made suggestions and recommendations and took into consideration everything I put to him. The trip plan Kim Kim provide is comprehensive and detailed. Little details that I may have missed were raised by Long and I cannot thank him or recommend him highly enough. When we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City we were contacted by Dat who became our Vietnamese contact person. He gave us his contact number and we conversed via whatsapp. Dat was in regular contact, confirming pickups, tours and transfer details. He was wonderful. When my daughter became unwell he gave us recommendations for assistance and kept in regular contact enquiring how she was progressing. We did a number of tours throughout our holiday and the tour guides Kim Kim use are just wonderful. They are punctual, patient and knowledgable and made our tours not only interesting but fun. Tuyen, Tuyn and our other guides are fabulous. Tuyen kept in contact with me via whatsapp and sent recommendations for restaurants and activities in our next destination which was so kind and very much appreciated. All of our drivers were great too, they drove safely and assisted us with luggage and stops. On Long's advice I really feel that we spent the right amount of time in each destination. The tours we did were a full day tour of Hue and then a 1/2 day bike ride through a village out of Hue. Both of these trips were excellent, despite the weather being awful. Tuyen our guide was fabulous and the sights we visited were really interesting. The trip to Bana Hills from Danang is one that I cannot recommend. This is definitely not Kim Kim's fault as I asked to go there. Please do not waste your time and money. If you want to go up, simply do the cable car up and back but don't waste a day there. The cable car ride was lovely, until the mist set in and we couldn't see anything. Our guide for the day Tuyn however was fabulous. We also visited the Mekong Delta and stayed on the Mekong Eyes houseboat. Whilst the experience was good, there is not a lot to see at the Mekong Delta, so I wouldn't go back. We also did a cooking class at Ms Vi's cooking school in Hoi An, what fun. This is a definite tour to do and the quantity and quality of the food is unbelievable. Our 1/2 day bike ride through the countryside and to the fishing village out of Hoi Ann was also lots of fun, although the fishing village is certainly not what we expected. Our guide on this trip (I'm so sorry, I've forgotten her name) was just lovely and made the trip really enjoyable.
So, would I recommend Kim Kim? 100% most definitely. Would I use them again? 100% most definitely. Thank you to Long, Dat, Tuyen and all of our guides and drivers. You helped to make our holiday unforgettable.
Hotel Review
Whilst the trip was fun and the houseboat was interesting I was a little disappointed with the trip content. I thought we would see the floating markets that the Mekong Delta is famous for and found the village tour not very interesting. The staff on the boat were wonderful and spending time with other travellers was fun it is a long drive down and back for what you get.
Activity Reviews
Loved the bike ride despite the bad weather. Really enjoyed visiting the artist in his home and watching him paint and the incense making was fun. Was great to be out in an authentic village riding bikes.
This is a really interesting tour and is full of history and landmarks
Bana Hills is awful. It is a pretend Disneyland without the atmosphere or rides. Some parts like the gardens and the cable car ride are great. It so out of keeping with Vietnam. It may be better in peak season (although I doubt it), but in Winter most things are closed. The food is AWFUL. It was a punish being there.
Danang is just lovely. There's lots to see and it is clean. the beaches and beach bars are great, the night markets are fun and Marble Mountains are a must. they a fabulous.
This was one of favourite things we did on our holiday. It was so interesting and fun. Our guide was fabulous. there is SO much food to eat and it is all delicious. We ended up taking our left over food with us and eating it over the next couple of days.
What a fun 1/2 day. Loved the bike ride through the countryside. The fishing village is 'interesting', we did have fun, whilst it's not that authentic it was still interesting a funny to see the men competing in a battle of the huge speakers on the water singing Gangnam Style. Otherwise the ride in the coconut boats was interesting and fishing for crabs fun. It is pretty there. Lunch was excellent but again way too much food.
Can Tho was quite interesting from the river and on shore. The sweet and popcorn making place was good
The houseboat is great and the staff are lovely, but the trip lacked content. I think it's a long way to go for not a lot to do and see. We didn't see any floating markets which was why we wanted to go, however the people on our cruise who did do the 2 night version said there were very few sellers at the markets, which is not what you imagine when you see the images.
Dear Dianne,
Thank you so much for your kind review! I am delighted to hear that you and your family have enjoyed your trip to Vietnam. Your feedback will give us more detail to improve our service in the future. I hope to see you again on your next holiday in South-East Asia!
Wish you all the best and hope to welcome you again in the future!
Long