Vietnam Family Holiday from North to South 16 days

Vietnam nos encantó, aunque no todo fue perfecto. El programa es intenso y a veces los traslados resultan pesados, sobre todo para los niños. Sin embargo, valió la pena por todo lo que vimos: el mercado flotante de Cai Rang, las cuevas de Ninh Binh y las calles iluminadas de Hoi An. Los guías siempre estuvieron atentos y supieron mantener a los pequeños entretenidos. En resumen, experiencia muy completa, pero recomendable ir con paciencia.
...Less

El tour estuvo bueno, pero no todo fue perfecto. Los hoteles estaban bien, la comida rica, y los guías muy atentos con los niños. Mis hijos se divirtieron mucho con los paseos en bote y los talleres, sobre todo en Hoi An y el Delta del Mekong. Pero los días de viaje en carretera fueron largos y los peques se cansaron un poco.

Lo que más me sorprendió fue Mai Chau: nunca imaginé que Vietnam rural fuera tan lindo y tranquilo. La bahía de Bai Tu Long también increíble, aunque para los niños pequeños algunas actividades acuáticas fueron un poco complicadas.

Al final, fue un viaje que recordaré siempre, con momentos que hicieron felices a los niños y nos enseñaron mucho sobre la cultura y la vida local....Less

Organisation by Jenny prior to tour was excellent. Service provide by Jenny during our stay when things didn’t go to plan was good. She was always available to assist and find a solution.
Some guides were poor, food was questionable (on some occasions), easy trek in Sapa was NOT easy. Some transfers did not arrive or vehicle that did arrive could not accommodate us. Set menus not great. There were a few instances where things were not included when we had assumed they would be (early check-in/late check out when organised arrival was very early/departure very late).
3.1. Guide in Hanoi
City Guide very good – knowledgeable, friendly, helpful, organised. Excellent English, High level of knowledge regarding Vietnam and its history. Provided us with advice that was useful to us for the rest of our stay. We were exhausted with still a couple of hours to go in the tour, perhaps make it clear to future clients the level of walking on this tour, and the fact that to take everything in (in the way it deserves) you must concentrate completely all day.
Food tour guide: This guy was great. Very friendly and explained all the foods we tried and checked for dietary requirements before we commenced. He walked at a pace that was suitable for all in the group. Good variety of foods tried — something for everyone (even the picky eaters).

3.2. Guide in Ha Long Bay
Swan Cruises guide was good, guide was nice, great English, helpful, friendly and open. Only thing of concern was that there was no safety briefing for passengers.

3.3. Guide in Sapa
Guide was average. Somehow he failed to notice how difficult the trek was for my mother and myself! And kept insisting that we do a trek the next day that was even longer than the one we had already struggled with. Once we insisted that we wanted to change the itinerary he did so. For some reason two local women followed us the entire time on day 2 (whilst at a village festival). The guide never explained why or asked them to leave us alone. This was very irritating and disconcerting, leaving us with a feeling of just wanting to leave. He did however help when there was a mix up with our transfer bus back to Hanoi, so I must thank him for that. He was also supposed to organise us to have dinner as per our itinerary. This was not organised, and we had to fend for ourselves.

3.4. Guide in Sapa
- We only had one ‘guide’ in Sapa, however the transfer driver that took us back to Hanoi was not professional. He drove erratically, and at the start of the trip was extremely agitated due to a mix up with who the correct passengers were.

3.5. Guide in Hoi An
This would probably be the worst guide we had. The day we went to My Son was hot and humid! On a number of occasions he stopped himself in the only shade while we were in the sun. He told us we could not take photographs as we walked around as it distracted him. He told us we could not take photographs when he was talking as it distracted him. We had to go back and walk through again in the heat to take photos if we wanted them. He repeated the same 4 facts about 8 times, and didn’t actually seem to be that knowledgable about the location aside from things you could learn off google in a few minutes. This behaviour by the guide really put us off for the remainder of our tour and we asked to shorten the subsequent city tour as we were both hot and had had enough of the guide.

Cooking Guide
This cooking tour guide was very nice, we really enjoyed our experience at the organic farm and finding out more from the guide about projects to clean up Vietnam. He was knowledgeable about organic farming and was personable throughout the morning.

3.6. Guide in Hue
Guide was knowledgeable, friendly and organised.

3.7. Guide in Nha Trang
Guide was good accommodated our requirements on the day. However, the lunch stop was disappointing. The food was unappetising and largely went uneaten, nothing but seafood on offer so there was little variety. The only drinks available were Coke or beer

3.7. Guide in Ho Chi Minh city
Cu Chi tunnel guide – Overall the guide was ok. However, my daughter found him a bit “creepy” he kept saying she was beautiful and making her uncomfortable. On a number of occasions she had to say she had a boyfriend. Maybe he is just really friendly? In regards to the tour he did not seem to explain as much as other guides did. We’re not sure if this is because he simply didn’t have much knowledge or if this is just what he has been told to do. We did appreciate that we started the tour very early as train came in from Nha Trang at 5:45am. He took us to a Pho place for breakfast not sure if that where we were supposed to go or not? Irrespective we did have a good experience at CuChi.

Saigon City and Mekong guide – Firstly the driver on this part of the tour was great – it was probably the safest we felt in a vehicle the whole trip and he was always on time if not early
...Less