sandyweb33

Has any FTer done a Vietnam tour that you would like to recommend/warn us about? (Saigon, Hanoi, VungTau, tour companies, any other recommendations?). Ages are 59,61, and 36 and male). Probably summer 2007. TIA

jimbo99

Ann Tours is often highly recommended here and elsewhere. I've also met people in Vietnam who have been happy with their service...
http://www.anntours.com/

A "hard to please" friend of mine used Threeland for a tour around the north:
http://www.threeland.com/

They were very attentive. My friend wasn't satisfied with the guide, and Threeland instantly replaced him.

If you're short of time, travelling at peak periods, or want to pack in as much as possible then its worth booking stuff in advance IMHO. Especially if you've not been there before. If you have more time, you can always just book your flights (perhaps into Hanoi and out of Saigon) and then book tours on arrival. Sinh Cafe (branches everywhere) are famous for helping backpackers - but they'll pretty much arrange anything at whatever level of luxury you require. I've used Fiditourist (Nguyen Hue street in Saigon) to sort out stuff for visiting customers. They've been fine too.

I wouldn't have put Vung Tau as my third city - unless you have an interest in the oil business, statues of Jesus, or dog racing.

If you say a little more about what themes your group are interested in (beach, culture, war stuff, hanging around in cities, scenic stuff etc) and how long you've got, I could waffle a bit more. Vietnam is a big place and it would take 3 to 4 weeks to "do" everything.

I've been away since January, and I'm already missing the place. (Back in April!)

greatam

Summer is NOT the best time to go to Vietnam. Fall or spring is much more comfortable weather wise.

First trip to Vietnam-October 2005 (I have since made 6 more trips)-Combination business/vacation-I did a lot of research, wanted a NON packaged trip-it really was backpacker meets Donald Trump. I am 58.

Very high end hotels-but took the regular, overnight sleeper train from Hanoi to DaNang, hired a car to drive me from DaNang to Nha Trang, booked a private boat in Halong Bay, wanted a boat trip up the Mekong-all the way from Saigon to Siem Reap, with stops in Chau Doc, Phnom Phen, and Can Tho. Found it was really hard to book all this stuff individually-it truly is different in Vietnam.

So after I put everything together I wanted to do, I contacted IndoChina Travel in SF. They have offices in Hanoi and HCMC. Patrick out of the SFO office booked everything I wanted, down to specific rooms in hotels, in exactly the order I wanted it. No pressure to do anything their way. I only paid about $150.00 over what I could have booked it myself and didn't have the hassle of trying to deal with the Vietnamese railroad, finding a car to drive me to Nha Trang, and finding the private boat all the way from Saigon to Siem Reap. They were a pleasure to do business with. http://www.indochinatravel.com/home.html

MrAOK

i put everything together there. it was simple. the only trick you have to know is that most of the travel agents use the same packagers, but the hotel travel agents charge considerably more. You're better off going to the travel agent offices away from the hotels.

I flew to danang. didn't want to spend the time on the bus. by the way vietnam is a long country. if you have less than 2 weeks, you're going to be really pressed to see big parts of it

SaigonCyclo

November thru February are the best months as it's cool season, but Summer is fine. March and April are the hottest months. Monsoon starts up in the South usually in May and runs through November. The rainfall helps to cool down the days and only lasts for an hour or so. Fall is the worst time to visit Central VN (Hue/Hoi An. Both are towns you should visit if you are in VN, just not in the Fall). September/December are very rainy often with flooding.

Agree with the other poster about Vung Tau. If your looking to visit a beach, Mui Ne would be a better choice.

I've heard good things about Buffalo Tours, but have never used a tour service in VN.

www.buffalotours.com

IceTrojan

You'll probably see plenty of references to Sinh Cafe. I tried them this past winter, and IMO they're great for the budget traveler or backpacker. But I felt like I got what I paid for.

Stateside, we've used AV Travel with good success (they're in Little Saigon). But they definitely were associated with in-country companies... I'll see if I can find out who it is.

sy7

I just wanted to post my experience with Threeland travel, which I ended up using for a 3 day tour around Hue/Hoi An. Overall, I would say that they were okay, but not spectacular. Most of the transaction was done via email, and the person I worked with was pretty responsive. However, there were definitely mistakes made.

(1) I specifically asked for either hotels with elevators, or to be on the first (ground) floor b/c stairs would be an issue. I was reassured that all their hotels have elevators. Well, when we were checking into the hotel in Hue, not only did it NOT have an elevator, we were also assigned a room on the 2cd floor (eg 2 flights of stairs)! They had no rooms at all on the ground floor, and after only refusing the 2cd floor room and staying in the lobby, did a room magically appear on the first floor. The tour guide who was with us was not willing to book us into another hotel because the night had been prepaid and they would have lost the money on that.

(2) I had them book intra-Vietnam airplane tickets for us. I specifically requested Vietnam Airlines, vs Pacific Airlines (even though it is more expensive b/c it has better baggage policies etc.). Well, a few days before the flight when I had still not received the info, I emailed the agent. She then emailed me back the e-ticket information. However, she said that Vietnam Airlines had canceled one of the tickets due to a duplicate name, and by the time the travel agency figured it out, there was no more space available on that flight. She instead booked us on Pacific Airlines (on a flight leaving 1.5 hrs earlier). Only a very cursory apology was offered. I was sort of preoccupied at the time, so I didn't realize that Pacific Airlines actually has much cheaper tickets than Vietnam Airlines. Of course, no refund was offered. I decided afterwards that it wasn't worth the hassle to request the ~$50-60 refund but it did leave a bad taste (though I actually don't know if the agency was able to book the discounted fare on Pacific Air since it was obviously a popular travel day).

(3) They do take credit cards (Visa/MC) but will charge a 3% fee. I'm okay with this, but this was NOT mentioned until the very end, well after I had already asked them about whether they accepted credit cards. I feel that they should have mentioned this the first time I asked them about paying by credit card.

On the plus side, the agency did have access to very good hotel rates for some properties, better than what I found on asiarooms.com for example. It also was convenient having them purchase the REP-HAN flight I needed (at a discount from what I would have been able to get it for via expedia, etc.).

Overall though, I probably would hesitate to get a personalized guided tour in a similar situation, but would stick with just hiring a driver once we arrive at a location. Yes, we were able to fit in more things in the amount of time, but I probably would have been happier doing less on our own. This would hold true for pretty much any other agency arranged tour of course.

I requested a mandarin speaking guide for the tour. However, based on my extremely limited experience (n=3), I would go for english speaking guides in the future. Our mandarin speaking guide was okay in terms of showing us the sites, but definitely was looking for commission in terms of the shops she bought us to. I still ended up getting some stuff from the shops due to convenience (one of the reason we even did a guided tour was lack of time), and simply viewed her commission as her tip. She was definitely expecting additional tip though at the end (probably b/c she knew we were from the US)! At first I felt bad about that (it is really hard to overcome ingrained cultural biases) but all that disappeared when we tried the tea from the shop she specifically bought us to. It was much lower quality than the sample that had been presented to us, and basically isn't drinkable at all. We only got $12.50 worth so it wasn't a huge amount. Anyway, I figured that she would have gotten more from me in tip than any commissions she might have made (since we didn't buy that much stuff). However, she probably usually gets people from countries that either don't tip at all or tip very little, and wasn't perceptive enough to change her tactics with us.

I also arranged an overnight Mekong Delta with Ann tours (with an english speaking guide). While I'm sure we basically got their standard tour, I liked that one much better b/c they obviously have a lot of experience with the tours and everything was well-designed. This was also a tour where it seemed much harder to do on your own even with extra time (unlike our Hue/Hoi An tour). Also, Ann tours didn't charge the credit card commission but simply had that factored in the original quoted price. However, I think Mekong Delta tours (and Southern Vietnam) is their specialty.

Elena

The most reputable company is www.exotissimo.com which is recommended in Conde Nast. I have booked Halong Bay cruises through them. I have also used www.BuffaloTours.com for daytrips such as a daytrip to the Mekong Delta. They have won the Conde Nast award for environmental concerns and offer multi-country trips. www.sinhbalo.com is great for adventure travel and more off-beat trips. I have also heard many good things about www.handspan.com but have not used them myself.

For domestic tickets I have booked with Vietnam Paradise Travel- it seemed rather sketchy as I had to use an online transfer service- Xoom- to pay for the tickets. When I had to cancel them however the travel agent came to my hotel- the Sheraton Saigon- and refunded me in cash minus a 10% fee so that was a pleasant surprise.

jimbo99

Thanks for the feedback. In fact that was the very problem that my friend had with Threeland. She'd booked a mandarin guide but switched to an english guide after the mandarin guy seemed to push for tips. All but one of her group were fluent in English so it was no big deal. I suppose its a different market. Threeland did mention that they didn't really specialise in services for Chinese speakers (Taiwanese in this case) so I'm guessing they got someone in.

It doesn't surprise me the business about not specifying the CC charge until the last minute or the business about the lifts. VN service providers tend to be a bit sloppy about service and despite being open to tourism for almost 20 years now, they seem slow to learn. What a pity. For the sake of a little more care they could make more money and get more repeat business.

The likes of buffalo, handspan and exotissimo are certainly more expensive but perhaps take great care of their travellers and thus are building a better brand.

LAXGR

I was in Vietnam last year and had a great experience with Ann Tours, doing the Mekong Delta. That being said, when you're in the big cities like Hanoi and Saigon, I highly reccomend giving yourself time to enjoy the city without being on an organized tour. Part of the fun and joy of those cities is wandering the streets and making your own discoveries, and really seeing the amazing and dynamic street life. Just be careful crossing the street! I never quite got the hang of just walking into an intersection where the motorcycle traffic never actually stops, they just swerve around you- very unnerving for someone not used to it!

rhwbullhead

I just returned from a two week trip to Vietnam with Ann Tours. The guides spoke English very well, though our guide in HCMC was the easier to understand. I was happy with our hotels and we booked their mid-range hotel package rather than the luxury packages.

We had a problem with a bag we had to send to Hanoi from BKK. I didn't realize Air France had such a low checked baggage limit so we had to ship a bag via Thai Air to save money on the excess baggage fees. (If I could do it over, I would have stuffed my carry-ons with more weight because they didn't weigh those.) Anyway, when we got to Hanoi, we couldn't pick up the bag because the customs office closed at 4pm. Ann tours worked had to help us get the bag with no extra charge. I believe they had to drive there three times before finally getting the bag. It was a lot of nonsense that I understood as being typical with dealing with the government there. That's going the extra distance for us.

I will say that I noticed when we went on a Mekong boat tour near Can Tho, several of the tour operators used the same company. My mother and I were on our own little boat. When we stopped at the popped rice factory and later this restaurant for lunch, we stopped people from other tours. I remember seeing this guy with a guide who had a Buffalo Tours shirt on. My point is that I imagine for things like that, there will be no difference between the different companies.

I'll close by saying that I definitely will use Ann Tours again when I go back to Vietnam at some point in the future.

b950022

Thanks guys for sharing detailed info.. i'm facing a little problem as they want me to copy the front and back of my credit card + 1st page of passport.
for booking Hotel+train tickets. I have no problem signing the credit card form but dubious about the passport copy. The surcharge for me is 3% as well.. I've heard 5% for larger hotels. Can anyone share any insight?

jiejie

Why would copying the first (ID) page of your passport be a problem for you? It's not like it's that easy to identity theft off of it. This is pretty common practice and I wouldn't have a problem doing it. Now, copying both front and back of credit card (also a common request/practice) can be more risky, so be darn sure of who you're doing business with. I have done this once or twice but try to strenuously avoid except as last resort.

Surcharges for credit card use are prevalent throughout developing Asia and usually range from 3-5% depending on the business and perhaps card used. Outside the most developed of countries, Asia is a collection of societies that run primarily on cold hard cash, and most businesses logically will pass on incremental costs of doing credit card business (i.e. the VISA/MC/AMEX/ whatever merchants fee) directly to you. Similar to what gas stations in the USA used to do--post a cheaper unit price for cash payment and a higher one for credit purchases.

hiyo

As answered by jiejie, surcharges for the use of credit cards are standard in Vietnam. Cash is king. I carry both MC and Visa debit cards with 4-digit pins. Go-to is a Schwab Bank Visa debit card, no fees. The MC is on an account set up just to have that option, only used for travel. It has come in handy in Hanoi (and Luangprabang) when an ATM was MC only.

I have had good experiences picking up tours locally as the need arises, but my needs are nothing fancy.

Not only is photocopying a passport NBD, I carry copies for the occasions when someone asks for my passport, like motorbike rental or hotel check-in. No one has ever insisted holding the real thing when I offered a copy.

turpwa

In the back packer area there are tour companies such as Vinh Cafe. I am a little older, spend a lot of time in SE Asia with my wife. Thought this might be a little hinky, however we have taken some tours up the Mekong with them. They are polite, safe and well run. I not sure you need a tour company to take the local stuff like Cu Chi, we rent a taxi to take us on these short jaunts. There are also tour companies down in the main area of Saigon, Saigon Tourist for example. The trip up the Mekong, though a litttle cheesy was fun, cheap, and carefree, spent the night, had a couple of lunches, great bus to get there and if my memory is correct about $45.00.