North to South Vietnam tour Traveller Reviews

Just returned from our trip to Vietnam. Wow!!!! And thank you Dorothy at Eastravel. I took my 15 and 19 year old kids and Dorothy got the balance for us spot on. Culture, exploring, trecking, adventure, free time. The quality of the hotels, guides and transfers were 10/10, the pre holiday advice and communication also excellent and the 24 hour support service while away also excellent (our bags were delayed in Singapore for 24 hours by the airline when we arrived in Vietnam). A completely tailored itinerary and fabulous experience.

Dorothy was amazing from first contact to outline my thoughts to confirming our final itinerary.

We visited Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. While the sites were interesting, of even more interest was the willlingness of our guides to talk about what life is like in their countries.

The itinerary was well thought out, all our tour guides were knowledgable and communicated well, and the logistics went smoothly.

A fabulous 16 day private tour of Vietnam and Cambodia, finishing with a 5 day beach resort holiday in Thailand.

Dorothy planned and put together our whole tour, making recommendations of places we should visit, along with all the hotels. She also recommended Thailand for our beach resort destination. Everything went exactly to plan, the tour guides were always waiting for us and were so knowledgeable and friendly, the length of time in each city was perfect, and all the hotels were fantastic. It was also my husbands 60th birthday while we were away, and Dorothy even informed the hotel, and arranged a gift for him. I cannot recommend Dorothy highly enough - she is so experienced, knowledgeable and helpful. In conclusion, she made our dream holiday perfect.

We enjoyed every minute of a very well organised trip which gave us plenty of sightseeing and also time to sit and enjoy the great hotels and pools. So much to see with good guides explaining it all . All transfers were prompt.

Trip was organised so well by Cathy of East Travel who listened to what we wanted and arranged it all very well. She told all the hotels that the trip was for our Golden Wedding and there all gave us roses on the bed, champagne and cakes!!!

Went to Thailand and Vietnam saw a lot of places did lots of travelling exactly what we asked for.

This is our second holiday arranged by East Travel who was recommended to us from a friend who is also a returning customer

Vietnam - all the h’s - Halong Bay, Hanoi, Hue, Hoian, Ho Chi Minh. Variety of lovely hotels, from international chain to family run old French colonial and couldn’t fault any of them. Well informed English speaking tour guides and local drivers at all locations booked for us by Eastravel and provided by Indochina Services Cambodia - Siem Reap.. Finished on a high at Viroths - a truly amazing hotel where nothing was too much trouble. Dining at their off site restaurant was a wonderful experience.

Eastravel, Ipswich. On the ball from the get go with loads of suggestions for our itinerary.. Accommodated our various requests for tweeks (and even managed to organise a fantastic Vietnamese cookery lesson). Their suggested hotels were all amazing, with Viroths in Siem Reap being the best of a truly good bunch. See attached photos.

Once again we were delighted with our arrangements organised for us to Vietnam and the experiences of the sights, sounds, smells and of course the food. We started in Hanoi and our fantastic guide arranged a test for us, strange we thought on our first day in this country. He would not leave us until we had passed it.....yes you guessed it ....we had to cross the road without his help and then we were free to explore the rest of the city in the evening 😀 Thankfully he taught us well and we had an incredible time visiting the narrow lanes and traditional shop houses. Our visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was quite thought provoking and an understanding of why he was so revered. Hoan Kiem Lake, Ngoc Son Temple and the Tortoise Pagoda, were just opposite our hotel, and in the evening had a completely different complexity to during the day. We even joined in with the Tai Chi exercises along the bank of the river. Our trip to Halong Bay and the islets was magical. At night all the boats anchored near to each other and all that could be seen was the twinkling lights from the boats, and the sounds of the bay lapping against the boat. The views were tremendous, the cruise boat was lovely and we were spoiled with the fabulous food on board. We then flew into Danang a vibrant city which seems to have embraced the western culture with great aplomb. We then travelled to Hoi An with it’s incredible night market and bustling village. Having only stayed 2 nights, however arriving late only allowing one day to see the sights, so we will definitely return as this was a hidden jewel on our trip, However in one day we took a cycle ride, found the beautiful coastline and beach, shopped in the day market, ate street food, went back at night for the brilliant night market which goes on forever, and again ate fabulous food and experienced Iced Spring Rolls . Yummy !! Upon arriving at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) we were immediately faced with the hustle and bustle and so glad we had passed the test in Hanoi !! Our guide took us Dong Khoi Street, City Hall, the old Opera House, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. The French influences are evident everywhere and our guide explained the knacks they had had during their occupancy. Again thought provoking. Next was the History Museum, the Le Van Duyet General Tomb, and the Ba Chieu Market. Cholon (Chinatown) and the Chinese Medicine Street was a test of reactions dodging bikes, mopeds and cars. Crazy but exciting. Then more culture of the Thien Hau Pagoda to finish our tour of the day. The next day was our trip to the Cu Chi a Vietcong base during the American War. Stretching over 200 km, this incredible underground network. This was incredible and a fete of tenacity shown by the Vietcong . We even went into the tunnels, and were amazed at just how small the spaces actually were. Not recommended for the claustrophobic!!! However totally worth trying. Vietnam certainly made us think how history has made such an impression upon others and how this has had a massive impact socially and culturally and not always for the best!! Vietnam humbled us in many ways, made us think about how actions can do so much damage, BUT this country has a big beating heart that delights in showing how they have overcome oppression, still trying to deal with elements of it, especially in relation to the depravity, but has some of the most beautiful history to share with us all . A visit is a must 😀

Eastravel in Ipswich Suffolk, are the BEST !! Cannot fault the ladies and their exuberance and professionalism that they use, to ensure that holiday is perfect in every way they possibly can. Would recommend them in a heartbeat 💕

Travelled to Hanoi, Mai Chau, Cuc Phuong National Park, Ninh Binh, Hue and Hoi An. It was a wonderful experience full of delightful people, great food and many different things to do and see.

Our guide Huan Nguyen Duc was very knowledgeable, pleasant and professional. I would have no hesitation in recommending him and would request him if we were to return. Our transfer guide from Hoi An to Danang Airport was very good, as we left some luggage behind in the car and we went and checked in. We then realised we had something missing. We were sure we would never see it again, but within half an hour he had returned to the airport and got our missing luggage back to us. We are extremely grateful to him and were really impressed with this level of service.

From the time we arrived in Hanoi until the time we had to return home the holiday was amazing. The quality of the hotels was first class and all the staff treated us like royalty.We were celebrating my husbands 50th birthday while we were away and a birthday cake was arranged for him in both Vietnam & Thailand which was a lovely gesture. I can't rate the tour guides highly enough and we didn't realise that we would have our own private transport and guide for all of our sightseeing during the holiday. it was fab and I even felt a little emotional when we had to say goodbye to Mi in Vietnam as we had spent the longest time with her. Having private guides allowed us to avoid the crowds and gave us a really good understanding of the history and the culture from the people that lived there. Our 3 week holiday certainly exceeded our expectations and we will definitely be returning to visit other countries in Asia.

Everything organised by the tour operator was spot on, from the time we booked until returning home. We did and saw everything we wanted to and everything was in fact better than we expected. I usually organise my own trips away myself but it was so nice to have everything done for us without the worry of things perhaps not quite going according to plan.

We began our experience through friends from England who recommended Eastravel for a holiday in Vietnam with a guide at each port of call. It worked out incredibly well and we were so lucky to have our wonderful guide Tuy when I had a minor stroke and had to be hospitalised in Halong for 24 hours. Tuy took us to a very well appointed international hospital with an excellent doctor who spoke English, and he stayed in the area and took care of our ongoing travel. Once back on the road the next day the holiday had to be slightly rearranged but it was very ralaxed and we didn't miss anything so we were delighted. Since we travelled from Málaga with Turkish Airlines we stopped over for 3 days in Istanbul on our way back, this time without a guide but also a great experience.

Dorothy Heng from Eastravel dealt with our requirements extremely well at all stages of the journey and without any pressure beforehand even when we made some important readjustments, for example deciding a month before not to visit Laos and Cambodia as originally planned, but to stop over in Istanbul. We were very happy with the very little extra cost involved as a result of the changes to our itinerary after my hospital stay. We were also very happy with the local operator ICS who provided 4 excellent guides at the different stages of our time in Vietnam. Two in particular, Tuy in the north and Vinh in the south, went to considerable personal trouble and expense for us. Further general comments:- 1. No decent maps provided, nor easily obtained, even in Tourist Information offices. Our Saigon guide Vinh kindly brought us one and would not accept payment for it. 2. No Botanic Gardens anywhere apparently! Tourist Information people looked totally perplexed when asked! 3. Personal security: we never felt the least bit threatened anywhere. 4. Tips: always a traveller's nightmare - I believe the Tour Operator should take care of this entirely (guides, drivers and hotel staff) and include it in the tour price, to save the very uncomfortable problem of scrabbling around for suitable bank notes all the time, a real pain. 5. Currency exchange: travellers to Vietnam should be warned they cannot change their remaining dongs once they start their return trip.