Heritage of Southeast Asia: Northern Cities Tour in One Week

To our travel specialist,

We would like to thank you for putting such an amazing trip together for us.

Your hotel choices were spot-on! We were happy to be by the river in Bangkok.

In Hanoi, our guide was a walking Wikipedia. He adjusted our schedule to a perfect spot to see the train upon my request. The signature cruise on a lovely boat was a highlight of the trip.

Our guide in Ho Chi Minh City was great in communication. She reached out on WhatsApp before our arrival. We enjoyed the Happy Buddha and canoe experience.

The tunnel tour was very disappointing. We seemed very rushed and we listened to other tour guides for information. Lunch was at 10.45am and we arrived at the airport five hours before departure.

Our guide in Bangkok was so compassionate. She taught us about offerings and the lotus. The river location was perfect for us.

Our guide in Chiang Mai was very soft-spoken and gave us a fabulous tour. She wanted us to experience the “northern food!"

The elephant sanctuary you chose was perfect, with just the right amount of time.

In Phuket, we were not picked up by our assigned driver. Our guide was there with a driver. She was helpful in the airport upon our return to Hong Kong.

This was an amazing trip for both of us!

Thank you so much!

We recently completed a 29-day custom-designed tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with Zicasso’s travel company. As a couple, we have toured 100 countries on six continents. We always travel by ourselves and not in groups. We often plan and book our itinerary and activities on our own. We have experienced tour operators in the past who just string together “cookie-cutter” activities and call it a custom tour. I commend the travel company for not taking this path.

Our tour was completely tailored to our needs. We went through several iterations of the itinerary to match it to our interests and they were untiring in making adjustments to suit our particular needs. The hotels were all of excellent quality and very well located. The itineraries in each of the locations we visited met our expectations and addressed the interests we had discussed with the representatives of the travel company. All of the guides were good and several were amongst the best we have ever had. The support of the travel company was outstanding throughout our trip, with daily check-ins and immediate reactions when assistance was requested. I would rate the tour as exceptional. I unhesitatingly recommend the travel company.

Everything was very well arranged by Zicasso's travel specialists. It was a smooth and pleasant experience. The tour guides were always on time. Airport pick-ups and drop-offs were very helpful. The hotels where we stayed were amazing. It was a great experience!

Excellent trip.

For improvements, there are a couple of items.

The first tour guide in Hanoi did the minimum. He didn’t escort us through some of the exhibits and explain what we were looking at, for example, the "Hanoi Hilton." He also didn’t escort us into the airport on departure. All the other tour guides escorted us through the exhibits and brought us into the airport for check-in.

Flights in-country were middle seat and window. We expressly stated we did not want cheap seats on a 30k trip.

We wanted a cooking program one day. None of the activities met our stated expectations.

We traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia from May 8 to 22, 2025. This was my fifth trip through Zicasso. As expected, the itinerary was excellent and exactly what we were looking for. I did double my budget from what I initially sent to Zicasso.

All of the lodging selections were outstanding. Along with the tours of the Ho Chi Minh complex, Hue Imperial City, the Angkor Wat complex, and numerous other temples and pagodas, we experienced a cable car ride to a mountain summit, a walk through an ethnic village, a water puppet show, a Cambodian circus, a Vietnamese cooking class, an evening lantern boat ride in Hoi An, and dinner in one of the top 50 restaurants in Asia. The water puppets are an ancient Vietnamese art (11th century) and the show was extraordinary.  

Zicasso’s travel agency worked patiently with us over several months to organize a perfect four-country tour through Indochina, doing exactly what we asked, including a Khmer cooking class with a local chef.  

We were met on arrival in each county by an experienced English-speaking guide who was well-versed in the history, geography, and culture of each location, and they were just delightful people too. They took us to rural villages and through urban mazes to get a close look at the daily life of the citizens. We chatted with farmers in the field and had meals in local homes. Our agency booked amazing hotels for each stop, from an eco-lodge in the mountains of Vietnam to a spectacular seaside resort in Thailand. 

We had contact names and numbers for agency representatives in each country. They were incredibly responsive, even after hours, when we had a small medical issue. They gave us a completely seamless experience from arrival to departure, with no wasted time. Vacation time is very precious, so we prefer to work with professionals who know the area intimately and take the time to understand our objectives rather than pushing a canned itinerary.