11-Day Discovery in Northern Vietnam: Cities, Cruises, and Countryside

We want to thank Zicasso’s travel specialist for a fantastic and educational trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. The travel specialist created a well-designed trip based on our request. We requested small boutique hotels and they hit the spot on every one. They were well located, had comfortable rooms, and friendly, helpful staff, as well as great restaurants.

Our guides were experts in their areas and added their personal experiences to give us a more local feeling for what we were going to see and what we saw every day. All our guides were on time and met us at every airport and hotel with clear signs so we could see them. Three of our guides spoke excellent English, could communicate easily, and were easy to understand. One guide did not have strong English and at times needed to repeat himself many times for us to understand. His knowledge was not as strong as the others, but that could have been due to his ability to express himself well in English. He was still good, but just not on the same level as the other three. All of them were flexible, so if we decided to end the day earlier, they would discuss with us what options we had to get to what we missed the next day. One guide even took us to his parents’ house for tea and to a natural hot spring because the weather turned cold quickly and it would have been cold touring that day.

All of the drivers were courteous and helpful, getting our bags in and out of the van and into our hotels. The vans were all clean and gassed up. They also drove safely in the crazy traffic in Vietnam.

All of the restaurants we ate at were wonderful, and the guides explained what we were eating and how it is prepared. We had two fantastic cooking classes that were well laid out and taught us to cook many Vietnamese foods.

We had daily communication from one of the staff members, who checked in to ensure we were happy with how everything was going.

We only had one issue that happened because of our understanding and the travel company’s understanding of our request to have some e-bike opportunities. The guides didn't really know how to explain their meaning the day before we had an e-bike experience. In the US, the meaning is a pedal bike with a battery-assist motor. Their meaning is an electric scooter. Only one of the group had ever ridden a motorcycle, so we had to spend a lot of time getting the other three comfortable riding them in heavy traffic. They ended up having the van follow behind us to slow down the traffic. It ended up being OK, but everyone was a little stressed out because of the heavy traffic. We canceled another e-bike experience and just used the van to get us around.

We also need to thank all the staff we didn't meet or talk to, but who were behind the scenes doing all the work to make this another wonderful trip with Zicasso.

Our trip planning and experience with Zicasso’s travel specialist was perfect from start to finish. The travel specialist was knowledgeable, professional, listened to our needs and wants, and offered valuable suggestions. The handoff to another team member was seamless—he followed up on all the little details (visas, etc.) so we didn't have to. Our domestic coordinator contacted us periodically to check in and give us reminders, but wasn't obtrusive.

The itinerary was catered to our pace; the hotels were all fabulous and within walking distance to other activities that we might want at the end of the day.

Our guides were all knowledgeable, friendly, and made the experience feel personal. Exactly what we were looking for. They were flexible with our schedules and offered suggestions for other experiences when asked (where to have dinner, massages, etc.).

The trip was wonderful. We went to five different places in 17 days. We got to see the best of Singapore, Siem Reap (including a wonderful show that was there just for us), Bangkok, Chiang Mai (where we bathed the elephants), and Krabi. All the stops were great and our guides were all fabulous. We had high tea with Zicasso’s travel specialist and his assistant in Siem Reap. It was nice to meet him. Any minor issue we had, the travel company stepped in and helped immediately. Overall, it was an amazing experience.

The trip went very smoothly. We missed an international flight due to airline trouble and, once we rebooked our flight, Zicasso’s travel specialist quickly updated our schedule for a guide to meet us at the airport and drive us to our hotel.

The four individual guides and drivers we had during our trip were local to the area we were traveling, super-knowledgeable, pleasant, caring, and flexible.

The itinerary that was created for us was varied, interesting, and authentic, taking us into local communities, eating at local restaurants, and staying at wonderful smaller hotels.

It was a great trip, well executed by Zicasso’s travel specialist. I had a good idea of the high-level things I wanted to see and they added several sights to my plan as we went through the process of laying out the trip. They also had some good suggestions for extra cities to visit and I added Hanoi/Ha Long Bay to my trip as a result.

I was incredibly impressed with every aspect of our experience with Zicasso’s travel company. I was traveling with my 83-year-old mother, so I wanted to be sure we worked with a company we could trust. The initial steps of creating the itinerary were personalized and efficient. The communication before and during every day of the trip was clear and consistent.

Each guide and driver was prompt and friendly, and provided a level of care and flexibility that made every step of the journey so smooth. Guides were incredibly knowledgeable and well connected in their respective cities to create seamless experiences for us. When we asked for any change or addition during the trip, everyone responded quickly and met our every need.

It was truly a trip of a lifetime, all thanks to the brilliant team at the travel company. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for an adventure in Asia and I look forward to engaging them for my next trip.