Thick of the Jungle: One-Week Couples Tour to Vietnam

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.

Zicasso's tour company did a fabulous job arranging our 10-night trip to Vietnam.

We visited Vietnam from south to north, starting in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and the Mekong River, then to Hội An and Huế, and finally to Hanoi and Hạ Long Bay.

At each location, the travel company provided us with very knowledgeable local guides who taught us the history and the culture of the area, which was our main ask.

The guides and our coordinator were professional and fun, and we enjoyed our time with the guides as much as we enjoyed the beautiful country. 

The coordinator even met us at our hotel in Hanoi to make sure we were well taken care of.

We would use this travel company in the future.

Thank you.

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.

We had a fantastic trip to Vietnam! Zicasso’s travel specialist put together a great itinerary, communicated well throughout the planning process, and was supportive during the trip. We would definitely use the tour company again.

We could not have been more pleased with our trip with Zicasso’s tour operator. Our travel specialist and all of the guides were highly professional, thorough, knowledgeable, flexible, and kind. They listened to us and planned and executed a trip of a lifetime for us. We were amazed at the unique experiences they arranged. We felt that we gained insight into the culture, history, and life of Japan and Vietnam that we could never have gained on our own.

FYI, this review is for both countries we visited: Japan for three weeks and Vietnam for three weeks.

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.