Southeast Asian Culinary Tour of the North and South

Zicasso’s travel agency was a phenomenal agency to work with. They were professional, attentive, easily accessible, and very informative. They went above and beyond in making our trip go as smooth as possible, including easy airport transfers and directions. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone traveling to Thailand!

Jon and I want Zicasso’s travel specialist to know how much we enjoyed and benefitted from the wonderful itinerary, great seats on domestic flights, caring and thoughtful tour guides, and more. What a great trip!

We spent three weeks in Vietnam and Thailand. The highlight of the trip was the wonderful guides and the unique itinerary. Great care was taken to arrive at destinations before the crowds and fast-track entrance with a personal guide with knowledge of the culture and history.

With six domestic flights throughout Vietnam and Thailand, we experienced the best of both countries. We loved the cooking classes and elephant sanctuary. Thank you for taking such good care of us.

It was the best vacation ever!!! Zicasso’s travel specialist and the team made traveling halfway around the world to six locations in two countries seamless and a spectacular experience at every turn! Ten stars for all of your efforts to make this a very special experience for my wife and me.

Initially, I was hesitant to plan a private trip to Thailand, as we have always used organized, small-group tours. Since we were traveling as a family group of five adults, each with a very different agenda, I figured it was worth looking into. Zicasso was great and provided three itineraries, but it was one travel specialist who really listened to what we wanted and provided what turned out to be an absolutely perfect experience.

The whole itinerary was so well thought out. Days with heavy physical activities were balanced with a calmer day following. The itinerary was arranged to accommodate specific markets and events we wanted to experience. Our travel specialist or a team member checked in with us every night to let us know pick-up times and the names of our drivers and guides. Choosing hotels alone can be a daunting task and the travel specialist made great choices for us, with our floating hotel in Thailand being an absolute highlight.

As a traveler, I have learned to expect the unexpected and be flexible, yet this trip went perfectly, from communication to airport pick-ups to the guides and the itinerary itself. We were able to enjoy Thailand and our time together without any of the stress that usually accompanies a trip like this. The only thing that could have made this experience better would have been if we could have stayed longer.

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.

We enjoyed an amazing two-week travel experience in Vietnam (north, central, and south), thanks to the thoughtful planning and suggestions of Zicasso’s tour operator. I can't say enough about all we saw, did, and learned while there, thanks to the tour operator's suggested schedule and attention to detail. We received first-rate service, from pick-up to drop-off, throughout!