Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling in the countryside around Hue visiting the local market seeing people tending their fields, water buffalo taking a bath and herding ducks across the road. Staying at the mountain homestay sharing a house with the local family

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our leader Tan Nguyen was outstanding and ensured that everything occurred like clockwork in the complicated itinerary. He went out of his way to include everyone and ensure that everyone was enjoying their holiday and did everything with a smile on his face and great sense of humour.

Advice for Potential Travellers

This was a very active holiday with many new experiences every day. Requires moderately strenuous physical fitness and activity. Padded cycle shorts recommended. Climate very varied, from surprisingly cold in the northern mountains to sweltering heat in the Mekong delta.

Suggestions

Vietnam is an amazing country and this trip helps you to experience its culture and highlights. Highly recommended.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the sunset from a boat in Halong Bay.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Bao, was always smiling, and competently managed the logistics of this complicated trip. The next mode of transport was always there waiting for us!

Advice for Potential Travellers

The trip notes say walking boots, but not really necessary, stout shoes would be fine and then you don't have to carry heavy boots around. There are several times when we had to take overnight bags, once even for 2 nights, so plan for this. Cycle helmets are available, so again, not really necessary to bring your own. Book yourselves on the all the optional trips, they are all worthwhile. The exchange rate is around 29,800 dong to the GBP, we found it very useful to have a print out of some key amounts to get our heads round the prices! This is a busy trip, but not too physically challenging, the hiking and cycling are at a moderate level. It is very hot in Saigon, so be prepared.

Suggestions

Fabulous trip, well organised and a real insight into today's Vietnam

Most Inspirational Moment

Driving towards Nirvana: It takes a while to get used to the nature of driving in Vietnam. We had four different drivers and we remain in awe of the challenge that they faced and the way it was met. The infrastructure was wrecked after the American war and many other priorities existed before roadbuilding could begin. It is a very long thin mountainous country much of it above 1000m so roadbuilding is a challenge even if you can afford the machinery. Roads are still being upgraded, from tracks to single lane and that means long sections of road works. Rainfall is high and washouts frequent. There are 45 million motorbikes in a country of 97 million people. In cities they drift across lanes, driving illegally and in the countryside wobble about carrying astonishing loads or families of four. So driving requires that you learn horn-speak: one means 'be aware'; two means 'I am coming through'; three means 'wake up, or we'll both be in trouble!' Yet it is all done with tolerance, patience and a complete lack of aggression. Only possible where the overriding ethos is Buddhist. European attitudes would wreck the system. Bad parking is tolerated, water buffaloes, dogs, chickens, even babies patiently driven around. We did not see an accident and the cars are not dented. Low speed limits are adhered to and are part of the safety solution. Progress in both senses of the word is slow but you get there and may even learn something about achieving Nirvana.

Thoughts on Group Leader

This was a private tour and we had three different guides all of whom were good, knowledgeable and well-organised. All timings were adhered to and we appreciated the high level of service.

Advice for Potential Travellers

A Sunday market in Bac Ha was a highlight; there are not many places in the world where you will see 1000 water buffalo for sale together with the stunning mix of ethnic costumes from the surrounding villages. Ideally we would recommend travelling up on Saturday night from Hanoi on the overnight sleeper train and then being driven direct to the market from there. If you only have limited time and want some experience of ethnic tribes the journey out from Hanoi to Mai Chau is only a few hours yet enables you to see village life, craft skills and a vast range of agriculture. The Muong people are charming, welcoming and do not push their sales pitch to hard!

Suggestions

The Green Tangerine restaurant in Old Quarter Hanoi is truly outstanding. Also in the old quarter we stayed in the Essence hotel which we would recommend and dined twice at their sister hotel a couple of blocks away. It has more atmosphere than the dining room at the main hotel. Both these hotels are linked to Aira boutique hotel in Sa Pa which we would also strongly recommend. It's a bit outside the city but has good views and a great sense of peace

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling in Hue

Thoughts on Group Leader

Superb, never stopped smiling. Patience of a saint.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Read the trip notes

Suggestions

Would have preferred 1 less pagoda and another trek

Most Inspirational Moment

I think the friendliness of the Vietnamese people and their welcoming smiles and humour.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Bon - our group leader was fantastic. Professional, super-organised, informative and fun. Very kind - and sensitive to everyone’s needs. He was an absolute star.

Most Inspirational Moment

Food! The Marble Mountain Halong Bay Hoi An Delta river (the small boat the guide add the last minute) War museum

Thoughts on Group Leader

The best! Great guy and amazing service! Very attentive to details. SUPER organized!! Caring and approachable. Honestly I was super happy with him (and I always had small problems with guides, but never with him!!!) Never had such a punctual and exact coordination with transports, busses timings, boats connections etc. Never waited a second, all very smooth. Maybe to be more concise when speaking about the most relevant things of a monument or a site. But all was interesting and adding great information

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring an extra small bag for short nights out in the homestays (and leave the big luggage at the main hotel). Bring a good repellent with deet.

Suggestions

To improve the bike service in Hue. The one in the south was perfect. But in Hue the bikes were old and not great... but overall it was nice and all manageable.

Most Inspirational Moment

The two highlights had to be cruising and kaiaking on Halong Bay and seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise, however learning about the history of both Vietnam and Cambodia was also fascinating. Travelling south by road meant that we crossed the DMZ and could visit the museum there. We also went to the War Remnants museum in Ho Chi Minh. We did a cooking class in Hoy An which was another must do. Our guide helped us out with finding an excellent class which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Thoughts on Group Leader

We had four guides during our trip and all were excellent. Helpful, informative and passionate about their country and its treasures. It really added to the enjoyment of the trip that they were able to answer our questions and guide us through the process of getting to know the culture and lifestyle of this fascinating area.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Vietnam and Cambodia are great places to visit. They feel very safe and there is so much to see and do. The tailor made trip worked very well for us as we had our two daughters with us who are 21 and 23. They enjoyed the freedom of being able to choose places to eat in the evenings but were also keen to do all the activities

Most Inspirational Moment

The first homestay was (just) the best part of the trip. The family was so welcoming, so obviously pleased to have us staying with them and so interested in telling us about their lives that it got the trip off to a great start and set the tone for the rest of it. Travelling there, amidst the devastation caused by recent unseasonably heavy rain, was an experience in itself. Close behind this were: the trek from the first homestay to the second, through the hills, with amazing views down mist laden valleys to the lake where the second homestay was, and the dancing with the village dance troupe in the evening at the second homestay (I was grabbed by the village flautist to pair him in the dancing, probably because he thought that as a 64 year old male I would be even worse than he was, but I reckon I - just - edged it!).

Thoughts on Group Leader

The group leader, Linh Vo, was outstanding. He had a compendious knowledge of Vietnam and its culture, people history and food, which he communicated effortlessly, coupled with personal experiences to bring it to life. His organisation was immaculate: everything that was supposed to happen did happen and at the time when it was meant to happen, with Linh on the phone double and triple checking ahead to make sure that it did. He was clearly well known, popular and much respected in many of the places that we visited, which meant that we got extra-special attention that made a real difference to my experience. He had a great sense of humour and was a terrific person to travel with.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Vietnamese food is amazing. Make a list of all the food you eat, because at the end you will want to look back on it and maybe cook some of it back home, but if you haven't made a list (I didn't) you just won't be able to remember. Make sure you try egg coffee in Hanoi.

Most Inspirational Moment

meeting the Hill tribe people in North Vietnam and the two home stays which were both lovely

Thoughts on Group Leader

Son was brilliant and an excellent guide --- was fantastic

Advice for Potential Travellers

travel light --dont need to much luggage and move frequently so too heavy a bag is a pain for all concerned ! mosquito repellent is needed as we were bitten quite a bit even though mosquitoes were not immediately obvious - bring a refillable bottle for water go to some spin classes for the cycling --although distance not great it was hard work in that heat =-!

Suggestions

altogether was a great trip and would recommend i! we would certainly do another exodus trip if we travel to other destinations and felt it was very well organised leader was great and many thanks for looking after us so well!

Most Inspirational Moment

We went on a boat overnight on Halong Bay to see the stunning and famous limestone rocks. The sunrise the next morning was breathtaking.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader, Thoa, was fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble and he is a credit to Exodus. He looked after us very well, accomodated everyone's requirements and showed us the best sights and great places to eat and drink with the locals. All the travel arrangements were organised seamlessly and we felt rather spoilt. He encouraged us all to try new experiences and was great company.

Advice for Potential Travellers

This trip is very busy - a new location nearly every day and lots of travelling. This worked really well for our group as there is so much to discover in Vietnam but don't choose it if you want a restful trip. The cycling and walking is manageable if you are active and great if you like variety but probably rather tame if you do walk or cycle regularly as a hobby.

Suggestions

This is a great value trip and I would really recommend it. There was quite a bit of rain in the North when we travelled in August and, although it didn't spoil our trip, its unpredictability may affect some activities.