Tour of Vietnam

Empsey

Hi

I am travelling with two of my friends for ten days in Vietnam and the preceding into Thailand. I have been advised to go on a tour with Intrepid Ireland for the ten days. This tour costs €795 which includes accom for 10 days, breakfast an overn ight on a cruise and an internal flight. The reason we are thinking about a tour is that it takes the thinking out of it for us as we have no idea what is the best route etc in Vietnam. Basically I was wondering have any of you been on one of these tours and is this price resonable or very expensive? Would appreciate any advice.

whatsyourquota

That seems like a ridiculous amount of money to spend. You could easily do 10 days for less than half that. Its not very hard to plan a route in vietnam as its so narrow you pretty much just go up or down. But what I would do if you were worried about a route is go onto intrepid look at their plan then copy it yourself and not spend that extortionate amount of money.

Four of a kind

Exactly....do it yourself and you'll save a fortune.

darrenh

Its very easy to get around. Any guest house will be able to book you an onward ticket with a bus company. You can also buy a hop on hop off one with a company called Sinh Cafe, which are also easy to find. Get planning and do it yourself. Thats one of the fun parts of traveling. The unknown as such.

Empsey

Oh God, good job I checked with ye guys. I knew it would be cheaper to do it ourselves but didn't think it would be that expensive! Thats a good idea, we could just copy their route. Is there any must sees in Vietnam? Where would be the best place to book accomodation? Thanks so much for your help!

Illkillya

Cu Chi Tunnels a must see

maggiemissy

agree with the above, just copy their route and do it for half the price, halong bay was beautiful.

ElectraX

Must sees in Vietnam-

Halong Bay-I would recommend staying overnight on a sailing junk.Stunning location
Hoi An- Great little city, much more relaxed than Hanoi. Good spot for getting clothes, shoes made.
Nha Trang- One of the best beaches in Vietnam, great for watersports or just chilling out in the sun for a few days.
Cu chi tunnels/ War remnants museum Saigon

cutymonalisa

Hi OP,

I am just back a few weeks from Intrepids 10 day tour southbound (I also did their Cambodia trip). I'm in my early 30's and went solo. The trip itself was just fantastic and I felt I got to see so much more than I would have doing the same route independantly over a 10 day period. The group all got on great except for a really annoying older couple who, although annoying, were amusing in not realising we spent most of the time taking the pi$$ out of them.

However, I was on my own and the tour group idea suited me - you're going with your friends so I wouldnt necessarily use Intrepid in your circs but they are fantastic - couldnt fault them. Hoi An is a must see, also take a motorbike out to the countryside around Hue - p.m me if you want any more details

ElectraX

cutymonalisa wrote: »

Hi OP,

I am just back a few weeks from Intrepids 10 day tour southbound (I also did their Cambodia trip). I'm in my early 30's and went solo. The trip itself was just fantastic and I felt I got to see so much more than I would have doing the same route independantly over a 10 day period. The group all got on great except for a really annoying older couple who, although annoying, were amusing in not realising we spent most of the time taking the pi$$ out of them.

However, I was on my own and the tour group idea suited me - you're going with your friends so I wouldnt necessarily use Intrepid in your circs but they are fantastic - couldnt fault them. Hoi An is a must see, also take a motorbike out to the countryside around Hue - p.m me if you want any more details

Sounds like you did the same Intrepid trip as me- I did the Best of Vietnam and Cambodia 18 day trip and also couldn't fault them! I was travelling alone too and I think that's why I was drawn to Intrepid, as I preferred the idea of travelling in a group for safety reasons.
I thought so much time was saved by travelling with Intrepid as they sorted out all your accomodation, transfers etc. giving you maximum time to explore the countries you are visiting. Their itineraries are great too and they bring you to some really off the beaten track places! Agree that the motorbike trip into Hue countryside was great:D
Also agree though that it's not the cheapest way of doing SE Asia, and if there is a few of you travelling OP, I would suggest doing it yourselves.It's a pretty defined backpacker route from North to South Vietnam, you'll meet loads of other travellers on the way who'll give you advice and there's generally no issues with arriving off a bus in a new town/city and getting accomodation pretty quickly. Have fun on your travels:)

cutymonalisa

ElectraX wrote: »

Sounds like you did the same Intrepid trip as me- I did the Best of Vietnam and Cambodia 18 day trip and also couldn't fault them! I was travelling alone too and I think that's why I was drawn to Intrepid, as I preferred the idea of travelling in a group for safety reasons.
I thought so much time was saved by travelling with Intrepid as they sorted out all your accomodation, transfers etc. giving you maximum time to explore the countries you are visiting. Their itineraries are great too and they bring you to some really off the beaten track places! Agree that the motorbike trip into Hue countryside was great:D
Also agree though that it's not the cheapest way of doing SE Asia, and if there is a few of you travelling OP, I would suggest doing it yourselves.It's a pretty defined backpacker route from North to South Vietnam, you'll meet loads of other travellers on the way who'll give you advice and there's generally no issues with arriving off a bus in a new town/city and getting accomodation pretty quickly. Have fun on your travels:)

Yip Electra X, thats the very trip!

killbillvol2

Here's an example of what's on offer locally (although prices have gone through the roof in the last couple of years).

beagle001

Forget the tour,
I have seen them in action over there and to be honest it does not look like fun.
Go independent,I travelled for a month from Saigon to Sapa for 600 dollars and that included a 4 day diving trip.Was not on the booze and did many little tours in different places.
Take the trains not the buses my only advice,prices might have changed a bit it was 2004 but definitely not near as much as the tour company are asking.

v.e.r.b.a.l

Doing it independent gives you a better experience of the country. You meet more locals, have more adventures (and misadventures) and overall enjoy your trip more. I see the advantages of an organised trip for those travelling alone, but if you do it independently, you'll find lots of people taking the same route as you that you'll meet up with (and maybe even travel with) over and over as Vietnam is a very set route (North to South and vice versa)

I recommend trekking in Sapa, Hanoi, motorbiking in Ninh Binh, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Empsey

Fantastic! So much cheaper. Thank you