NOWELL UPHAM * 2 pax | Northern | Vietnam

Itinerary: Northern Highlights
Date: Oct 16 - Oct 22, 2011
Nationality: American  

I travel a lot. As does my brother. We usually do all the planning ourselves, go somewhere adventurous, and cram a ton into what amounts to 7 days on the ground. And we always go on a budget, with an intent to book last minute land arrangements, and splurge when we see a high-end value. For our recent trip to Vietnam, we did only about half the homework we typically, do, and we left the rest, and our fate, in the hands of Miss Jessie at Active Travel Asia. All my communications with her were by email. We outlined everything we found on the Web that we were interested in, and what we thought a fair price was (based on our research) and she did all the rest. She arranged our transportation (we asked for a private car everywhere), train rides, tour guides (private again), motorbikes, sail boat, as well as our hotel stays. And get this, when we cancelled our private driver for the second to last day, she actually insisted on coming to our hotel and returning $65 in USD to me, as a credit. We spent two nights in Hanoi, two nights in Sapa, and a night in Hulong Bay. Plus a couple nights on an over night train to Sapa. In Sapa, we had a terrific guide (Hi-eep is how we pronounced it) be sure to ask them for him if you go, he's the guy you want to show you around. He young, and his english is great, and he's funny, and very attentive your every need. Enjoy.

Visited October 2011
Source: Tripadvisor

• Review ActiveTravel Asia

Michelle, Tony and Karen | Vietnam

Itinerary : Tailor made tour in Vietnam
Date: November 13 - November 27, 2010
Nationality: Australian

We just spent 2 weeks on a tour organised for 3 people by Active Asia Travel and would not choose anyone else to travel with throughout Vietnam. We had drivers and guides at every point to meet us (and all early), our every need was catered for.

We started in Hanoi where we were picked up at airport and met our wonderful guide who would take us onto Halong Bay where we kayaked and cruised for 2-3 days - absolutely breathtaking. Caught a night train to Lao Cai where we trekked from beautiful Sapa and had two wonderful home stays, our guide was so much fun and we had a fantastic experience. Onto Hue, Hoi An where we had shorter day tours of these lovely places then finished bike riding through the Mekong Delta for 4 days with yet another fantastic guide.

All our transfers were taken care of, all accommodation organised and almost all our meals were catered for. The guides were all so much fun and extremely knowledgable of the areas they took us. The kayaking, treks and bike riding where all well planned and able to be adjusted if it got too difficult - the guides were great at determining just the right amount of activity to be challenging yet moreso enjoyable. Our travel agent Jessie should be commended, she done a fabulous job and we will definately be back to Vietnam, and would not travel with anyone else.

Thank you Active Travel for an absolutely wonderful trip !

Source : http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293924-d1469397-r89463066-ActiveTravel_Asia-Hanoi.html

Jodie Cummings | Vietnam

Itinerary : Tailor made tour in Vietnam
Date: October 20 - November 3, 2010
Nationality: British

I really enjoyed my trip. Thank you for all my planning. The homestays were the best.

I think if i was to do the trip again, I would have continued riding up from Than Uyen to Sapa, instead of going back to Hanoi and doing the night trains.... then spend a few nights in Sapa and Bac Ha, doing mountain biking and hiking. Then head back down to hanoi on the motorbike stopping again at Thac Ba reservoir (that was the best homestay). And from there end my trip after the Halong bay tour....

In all honesty - it was still a lovely trip. Long was by far the best of the 3 tour guides.
He was the most sociable and outgoing, and therefore I felt comfortable and safe the whole time.

My hightlights to the trip were:

- Motorbiking!
- Halong bay - was just stunning - and i'm so glad i did 2 nights!! 1 is definately not enough - the first day is very rushed!
- Sapa - the beautiful colours....

Hope that gives you enough feedback.

Thank you again for your help !

Helge Ulvang | Vietnam

Itinerary: Family Adventure tour
Date: 30 June - 11 July
Nationality: Norwegian

We are very satisfied with the Vietnam-trip and we will thank you for all your help and good work. Everything was excellent. We liked the guides and the hotels very much.

Kathrin Wieczorek | Vietnam

Itinerary: Tailor made tour in Vietnam
Date: February 21, 2010 - March 13, 2010
Nationality: German & England

Dear Jessie,

yes, we are all back home safely, thank you.

We had a great time in the beautiful country Vietnam.

Let me point out what we liked best in this trip

1. The hiking to Mt. Fansipan was absolutely great. We especially liked that we went a 4 day trip instead of just 2 day, as most tourists do. That way, taking the longer route, we saw beautiful nature and not many other tourists. The food was sensational and the organization was perfect. We had a very nice young guide named San (or Sang? Sam? Spelling of Vietnamese names is difficult for us…) who we would highly recommend. It would be nice if you could pass on our happiness about San to his boss.

2. Also, Quyen was a great guide for Hanoi and Halong bay. We highly recommend him. It was nice to spend several days with him, and he made us feel like friends, not just like tourists. He even spent some of his evening time with us, which we greatly appreciated. He also introduced us to the real Vietnamese foods which is eaten on the street, rather than in fancy restaurants.

3. The food in Vietnam was the best we have ever had

4. The tour itinerary was very complete…we feel we have visited the highlights of the country.

5. The organization of all the different tours was perfect. Everybody was on time and everything worked out nicely. Everyone involved was absolutely reliable.

6. The hotels that were picked out were very good, especially the one in Hoi An. That was the most beautiful place we had ever slept!..

Altogether we all had a great time and enjoyed Vietnam very much and would return to the country anytime.

Thank you very much for all your help,

Best wishes and greetings from Germany,
Kathrin

P.S. Could you please give me Quyen’s e-mail? He gave it to me, but I unfortunately washed my trousers with the piece of paper in it. I would like to send him some pictures. Thank you

Barbara Seaton | Hanoi | Vietnam

Itinerary: Half day Hanoi city tour
Date: March 7, 2010
Nationality: Australian

Dear Sunny,

At last I am able to reply to your letters of enquiry regarding our tour taken with your company in Hanoi on 7th March, 2010,

I am pleased to say that we had an excellent day with Hai, who was a most attentive and informative guide. I feel we formed a friendship with Hai during our time together. This was particularly pleasing as we had been given a personal recommendation to your company by our friends in Brisbane, Mr and Mrs. Bruce Woodruffe who had traveled in Hanoi two months earlier.

We visited Brisbane on our way home to Sydney, and were able to tell Mrs. Woodruffe how pleased we were with our day with Hai.

Please give him our best wishes. Our daughter, son-in-law and children are planning a trip to Hanoi in December and will be in touch with you when their holiday time comes closer.

Thank you for your interest in our holiday, and for the service which your company provided.

With kind regards,

Barbara Seaton

Anthony & Shona Holdsworth and family | Halong Bay | Vietnam

Itinerary: Halong bay charter boat 2 days 1 night & Transferring Hanoi - Halong - Hanoi
Date: May 17 - May 20, 2009
Nationality: Australian

Dear Ms Sunny,

I am just writing to thank you for all your assistance in regards to our recent holiday. All your planning was fantastic and we could not have managed without you.

I do hope we can work together again in the future when we again visit Vietnam and in the meantime, I will recommend you to all our friends who plan on holidaying in Vietnam.

Very kind regards and best wishes,

Anthony & Shona Holdsworth and family