Cambodia & Vietnam Vacation Review: Mekong River Overnight Cruise, Temples, Caves, Local Markets, Siem Reap, History, Small Towns

Review by traveler

Jamie R.

11.19.2022

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Vietnam

Cambodia

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

The travel company was fabulous: incredibly responsive, helpful, professional, and just plain nice. The staff worked very hard to make sure we had a great 3.5 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, tailored to our preferences. It was so reassuring, and relieved so much stress, to know that they had taken care of every aspect of the trip planning, including visas, hotels, transfers, activities, etc. They even helped us find the lowest price international flights! By the end of the trip my partner kept saying, "How do they have the time to provide us with so much personalized help?" Not that we were high maintenance clients, of course...(insert winking smiley face).
All the guides and drivers were wonderful - super nice and responsible folks. They always arrived on time, were good company and conversationalists, and a few actually welcomed us into their homes for lunch.
We HIGHLY recommend using local travel agents such as the travel company when traveling abroad - way less expensive than comparable packaged group tours, greatly relieves stress, personally tailored trips, and lots of personalized attention.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

The Mekong River overnight sampan trip was really cool: visiting local markets, cruising for hours, good food, great 3-person crew including guide, visit to Cao Dai temple.
Ninh Binh boat ride through caves was also really unique and fun.
The 2-night Ha Long Bay cruise was another beautiful and special experience (we highly recommend 2 nights instead of just 1 - you get into the experience more and get to do more fun stuff).
Angor Wat and the many other temples in the Siem Reap area were also spectacular.
We also appreciated learning a lot more about the Vietnam war (which the Vietnamese call the American War) and the genocide in Cambodia.
We were really glad the travel company folks dissuaded us from spending more time in the big cities (Hanoi, Saigon, Phnom Penh) b/c they're not our cup of tea.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

We generally prefer more physically active trips (hiking, kayaking, biking) and wish a bit more could have been incorporated, particularly trekking in the northern part of Vietnam. That said, the company did include some bike rides, walks, and kayaking, which were all great. Also, given that we travelled great distances to see many of the highlights of Vietnam and Cambodia, we're not sure more activities could have been included.
If possible, we'd have skipped Sa Pa (in northern Vietnam) which has developed exponentially in recent years and focused on more rural, traditional areas in that region.

Cambodia & Vietnam Vacation Review: Mekong River Overnight Cruise, Temples, Caves, Local Markets, Siem Reap, History, Small Towns

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

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