Multi-Generational Family Trip to Vietnam Review: Tam Coc Bich Dong, Ninh Binh, Bird Park, Hoi An Beach

Review by traveler

Nam N.

6.27.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

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

Vietnam

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

We were absolutely delighted by the services provided by this travel team. Our travel planner contacted us early on to help understand our diverse group (6 of us, including my 63 year old mom and our 8 year old twin) and what we wanted to see and do while in Vietnam. He was quick to offer new suggestions when we had questions or asked for other options, and worked to be sure we totally happy.
The planner called us to check in our first night in Hanoi and then even came to meet us while we were in Saigon. All the drivers were great navigating the crazy traffic, our guides couldn't have been better informed and were excited to make us all happy. As an added bonus they handed out water to us every time we got in the van and boy did we need it.
We traveled in early June - and as we expected it was incredibly hot and humid. While we sweat a lot our guides were conscious of the weather and tried to ensure we started early in the day, took a lot of breaks, and when they were telling us about the different locations they steered us to the shade. We thing we got pretty lucky with the weather too, it only rained on us one night in Hanoi and not at all the rest of the trip.
I also wanted to take a minute to repeat that our travel planner and all his guides were so considerate of our two children and really helped us design this trip around activities they could do. The guides were also quick to see that our kids wanted to learn about the locations we were in and so they patiently answered the kids questions and engaged with them throughout. My kids cried when we had to leave our first guide in Hanoi, he was so wonderful to them.

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

Its hard to find one most memorable part. Our guide in Hanoi was so memorable for our children. Having a son the same age he clicked with them immediately and made them feel so comfortable and welcome. We invited him to bring his son along and our kids enjoyed playing chess together and running around practicing their English and Vietnamese on each other. On of our days in the north we made the trip to Tam Coc, Ninh BInh, and Bird Valley. We loved the landscape in Tam Coc and being rowed down the river through the caves. Later the same day our guide brought us to Bird Valley at dusk and we had a relaxing walk to see the birds coming home for the night. He knew just what time would be right and it allowed for our kids to run around and stretch out their legs from a long day.
Besides the day trips and tours we really enjoyed the opportunity to sample local dishes, and to do some biking in the south. I really enjoyed the Museum of Ethnology and the water puppet show too.Another huge highlight was staying on the beach in Hoi An. We'd mentioned to the travel team that it'd be great to fit in a visit to the beach if we had time and they quickly rearranged our Hoi An hotel to allow us to stay at the beach. We had a free day built into the trip while we were at the beach too, so we had a relaxing day swimming!
There were so many amazing parts to this trip, I could go on forever!

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

I think if we could do one thing differently we'd try to stay longer! There were so many great experiences to fit in that our days ran from pretty early in the morning to late afternoon, even later then we anticipated - that was probably because we weren't the fastest moving group. By the time we got to the hotels we were spent, which didn't allow us much time to explore and wander on our own. Perhaps we'd try to build at least one day "off" into each region to enjoy a little bit slower pace. We also might consider trying to do a longer Ha Long Bay cruise or possibly skipping it all together. While the bay was so beautiful it was so crowded with boats and visitors. The side excursions we did were great but felt a little cramped for time. Another night on board would have allowed us to go a bit further out into the Bay and perhaps it would have been a bit less busy.

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Multi-Generational Family Trip to Vietnam Review: Tam Coc Bich Dong, Ninh Binh, Bird Park, Hoi An Beach

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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