Budget Trips to Vietnam

I would skip this contiki and maybe just do specific countries you're interested in. The schedule was jam-packed with temple visits which were often very similar to one another. The Vietnam portion of the trip was party heavy which was a huge contrast to the front end of the trip.

The tour was great and well organized. I have always wanted to visit Ha Long bay and the temples in Cambodia so this trip covered that and a lot of other interesting parts of Vietnam. (We booked this trip due to the conflict in Iran making it too difficult to get to our Great Britain tour. We appreciated the opportunity to choose another tour without penalty) The one night on the water in Ha Long Bay was a great choice. For me two nights would be too much. The on-island event demonstrating making rice paper provided by the cruise line was demonstrated by someone who was not really proficient at it which took away from the experience and meant only one or 2 people decided to give it a try. Our travel director in Vietnam and Cambodia both did a great job. The pace of the activities was great. There was downtime when needed as we adjusted to the higher temperatures and humidity. There were bottles of cold water and towels when needed. The air-conditioned coaches were a great refresher between sites. The history was fascinating. It would be great to get some of that history in written form to have at the time and take away as there was so much to absorb. Maybe a timeline of the main events and where the things we were seeing were constructed or took place on that timeline would be great. Not too much detail or it would end up as a book! We did an optional activity to do some enameling. This was great but I thought the supplier or tour director needed to give more instruction and information at the event. At the most basic level we were putting the enamel into the copper pattern but no samples of what could be achieved were given and some people only filled in the spaces with solid colour not thinking that the colours could be blended to create a better artistic result. In all a great tour that balanced the sights with the culture, food and history well.

This is my third trip with Explore, I like the use of local guides and opportunities to visit places off the beaten track. I was a little sad that there was little flexibility when I had a problem just before the trip started, hence the 4 stars, but all's well that ends well. On the whole this tour exceeded expectations, the carefully chosen itinerary meant we avoided overcrowding in places like Halong Bay and the Mekong Delta. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn't visit My Lai, putting this down to the small size of our group. Perhaps this needs removing from the options if it can't be offered. Our local guide, Long, was excellent and took good care of us. His extensive knowledge really helped us understand the many facets of Vietnam. We particularly enjoyed opportunities to see daily life, local markets and a local coconut factory. We didn't just bring home photographs, we brought home many happy memories.

Definitely take advantage of all the extras available totally well worth the money to do it with the group

An amazing experience! Very organised my contiki with great destinations to visit & plans.

Thoroughly enjoyable trip which provided a great insight of modern Vietnam and its history and a good starting perspective on Angkor Wat and the Temples and history around the complex. Interesting and knowledgable local guides provided a helpful backdrop and the trips and experiences were many and varied. If there was an opportunity I would have scored 4.5 stars as there are always tweaks that can be made but we have come away happy to travel with Trafalgar again .