Heritage of Southeast Asia: Northern Cities Tour in One Week

Everything was very well arranged by Zicasso's travel specialists. It was a smooth and pleasant experience. The tour guides were always on time. Airport pick-ups and drop-offs were very helpful. The hotels where we stayed were amazing. It was a great experience!

We had a good trip, with great guides. We loved two of the three hotels. The best day was when we did the tuk-tuk food tour through the night markets. We would’ve liked more out-of-the-box activities.

The trip covered a lot of ground, with four cities in Thailand and Siem Reap in Cambodia. The details and the logistics of the trip were timely and well communicated by Zicasso's travel company. The guides were punctual, well-informed, and passionate about the countries' histories.

We worked with Zicasso's travel consultant at the tour company for several months in planning our two-week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. She was very accommodating and helpful, never pushy or trying to upsell us. When we had questions, she was responsive and always prompt. We really appreciated her setting up a "fast-pass" through immigration at the Hanoi and Siem Reap airports when we arrived late in the evening.

Although our itinerary was busy, with seven flights, five cities, one cruise, and multiple guides and drivers, everything went smoothly. She checked in with us throughout the trip, keeping us updated, and even took us to lunch in Saigon. We had a very memorable time on our trip and have the tour company to thank for everything. Cảm ơn!

Zicasso’s travel agency worked patiently with us over several months to organize a perfect four-country tour through Indochina, doing exactly what we asked, including a Khmer cooking class with a local chef.  

We were met on arrival in each county by an experienced English-speaking guide who was well-versed in the history, geography, and culture of each location, and they were just delightful people too. They took us to rural villages and through urban mazes to get a close look at the daily life of the citizens. We chatted with farmers in the field and had meals in local homes. Our agency booked amazing hotels for each stop, from an eco-lodge in the mountains of Vietnam to a spectacular seaside resort in Thailand. 

We had contact names and numbers for agency representatives in each country. They were incredibly responsive, even after hours, when we had a small medical issue. They gave us a completely seamless experience from arrival to departure, with no wasted time. Vacation time is very precious, so we prefer to work with professionals who know the area intimately and take the time to understand our objectives rather than pushing a canned itinerary.

Everything worked beautifully from a scheduling point of view. The timing was perfect and the guides were always on time, from the airport pick-up to when they planned to pick us up at the hotels. The hotels were absolutely top-notch. We loved all of them. We loved the breakfasts in all of them. We did eat dinner at a couple and mostly it was great. The dinner at our hotel in Dalat was not so good, but their breakfast was exceptional. We also ate dinner at our restaurant and found that to be wonderful.

We loved all of our guides. They were very informative and were able to tell us about the history of the area where they worked. They also helped us with customs and what was acceptable and what wasn't. The guides had understandable English and when we couldn't understand something, they were willing to help us.

We loved Dalat, Hue, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay. We found Hoi An to be too touristy and the people in the shops were very pushy in trying to get a sale. That was true of some very nice tailor shops and souvenir shops in Old Town. When we went to see old homes and had a tour through them, we were surprised to see we were led into the back of the building where they would be selling souvenirs and we would be pressed to buy.

We thoroughly enjoyed the boat trip with our guide. We enjoyed sitting and talking with him while we ate his wife's delicious dinner.

We heard about an outdoor show at a theme park from other people. It wasn't included in our trip, but we think it should have been. It was a fantastic production and very informative. We would have liked that more than a second trip to Old Town.

We also loved the cooking class. We liked the demonstrations and the humor of the chef, and the tour around the market before the class.

We loved the cruise at Ha Long Bay and thought the food and everything on our cruise was wonderful. We would have liked to take the kayaking option, but the cruise operators felt the weather wasn't conducive to that event. Other cruises had their kayakers out on the water.

We used the final day in Hanoi to eat bun cha at a restaurant in Hanoi where President Obama ate with Anthony Bourdain, and went to a prisoner-of-war camp for US pilots during the Vietnam War. Both of those were suggestions from our guide, who was not with us that final day. He was our guide and, although it is very difficult to choose a favorite guide, he would probably be it. He was very helpful to us after an ATM ate our credit card. We went to the bank and he spoke with them on our behalf. He allowed himself to be the contact when they located the card after the weekend. We were so impressed with him. It might be helpful, if someone has a spare day in Hanoi, to suggest some other things available. We could walk to the prisoner-of-war camp and the restaurant, so it was easy to do without a guide.

We did not like the water puppet show in the private house. We would have preferred to see the real show in Hanoi. The water smelled in the house and although the puppeteer was probably very skillful, it was not a professional production.

Those are some suggestions from our trip. Our overall assessment is that it was excellent. Zicasso’s travel specialist did great work accommodating our needs and making the schedule work. We would encourage others to take the same trip.