Luxury Vietnam Tours

My wife and I just returned from a 3-week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia organized by the travel company.  We had used a company referred by Zicasso for a trip to Argentina in 2018 and were curious to see if we would be as satisfied after this trip as we had been after that one.  Suffice it to say, we were not disappointed!  This company did a terrific job in organizing our trip, securing comfortable, welcoming and well-located accommodations, setting us up with incredible guides with terrific local knowledge and very good English (we're from the US), arranging all our in-country flights and planning some extremely engaging and memorable outings and adventures.  

While I can't be sure, I think they also dialed up the weather - we only experienced 1 day of light precipitation in 19 days in the country!  They ensured we spent time in the North (Hanoi, Ninh Binh and Lan Ha Bay), Central (Hue and Hoi An), and South (Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta) parts of Vietnam and the temples (Siem Reap) in Cambodia. They also arranged an extensive array of food experiences and venues and provided many other memorable personal encounters with locals throughout Vietnam.  

Without fail, every day revealed many interesting aspects of the culture and history of Vietnam and Cambodia.  Our contact at the company was always responsive to our inquiries and requests - both before we left the US and while we were on our trip - and took time to meet with us personally in Ho Chi Minh City.  We were happy to be able to express our appreciation for his efforts in designing such a personalized adventure.  HIGHLY recommended.  

My husband and I decided on a custom trip to Indochina to celebrate our 32nd anniversary. As an avid traveler I always prefer to do my own planning, but dealing with the logistics of covering 4 countries in 24 days where there are 3 alphabets I was unable to read did not sound overly appealing. I compared 4 travel agencies in both the U.S. and Asia. Having utilized Zicasso once before, I selected one of their recommendations as the best fit. Our travel specialist, who is the founder and co-owner of his company, was a newcomer to Zicasso. He was professional, thorough, and accommodating in designing our customized journey. From our initial phone conversation to the extensive emails I sent, our trip evolved over 6 months of planning. Throughout the process, our agent responded promptly to countless questions and truly listened to my input and needs.

We requested a fairly fast-paced trip with some downtime at the end to relax. We wanted to have a variety of hands-on activities and authentic cultural experiences with an opportunity to get off the beaten path and away from crowds of tourists. Although I had done extensive research on my own, our agent offered many additional suggestions tailor made to enhance our travel. He was open to and appreciative of honest feedback (even during the trip), always striving to provide the best possible travel experience. Our vacation took us to Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre (along the Mekong), Hoi An, Ninh Binh, Hanoi, and Bai Tu Long Bay. The trip included 6 internal flights, a 2-night cruise, 4-5 star hotels, 3 food tours, 2 shows, expedited visa service, private guides and drivers, and all entrance fees and activities. Food, when included, was abundant and delicious. All hotels were excellent and beautifully appointed.

There were a few glitches during our journey. Since I had worked as a tour guide myself, having enthusiastic and engaging guides was a top priority for me. We had fabulous guides in Luang Prabang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi- guides whose knowledge, passion, and personalities made their culture come to life. Several others, however, did not measure up, and this was a huge disappointment. Since the company is based in Vietnam, I wondered how much control they had over guides selected in other countries. Another problem we encountered is that, after a flight delay, there was no official to meet us at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City for expedited visa service. We contacted our travel specialist in Hanoi who tried his best to help us, but we still spent over 2 hours getting through the process. As an apology, he upgraded our hotel room in Hanoi for 3 nights and treated us to a luxurious dinner. Sometimes there are unforeseen hiccups while traveling and we were most grateful for this kind gesture.

From the start to the finish, this travel agency did a marvelous job in helping us set up our 19 day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in Feb. - March 2018. The four of us, two couples, had lots of ideas and questions about the trip. Our representative was wonderful. I told her what we were thinking of, our budget, what we wanted to see and where our focus was and she devised an itinerary that hit all the objectives of our trip. We did a bunch of tweaking and sending questions and concerns over  time and she answered all very promptly and made sure that what we wanted in the trip was fulfilled.  When I told her we wanted to up-grade our hotels, she handled all the changes  without any problems.  She phoned several times to make sure all was going well with our planning and that we were happy with what she had set up for us.

Our guides were fabulous. They did everything and more to make sure we had the experiences we wanted. If they thought that what was supposed to happen that day wasn't what they would recommend, ie., eating at certain food markets, etc., they pointed us in another direction. They took into account some of the physical limitations of several of us and made adjustments accordingly. They were friendly, helpful, caring and fun. At several points in our journey we had some requests for things that weren't in the itinerary and they made sure that those requests were fulfilled. We couldn't have asked for better service. More that once we asked where we could buy a certain thing and they went out of their way to find the store where it could be procured, even after the tour for the day was done and they were off their time with us. Wonderful service. All of our drivers were excellent, friendly and helpful. They always had bottles of cold water for us when we returned to the vans, which was much appreciated. 

Our hotels were perfect. The hotel in Hanoi, our private boat in Ha Long Bay and the staff on board, the hotel in Hue, the boutique hotel in Hoi An, where we had a wonderful 2 day rest period to enjoy the beach and relax,  the resort in Saigon, which was luxury at it's best, and the hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia were the perfect places to relax, rest and explore after our days of seeing the sights. They all had wonderful breakfasts and the staff of all of them were friendly, helpful and informative when we needed some advice. 

They also made getting our visas easy and painless, and arranged our internal flights and the flight to Cambodia with no problems. 

I highly recommend this travel company for any trip you are planning to Vietnam. Their service was outstanding and we have no complaints about anything they booked, recommended or suggested. 

We booked a three-week trip to Vietnam with a side trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the Angkor temple complex. We are three 60-something women who had never been to Southeast Asia before. Before we left, our travel company patiently helped us customize our trip, down to the last details, providing great advice along the way. Our trip started in Hanoi, and our guide was there at the airport to pick us up and take us to our hotel, even though it took longer than we expected to get our visas. The hotel they booked for us on the south shore of Hoan Kiem Lake, was lovely and it turned out to be a terrific location. Throughout the trip, which included stops in Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City, we felt well taken care of, with great hotels throughout. And our guides were flexible enough to change our itineraries on the fly. For example, one of my companions fell and injured her leg in a market in Hoi An. We asked if we could rearrange the itinerary to accommodate a trip to a hospital clinic, and they happily obliged. And later they modified the schedule for my friend, so she could skip some of the more strenuous activities.

The trip itself was wonderful. We experienced the markets, the organic gardens, the temples and pagodas, the waterways and the food that makes Vietnam so unique and wonderful. All of our local guides were so helpful and willing to put up with our eccentricities.

The only glitch we had on the trip was when we arrived at the Siem Reap airport for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. It turned out we did not have tickets on the flight. We called our travel company and immediately got a call back -- we would be met at the airport by a guide with tickets for the next flight out, and in the meantime he would take us to a lovely nearby hotel and buy us lunch. He also offered to get us a room if we wanted to shower or change clothes, but we just stayed in the restaurant overlooking the lovely swimming pool and sipped our mojitos, courtesy of of the company.

Also I should mention the value. Zicasso connected us with three travel agents who submitted proposals. This company was the only one that really understood our budget parameters and what we wanted to do within the budget. We felt the price was quite reasonable and were very happy with our trip.

Hello, this is Paul G.  Recently went on a trip with this travel agency.  First day went to the Cu Chi tunnels north of Saigon, the Mekong Delta, then north to Hanoi where I explored rural town of Mai Chau.   Then travelled back to Hanoi and then out to Ha Long Bay

We recently took a trip to S.E. Asia using Zicasso Travel and their local agent. Zicasso had also asked another company to bid on our vacation and based on our interaction with that company, they would have done an excellent job. Our choice of our travel agency came down to personal preference of some of the tour details.

Planning

Both agency's proposed comprehensive itineraries and modified them twice as we zeroed in on what the vacation would entail. After choosing our travel agency, our representative sorted out details based of her experience and our evolving requirements. In the end, the itinerary expanded to 24 days and came to include Cambodia and Bangkok in addition to Vietnam. We were clearly told what preparations were needed on our part for border formalities and correct attire for temples and palaces. Part way through the process, our original representative left the company but our agent took up the file and the transition was seemless. The handoff was handled by the Sales Manager at at the company which was both appropriate and professional.

Execution

Our vacation involved eleven hotels, four planes, two busses and a speedboat (not counting 4 planes and 30 hours just to get to Vietnam!). Over 24 days there were no hiccups, no glitches, no missed appointments and no lost reservations. With noted exceptions, hotels exceeded our expectations, itineraries were comprehensive and appropriate and guides, with noted exception, were professional, knowledgeable and added their experience to the execution of the itinerary.

Over the years, we have mostly travelled on our own. This was our first fully managed vacation and while it did seem a little odd being carted around like minor royalty in our private van, we were very pleased with the trip. This travel agency is a good partner with Zicasso in Vietnam and we would book with them again given the opportunity.

Some Hotel Detail

Hanoi – Excellent!

Ha Long Bay Cruise– Very Good

Sapa – Excellent!

Hoi An – Excellent!

Hue – Excellent! A lovely historical hotel.

Ho Chi Minh City – Adequate. Poor Service

Chau Doc – Unacceptable, only technically a 4 star hotel. Poor breakfast, no assistance with luggage, poor location, dated interior. This hotel was a replacement for the beautiful Victoria Resort which was booked up. There are few alternatives in Can Tho.

Chau Doc – Excellent!

Phnom Penh – Excellent!

Siem Reap – Excellent! Top service of all!

Bangkok – Nearly Excellent. Probably the nicest hotel of the lot, let down by poor breakfast service and problems at check out.

Tour Guides

All of the guides were Adequate – Quite Good with the exception of our Sapa guide who was missing on the first day (a replacement was arranged). On the second day, we discovered part way through the day that he was not complying with our itinerary but rather executing a shorter program that would allow both of us the afternoon free. When confronted with this, an ad-hoc extension to the walk was enacted but rain the next day prevented any redress of the itinerary. In addition, the restaurant chosen for picnic lunch was very poor although there were better alternatives clearly available. This was a learning experience for us and we carefully reviewed our itinerary each morning of the following days before we departed the hotel but all of the subsequent guides lived up to their obligations.

Train

This is an excellent option to the sleeper train. You get to sleep in your hotel room then enjoy the passing countryside as you climb into the mountains in a very comfortable coach with WIFI, snacks and hostess, arriving in Sapa before lunch. The problem is the bus driver. He was pulled over by the police on the way to Sapa for reasons unknown to us. This should have been a warning. On the return voyage to Hanoi, the bus was not available and, since there were only two of us on the trip, a private car was used, complete with WIFI and refreshments. A member of management undertook to accompany us most of the way to Hanoi airport. When he departed the car, 45 minutes from our destination, the driver, the same bus driver as previously, began to drive recklessly, endangering our lives and likely making enemies of all the other drivers on the highway.  We would certainly stay with them again and would recommend the Bus service to Sapa but we would not get into a vehicle with this driver again. The hotel needs to deal with this problem and Zicasso / This travel agency need to encourage them to do so.