Indochina Tours & Travel

We traveled as a young senior couple through Vietnam and Laos from Jan. 14 through Feb. 2, 2023. We started planning our trip in October 2022, researching travel companies based in Vietnam. After communicating with 2 different companies, we decided on Best Price based on their knowledge and price point.… More We traveled as a young senior couple through Vietnam and Laos from Jan. 14 through Feb. 2, 2023. We started planning our trip in October 2022, researching travel companies based in Vietnam. After communicating with 2 different companies, we decided on Best Price based on their knowledge and price point.

We chose their prepackaged Vietnam and Laos in Luxury 14 day tour, then modified it to take out places that did not interest us and add in complete new locations and activities that were important for us. Our contact person was Ms. Kate, who worked tirelessly to accommodate all our changes and question, telling us when it was not possible to fit everything in. It takes a special person to have the patience to respond to each and every E-mail that we sent. We ended up with a 20 day tour that fit our interests completely.

THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS TOUR
1) You can start your tour any day of the week, allowing total options arranging your flights to starting location
2) Ability to modify agenda
3) The total support of your contact person all the way through planning, arrival and during the tour
4) If your tour starts in Hanoi, your contact person will personally meet you to go over your agenda. (We don’t know what happens if you start in other cities)
5) All day tours, drivers, guides, listed transportation (flights, bus, taxi, boats, trains), admission fees, meals listed in itinerary, hotels are arranged and prepaid by Best Price.
6) Day tour pickup times are mostly on time.
7) Tour payment is easy and secure by Credit card or final payment by cash on arrival. NOTE! There are transaction fees applied when paying by credit card.
8) We chose the 3 star hotel option. All Hotels were satisfactory with several better than expected. All included breakfast. (We did request several hotel changes before we booked the trip, for location purposes.)

THINGS THAT ARE NOT MENTIONED AS OFTEN IN REVIEWS
1) Road trips between locations can be long. Hanoi-Halong Bay 4 hrs. Hoi An-Hue 4 hrs. HO-CHI-MINH to Cu Chi tunnels 2Hrs.
2) Customs and Visa process varies depending on location. In Hanoi airport turn left before you approach the custom booths to apply and pay for your visas, Cambodia there are 2 stops on the river when you take the speed boat and Laos airport fairly quick just follow instructions. Visa costs depend on what Country you come from.
3) Tipping is a question that is hard to answer. Tips are accepted everywhere but not necessarily required in most situations. In most hotels and other locations there are tip boxes. Tour guides and drivers spend a lot of time with you and we feel that they deserve a show of appreciation. Remember you are in developing countries where the standard of living for a lot of the people you meet is quite low. SUMMARY! On a tour like this there are many people that you encounter who could use your generosity. If you plan to tip make sure you monitor and maintain your small denomination currency. 4) If your agenda is very busy with long days, we recommend, if time and budget allows, to plan several unscheduled days where you can relax and spend time by yourself.
5) Do not worry if your pickup person is not there when scheduled. They will show up soon. It is more important that you are ready when they arrive. In the large cities in Vietnam, the tours send a big bus to a central location, then send out people on foot to each Hotel to walk you to the bus. That bus then takes you to a transfer point where you are directed to the actual tour transportation that you have booked. The system works very well. Other parts of the world could take a lesson from Vietnam tourism.
6) Learn how to cross the street in Vietnamese cities. If you don’t you will never get across.
7) If you plan to have custom made clothing made in Hoi An, make sure you schedule enough time to choose the Tailor, have measurements taken, come back for a fitting, then allow for 1 or 2 alterations. We recommend that you research and decide on 2 tailors before you travel, get prices from those 2 and then decide. There are hundreds of Tailors in 3 block square.
8) Study the history and culture of the Countries you are going to before you arrive. Tour guides all speak English, but some are a little hard to understand. It helps to at least know some of the history that they are talking about.

SUMMARY
When we started planning this trip we were told by several people, that we should plan and book everything ourselves, because it would be much less costly. We decided instead to work with Best Price. This was by far the best decision. We did not need to waste hours booking Hotels, tours and drivers from the hotels or travel companies that are on every street corner of the cities, and then wonder if the information they got was correct. We met one tourist during our travels who had taken the time to plan his itinerary independently and found that our tour was less money than if he had self-booked everything.
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We booked a 16-day Thailand and Vietnam tour with Best Price based on their extremely positive reviews. I found your service and response to be excellent. Easily 5-stars. My emails were promptly responded to, and everyone showed up when they were supposed to. This trip may be the best investment I've… More We booked a 16-day Thailand and Vietnam tour with Best Price based on their extremely positive reviews. I found your service and response to be excellent. Easily 5-stars. My emails were promptly responded to, and everyone showed up when they were supposed to. This trip may be the best investment I've made so far.

We have never used tour guides so extensively before and I have to say that Nam and Mr. Ou Bunthorn were superb. They all really knew the historical and cultural facts and there was no question that they could not answer. Mr. Bunthorn gave us various interesting information about the historical heritage of Bangkok throughout the trip as we explored the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha Temple, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun. The advice they gave us on eating venues and places to explore on our own was spot on. They were very attentive to our requirements and tailored our days when we were tired.

On our last few days, Nam took us early to the tunnels to avoid the crowds, organized hammocks for us on the long day at the Mekong Delta and amused my (18 year old) son by having a Karaoke session on the car journey. Nam took him for his first experience at bargaining, and Mr. Bunthorn found me the perfect shop to buy some tailor made dresses. At the end of our time with them, we felt we had gotten to know some very nice, smart, and interesting Vietnamese locals who shared their personalities and love of Vietnam with us. Thank you Team, for a great holiday experience. We will recommend you to our friends and will return! Less

I'd just like to pass on my thanks to our agent Best Price for managing our recent trip (last February) to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Special thanks to the staff who made sure we were always on time, well fed, and safe. We found all of them to be very helpful, and our trip was most enjoyable largely… More I'd just like to pass on my thanks to our agent Best Price for managing our recent trip (last February) to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Special thanks to the staff who made sure we were always on time, well fed, and safe. We found all of them to be very helpful, and our trip was most enjoyable largely due to their efforts. We had two drivers on our trip. Both were fantastic, and despite what we thought were extremely difficult road conditions (I guess you're used to that in India), we never had any concerns, despite witnessing a number of road accidents.

A special note of thanks has to go to Tom. He was extremely anxious to please at all times. He went out of his way to ensure we could enjoy our creature comforts whilst on the road—not only catering to our special wants and requirements as they arose (including having a stock of lollies to hand), but also ensuring that we had the very best travel guides provided for each of the different locations. He maintained the car in pristine condition, he enjoyed having a chat, and as we didn't always have a guide on hand, he would not hesitate to answer any questions we had about Vietnam, what we were seeing, or how Vietnamese did things as we drove along, etc.

Please pass on my thanks and warm wishes to him for doing a fantastic job and contributing to our amazing adventure. Less

We arrived safely home yesterday after a wonderful trip to Vietnam and Laos. We have so many lovely memories of our time in those two, not to mention a few souvenirs! Thank you for your assistance with our travel arrangements; everything went very well. The hotels were very good and provided a lovely… More We arrived safely home yesterday after a wonderful trip to Vietnam and Laos. We have so many lovely memories of our time in those two, not to mention a few souvenirs! Thank you for your assistance with our travel arrangements; everything went very well. The hotels were very good and provided a lovely mix of modern and heritage. The guides were always very eager to share their knowledge of the sites we visited and were eager to be flexible to meet our requirements.

I would particularly like to send our thanks to Mai Khanh, who did a great job as our guide. She was always very helpful and courteous. Her calm was always reassuring in challenging circumstances (the rules for driving in Hanoi are still a mystery to me).

On behalf of my friends, we would like to thank you for all the efforts made during our stay in Vietnam and Laos. We appreciate everything from the day you've welcomed us to the day we left for home. We honestly believe that the trip was amazing except for the few things that occurred there, and as I mentioned to you, they are not so much complaints as they are advice for you to ensure that your schedule is on point in the near future.

Hopefully, we will come back soon. Less

It's nice to meet you, Tansy. I hope everything is well with you.

Being that I was unable to provide information or ratings for any of the following, I will instead provide my thoughts in story style.

With regards to the coordination services you provide.
You were really helpful and quick to respond… More It's nice to meet you, Tansy. I hope everything is well with you.

Being that I was unable to provide information or ratings for any of the following, I will instead provide my thoughts in story style.

With regards to the coordination services you provide.
You were really helpful and quick to respond to my questions. Using a company blindly online might be risky, yet you delivered as promised. You answered all of my questions promptly and thoroughly, despite the fact that I asked them at the wrong time of day (12 hours later). My suggestions were included within the schedule, and I appreciate the accommodations you made. Very delighted with the work you've done for me.

Tour Guides – Excellent service from all guides. Everyone of them could communicate in English enough, though some were a little better than others. Everyone was really kind and informed. Unfortunately, I have a terrible memory for names and faces, so I won't be able to keep track of who was who. Si, the Thai guy who toured us about, was a delight of our trip. He has obviously been doing this for a long time. He was a sponge for knowledge and assistance. They were all excellent, too.

Everything went well as far as the transportation you had planned. Everyone arrived promptly and finished their tasks as scheduled. Very comfy seating was provided by the vehicles.

I propose the following two options.

Heat and humidity in Cambodia in particular slowed us down despite the fact that we live in the tropics. As we are now more mature, it came as quite a shock. We noticed that the most productive part of our day was the morning, when we tackled the most demanding tasks, and the afternoon was when we caught our breath.

The custom of leaving tips. Tipping habits vary greatly from one culture to the next, making it difficult to determine who to pay, how much to give, and how to tip them. During this trip, we ran across it a few times, and I'm not sure we always handled the situation appropriately. Our last experience with a travel agency like yours was two years ago, when we went to Egypt. Their policy was quite beneficial, so you should give it some thought. They took a predetermined sum at the start of the trip since they knew that tipping customs sometimes be murky. The guide then used the collective tip to properly compensate the many service providers they encountered along the journey. Now our sole obligation was to tip the guide for his assistance. That simplified matters immensely for us.

When it goes to eating. In our seventies, we've quit eating the conventional three full meals. We typically skip lunch most days. The catered meals were delicious, but there was way more of it than any of us could eat. We made an effort to convey this idea to our tour leaders and request that they instruct diners to serve themselves just half of their meal. That was challenging for individuals, however. If we were to do this again, we may try to negotiate an option to forgo lunch or get something really light if that was the case.
Requirements for Accommodations — All of the accommodations you booked for us were excellent. Everyone was hospitable and provided superior comfort. The settings were fantastic. While in Bangkok, we had a great time in the Royal Orchid we booked ourselves. Each morning's meal was good. The hotel in Chiang Mai may need to improve in this respect, since they appeared to struggle to keep food warm. Keep them all on your list, please.

While taking a flight. Unfortunately, we hadn't yet received our domestic flight tickets when we arrived. We may or may not have been expected to do that. The problem was swiftly fixed when I brought it to the guide's attention. Except for one, they all functioned as expected. We spent the whole day in the Bangkok airport on the day we were supposed to fly from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui. Someone mentioned to me that we might have left Chiang Mai on an earlier flight. We would have gone for it despite the fact that it cost more or was optional. The day was consumed nearly entirely by waiting about at the Bangkok airport.

Our advice stops there. Thanks for all the hard work you put into making this happen for us; we had a fantastic time on our vacation.

Enjoy.

Bill Less