I posted earlier message and Greg was so nice to reply but I think I need more help. I checked on SmartTours and were all booked to Vietnam in January. My husband and I have 2-3 weeks in January. Greg suggested Travel Indochina. Does anyone have any advice on aqny other reputable tour groups to Vietnam. I would normally have sometning booked by now but changed travel plans. I'm getting a little nervous as January is a popular month in Vietnam. Any ideas or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Margie

Advantage Travel and Tours in San Diego. Cathy Parda is the owner and they do terrific tours to Vietnam.

hi,
I'm using this company for an 18-day trip to VN. They've come highly recommeded by someone on another forum, and, on yet another forum I suggested them to someone else, and they are using them too, for a 17-day trip.

They've been utterly amazing to deal with, and if the trip is as good as I think it'll be, I'll be delighted!

anyway, you may want to check them out:
http://www.haivenu-vietnam.com/

good luck, Ellen

We arranged day trips and an overnight with two companies while we were in Vietnam, but both offer tours that you can book. We dealt with Tony at Ann Tours, he was extremely helpful.

http://www.buffalotours.com/
http://www.anntours.com/

I have used the service of this company: http://www.touriststation.com. You could checked them for your trip.

Tuan Anh

We enjoyed a custom tour with a private guide, etc. throughout Vietnam with Exotissimo Travel. See http://www.exotissimo.com
The website is very useful, even if you don't book with them.

i had very good luck with asiantrails.com for my vn stay...we did a customized version of a standard tour and we were alone with our own guide and driver....very reasonable...

Hi Margie, I haven't been to the Asia board for a while so I did not see that you had asked me some questions. I'll respond here as this is the current thread.
Travel IndoChina are an Australian company hence the quotations in A$s. Our group of 4 couples comprised 1 from Australia (us), 1 from New Zealand, 1 from the UK, and 1 from the US - so the company certainly attracts global business. If you go to their website and look under 'Contact us', there is a link totheir world-wide offices and there are phone numbers there. See http://www.travelindochina.com/Contact.asp?ContactID=1
We started our tour with 3 nights in Hanoi, staying at the Galaxy Hotel which was fine, although if I went back I might look for a location closer to the lake. From Hanoi we did a day trip to Ha Long bay with cruise. From Hanoi we went to Hue, for only the one night. I can't recall the name of the hotel but is was very good - when we first entered our room I thought maybe it was for the whole group - enormous. We then visited stayed 2 nights at Nha Trang with boat trip in the China sea - hotel there was fine but a bit dated in appearance. Stayed at Dalat at the Novotel, probably the most ordinary of the hotels - comfortable enough but not great - given my time again I would have stayed at the Sofitel. In my opinion, Dalat is a lovely town. In Saigon, the name again escapes me but the hotel was good, a genuine 4 star in the centre of town.

DeaR Greg: Thanks again for responding. Was it the Sofitel Hotel in Saigon you wished you had stayed? I'm trying to get some input on the Saigon Prince Duxton Hotel or the Sofitel in Saigon.

Margie,
Our hotel in Saigon was the Grand Hotel on Dong Khoi street (www.grandsiagon.com). The Novotel/Sofitel choice was at Dalat, a town which I highly recommend. I have actually looked up our intinerary so I can confirm that we spent 4 nights in Hanoi at the Galaxy Hotel, 1 night in Hué at the Saigon Morin Hotel which was excellent, 2 nights in Hoi An, another delightful town, at the Hoi An Riverside Resort, (This was a little way out of town but was delightful hotel), 2 nights in Nha Trang at the Que Huong Hotel, which was Ok but not special, 1 night in Dalat at the Novotel, and 4 nights in Saigon at the Grand.

Dear Greg: Thanks so much for you advice. I love planning trips and have traveled extensively but not to Vietnam or Cambodia. We loved Thailand 3 yrs ago and are seriously thinking of taking a side trip for a few days. How long was your trip and did you go into Cambodia? Thanks so very much for your help.
Margie

Margie, the hotels I listed were ll of those from our trip so you can see it was just short of 2 weeks. We do not normally travel in groups and ,although this was a small group of very nice people, we found 2 weeks was enough. If (when) we get a chance to go back we would go independently and engage guides for specific parts. We have not been to Cambodia. It is 'on my list', but I do have rather a long list!