I am planning to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia with a friend. I always plan my own trips when traveling with my husband but do not want to organize this trip. Any recommendations for tour companies. I have had some friends travel with Overseas Adventure Travel (OATS) and some with World Spree and both have been please. Any opinions or recommendations? Thank you,

Are you looking for a group tour or for someone to make the arrangements for you? I wouldn't use a company based other then in one of those two countries. Agents contract out to local companies, and you'll just pay more for the same services, hotels, etc.

There are a number of companies in VN people her have reviewed well. Be aware that you will have to be very specific about what you want. Hotel? Local transport? Guides? Agents in many places (especially VN) will book your time full - no time to breathe, as they think you will feel like you have gotten your money's worth if they send you to so many places. Also be aware that in VN there are many companies with similar names, so pay careful attention to the name on the website. Several companies in VN that come well-recommended by Fodorites are Tonkin Travel, Vietnamstay (aka Aurora Travel). There are several others whose names I can't remember right now. Others, no doubt will offer other names. Once you get an itinerary from one of these companies, come back and get our feedback about the itinerary they have proposed.

For Cambodia, prepare for your trip by reading Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples. It takes three full days in Siem Reap just to see the "major" temples. Allocate more time if you are very interested in the temples or if you want to see some of the more remote temples.

I DO NOT want to do any of the planning as that is what I always do and I will save my energy for my next trip with my husband. It is too exhausting to plan and research for two big trips at the same time..I am very satisfied when traveling to Vietnam and Cambodia just to choose a tour company and trust their itinerary, hotels, etc.It is okay if it costs me more money. That is why my post requests tour company recommendations.

I travel often--sometimes independently and sometimes with group tours. Here some suggestion based on companies I have traveled with. One of my favorite trips was with Pandaw cruising the Mekong from Laos to China. I'm exploring a similar trip with Pandaw for next year, which might you also be interested in. The ship's cabins and the food are exceptional:

https://www.pandaw.com/vietnam-cambodia

I've also traveled on tours with Road Scholar and OAT. Both market primarily to the over 50 age group and have a well-traveled and educated clientele. I've never had a bad experience with either company, though a lot depends on the local guide and the dynamics of the group. I've also with both groups occasionally taken a day off from group activities and followed my own interests.

https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure?destinations%5B0%5D%5BContinent%5D=Asia& destinations%5B0%5D%5BCountry%5D=Vietnam&page=1&pa gesize=1

https://www.oattravel.com/trips/land...19/itineraries

I can also recommend GeoEX--a more upscale company:
https://www.geoex.com/trips/vietnam-heart-of-indochina

I certainly endorse Karen's recommendation of Pandaw. We did their Chindwin cruise a couple of years ago and it was incredible.

I'm not a fan of group tours, but this one was fine (of course, there were only 5 cabins on the ship, so it was a very small group). Karen, which cruise are you considering?

Kathie,
I was trying to decide between the Classic Mekong trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, the Voyage to Nagaland trip, and the new Irrawaddy Delta trip. I finally put down a deposit today on the Irrawaddy trip since I'd like to get back to Myanmar again and the discounted price was an added incentive.

I do like the independence of traveling solo and using local companies. I'm off on a solo trip next month to Ladakh and Zanskar.
Karen

Karen, please post a trip report about Ladakh and Zanskar. This sounds absolutely fascinating. How are you getting around from place to place?

CL, I've ttt, my Ladakh TR, which I did years ago .

Will do. I'm using a local agency in Leh to hire driver & guide to visit Leh & environs and then on to the long 2 day drive to Zanskar where I'll meet up with a friend teaching English at a local nunnery and then we'll take in the Sani festival.

This is exactly the conversation I hope to receive with my post. I have already looked at OAT and know a couple of gals that travel with them and have always been please. I have heard of Road Scholars but do not know anyone who has traveled with them. Another company is World Spree. I used China Spree with a group of gals and we were very pleased and I think possibly they are connected with World Spree now. Thanks so much for your insights.

Karen, we are interested in the Irrawaddy Delta trip. The Nagaland trip would be wonderful. We asked the crew on the ship we were on when we did the Chindwin what the "best" Pandaw cruise was and they voted for Nagaland. At one point, I looked into getting into Nagaland from the other direction (indue), bur it was very complicated.

Have a wonderful time on both of your upcoming trips, and do write reports for us!

Tidy, I am glad this discussion has been helpful to you.

Tidy, my husband and I just got back last month from a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. I used Tonkin Travel and I have to say they did a wonderful job. We didn't worry about a thing. A guide and driver met us at every airport and picked us up and delivered us back to our hotel every day. It was completely no-stress. We were very pleased and now I fear we are spoiled for future trips with having a private guide/tour. You pick your class of hotel and that seemed to be the major determining factor in the price of the trip. I knew Vietnam and Cambodia were inexpensive places to visit but I was surprised how inexpensive it was, even staying in lovely 4* hotels and having a private guide and driver.

As an aside, I'm not good about writing trip reports but as I got such wonderful advice from people on this forum I'll try to do a short report soon.

There are thousands of travel agencies can help you out, and it's really hard to select one from the long list. What is your concern when book a tour provided by a travel agency? Is that about price?

Sharona, your trip sounded great. I am not as concerned about price. Unfortunately I am going to have to put this on hold for a year as my friend can not go now. glad that i didn't spend a lot of time planning! I will check back again next year and hopefully will see your trip report Sharona.

I, and several other Fodorites, have successfully used Custom Vietnam Travel, a small Hanoi-based company,. They book trips all over VN. One Fodorite also used therm for Cambodia. They are very well-reviewed on tripadvisor as well.The agent i used was Susan Nguyen aand she was terrific in every way, --but all (there aren't many) get great reviews.

A friend recently returned from a VN Cambodia trip with Road Scholar and loved it.

I totally understand reaching the point of trip-planning fatigue!!

Clearly I should have done a search before making a new post! Good info here!

It is very easy to do it yourself in both Vietnam and Cambodia by doing research on Travelfish.org and then Things To Do on Tripadvisor. Book on your arrival is still fine.