I'm going to have 5 days in Hanoi this feb and was told that tours in and around the city can be bought from local cafes. Has anyone taken these tours? Any kind of info on them would be helpful.

We were in Hanoi for a week a few months ago. Most of the tours are sold out of cafe's. We had really good luck with Handspan and Footprint travel companies. They were small, well organized and professional. We never did any Sinh Tours. They are the most prolific in the area. But ever encounter we had with a Sinh vendor or representative was very bad (sleezy). If you ask around and/or ask you hotel they can probably point you in the direction of Footprint and Handspan. They're all located pretty close together.<BR><BR>You can read about our journey to Vietnam on our site www.browndogdaily.com. It was an adventure <BR><BR>Enjoy your trip!<BR><BR>Katherine<BR>katherine@browndogdaily. com

Did you try to do a search? There are tons of posts about this very thing already. I just typed in Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, as well as Handspan, Sinh, Kangaroo (another tour company) and came up with tons of posts with info you are looking for. Try it - I think you'll find your answers.

Just left Hanoi on 12/21 . . and we took the Handspan Halong Bay tour. Excellent Staff, reasonable rates and beautiful scenery. . .don't miss Halong Bay. . we took the 2 day tour and found that was enough. We booked through Handspan on the web before we got there.<BR>2 offices that I remember. . .in the Tandoor restaurant on Ma Mae St (forgive the spelling but you'll see this street in the OLD QUARTER section just north of Hoan Kiem Lake) There is also an office nearby there, but they can point you there from the Tandoor on Ma Mae (remember that this is not the only TANDOOR in Hanoi either) My only regret is that we didn't stay in Hanoi longer, an excellent travel experience. . .beautiful, not-so-beautiful, friendly, Chaotic, frustrating, immensely enjoyable!! I wish I could go with you. . .and by the way, save room in your luggage for the lacquerware, and other crafts. . .excellent quality and prices!

We also took the HandSpan 3 day Halong Bay tour and the HandSpan Perfume Pagoda tour. We highly recommend HandSpan. HandSpan also arranged train tickets for us from Hanoi to Hue.

Hi - We spent two weeks in Hanoi last year and to be honest found Handspan a little too big for its own good. We bought one tour from them and the experience was not very good (felt a bit like herded cattle!) Maybe they were having a bad day. The Kangaroo Cafe were fantastic!!! - small, friendly, inexpensive, quality service. Check them out for yourself at www.kangaroocafe.com the site will give you a better idea. have a great holiday.