Vietnam-Cambodia Alternative to OAT
 

We've traveled with Overseas Adventure Travel to East Africa, and are considering them for Indochina, but wonder if there are recommenable alternatives that would provide small groups geared to active older clients? We're also open to individual tours, though the pricing would have to be reasonable.

We have traveled to that part of the world with OAT and had an excellent time . I've taken 8 trips with OAT and never had a bad experience yet. The guides were first-class and we really enjoyed the in-depth experiences with the people that OAT provided.

I went to Thailand with OAT and swore I'd never travel with them again if they paid me. Vietnam and Cambodia are easy to do on your own, with a guide on occasion if you want one (e.g. for Angkor Wat) - see several trip reports here. There are a number of budget tour companies that go to SEA (e.g. Intrepid), with a wide age range, but if you want something a bit more comfortable you could look at Adventures Abroad (www.adventures-abroad.com) or Eldertreks.

I've never travelled with OAT, or Intrepid (though hear good things about them) so maybe I'm not in a position to comment, but all the same I would strongly encourage you to think about DIY independently. Vietnam is not much harder than Thailand to travel around; Cambodia is a bit more of a challenge but only if you want to branch out from the usual destinations of Siem Reap and Vientiane - do you? I mean, all you have to do is book a plane or a train or ?car with driver to get from A to B, and use a taxi for the final leg to your (pre-booked) accommodation of choice. Then you can stay longer in a place if you like it, and cut the time short if you don't. If you are concerned about missing out on local knowledge, well, most people find themselves taking short tours run by local companies with local guides to the highlights of that particular area. Angkor is the supreme example, but others would be the Mekong Delta from HCMC; Halong Bay from Hanoi; the royal tombs outside Hue (one of the top moments of my trip!), etc. etc.

To get back to tours - there's also Peregrine Adventures and Travel Indochina for you to glean ideas from.

www.peregrineadventures.com
www.travelindochina.com.au

Enjoy!! whatever you decide to do.

I'd encourage you also to travel independently. It's easy to arrange on your own. If you like group travel and want to travel with a group, fine, but if you'd rather travel independently it's easy to do and people here on the Fodors board will be glad to help you.

We travelled with Peregrine Adventures to Vietnam in December 2005 for 3 weeks. There were 7 in our group with the ages ranging from mid forties to mid fifties. Had a wonderful time and would travel with them again.