Puluong – Ninh Binh (3d/2n)
Pù Luông Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in northern Vietnam. This nature reserve is situated in Quan Hóa and Bá Thước districts of Thanh Hóa Province, North Central Coast region of Vietnam.
Nam Dinh countryside journey (2d/1n)
Nam Định is a province on the north Vietnamese coast, bordering the Gulf of Tonkin. The capital city, also called Nam Định, provides access to the Tran Temple complex, which honors the leaders of the Tran Dynasty. Nearby Vi Khe Village is known for bonsai cultivation. On the coast, biodiverse Xuân Thủy National Park features hundreds of bird species and mangrove swamps rich in marine life.
Ninh binh and Thai binh – Red river delta discovery (2d/1n)
The Red River Delta constitutes the industrial heart of Vietnam and is one of the richest and most developed regions in the country.
Mai Chau – Pu Luong – Ninh Binh – Moon Garden Homestay (5d/4n)
Pù Luông Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in northern Vietnam. This nature reserve is situated in Quan Hóa and Bá Thước districts of Thanh Hóa Province, North Central Coast region of Vietnam.
Mai Chau – Pu Luong – Ninh Binh – Halong (5d/4n)
Pù Luông Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in northern Vietnam. This nature reserve is situated in Quan Hóa and Bá Thước districts of Thanh Hóa Province, North Central Coast region of Vietnam.
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Latest Testimonials
Hi Quan,
We are home now after a wonderful time in Vietnam! We wanted to say thank you so much for your help with organizing and planning the trip. You did a great job taking care of us. We will definitely recommend Tonkin to friends who plan to travel to Vietnam. Everything went very smoothly, and we were very pleased with the accommodations and all of the travel arrangements. We appreciated that you were able to make changes for us as we went as well.
We wanted to share a little bit of feedback on some small things. Overall we were very pleased, but we hope your find this feedback helpful for your future customers: As mentioned, the Orchid cruise was not great. You may want to try and find a better tour group to work with in Halong Bay.
The Hotel de l'Opera in Hanoi was the only hotel that we were not thrilled with. All of the others were great.
For the most part, our guides were all wonderful. The only guide who wasn't great, was the one who we met in Hoi An. There were parts of the tour described that he didn't do with us (talking about rice production, sampling the local noodles or white rose, seeing furniture making). It is fine, but you might want to work with a different guide in the future.
Thanks again for a wonderful time! We hope to return to Vietnam in a few years.
Zoë & Tai
Zoë & Tai
28 March 2023
Dear Phuong,
Thank you very much for organising our holiday.
We very much enjoyed our time in your country and many thanks for your excellent organisation and recommendations.
This has been the fourth time we have used your company and we will continue to recommend your services to our friends.
Best Wishes,
RICHARD
RICHARD
3 April 2023
Dear Phuong,
thanks so much for you help with our recent trip to your beautiful country :-)
The homestay with Madame Binh in Hanoi was the best of the all. Having dinner with the family and being able to talk to them was super nice. The other homestays were more commercial in the sense that they were more like small hotels. They were all very friendly but it wasn't as intimate as with madame Binh. So I learned (for future trips) to be more specific about what I mean by homestay (no complaints - lesson learned).
Almost everything went smoothly. A couple of times I had to get in touch with you when something wasn't completely clear, but you were always fast in responding, so all good :-) The sidetrip to My Son was actually in our program (last page) but our guide didn't know about it so that's why I had to check with you.
We weren't properly prepared for the cave tour with Oxalis. We didn't know that we had to swim in all our clothes and boots (it took 8 days for my boots to dry out again). I'm ready for just about anything but my daughter wasn't and she needs to know in advance exactly what to expect so she had to skip that part. If I had know about this, I would have borrowed some boots at Oxalis or have worn some other shoes.
In general all the guides were very good. Our guide in Sapa (Dudu) didn't speak a lot of English and didn't tell us very much much we enjoyed the hikes there.
So all in all we enjoyed the tour and I would definitely recommend you to other people visiting. I already sent our program to a couple from the Netherlands who are going this summer (I'm not sure if they booked with you - I haven't checked with them).
all the best :-)
Martin Nedergaard Andersen
Martin Nedergaard Andersen
5 April 2023
Hello Ha,
I have been meaning to send an email since we returned from Vietnam last week. I wanted to let you know that we really enjoyed our tour with Tonkin travel – it was perfect for the balance of activity/driving/sites that we wanted to see and our three teenage boys loved it.
Highlights for us were definitely Callum – he was an incredible guide and just got along so well with the entire family. He really added a fun element to the tour and we really enjoyed our time with him – highly recommend him! We also thought the driver/van was great – always felt safe, the larger vehicle was ideal for our family (and luggage).
We also really enjoyed all of the accommodation – especially Pu Luong Retreat and Emeralda in Ninh Binh. The cruise was a lot of fun and jampacked with activities – the kids really enjoyed. Our only disappointing experience was with the Puluong Bocbandi resort – as you might recall we were trying to stay exclusively at the Pu Luong Retreat but they didn’t have availability for the second night. We think the Bocbandi will be a nicer resort at some point but still seems to be in start-up mode and the food was very limited (many menu options not available) – hopefully they get better overtime but just letting you know for future guest bookings.
Overall we would recommend Tonkin to anyone travelling to Vietnam and will add a review on TripAdvisor if that is helpful.
Thanks again for all your patience and time spent with us as we organized our six day excursion!
Best of luck to you and your colleagues,
Amy Glading
Amy Glading
12 April 2023
Hi Phuong,
I just wanted to write and say a huge thank you for everything during our trip! We had the most amazing honeymoon! Everywhere we stayed was wonderful, all of our activities and guides were so great, and we never had to stress about transportation thanks to you and the team at Tonkin.
Everything was so smooth and we will definitely be recommending your services to anyone we know traveling to Vietnam in the future—and hopefully we will be back! :)
Thank you again and wishing you all the best,
Kelsey & Michael
Kelsey & Michael
12 April 2023
Based on this we first appreciate your Tour guide LE Quang Vinh at the Hanoi trip for his immense knowledge & who knows what is worth for a tourist to know. The other guides at different places were also good, coordial, punctual as well as taking care of Sr. ladies. However, the overall service of Tonkin Travel considering the class of transport, Hotels, 24x7 whats App response, punctuality & sincerity is no doubt 10 out of 10 . Thanks to Mr. Chandramouli Thakur for choosing such an efficient professional counterpart in Vietnam & your untiring long effort to make the trip successful.
The best part of the trip was preparing such a comprehensive itinerary- was just interestingly suitable for us. Every destination was like a peak and the splendour of it enthralls us on arrival. Every landscape of nature was bestowing its beauty on us in every destination. we appreciate your arrangement of the delicious traditional Vietnamese food ' Pho'- the famous noodle soup with sliced beef , the Rice noodles dish .Rever Shrimp in rice wrapper, various sea foods, & the unique local specialities cooking of a whole 'elephant -ear fish' (Photo) with Hot Chilli sauce & the refreshing chilled Saigon Bia. Every morning the pleasant Aroma of Vietnamese Arabica coffee starts a boosting day. This is what gives meaning to life and the thrill to be alive. 🙂 (more…)
Puranjit Mukherjee
3 April 2023
Hello Phuong,
I am very well, thank you, though missing Vietnam. I hope you are also very well.
My wife, who is a better writer, is still working on our review to post.
As for some internal feedback, again our group all very much enjoyed the trip. Our guide and driver were both excellent, friendly, and reliable. The itinerary was quite full but worked out well to include the northern loop through the mountains. We wouldn't have tried to include any more than we did. The food throughout the trip ranged from good to excellent, and we enjoyed a lot of variety and many memorable meals. (more…)
Patrick Feighan
15 April 2023
Hi Quan,
My apologies for the delay in replying to your email. It has taken me quite a while to recover from the jet-lag. Thank you so much for arranging what was a wonderful trip for me in Cambodia and Vietnam. I will be happy to leave a review for you on Trip Advisor.
Everything went smoothly: drivers and guides were friendly, helpful and on time! I’d like to give special recognition to three female guides who were especially lovely: Chenda in Siem Reap, Liem from Chau Doc to Saigon, and My in Hanoi. (more…)
Sandy Wallin
14 April 2023
Thank you Quan for organizing such an amazing trip for us. We had a great time visiting Vietnam.
The Vespa ride in Hoian was one of the highlights of the trip. The guide (Tran) was amazing. The bicycle ride was so so as the guide was pressed to ride quickly and in fact we arrived to the boat early and just waited there. Ninh Binh was also a huge success! We had an amazing time. It was also refreshing to feel a bit of a cold weather. The guide (Phong) there and in Hué was excellent.
We didn’t have much luck with Halong Bay as the weather was gray. But the staff on the boat and the boat manager (Binh) were very friendly and accommodating. The guide though wasn’t very friendly and was even rude at times.
All hotels were excellent and our stay in Hanoi was also very pleasant. The electrical car ride was a lot of fun and interesting. Thank you again and have a great day.
Ido Barner
Ido Barner
17 April 2023
Hi again Mr Quan,
They had excellent feedback for you - they said all your arrangements were great, hotels great. They thought the ship on Halong Bay was a bit old – needed a refurb - but unfortunately the weather was cloudy so it may have influenced them.
Your tour guides were excellent - one bit of feedback there, on the long days they would have liked a 20 min break to have some lunch , or something to eat.
Luckily your driver to take them to Hanoi airport was ½ hour early, as they said if he had come at the time planned , they would have missed their flight, as the airport was absolute chaos !! So to note that transfers to the airport seem to need to be earlier than planned these days with what is happening at the airports. Seems to be a world wide phenomenon. Airports everywhere are chaos.
Thanks again for your excellent service.
Jean Abel
Jean Abel
17 April 2023
Dear Quan,
Thank you so much for your message. The hotel have confirmed the transfer so all good - the flights are all on track at the moment as well. We have had the most brilliant holiday and we can’t thank you enough for organising it all so brilliantly for us. You got everything just right and we are truly grateful for your help in enabling us to explore your beautiful country.
A thousand thanks Caro and John xxxx
PS - we’ll tell all our friends about the wonderful service at Tonkin travel - let us know if there is anything else that you would like us to do. X
Caro and John
23 April 2023
Dear Phoung,
Thank you for your email and we are safely back home - if just a little jet lagged!
I was going to email you today to thank you for al your help and patience in putting our holiday together over a very extended period and then helping us so much while we were in Vietnam. I’ll happily provide public feedback on what an excellent service you provide and there are no issues that you would need to resolve for us to do that. I’ll post a positive review on Tripadvisor soon.
Privately for you internally, I’ll give you some retrospective views on our individual itinerary which hopefully will assist you in advising other clients. Overall, we had a fantastic holiday and loved everything we saw & experienced. The activities you put into the programme were all excellent. The ones in Siem Reap were very different to those in Vietnam and the Vespa trip stands out as something very different. If I was doing it again, I wouldn’t put Panhou Retreat together with Pu Luong Retreat as they seemed very similar (putting aside the unexpected issue we had with heights). Considering the two train journeys, the overnight from Ninh Binh to Hue on the Government train was more comfortable accommodation than the private carriage from Hanoi to Lao Cai which was a surprise. I wouldn’t do the north bound train again (probably go by car) but would do the NB to H train again. On each of the hotels we stayed in, we’ve the following comments: (more…)
Mike & Dot
12 April 2023
Hello Ha,
We have now boarded our flight and on our way home now. Thank you for an excellent tour. Everything was perfect- the tours were very good, good drivers and always on time.
The guides were also very good. And the Limosines were superb.
Your planning and everything was super👍. Oanh was also very good with her planning👍
I will give Tonkin a 5 star review on Trip Advisor and also mention your name.
Jay
Jay
11 June 2023
Dear Nga,
We had a super holiday. All the guides were lovely and very helpful. There was a mixture of activities and rest periods to explore on our own. I'll be definitely recommending your tour company if any oc my friends and family plan to come to Indochina.
Thank you for all your help in organising things.
Damy
Damy
18 June 2023
Good morning Nga.
We are indeed home safe and sound! Thank you so much for your email and for all your help whilst we were on our holiday to your beautiful country. We had the most marvellous time and we are very happy to recommend you and Tonkin Travel for your outstanding service.
We met so many wonderful people and enjoyed all the locations we visited. We have so many highlights it is hard to choose but we would particularly like to thank Callum for giving us a really great introduction to Vietnam and the Hanoi and beautiful Ninh Binh area. He was an excellent guide - gave us a real insight and so much interesting information. We loved La Siesta hotel. We think it is one of the best hotels we have ever visited - the service was excellent; the restaurant and bar were just gorgeous and the staff so very friendly and welcoming. All the family really enjoyed our motorbike tour of Hanoi - Dat and the guys were great and again full of interesting information. We would have liked to have spent more time in Hanoi in hindsight but we only had so much time!
Our beach in the Hoi An Boutique hotel was just beautiful and David is very happy with the suit he purchased! Thank you for organising our trip to Monkey Island and Marble Mountain at the last minute. We were so glad we went and our driver was very helpful. We also enjoyed our trip to Saigon - we enjoyed our delta river tour and it was enlightening to go to the tunnels and the museums to understand more about the history.
Above all we would like to thank you once again for all your marvellous support. Every arrangement you put in place went perfectly. We will definitely put a five-star review on Trip Advisor and indeed hope to be lucky enough to return to Vietnam again in the future.
Best wishes
Tracy
Tracy
11 July 2023
LIKES
- Enjoyed the hospitality of the Vietnamese people especially at Aira Hotel, staff on Peony Cruise and Alba Wellness Center.
- Aira Boutique Hotel was very comfortable and staff were very responsive in every way – from the bellboy to all the restaurant staff. The restaurant provided variety and the staff were always smiling. We appreciated that very much.
- Our guide Vinh was pleasant, knowledgeable and communicated well.
- The motorcycle tour of old Hanoi was both interesting and a bit harrowing since we are not used to the traffic, but we saw places we probably would not have seen otherwise.
- We enjoyed the peace and serenity of Ha Long Bay. The Peony boat was very comfortable, the staff were extremely attentive and polite. The food was delicious.
- The Alba Wellness resort was the absolute BOMB. We enjoyed the treatments, the organic food and drink and of course the staff.
- Our guide Sau was exceptional- knowledgeable and sensitive to our needs.
- Hoi An was beautiful and we especially enjoyed the night market and shopping. The room at the Bel Marina was large and very comfortable.
- We enjoyed the location of Nam Bo Boutique hotel in Can Tho and especially enjoyed the private tours on the Sampan.
- Our guide Jimmy was kind and went out of his way to assist us with a visit to a clinic.
- The floating markets were a highlight, something totally new to us.
- The guide and motor bike riders from Vespar tours were exceptional. Van communicated well and was very knowledgeable.
Shelly Gellineau
06 June 2023
Good evening Nga,
We would like to thank you very much for organising our fantastic Vietnam trip. We loved every minute of it, from the destinations and hotels, to the many activities and our wonderful guides and drivers. We really appreciated the insights and professionalism of our guides, Jimmy in Ho Chi Minh City and Tony in Hanoi and would like to make a special mention of the fantastic service provided by Vinh and Ngoc, our guide and driver for Hanoi and surrounding areas. They were very professional, efficient, knowledgeable, and lots of fun.
We'll definitely return to Vietnam and probably add on some time in Laos and Cambodia. So, we'll be back in touch at some stage in the new couple of years.
We're also letting our friends and family know about the wonderful service we have received from Tonkin Travel.
Warm regards
Korrine and Ian
Korrine and Ian
22 August 2023
Phuong,
We have arrived safely at home. Thank you for organizing our tour, everything was perfect and we had a most enjoyable visit to Vietnam.
All the accommodation was very good. All the tours you organized were very good. All the transfers were on time and very good. All the guides were very good and spoke excellent English and were very helpful and friendly.
Everyone was on time, there were no delays or cancellations so everything went exactly as your itinerary.
We are planning to return to Vietnam next year in March or April so when you have time (no rush) can you put something together for us that includes Hue (3 nights) Hoi An (3 nights) and 2 other places with 3 nights each. We will fly in and out of Da Nang. Our favorite place was Hue.
Can you please tell Martin that everything was perfect and thank him for us.
We will write a trip advisor review.
Darryl & Kim
Darryl & Kim
9 September 2023
We had the most wonderful in holiday in Vietnam.
Thank you so much to you and your team for organising everything and adapting the itinerary to our needs and preferences.
Everything went seamlessly. Ours guides and drivers were always on time, extremely knowledgeable, and polite and courteous. They went above and beyond to make sure our stay was memorable. The hotels was excellent, and our itinerary was the perfect balance of busy/adventurous and relaxed.
We will definitely use Tonkin Travel again if we ever visit Vietnam or southeast Asia, and we will definitely leave a review on trip advisor and recommend you to friends and family.
Many thanks again,
Freya and Jack
Freya Sorrell
22 December 2022
We have returned from Siem Reap and I wanted to tell you that the arrangements were great. The Treeline Hotel was a wonderful oasis, very beautiful and peaceful so we spent a lot of our free time there. Both the tour guide and the driver were very professional, friendly, and good at their jobs. The last evening our guide suggested a cultural apsara performance with a dinner buffet and made those arrangements. It was pretty touristy but still a nice experience to wrap up our Cambodia trip.
Thank you,
Ann
