We had a great day with him 😄 he really made it special
Also by explaining a lot and so well… thank you very much for this wonderful experience 🙏

Maybe something to consider if you go with children/teens, to include a swim somwhere if possible. As it can be really hot & hard so that would great.

In case that’s not possible maybe a longer boat tour or something ‘spectacular’ for their age.

All the best, what a beautiful country is Vietnam 🇻🇳 24 August 2023

The bike trip Hanoi - Nha Trang was fantastic and unique in all aspects.
Excellent guides, high quality bikes, always small roads without traffic, concrete paths, dirty tracks, very varied picturesque scenery, deep insights into the authentic life, very welcoming locals, delicious food.
Mr. Van and team of Vietnam Cycling Tours are THE tour operator for Indochina. extremely reliable and innovative from the planning to the last day of the trip. we highly recommend this great experience and look forward to further biking trips with them.

The almost new hardtail bikes are very well maintained, equipped with perfect tires for the ground conditions and handlebar bags. We enjoyed them a lot. Thanks also for the very comfortable handlebar grips. Both drivers and both guides always loaded the bikes very carefully and efficiently into the car.
The very carefully evaluated bike routes lead through picturesque areas, along rivers, through villages with a lot of life. We rode exclusively on small roads without traffic, concrete paths or dirty tracks. We are amazed by these stunning routes and highly appreciate your dedication to find them. In dense traffic and in urban centers we rode in the car, even if it was only for 5 - 30 km, on a few days even several times. Thank you so much that you took on this loading work again and again without us asking you even once. this is high class service for us, and we are very grateful that we didn't have to bike on busy streets.
The surroundings of the approx. 1,300 km southbound route are very varied. Big city Ha Noi, Halong Bay, huge caves, rice fields in growth, green areas with herds of buffaloes and cows, shrimp, fish, oyster and pearl farms, forests, lagoons, duck farms, melon, peanut and rice fields in harvest time, provincial cities, mountain villages and fishing villages, big markets. We saw soooooo many things – incredible. I’m so happy we took a lot of photos, so that we can remember all of them.
In the Halong area, we visited a more distant bay on a spacious beautiful cruise ship and stayed overnight there with only 7 other ships. This is in contrast to the closer Halong Bay, where 200 day-boats and 300 overnight boats are bustling around, according to the cruise guide. We were fascinated by the beautiful, overgrown rock formations and the tranquility. We especially appreciated our luxury corner cabin with windows on 2 sides and a balcony. Thank you so much for choosing the quiet part of Halong Bay for us.
Back from Halong Bay, we enjoyed our room in the afternoon at the beautiful Authentic Hanoi Boutique Hotel in the old town of Ha Noi until guide Cuong picked us up for dinner and transfer to the train station. It was so nice for us to take a rest and shower in our private room. Receiving a hotel room only for a few hours use, that's not something you can take for granted everywhere.
The 500 km night train ride from Ha Noi to Dong Hoi was fun and we enjoyed our neat four-bed cabin for two very much.
 
In Central Vietnam, the manual harvesting of rice and peanuts, the threshing and drying of the rice grains and peanuts on the road, the wooden carts pulled by buffaloes and the digging of the fields with cows were very impressive for us. everywhere we could stop and watch extensively. We adored that. after the weather divide on the Hai Van pass, smaller combines and tractors were used for the rice harvest in the hotter southern part.
Guide Cuong and driver Hiep - responsible for Ha Noi and northern Vietnam - as well as guide Dat and driver Viet - responsible from Dong Hoi to the Mekong Delta - are all extremely helpful, circumspect, cheerful, well-versed in the area, flexible and very professional. Cuong and Dat speak very good English and conversations with them were very interesting. They are happy to share their vast knowledge of flora, fauna, culture and history. They immediately implemented our wishes, e.g. regarding sightseeing, restaurants. Thus, we always enjoyed very authentic meals in very small restaurants and cook-shops. Often, besides the guides, also driver Hiep ate with us. We appreciated this very much and we laughed a lot. The commitment of the four guys to us was tireless. We always felt extremely well taken care of and comfortable with them.
Our very nice deluxe rooms were in dignified local **** hotels or even ***** hotels of international chains. without exception uniquely located within walking distance of exciting city centers, big markets, seashores. Never would we have expected such accommodations.
The encounters with the local people were very impressive and touching. We especially liked the villages and towns with practically no international tourism, where the locals looked at us with big eyes and giggled as we walked by. The two guides helped us communicate a lot with the locals. This immersion into the real Vietnam fascinated us very much.
This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For us, absolutely everything was amazing and perfect from the very beginning to the very end.
A huge thank you to Mr. Van, Cuong, Hiep, Dat, Viet and the whole Vietnam Cycling Tours team.
We will recommend you to our friends and hope to travel with you again.
Cathy and Daniel

The videos do look really good, and we really loved the trip we took with you. In terms of specific feedback, the things we look back on and will cherish the most was the simple interactions we had with the local Vietnamese people and the places where they worked and lived. Obviously every client is going to have different desires, but for people like us I would encourage more of that interaction. It was part of our failing that we didn’t know any of the Vietnamese language, but perhaps a bit more translation with some people to allow a small amount of communications would have been helpful. Thanks again for an awesome trip, and we are also looking forward to receiving the cycling ferseys from you so we can show it off to our cycling friends! : ) 24-28 May 2013
Cameron and Libby Storm <cameron.storm@-------

We did a bike trip with Vietnam Backroads 10 years ago for my 50th bday and decided to do TWO trips for my 60th. (Mekong Delta+PhuQuoc 14 days and Sapa,Vietnam to Luang Prabang, Laos 11day/10nights)

ABSOLUTELY best time ever. Mr. Van and his team of experienced and professional guides delivered two terrific, bespoke experiences, each one highlighting the food, culture, and sights of the regions we visited in a way we felt was only possible because we choose a local company. Because we had done a trip in the Mekong in 2013, we wanted a slightly different route this time around. With our AMAZINGLY knowledgeable and kind guide Mr. DAT, we absolutely saw new places, particularly enjoying the area near the Cambodian border towards the end of our biking and the first night outside of Saigon at the Coco Riverside Lodge. Mr. DAT made our trip extraordinary. We ended our first tour with 7 days on PhuQuoc Island at the La Veranda Resort, with our boat in, hotel, transfers and return flight all arranged by Vietnam Cycling Tours. I highly recommend that as an add on to your bike trip.

We then visited HoiAn on our own before meeting up with Mr. Van and team again in Hanoi. Because this was not our first time, we switched our city tour to a food tour before hopping on the overnight train to Sapa. This flexibility is one of the ways that Mr. Van and his team offer superb customer service. We met our next guide Mr. Kien, who is local to the area and took us on several back roads as we road over 4 days to the LAOS border. Having Mr. Van on our trip as bike mechanic was a HUGE BONUS. His love of cycling and passion for sharing backroads is unmatched.

The final 4 days of ride started at the LAOS border with a new quide, Mr. Somphai, who delighted us with stories, picked the perfect restaurants, and shared insights about his home and culture. We felt like every day was better than the next and then landed in Luang Prabang, another magical place.

We loved our trips with Mr. Van and team at VietnamCyclingTours and cant wait to go back and do another one.
We have done standard and customized tours with this company and both to be high quality. Feb - Mar 2023

Dear Ms Tam, thank you for your invitation to provide feedback. We loved the trip! - it was very well curated and exceeded our expectations even in the 33* heat! We felt like we experienced a real slice of rural Vietnam. Mr Bao was a fabulous guide: he was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, flexible, knew the area very well, was kind and had a lovely sense of humour! We were very lucky to have him all to ourselves. He explained the itinerary well. Mr Phuong was always smiling, very patient and helpful every time we met up with him. The 4 accomodations were fantastic, especially the ones with pools👍 and the luxurious Victoria Nui Sam on the hills was a perfect way to finish. The local food and drinks were extraordinary. So much food!!
Highlights for us were so many. But seeing the huge variety of farms and family businesses like brick making and noodles making and the trip to the floating market come to mind. The bikes were good but for me, as a female the saddle became uncomfofable after a few hours. A softer one would be lovely!! I am sharing a couple of pictures, Mr Bao was also an excellent photographer. We will be recommending this epic adventure to our friends, kind regards, Sarah and John Kennedy, New Zealand🚲 29 April - 03 May 2023

Hello Tam,

I enjoyed the cycling tour very much. We had no issues with the bicycles, the gears changed smoothly, the brakes worked well and they seemed to be well aligned and maintained. Overall the bicycles were very comfortable and handled the paths and trails well.

We enjoyed the sights and foods of the Mekong delta. The first few days the scenery seemed quite repetitive if there is a way to provide a bit more variety and variation that may be more enjoyable. We did very much appreciate the flexibility of our tour and it was great to be able to do the morning cycling routes and after lunch transfer to the hotel and then Mr Dat would take us on a walking tour in the evening before dinner. That was a great way to experience more of the culture and we got to eat more street food. We very much like being able to eat like the locals. Our driver was very nice and helpful and we felt safe on the rides. Our guide was fantastic and very knowledgeable, patient and happy to provide the flexibility to our tour. We did find the afternoon cycles a bit too hot for us as we are not used to the heat of the region. The mornings were fine and it was nice to be able to relax in the afternoons at the hotel.

Although we weren't able to do the homestay we appreciated the alteration to the tour and got to see the coastal area and even got to take a swim in the ocean. Another suggestion for when the homestay isn't available might be to have 2 nights in one stop and perhaps some other sort of cultural event, that might give cyclists an option to have a day off the bike and either do their own thing or have some other option of activity. But what we did was fine as well. We really like the food and Dat would try and find us new things to try throughout the tour. A food and cycling tour might be something to advertise this as or an idea for other tours as well.

I really don't have anything else to add that is negative. The tour was well organized and we will highly recommend your company for any of our friends or relatives who would like a cycling holiday in Vietnam. If we decide to have a holiday in Vietnam again in the future we will definitely consider trying another of your tours. 23 - 31 Mar 2023

Thanks
Sincerely,
Diane

This was the highlight of our trip to Vietnam. In our case, we “Saved the best for last" with a 3 day, 2 night tour of the Mekong.

Our guide Hoang was amazing. He "read" how we were doing and adapted to our abilities. We felt like little children pedaling for fun while we followed him. We were mostly off road on paved motorbike trails. We saw beautiful fields, busy markets, lots of canals, and met many people along the way. Hoang’s language skills were excellent - which enhanced everything; Food in the restaurants, agricultural terms, and more.

As a tour operator, Vietnam Cycling tours was as professional as can be. Everything on the itinerary was as we expected; Timing, hotels, meals. The bicycles were excellent. The gearing and fit were good. The shock absorber was nice on the occasional bumps. Most important - they were easy to ride. Minimal strain to get going and keep going. Gears dropped down well for the bridges. Cruised nicely on the flat stretches. While we were tired at the end of the day, there was no problem completing the 50-65 km per day.

Some of the most special aspects of our trip were the local people. Hoang struck up conversations and people showed us their handicrafts and industry. We met people weaving water hyacinths for export, a family growing bean sprouts, and a man harvesting leftover rice for his chickens. We were even invited to a wedding that we cycled by!

On a scale of 1 to 10, we would rate this trip a 12! and if it is even possible, Hoang's contribution would be even higher We very much appreciate the service and detail provided by Vietnam Cycling tours that made sure this was a trip we will always remember.

When we return to Viet Nam we would love to bike with Hoang and Vietnam Cycling Tours again! 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2023

Dear Phuong Tam,

What a trip! We are simultaneously tired and energized. We had an amazing time.

It was so relaxing to know everything was thought out and organized for us. Mr. Dat had an amazing talent for understanding us- when we should have a cold drink, what special treats we should try, when we should rest, what we liked to photograph, when it was time for a bathroom break, what information we’d be interested in, etc.. -he anticipated all our needs! We really appreciated him sharing his expertise and knowledge about Vietnamese culture and history, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him.

Mr. Dat and Mr. Viet worked together seamlessly. We were met promptly at every pick-up point with cold water, face wipes, and a smooth ride to our next well-planned destination. The bicycles were great; thank you.

Our highlights of the trip were: 1) Time with our guide 2) Beautiful scenery: rice fields, orchards, temples, lotus flowers and water lilies, the river from all angles 3) Seeing all the different neighborhoods and saying “hello” to people 4) the DELICIOUS food (we loved making our own Banh Xeo at the Coco Riverside Lodge) 5) The most beautiful lodging EVER at both the Coco Riverside Lodge and Sam Mountain Lodge 6) Delicious western-style breakfasts at most of the hotels (we didn’t love the breakfast at the Sao Mai Hotel).

Thank you for providing us with the trip of a lifetime. We will definitely recommend your company to everyone we know. 13 - 17 Mar 2023

Sincerely, Sharon and Scott

Hi Phuong,
We had a great two days with Bao. He was an experienced rider and had good English. He tailored the trip to our experience so the pace was good and we liked that all the riding was done before lunch. It was a well-balanced trip with breaks when needed, stops at local businesses to see how they do things (incense making, brick making, coconut preparation, etc), variety of paths and roads. Bao always tried to take the most scenic routes however on some occasions this was not possible due to closures which meant we had to go on the bigger roads for longer which weren’t so enjoyable. We loved the homestay experience.
Overall we had a great time and loved our two-day riding trip in the Mekong Delta. We would definitely recommend your company to our friends like I was recommended you by a work colleague. 10-11 Mar 2023.
All the best.
Paula and Remco.

Dear Phuong Tam,
lovely to hear from you - I wanted to come back to you anyway because I checked my bank account again yesterday and could see that the money still not got finally send through. I am so sorry about that and I am going to talk to my bank and will let you know as soon as possible. It’s really annoying that I can’t really rely on their service.

To be honest about the tour - there was nothing negative (and you probably experienced that Europeans are quite hard to please) at all.
I simply loved it, couldn’t have gotten any better. seriously - Hoang is the best host you could have hired for this job so be proud of your choice :)
All the time (!) he was so attentive, took such great care, led us to such lovely and interesting places, was simply the perfect companion.
Thanks again for this great experience, you all did and do a great job.
I already envy the people who still have the Tour ahead of them, I would do it again right away. Esther Ka. 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2023

The itinerary was great. I felt like I was truly experiencing Vietnam 🇻🇳 rural life (to a very small degree) as much as can be expected.
Megong Delta was very interesting and I feel enriched by the experience.
Your Company is extremely well organized and thorough. There was not one moment I could fault it.

Hoang was very welcoming kind and helpful. He was amazing !! Such a nice person. He was patient with all our questions, attentive and I enjoyed his lovely relaxed personality. It was such a pleasure to have him as our guide. He actually went out of his way to help us. Also extremely professional.

Your driver Kym was also lovely kind and helpful. Also funny 😄. Not lost in translation we got his jokes .

I feel so appreciative that I was able to do this trip and that you were able to organize this trip for Esther & myself.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend your company to anyone.
Hopefully I will be back in September/ October with a friend and I can book your company again. 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2023

We had a fantastic tour. We use an expression - "save the best for last". Our bike tour was at the end of our visit to Viet Nam. It was truly the highlight!

As for the "mechanics" of the trip:

1. Everything on the itinerary was as we expected; Timing, hotels, meals.

2. The bicycles were excellent. The gearing and fit were good. The shock absorber was nice on the occasional bumps. Most important - they were easy to ride. Minimal strain to get going and keep going. Gears dropped down well for the bridges. Cruised nicely on the flat stretches.

3. Hoang was amazing. He "read" how we were doing and adapted to our abilities. We felt like little children pedaling for fun while we followed him.

He was very good at showing us the various temples along the way and explaining the differences.

His English was very very good - which enhanced everything; Food in the restaurants, agricultural terms, and more.

Some of the most special aspects of our trip were the local people. Hoang struck up conversations and people showed us their handicrafts and industry. So we met people weaving water hyacinths for export, a family growing bean sprouts, and a man harvesting leftover rice for his chickens. We were even invited to a wedding that we cycled by!

Another favorite memory was pulling into the temple complex before we got to Can Tho. (Near Dong Binh). I have attached a photo that shows how beautiful this appeared from my bike.

On a scale of 1 to 10, we would rate this trip a 12! and if it is even possible, Hoang's contribution would be even higher! Let us provide an example:

On the 2nd day as we pulled into the Victoria Hotel and Hoang said he would get us for dinner at 7:30PM we said 'we were too full to eat an entire meal; what about a simple Banh Mi?' He was a bit surprised by our request, but said he knew the best Banh Mi in town ..... and later on brought it to us at our hotel. It was delicious and we were very appreciative of his caring and professionalism.

The driver Hi? was very nice and professional. Seemed to work well with Hoang.

We will post a version of the above on TripAdvisor.

We would also like to give Feedback only to you about the hotels and restaurants.

The first lunch at the Mekong Rest Area was very good. Enjoyed it.

Mekong River Boutique resort had a lovely pool. Dinner was excellent. The staff helpful. The manager went out of his way to welcome us

On the negative side - the beds were uncomfortable and there was insufficient hot water for our shower. We will tell this to you, but never post this publicly. We understand that there are limited lodging choices in small towns.

The Victoria was wonderful. Great pools, perfect rooms, good breakfast. Cannot complain. The boat trip to the floating market in the morning was easy. We appreciated that the boat driver took us right to a dock at the market for our last drive.

We very much appreciate the service and detail you provided us to make sure this was a trip we will always remember.

When we return to Viet Nam we would love to bike with Hoang and you again!

Meredith and Ken. 27 - 28/02 - 01/03/2023

Sorry for replying so late, it's been quite busy here😅.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the bike tour with Linh. In my eyes, she is an excellent tour guide in many ways!
First of all, we really enjoyed her wonderful company! Of course, also her great knowledge about the region and the culture in general. In addition, her leadership skills: she adapts very well to our pace and is very flexible to meet our needs. My wife had a problem with motion sickness and Linh took very good care of her and even organized medication. We are so glad we met her, I can say we made a friend!
We would also like to thank you for making this possible on such short notice!
Two things I would like to tell you for improvement.
Firstly, the driver's driving style was unpleasant. We communicated it and he made an effort for a while, but only a few minutes later he fell back into his usual driving style. Specifically: he closed up very close, overtook in rather tricky situations and jerkily switched from accelerating to braking to accelerating, etc. (The speed, however, was appropriate).
I know that in this wonderful country people have a different driving style. The driver also tried really hard and was very friendly and didn't drive too fast. I also think that from a general Vietnamese perspective, the driver drove well, as far as I can tell. But if you want to chauffeur tourists from my country, you have to drive more smoothly, mor economically and more patiently.
Secondly, my wife's bike was unfortunately a bit too small, the handlebars a bit too narrow for her. No big deal, but still I would like to mention it.
Despite these points, it was a really great experience to do this tour with you, which I will highly recommend!
Thank you and have a great time, we wish you all the best! 22 - 23 February 2023

Dear Vietnam Cycling Tours
I want to let you know that my wife and I were extremely happy and satisfied with the three days with Hai and the driver in the Mekong Delta. Hai is an excellent guide and his explanations and support were stimulating. The driver also did an excellent job. One minor critical remark. The dinner in KanTo on Tuesday night was terrible. I think you can better let participants (with help of the guide!) find their own way in a city where so much is possible. The selected overnight stays were worth a detour.
One request. Could you send me the photos and videos Hai made in such a way that I can open them?? With my best wishes, Paul Citroen. 20 - 21 - 22 February 2023

Mr Van, we are back at our hotel after a fabulous trip. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The tour was exactly what it said in the notes which suited us very well. Thank you for a well managed and very interesting tour and also for booking the train tickets. Malcolm and Shona Thomas. 01 - 04 February 2023

I enjoyed the variety of roads. The hotel in A Luoi was below the standard. I understand it is the best in the town. Other hotels were good with several being great. The tour guide was friendly and constantly nice and patient. 21 December 2022 - 05 January 2023

We really enjoyed our trip and appreciated the flexibility of cycling distances, equally the efforts made by our tour guide to customise our trip. Everything ran on true and to plan which was really impressive.

As one small suggestion. Vietnam Backroads may wish to survey the experience/ fitness of tour guests ahead of the trip to help establish an itinerary/ distance ahead of time. We've noted this done by the tour company in the past for hiking tour we have been on. 21 December 2022 - 05 January 2023

I really loved this trip. A perfect way to see rural Vietnam. The trip was very memorable. Dat was an excellent guide.
Some suggestions (Not criticisms) which may help:
- Consider selling helpful equipment, and gloves as an extra cost
- Consider dinners as optional. They were very good but perhaps had some flexibility.
Overall the trip has exceeded my expectations.

PAUL ANTHONY JONES party from Australia. 15 - 16 - 17 December 2022

We are thoroughly enjoying the ride and we cant say enough good things about Hai and our driver. The cycling conditions are great, the gear and accommodations are very good, and we are happy to be here. Thought you might enjoy this. Susan doing tree pose on a monkey bridge. Having a great time. Thank you for the exxellent work on putting it together. More stories to come with Mr. Art in Cambodia.

Our cycling is going very well. While we miss Hai and our Vietnam driver, we are enjoying Art and John Wayne (our driver here). We are seeing some differences in the two countries for cycling but we are enjoying our experience immensely. Thank you, 28 Feb, 2019 - 10 Jan 2020

Hi Vietnam Backroads team,
We are a week back from our vacation in Vietnam and three weeks after finishing the bike tour.
It was a nice bike trip. Heavier than the Mekong delta tour in 2014.
Did you receive my survey? I gave it to Vien on the day we were dropped at the airport.
I hope you could read my handwriting.
Thanks for everything you organize for us. 02-08 November 2022