Cycling Vietnam to Cambodia - Saigon to Siem Reap

I will send through the valuation form, very tired but wanted to send you a quick note to say how happy we all were with the trip. You and your staff did an amazing job organizing our cycling over 3 countries, 3 languages and all worked efficiently. Everyone had such a good time and I am sure I will get a few more to come back next year. Cycling Mekong Delta Vietnam Cycling Cambodia Thank you again, will be in touch. November 10, 2013 Leonie Leonie's group of 15 from Australia Cycling 10D/9N HCM - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap Overall your arrangement is very good. The back up, the food, the accommodation are all superb. And most of all the guide provided is excellent. He speak very good English, very knowledgeable, very easy to get along and very diplomatic. Great job, we definitely like to recommend to my friends. 21st - 30th April 2013 Tan Lye Hock party from Malaysia Cycling 10D/9N HCM - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap I took a rest when I choose Vietnam Backroads for myself and my team, but its the best from the internet. It turn out more than I expected and your guide Mr Thang is very professional and very knowledgeable. There is not a boring moment with him around. He made us feel very comfortable and we enjoyed our ride very much. The numerous coffee break is good and dinner is excellent. On behalf of my team, I would say "Big thank you" to Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. 21st - 30th April 2013

Chan party of 6 from Malaysia

We had a most memorable time with Vietnam Backroads, we would do it again and certain would recommend your company to others. Here a few things we enjoyed as well as some other feedback. Hotels were great and trip organization was fantastic - this allowed us to focus more on the vacation/site-seeing aspect of the adventure Guides and drivers - wonderful people. The bikes in Cambodia were more comfortable than the bikes we used in Vietnam. Food was excellent but at times too much - we hate to waste food and we felt because of the large portions, we were wasting some of it. The guides in Cambodia would stop and educate us along the way about the culture, people, history, etc. The same thing occurred in Vietnam but not as much. Day to Day flexibility was perfect allowing us to ride at our own pace. We would have liked to stop at some of the smaller markets in remote towns, we missed some of those opportunities. Overall, the experience was excellent, we would love to do it again someday. Nov, 2012

Jason Kuczek and Sally from the US

We are both back home and into our normal work routines - our two weeks holiday flew by. The whole trip was very enjoyable, well organised and we would certainly recommend it. The two parts (Vietnam & Cambodia) were very different with the Mekong Delta providing the most rewarding part of the trip for me. The Cambodia part had some challenges but overall was still good. In Vietnam, Dat was a superb guide and riding with him was a great experience. He was enthusiastic and made a special effort to explain to us what we were looking at, helped us to engage with the local people and also found us a huge selection of fruit and snacks to try. I felt that he genuinely wanted to give us the best tour that he could and to show us as much as he could. He balanced his time between Tamar and us well and kept us all happy. The hotels were all OK – the Chau Doc Hotel was spectacular and (for us) it would have been good to have arrived a little earlier so that we could use the swimming pool and facilities. The only part of the Vietnam tour that we didn’t enjoy was the visit to the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields memorial. It is a painful and difficult topic and I understand why it was included with his office and arranged the trip but I am sure with a little more advance planning we could have had an even better day and visited some more out of the way places. Siem Reap is more of a tourist super highway than a back road so the end of the trip was very different to the start. The temples at Angkor are superb and Siem Reap has a very lively ‘backpacker’ nightlife which was good fun and it was a good way to finish. On a more serious note, Chek unfortunately had an accident towards the end of our first day in Siem Reap and had to have 6 stitches in his knee so he could not ride. I am very pleased to say that we saw him again on the last day and he was making a good recovery. The loss of our guide was handled very professionally. Chek found an alternate guide (Chouy) who was very good and made our next day visiting the temples very enjoyable - even if he was a bit shaky and slow on his bike at times. Our hotels in Cambodia were all fine without being great. I hope that this feedback is useful and feel free to ask for more details. We both hope that we can find a way to come back visit you all again soon. April 2, 2014

Nick and Jonathan Nick and Jonathan from Canada

We have just returned to South Africa from our trip to your wonderful country. First off let me say that our cycle experience with your company was absolutely first class. From the very beginning, when we met Thang at the airport, to when we parted company with your Cambodian guide, Art Siem Reap airport we were treated so well. Let me start at the beginning. Our initial booking and all the subsequent hundreds of emails I sent were answered promptly and with exact information. Thang is an asset to your company. Everyone absolutely loved him. He has a super sense of humor, he is courteous, well informed and always helpful. We also appreciated that we had the other guides with us. They too always looked after us. The few times one of us got lost was sorted out quickly. Our cycles and helmets were perfect. The iced towels at the end of each section of our ride were such a nice touch and so welcomed as were the abundance of cool drinks, cold water and snacks. I would recommend your company to everyone and will write an article about our experience in one of our magazines. I will also write a reference on Trip Advisor. (please let me know if you have a link) Let me also say that we enjoyed it when you joined us on the trip. Please thank Thang for us. We won’t forget him. He is a fine young man. We realised how much went into planning this trip. The driver with the bikes was always there when we rode up sweating and in need of a rest. The driver of our bus and his little assistant were so pleasant and helpful. Please let them know we appreciated them so much. Some of our party, in fact only two, found Art a little difficult to understand and I think they wrote this in their assessment of him. I, personally think they were far too critical as I found Art a wonderful guide. He too was courteous, well informed and went out of his way to see that we were looked after. I recommend him highly. Please let him know that we enjoyed him as a guide. His tour of the Anghor Wat and the other temples was fantastic. We loved riding around in that area. The cycle ride on the wall of the dam was so beautiful and we have wonderful pictures of us cycling in that area. Van, thank you for all the planning that went into this trip. Thank you for giving us Thang and Art as guides and thank you for an amazing insight into your country and its people. If I have one criticism it will be that the litter all over is out of control and if both Vietnam and Cambodia want to promote tourism the governments must go on an all out campaign to get the communities to clean up their areas. The people involved in tourism should also get together to ensure that your government takes a strong stand on this. What a pity to spoil such a beautiful place. 06 Mar, 2016

Moira Clark group of 10 from Africa

Biking Ho Chi Minh - Phnom Penh 5 days

Thanks again for an incredible trip across the Mekong Delta! The boat ride up the river to Phnom Penh yesterday was great, and we will be continuing on up to Siem Reap tomorrow. The bicycles and gear were top notch and in very good shape. The only thing I would make sure to either recommend people bring or provide extras if they need them are cycling gloves. 25 Oct 2011

Deena and Jordan from America

This was such an incredible experience, I'm so happy we chose Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. I contacted your company because of reviews on Trip Advisor and after emailing 5 - 10 different cycling tour companies. I chose Vietnam Backroads because of the exceptional customer services and dedicated attention of Quang - she is an asset to your business ! We have now finished the tour and we ave been extremely impressed by the quality & professionalism of your team. Dat is every knowledgeable and enacted . Nothing is too much trouble for him and he is a patient teacher. I'm a new cyclist still learning how to manage a bike and he has been very helpful! Cuong was very professional & friendly & always on time. I can not say enough about this this experience an d will recommend your services to friends and write a review on TripAdvisor of course! 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 June, 2014

Laura Maya from Australia

Hi Van, We had a wonderful tour filled with really good cycle guide Dat who was very helpful, friendly and full of an excellent knowledge and great recommendations for any and all our needs. Thank you to Miss Quang who was very helpful when we organize the booking and also thank to our driver and all the team from Vietnam Backroads. we will recommend your company and will post a good review on TripAdvisor as well. 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 June, 2014

David Frot from France

We named our tour " HELLO 2 weddings and a funeral" Our cycling trip from Ho Chi Minh City To Phnom Penh was an experience my partner and myself will cherish for the rest of our lives. We were blessed and most fortunate to have had Loc as our guide. The love and passion he has for Vietnam, its food, its people and their culture opened our hearts and enabled us to experience a country like never before. This young man of 25 years of age had us captivated the whole trip with his humble compassionate heart. We were stopped on our path and invited in to 2 weddings on the same day. Both involved doing countless shots of rice wine and food being handed to you from every direction. We were overwhelmed by their generosity, their interest in us but most of all by their acceptance and love. We also were invited to join a large group who for every year for a generation celebrate the passing of a loved one. Well this involved pretty much the same as the weddings, rice wine shots, food and packed you up with mangoes or coco nuts to take with you. For a country that has a lot to see like Halong Bay, Sapa, Cu Chi tunnels, Hoi An, Danang ......................... we did the tourist route. The four days riding through those remote villages with Loc is what we remember as the real Vietnam. Nov 28- Dec 2, 2014 Kind Regards

Michael Russo party from Australia

Biking adventure Saigon - Nha Trang

Thanks for the best 4 days we had in Vietnam ! we loved our tour and the enthusiasm you showed whilst guiding us. There is no way we could of seen the things we seen or done the things we did if we'd been on 4 wheels or even on foot...thanks mate. P.S. can you make sure you sort the weather out in Dalat if we come back :-) Saigon to Nha Trang 4 days. 05 Sep 2011

Trevor and Pauline from England

From Nha Trang we went to Hon Ong, where we spent three days before returning to Ho Chi Minh City and back home a week ago. In Sweden we have plenty of snow and a crisp -18 degrees celsius (see attached photos). I guess every country and climate has its own charm... Back to your question about the tour - We are very happy with our four day bicycle tour!! Phuc was a very good guide who made sure the biking and pace was up to our capacity. He made sure to stop to point out interesting things and enable us to take photos of views, coffee, tea, pepper and banana plantations. He made sure we had snacks and drink stops along the road. We got to stop and meet friendly people along the road. He took us to genuine and very good eating places and was all-over very friendly!! Hoang - our driver - was also very good. He was a skilled and very careful driver and we always felt safe with him behind the wheel. He was also very attentive and made sure we had water along the road, sheered us on and took care to wipe our eating sticks and plates when having meals. The trip was perfect for us - a mix of national park, jungle, farmland and back roads and with a one day stopover and sightseeing in Dalat. The fairly rough accommodation in Nam Cat Tien and the very good accommodation in Dalat was a good combination. We always felt very safe and we definitely had our share of adventure and sightseeing. I cannot enough express how happy we are with our biking with Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. This was the best way to experience Vietnam!! We will sure recommend you to everyone who might be interested!! I can honestly not think of anything that could have been different - not even the rainy day we had between Dalat and Nha Trang. Kind regards..and please extend our praise to Phuc and Hoang as well! 2013

Cecilia & Agneta from Sweden

Ride to Dalat - MuiNe - The ‘Hawaii’ of Vietnam

It was fantastic experience for my 2 boys and myself. Dat we could not rate more highly. He was very engaging and very informative on the Vietnam history. That we were traveling through. The fruit stop we all enjoyed. We would highly recommend Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. The bikes we could not fault nor the hotels. However, I would strongly state that our fantastic experience came about through our excellent guide Dat. This attention to hygiene was brilliant. We wish Dat and your company all the very best for a successful future. Don, Ben, same Robinson. 17 -18 19 - 20 Dec, 2014

Don Robinson family from Australia

Wildlife Lovers: Biking to Nam Cat Tien Park

Thanks again for organizing a great trip on the weekend, many good memories and photos will be taken back to Australia with Mary and Carolyn. 29 Oct 2011

Jayne Anderson party from Saigon Riverside School

Vietnam Countryside Discovery - Saigon to HaNoi

Well now I am back home, unpacked and have sorted myself out. My return trip from Hanoi was smooth sailing and I had no problems. I want to say that I had a most excellent trip and it went far beyond my expectations. In fact, I can confidently say that it was the best value, best organised and best run bicycle tour I have been on, and I have been on a few. I will have no hesitation in recommending most highly Vietnam Backroads to any of my friends and acquaintances. And I shall certainly tell them how flexible you are in meeting peoples' specific needs. I agree that to get a better Vietnam experience a three star hotel is better than a four star, and certainly most of the hotels you booked us into were very satisfactory. 13 Jan 2012

Graham Bridge from Australia

The trip was fantastic, Van. Your choice of places to buy fruit, see sights and people, to eat in restaurants, and to interact with local population was exceptional. We appreciated your flexibility about length of rides and changing agendas to see sights or eat at more interesting restaurants. We enjoyed learning about the country and culture your perspective. The bike maintenance was impeccable, as were the bike refreshments. The bike equipment was high quality. We love the jerseys. Fantastic! Cycling Vietnam Backroads 13 Jan 2012

Don and I hope we can ride with you again someday! Christina

We are back in the flatland, in Holland. We have wonderful memories of our trip in Vietnam, we are very happy about the holiday. This was the first time we were on a biking holiday and we were very impressed by the smooth organisation of Vietnam Backroads. We are very happy about every aspect of the holiday and don't know anything we are not happy - not even when we think very hard on it. To be specific we are very happy about: - the information before the trip (website, e-mails, adjustments on standard program). - the bikes were of high quality and well maintained. To be honest we were a bit worried about it in advance as it is so important for the quality of the trip. Even when the bike size was not correct for me on the first day it was solved the next day with a larger frame size. - the mechanical skills of Van and Trang. They continuously optimized the bikes for us. - the routes and the maps by Van - they were really the backroads of Vietnam and we never had to bike on the busy and dangerous highways. The routes were easily adapted to the circumstances (longer or shorter trip). Combined with the mechanical skills this is for us the most unique features of this company. - the chosen hotels. The only hotel which fell al little out of tune was the one in Hanoi. - the information Trang gave to us about the history and culture of Vietnam. - the safe driving of Mr. Huang. In a way we were always happy to see him as we knew that he would have fresh water and fruits for us ready. During transfers we felt always very safe. One advice for booking the flight tickets: ask for the names as given in the passports, since a change can cause problems at in checking for the flights. Another thing is that one request for not taking any more pictures of your guests should have been enough, and three requests is too many. We're happy to recommend your company to anyone who wants to cycle in Vietnam. We're certainly to return to your company one day to have another trip in Vietnam or Cambodia Best regards, 23 May 2012

Jos & Monique from Netherlands

Yes - now safely back in the UK. Although there was some snow on the ground when we arrived home last weekend the temperature has just warmed up here and it is now slightly warmer than it was on our first day in Hanoi (17 degrees)!! We continued to have a great time on our Halong Bay cruise and were looked after well by your guide in Hanoi who also organised a final airport transfer for us. Mike and I have now reflected on the holiday and both of us were profoundly moved by the whole experience of Vietnam and Cambodia. In particular we found Vietnamese people to be very friendly and welcoming, the food amazing and the scenery spectacular and varied. We were delighted with the service we received from Vietnam Backroads right from the first contact with you through to the biking trip and the end in Hanoi. It is hard to be critical because we know how much effort you all put in and we feel the trip was really good value for money. Mike and I both think that the trip was even better because Van was with us. As the owner he was able to decide to give us even more out of the trip (e.g food stops) than perhaps Harry could decide on his own on a set budget. The bikes were great, well maintained and the team did everything for us including lending us gloves/sleeves! We went to some wonderful restaurants which we would never have found on our own and were amazed at the quality and quantity of food we were able to order within the package price (and more importantly Van/Harry would order for us which made life really easy and ensured we got to try local specialties). Similarly the drink stops were well organised and much more frequent than we anticipated and the unexpected fruit stops were great. The biking routes were brilliant and we felt we really got a chance to see the 'real' Vietnam. Finally, the team was very flexible in changing itinerary/hotels (e.g Hanoi) at short notice. It is very difficult to find areas for improvement....on a minor point the hotel we moved to in Hanoi, although set in a spectacular location, was a bit run down and unfortunately they had drained the swimming pool for the season. However this had no impact on the trip as the weather continued cloudy until we left! We can’t think of anything else we would change!! All in all a brilliant trip and we hope to come back and do Laos at some time with you. Please give our regards to Van and Harry and show them the attached pictures. We would recommend Vietnam Backroads to anyone travelling to Vietnam and if you are able to send us some of your new cycling shirts we would happily wear them as an advert for the company. 1st - 14th April 2013

Sarah Harrington and Mike from the UK

It was really well organised and the route taking us through different landscapes and settings was great - Dat was great. Very good guide, knowledgeable, easy to get on with, looked after us extremely well and made sure we enjoyed ourselves and tried lots of local food. Patient (especially with me taking photo's, and trying to make it up the pass!) and very good at setting the right pace - Cuong (I have likely spelt his name incorrectly - sorry). We felt very safe with him at the wheel, and I am trying to adopt his patience with driving now I am back behind the wheel - Very happy with the accommodation. I think I chose the two stars when I booked, but the majority of the accommodation was four stars. If this is normal practice than you should advertise that, as that makes the tour better value for money - Bikes - would have liked to have been able to adjust the handle bars (higher) - The boat trip in Nha Trang was not our cup of tea (party boat). It would have been good to know beforehand what kind of trip it was so we could have chosen to do that, or something else on our own that day. 8 - 19 Dec 2015 Birgitte and Fiona from Australia Biking Saigon - Hue - Hanoi 13D/12N Thank you Quang, We are home now unfortunately, having just spent our first week back at work. Matt and I thoroughly enjoyed our Vietnam Backroads trip, despite my feedback. Our tour guide Dat and Mr Van were fantastic in immediately recognizing my limitations and adjusted the cycling routes and distances accordingly to more closely suit my abilities. The tour itself was good value for money and extremely well organised with high quality, centrally located hotels and a never ending supply of delicious local food! We loved our time in Vietnam and agree that cycling Vietnam Backroads is definitely the best way to see the country. We would certainly consider another trip with you (at a shorter distance!) and recommend Vietnam Backroads to friends and family. 16th - 29th Mar 2014

Elle and Matt from Australia

See Vietnam's Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites - 15 days

On behalf of myself and my family I would like to say thank you to you and your crew for making our holiday in Vietnam a success. The itinerary you planned for this trip, both the types of riding that we did and the activities involved, fit our needs perfectly - and Dat was an absolutely excellent guide - friendly, energetic, and both very knowledgeable and very helpful. When things didn't go quite perfectly (like when the hotel we were booked into in Nha Trang was closed) we correctly had complete confidence that things would work out. Overall, your support team took great care of us. Because of the ages and commitments of our boys, this was the trip of a lifetime - it will very probably be the last time we will ever have to be together on a holiday excursion like this. I am happy to say that we picked the right country, the right company to help us, and the right tour! As I said in my written evaluation, if anyone asks, it will be easy for me to recommend Vietnam as a destination and Vietnam Backroads as a tour company. I hope that it is alright to add a couple of thoughts. On your website I see that there are some pictures and videos of various tours. I have many pictures to go through from our trip. If you are interested, after I go through them I can send you five or six of ours that you can add to your collection if you wish. A year and a half ago, Nancy and I did a bike trip in Albania that was advertised as a UN World Heritage Site tour. (also an excellent adventure) In reflecting on your tour, I wonder whether you might wish to consider using a similar title to describe the tour we took. As we visited five UN world heritage sites (more than we saw in Albania), it would be a very accurate description and perhaps would draw more attention to the tour, at least for certain people. 10 - 23 Feb, 2016

Ed Dick Nancy family of 5 from Canada

The tour was very good – an excellent way to see many parts of the country in a two week period. Dat was an exceptional guide. It is hard to think that that someone else could be better. He was very helpful in many ways, often doing more to help us than we would expect. The biggest problem we faced was arriving at the hotel and finding it closed during the Tet holiday. It was nice that things worked out as well as they did. If we were American, the tour value would be exceptional, but our Canadian dollar has fallen a lot in the last few months so I can only say good. For what we received, it was certainly reasonable. If someone else, asks me, I will recommend your company – especially it Dat is the guide. 10 - 23 Feb, 2016

Edmund Peter Dick from Canada

See 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites Overall, I thought this trip was great! Dat was fantastic guide, friendly, helpful, professional – and did a great job of introducing us to Vietnamese culture through some legends, food and explaining about agriculture.. What would have been nice is if we had more days with definite goals (I like cycling from one landmark to another landmark) even though it is difficult to balance with showing us the variety in the country personally. I would have like to learn more about how to say words properly(sh) in Vietnamese and maybe more still about the culture/history but I think that the balance was probably good. 10 - 23 Feb, 2016

Calvin Scott Dick from Canada

Rider's Reviews