We both thoroughly enjoyed our three day cycling trip around the backroads of the Mekong Delta. From the start, everyone was friendly and happy to talk to us (through our guide, Hai, as an interpreter). A farmer climbed a tree to give us a pomelo to taste, we were given dragon fruit straight from the plant, we ate fresh watermelon and sugar cane juice and were served coconut water from coconuts cut straight from the palm tree. It was these everyday things that interested us and Hai was very knowledgeable and happy to answer all our questions.

Our route was along paths and back roads and for most of the three days we never saw another tourist. We visited temples, pagodas, a floating market and crossed the delta many times on small ferries. The bikes were good and Hai was happy to make any small adjustments as required.

We were pleased we chose the homestay options (as opposed to hotels). The people were welcoming and the food was delicious. 18 - 19 - 20 November 2019

What a great way to learn about Vietnam culture and see how people live. Cong is an excellent guide and explained everything we saw. He did a great job getting fresh local fruits for us to eat, and took us inside little factories to see noodles being made, coconut fiber rugs and more. The paths took us through the beautiful countryside which we loved. Cong had a great knowledge of food, agriculture, life styles and shared this. He kept a good pace and watched out for our safety. Cong took us to some local restaurants on dinner great food and gave us tips on what went new together. His easy going, friendly manner. Our driver was great too navigating through traffic and was always there with cold drinks. A life time experience. Thanks! 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 June 2019

This was a trip of a lifetime! We ended up riding with just my wife and I and our wonderful guide to Vietnam, Cong. He was awesome and took us to great places. When it rained we stopped at a local’s barn and he struck up a conversation, which led to cool coconut water and a warm visit till the rain stopped. We went at a great pace, visited local artisans, ate great tropical fruits, met Cong’s Grandmother and Father, saw awesome sights and ate delicious food. I can’t recommend Vietnam Backroads highly enough and if you schedule a ride, ask for Cong! We will consider a return trip for a longer ride as our life journey allows. Thank you so much for the great memories! 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 June 2019

Michelle Blanch and Paul Sagent,

We loved our 4 day - 3 night Mekong cycle tour. Cong was great. His English is good. He was informative and was always on hand to translate for us- He modified our cycling for us so it was comfortable. The back roads are great. No hills. The first night accommodation was ok however we understand it was the best in a small town- We loved the Votoria hotel. What a suprise!

Our driver Loc was a very good driver. He negatives the traffic well. He was always available to pick us up!

We loved all the food. Local, tasty amaging Vietnamese.

We would highly reccommend this tour to our friends and colleagues. We work in the travel industry as Air Zero crew for Quantas, so we will spread the word Vietnam Backroads for the experience. 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 Mar 2019

Dear Kieu

Thanks for your email. In the mean time back home and back to work.

We had a great time on our cycling trip, an exceptional experience:
- Phuc Le is indeed a great guide - took very good care of us, was flexible, shared very interesting information, knows his way around for nice backroads, etc.
- Very good driver - Always there on time and we felt very safe
- Coordination (you ;-) ) was also exemplary - responsive, patient, clear communication
- Great Trek bikes
- First two hotels were very good (the second one was the best one of our whole trip through Vietnam...), the last one was less
- Most restaurants were well selected, except for the one on the first night which didn't make us feel at ease - but as said, all the others gave us a good introduction to the local cuisine and its specialties

Bottom line, the 4 days with Phuc Le and Vietnam Backroads were the best part of our trip through Vietnam. Thank you very much !! 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 July 2019

We loved the trip! We appreciated the flexibility of the company and Mr Cong - from buying a new bike for our younger son when he was too small for the regular bikes, to dealing with our older son when he got sick during the trip. The back road trails were so much fun to ride along and we learned a lot about life in the Mekong Delta. Cong was Loc made us feel that everything was taken care of and we didn't need to worry about anything. 28 - 29 - 30 June 2019

We used this tour as a way to get from Ho Chi Minh City to Soc Trang to take the Superdong ferry to the Con Dao islands. It was the low season, so it was just our family of four. The tour was exactly as advertised: we rode almost exclusively on back roads with no cars and trucks, saw the beauty of rural Vietnam, and caught glimpses of what rural life is like. Our guide, Cong, was excellent. He adapted our trip perfectly when one of our kids got sick on the trip and he was happy to let our youngest son set the pace. Cong was endlessly helpful. He even helped us to plan how to get back to Can Tho after our stay on Con Dao, and he was always a wealth of information. The tour is expensive, even by North American standards, but the organization, the level of customization, and the ability to feel confident that you will have a great experience makes it worth the price. 28 - 29 - 30 June 2019

The cycling tour from Saigon (HCM) and the Mekong Delta to Hué and (with the AC sleeper train) to Hà Nội was an outstanding experience. It was a real surprise and went far beyond my experienced expectations. The seamless interaction between guide and driver were an astounding feat of logistics that no traveller could hope to achieve or plan. Having such reliable, punctual and knowledgeable guide eliminates burdens. From the traveller who now does not have to look for roads, signs and directions and -instead- can entirely immerse in the experience that Vietnam is: cycling in the mellow heat along orchards where all the fruits and spices of the world grow, rambutans, ridiculously large jackfruit, exotic durians, and fresh pepper and be absorbed in the Intricate networks of small paths between rice paddies as far as the eye goes, cross by ferry majestic rivers that ridicule our European “large rivers”, tiny, tidy hamlets where fresh sugar cane juice materialises right there and then when the craving comes, road-side lunch parlours that serve fresh local foods. very comfortable hotels to spend the night, and the discovery of many things that the traveller would not so easily visit or identify, such as Caudai temples, local markets, harvest folklores, flower greenhouses, huge coffee and mulberry plantations, cricket farms (the proteins of the future) and weasel (aka crap) coffee. Each day brought its particular vistas and interesting itineraries, inviting me to take over a thousand pictures to be able to linger a bit longer in the delights that this tour procured. 14 - 27 April 2019

This was the first time undersigned enrolled into a guided tour. The experience was very positive.
A - The days are well structured and start and end at impactful and meaningful times.
B - A dedicated guide overcomesall cultural and language obstancles any that travellers encounter
C - The all -inclusive farmula removes any burden on planning and orentation allowing thus the client to submerge him- & herself in the experence and culture
D - The flexible nature of the travel plan makes the experience very customised and exepceptionally personalised

+ This trip because of its physical nature (cycling + physical experience & activity) is not a sightseeing experience but a cultural awakoning very differenet from any ordinary from of tourism (classical tourism). It is living the natural region of culture

+ As the guide took well care of comfortable and stress free.

+ The back roads experience is a privileges experience and without guide culturally essential layer of the Vietnamese society.

Met my expectations very well. A great guide - Loc Ly and good quality bikes. He knew what we could do and took us on very interesting tracks and showed us charming villages. We were looked after very well on the whole trip. We loved this and pleased with Vietnam Backroads. We would definitely recommend this company to our friends. 21 - 22 - 23 April 2019

We loved our trip. The tour ended up being just my husband and me with a guide - Viet- and driver. The riding was scenic and included lots of short ferry trips. Overall the riding was very enjoyable. There were a few places where the pathway was too narrow for us to ride comfortably, and Viet was good about rerouting where necessary to make the ride as pleasant as possible. Our first night at Ut Trinh homestay was wonderful--great food, and our private bathroom was outdoors, which we loved. Also we got to help cook, which was really fun. On the road, children often ran alongside us shouting hello, which we also loved. I highly recommend this trip. 24 - 25 - 26 Jan 2019

Bicycles were in excellent condition compared with other tour companies. Phuc Le was an excellent guide. 01 - 02 - 03 April 2019

We had an absolutely fantastic cycling experience with Vietnam Backroads. Our guides, Dat and Happy were superb. The trip ran without a hitch and we were really looked after, brilliant cycling tailored to our needs. Highly recommend. 4 happy UK. 14 - 25 October 2018

Tha and Mr Phuong were very friendly, helpful, patient and alternative. Bike were axcellent especially basket would be even better with a bell.
The bike ride/paths were fantastic for a future ride we would be interesting in options for smaller, family- accommodation including in villages ( rather highhotels)
It would be great to see your company making efforts to reduce single-use plastic, big water tank/ bottles on bus and provide re-fillable bottles or encourage BYO bottle.
It was great that Tha was fexible in break.meals options when we shoews interest in small local options.
Completed by Sarah, Libby & Jane. 15 - 16 - 17 Mar 2019

This was a great trip. We had a private booking for us - Mum and Dad and our kids 20yr and 16 yrs. We cycled 3 days. Day 1 was a slow start due a mix up with hotel pick up (my fault) so we did about 30 easy km. We drove out of HCM for about 2 hours before beginning. The cycling was mostly on concrete paths beside rivers and canals with small houses backing onto it. Although outside the main city it did not feel rural as we were beside houses the whole way - but it was interesting.Lots of stops on day 1 for drinks, to sample fruits and sugar cane drinks etc. We were delivered to a better than anticipated 5 star hotel on day 1. Our guide not only cycled with us but also collected us for dinner. We were keen to eat local so he sourced the restaurants and order for us - which really added to the experience.
Day 2: it became clear that Cong our guide would really taylor the mix of cycling - sight seeing- pace to whatever we wanted. On day 2 we decided to cycle 50km in the morning and finish up by lunch as the forecast was for a hot afternoon. We started the morning with sightseeing at the floating markets - really good and a visit to local textile weavers. Cycled through lots of countryside and beautiful surprises like arriving at a school just on pick up time to watch the throng of motorbike pick ups for the school children and a hundred "hellos" form the kids who rarely have westerners in that area. A really special treat was a watermelon stop at Cong's grandparents home for a break. Day 3 my daughter was sick and again the flexibility of our guide was great. He re- arranged the day to have us taken to the Crane wetlands while the boys cycled there to meet us. We still enjoyed the boat ride through the wetlands and then opted for the van transfer to the final hotel.

Similar to the review below there were many outstanding factors
- great organisation and communication pre trip
- flexible schedule and pace and length of cycling to suit.
- nice bikes
- good support vehicles.
- good or very decent hotels
- local food with a local guide to order and help us enjoy it.
- great arrangements for sightseeing -our boats were aways waiting for us, everything was paid for and great commentary as we went.

What could be better
The daily plan was sometimes a little hard to elicit from Cong. This might be a language barrier. It would have been good to have a rough idea like "we are starting here, taking a break here, stopping to see this and then aiming for lunch at 1pm....." Even when we asked information was a little vague - but perhaps that's because things are flexible.

The cycling was good. It was just right for us and I would label this as a sight seeing experience on bikes - not hard core cycling. But that was just what we wanted. It provided a unique way to get a glimpse beyond the standard tourist areas and we liked that. However it was not very rural. I had thought it would be more out in the countryside - but really we were mostly on canal paths with rural housing beside us and orcahrds fields behind the houses. That was OK 0 but different to what I had expected. However the attractions to sightsee were more that I expected - so I guess that balances. Sight seeing included the floating markets, textile weavers, fish farms, temples, rice factory, coconut candy, Crane wetlands and Memorials.

There was more time in the Van than we expected as each day we drove out of the city to start and into the city to finish.

The price. Similar to the comment below - it was a little pricey for Vietnam - but in the end I have to say I was happy to pay the price as it was a very good tour in a country where a lot of tourism is still emerging. So in this aspect it was very high level of service which is not easy to get outside resorts etc in Vietnam.

I would definitely recommend the tour if you are looking for something like this. I also note that Vietnam Backroads also have some great full-on cycle tours if that is what you are after too. This one worked for us. We finished the tour and took a ferry to Phu Quoc for more of a resort break to finish off our holiday. A great mix. 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2019

Hope this helps.

George - All very well done. Dat was great. Although the English of the questionare could be improved. We will repeatedly late and still eotred for and not met at all with a negative attitude.
Thoroughly enjoyable.

Finnian - Our Tour guide Mr Dat was a fantastic guide, who know his English, history and knowledge every well. Very nice man and he was and very generous and hospitable. Love Vietnam and cycling is the best way to see it. 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 Feb 2019

Karen - Very interesting. A good mix of biking and visiting interesting places. Cong was evry flexible when my daughter got sick and changed our plans. Love trying new food, fruits, and the tours like floating market + stork pall. I would be good to know the day plan a bit more. like how for to ride, what will lunch be, how long in the bus. But everything else eas wonderful.

Grant Dempsey - Great way to see feel and taste rural Vietnam. Having a guide to explain various points of interest, communicate with locals and another food make the trip enjoyable and stress free. The various stop at tourist attracations are a great value and very informative. 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 Mar 2019

The guide and driver were excellent and very service minded. They were very good to be flexible. The hotels and food were not that impressive. It would have been nice with a map. 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 Feb 2019

We rearlly enjoyed the trip and felt we saw the real Vietnam. The cycling was vaned and we were abale to experience rich culture.

Mr Cong had excellent knowlege of the local surroundings and gave us just thye right amount of information. We felt the trip was very expensive as it cost us as much for these 4 days as for the rest of our 5 day trip to Vietnam. 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 Feb 2019

We arrived back home yesterday after a fantastic trip to Vietnam. We enjoyed our whole experience immensely especially the cycle tour through the Mekong Delta. It was very professionally organised and Cong was a good guide.

The only negative criticisms we would have are:
1. The tour should not be described as 5 days. It was clearly only 4 days with a ferry ticket for the 5th day to Phu Quoc
2. We would question the value for money. At $775 per head, those 4 days cost nearly as much as the rest of our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia! The food and hotels on the tour were nothing special and probably didn’t amount to more than $75 per head. Maybe if we had more people on the tour at a cheaper price we would have felt better about the cost.

On the whole though it was an amazing experience and your help with our organisation was also fantastic. 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 jan 2019