My family of four and a friend travelled to Vietnam with this operator via Responsible Travel. Our 2-week trip began on 12/17/06. We found the trip to be very well organized. Our tour leader Tim was fun-loving and well versed in leading small groups as well as with Vietnam, in general. Our group, which totalled 14, put Tim to the test as two of the group were clearly inexperienced travellers who felt as though the leader was their personal property. Tim did more than one could expect to satisfy these 2 but they expected more. Beyond that, we enjoyed Vietnam very much.

The land was beautiful, the people friendly, and the prices exceptional. The operator’s selection of hotels was very good, especially the luxurious Hilton Hanoi Opera, where we spent the final 4 nights. The highlight of our trip was a place we found on our own, but suggest becomes included on the regular itinerary; the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi. It was one of the best museums I have ever visited! The least impressive part of our trip was the time spent in Dalat. The 2 days we took to get there, stay in the city, and move on could have been spent elsewhere and we would have gained more. I did not get the sense that "locals" derived much from our presence, other than the general expenditure of funds in their region.

It should be noted that this was an "overview" trip and there were few opportunities to engage rural populations. Were we to return to Vietnam we would prefer to spend time north of Hanoi in the region known for the minority hill tribes. Perhaps that sort of tourism would lead more directly to aiding local people. In closing, I have referred others to the Responsible Travel website as I believe you are making it easy to access operators who show special concern for the people of the regions they serve. We will certainly return to the website when researching our next trip.