Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia

I%26#39;m taking my first trip to several cities in Vietnam, Siem Riep and Bangkok. Can you recommend a moderately priced tour company that doesn%26#39;t take an excessive number of people on the tours and has guides who really know their ';stuff';? Also, has anyone taken the Smithsonian Journeys tour to Angkor Wat and Vietnam?

Thanks a lot.

Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia

My friend swears by the Australian company, Intrepid Tours. She recently took a Vietnam trip with Intrepid.

www.intrepidtravel.com/

Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia

I to like staying away from the group tours and customizing our own day to day intenerary with a local travel company. Yes, it is nice to have a local viet travel company to make all the reservations and have a car and driver to meet you. There are over 2 thousand local viet. travel comany%26#39;s now in vietnam. The same service%26#39;s can be many $%26#39;s apart. My wife and I have now been back to vietnam 5 times in the last 4 years. We have traveled to many places through out vietnam now. I was a soldier there in 1970 and heard Vietnam was now a great place to visit. It is! We are from Seattle,Wa.The 2nd trip we brought our 24 year old son and have been back for an engagement party and then back again for there wedding. We have traveled up and down vietnam and have used 2 different local viet travel companies. One in Saigon and the other one is located in Nha Trang. They give great prices and are very honorable. We always compare and they are always lower with the same service ect. We pay once we are there and in return they give us the in country flight tickets,hotel vouchers and receits ect. If you want more info. you can e-mail me at kennbaker@msn.com Either way...have a great time! I went back to vietnam last April for a week to check on a partnership I have now with a coffee/gift shop in Nha Trang that we hope will help support a local orphanage there. Going back again this March for 2 weeks. If this is your first time...you want to have a travel company located in Vietnam to set everything up for you! It will be much cheeper and all is done! They always can beat the internet and walkup rack rates for 3 star hotels and up. It is nice to have them make all of your in country flight bookings and make reservations for any car and driver with or with out a guide ect...Only need to relax and enjoy!

Just got back from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We did part of it ourselves as my husband has been before (with Intrepid as well) and did a family tour with Intrepid through Vietnam. It%26#39;s definitely doable to plan yourself but the advantage of a tour is not having to worry about transfers, transportation, etc. Intrepid doesn%26#39;t take more than 16 people and the guides are usually local so they can help with language barriers and know a lot about the local culture. Intrepid has a good balance of group activities and free time so you%26#39;re not stuck with the group 24/7. We had a wonderful time with our group...good luck. Ange.

We did a cycling tour with Intrepid in Feb/Mar 08. They limit the tour group to 12. Intrepid goes to most of the coastal places as well as the off the beaten path places like the Central Highlands.

I wouldn%26#39;t recommend this tour because we had an inexperienced tour guide who disregarded the food poisoning most of us experienced at the end of week 1, the hotels we stayed at didn%26#39;t have enough hot water (something you really need on a cycling tour), the Central Highlands part of the tour was manic and a waste of time. The Central Highland people don%26#39;t care for visitors as they don%26#39;t see themselves as part of the main Vietnam culture.

Eventhough our cycling tour guide was inexperienced as a group we after each other when we were hit by food poisoning. We didn%26#39;t rely on the tour guide.

Good luck.

Can you tell me what means of transportation you used to travel btw. thailand, cambodia %26amp; vietnam ie. when you took buses, trains or planes.

We are planning the same trip in may for one month, hence the inquiry.

Thanks so much