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Had an absolutely wonderful time with Hien (I have definitely got that wrong) our guide around Ha Long Bay. Deeply recommend the 3 day 2 night tour, offers a more private and less crass experience than the huge cruise ships and at a very reasonable price. Much more variety and personal experiences based on anecdotes from others. Wonderful food, wonderful sights, wonderful time - and do ask if you need a place to store your bags temporarily between accommodation rather than assume it would be an imposition!
We booked our Sapa tour with Ms. Thu at Ethnic Travel and I couldn't recommend highly enough! Ms. Thu and her husband were so welcoming and friendly giving us lots of information and answering our many questions. Our guide in Sapa - Chi - was fantastic. We had the most amazing time trekking to her homestay just outside of Sapa. The homestay itself was lovely with all the comforts you'd expect and more than if you were staying in a city! Their home cooked food was delicious and we were made to feel so welcome by her whole family in her home so we are so grateful to Ethnic Travel and Chi and her family for making our Sapa tour a truly special one to remember - thank-you!
Use Ethnic Travel company to see Ha Giang! This was the highlight out our trip and a guide and driver is the way to see this beautiful part of Vietnam. You will learn so much about the ethnic minorities of this region, stay in homestays and eat amazing food
Jun 2019
We booked our Sapa tour with Ms. Thu at Ethnic Travel and I couldn't recommend highly enough! Ms. Thu and her husband were so welcoming and friendly giving us lots of information and answering our many questions. Our guide in Sapa - Chi - was fantastic. We had the most amazing time trekking to her homestay just outside of Sapa. The homestay itself was lovely with all the comforts you'd expect and more than if you were staying in a city! Their home cooked food was delicious and we were made to feel so welcome by her whole family in her home so we are so grateful to Ethnic Travel and Chi and her family for making our Sapa tour a truly special one to remember - thank-you!
Use Ethnic Travel company to see Ha Giang! This was the highlight out our trip and a guide and driver is the way to see this beautiful part of Vietnam. You will learn so much about the ethnic minorities of this region, stay in homestays and eat amazing food
Jun 2019
We had an amazing time on the Ethnic Travel 3D/2N cruise as part of our 16 days in Vietnam. We booked before we arrived in Vietnam as we were on a pretty tight timeframe. The correspondence from the company was prompt, helpful and reasonably priced.
We weren't sure whether to go for the Halong bay 2D/1N cruise or to pay the extra and go for the 3D/2N Halong and Bai Tu Long bay. We were so pleased with our decision as we actually prefered Bai Tu Long over Halong. The minibus collected us from our hotel in Hanoi and transported us to the port, providing water and rest stops with restaurants and craft centres along the 4.5 hours journey. We packed loads of colouring in books, downloaded cartoons and headphones for our 3 year old and settled in for the journey through the varied scenery of the bustling city, then peaceful paddy fields.
We arrived at the port in time for lunch and food was served on board shortly after setting sail. It turned out that we were the only people on day one of the cruise, so we had the entire traditional junk and tour guide to ourselves. Meals and water were included on this fabulously rustic experience and they catered really well for our vegetarian palates. There was so much food at every mealtime: delicious sweet potato bites, stir-fried vegetables, cucumber, pineapple rice and watermelon and much more.
After not long we docked at a Floating village in Bai Tu Long Bay. When we arrived the place was secluded; no other boats, no other tourists. It was bliss. We kayaked around the bay for over an hour in complete awe of the beautiful rock formations and the noisy insects. Kayaking here was one of the highlights of our entire trip.
The traditional junk docked at Quan Lan Island shortly after the kayaking where we were collected in an Electric buggy and driven through the island to our home-stay accommodation for night 1. After dropping our bags, we borrowed bikes from the host family and cycled through the relatively quiet streets and countryside to a nearby beach. We sipped on coconuts until it was time to head back for dinner with our host family. Back at the home-stay, our host taught us to how to make vegetable spring rolls, which our little girlloved making and eating in between playing with the family's kids and their toys. A delicious homemade feast was prepared for us for dinner and another for breakfast before we jumped in another electric buggy and headed for a different port. It was a very 'real life' experience at this village, no frills but amazing hospitality. Mosquito nets and fans were provided in the private ensuite rooms. It's worth noting that accomodation was basic, pretty clean and in the middle of a local residential area. We enjoyed the experience.
On day 2 of 3D/2N cruise with Ethnic Travel, we travelled back to the original port, drove a short distance and boarded a different cruise ship. This ship was much bigger (see photos) and we set sail for Halong Bay with a group of 8 other tourists. The cruise ship had a viewing deck, with sunbeds, cushions and a shaded area, an indoor dining area with a couple of cabins on the same floor and below deck there were more cabins. Each had an ensuite bathroom. We had requested a room on the same floor as the dining area to avoid having our 3-year old on the outdoor slippery steps leading above or below deck.
Halong Bay was beautiful but felt crowded with boats and tourists in comparison to the quiet experience at Bai Tu Long the day before. We kayaked around Halong Bay to some caves, where we parked up the kayaks and set off exploring on foot. Sophia loved it. We couldn't swim in the ocean due to jellyfish so built sandcastles and paddled instead. The beautiful rock formations sticking out of the ocean were picture perfect.
On day 3 of the cruise we awoke to torrential rain, but undeterred, doned our rain jackets and hopped in a kayak to another bay. It was still beautiful and brightened up quickly. For the rest of the morning, we set sail back through the bay, enjoyed the epic scenery on the way back to the port and ate another delicious lunch before disembarking and heading back to Hanoi by minibus.
We had a fantastic experience and would strongly recommend this tour. Our guide was super.
Apr 2020 • Friends
We weren't sure whether to go for the Halong bay 2D/1N cruise or to pay the extra and go for the 3D/2N Halong and Bai Tu Long bay. We were so pleased with our decision as we actually prefered Bai Tu Long over Halong. The minibus collected us from our hotel in Hanoi and transported us to the port, providing water and rest stops with restaurants and craft centres along the 4.5 hours journey. We packed loads of colouring in books, downloaded cartoons and headphones for our 3 year old and settled in for the journey through the varied scenery of the bustling city, then peaceful paddy fields.
We arrived at the port in time for lunch and food was served on board shortly after setting sail. It turned out that we were the only people on day one of the cruise, so we had the entire traditional junk and tour guide to ourselves. Meals and water were included on this fabulously rustic experience and they catered really well for our vegetarian palates. There was so much food at every mealtime: delicious sweet potato bites, stir-fried vegetables, cucumber, pineapple rice and watermelon and much more.
After not long we docked at a Floating village in Bai Tu Long Bay. When we arrived the place was secluded; no other boats, no other tourists. It was bliss. We kayaked around the bay for over an hour in complete awe of the beautiful rock formations and the noisy insects. Kayaking here was one of the highlights of our entire trip.
The traditional junk docked at Quan Lan Island shortly after the kayaking where we were collected in an Electric buggy and driven through the island to our home-stay accommodation for night 1. After dropping our bags, we borrowed bikes from the host family and cycled through the relatively quiet streets and countryside to a nearby beach. We sipped on coconuts until it was time to head back for dinner with our host family. Back at the home-stay, our host taught us to how to make vegetable spring rolls, which our little girlloved making and eating in between playing with the family's kids and their toys. A delicious homemade feast was prepared for us for dinner and another for breakfast before we jumped in another electric buggy and headed for a different port. It was a very 'real life' experience at this village, no frills but amazing hospitality. Mosquito nets and fans were provided in the private ensuite rooms. It's worth noting that accomodation was basic, pretty clean and in the middle of a local residential area. We enjoyed the experience.
On day 2 of 3D/2N cruise with Ethnic Travel, we travelled back to the original port, drove a short distance and boarded a different cruise ship. This ship was much bigger (see photos) and we set sail for Halong Bay with a group of 8 other tourists. The cruise ship had a viewing deck, with sunbeds, cushions and a shaded area, an indoor dining area with a couple of cabins on the same floor and below deck there were more cabins. Each had an ensuite bathroom. We had requested a room on the same floor as the dining area to avoid having our 3-year old on the outdoor slippery steps leading above or below deck.
Halong Bay was beautiful but felt crowded with boats and tourists in comparison to the quiet experience at Bai Tu Long the day before. We kayaked around Halong Bay to some caves, where we parked up the kayaks and set off exploring on foot. Sophia loved it. We couldn't swim in the ocean due to jellyfish so built sandcastles and paddled instead. The beautiful rock formations sticking out of the ocean were picture perfect.
On day 3 of the cruise we awoke to torrential rain, but undeterred, doned our rain jackets and hopped in a kayak to another bay. It was still beautiful and brightened up quickly. For the rest of the morning, we set sail back through the bay, enjoyed the epic scenery on the way back to the port and ate another delicious lunch before disembarking and heading back to Hanoi by minibus.
We had a fantastic experience and would strongly recommend this tour. Our guide was super.
Apr 2020 • Friends
We did a three days tour to halong and Bai tu long bay. It was a really great experience and our tour guide Ni was very helpful. They brought us to not so crowded and touristsy places which was really nice. we did some nice small kayak tours and also were on a lonely beach which was very cool. also the food was really good.
