July 6th, 2006
Can you recommend some tour agents?
In Hanoi, the main travellers’ cafés include Love Planet Café, Red River Café, Queen Café and the Green Bamboo (this last is slightly more upmarket). Kangaroo Café is a newcomer to the scene and gets good reviews. For higher quality, tailor-made tours try Buffalo Tours or Vidotour.
The two main travellers’ cafés in HCMC are Sinh and Kim. Among the agents, try Cam On Tours or Fiditourist at the cheaper end, or the more upmarket Ann’s Tourist, Vidotour and Exotissimo.
NB. The travellers’ cafés also provide ticketing and visa services, dispense all sorts of advice, serve cheap food and drinks, and are great places to meet people and pick up the latest information.
July 6th, 2006 at 9:48 am
[…] Going further afield, it depends how adventurous you are, how much time and money you have, and whether or not you like travelling in a group. The easiest and cheapest option is to join a tour offered by one of the so-called “travellers’ cafés” in Hanoi, HCMC, Hué, Nha Trang or Hoi An (see recommendations). These cafés organise tours to the main sights, such as the Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels out of HCMC, or to Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa and the Perfume Pagoda from Hanoi. The tours are cheap and offer amazing value for money, but don’t expect too much as far as quality of hotel, transport and guides are concerned. They’re usually more than adequate, however, and can be excellent if you strike it lucky. […]