Camellia Nguyen

We had a bit of a problem receiving prompt responses from Camellia. But ultimately, when Thuy took over the administration of the trip while we were in-country, all went very smoothly.

Hotel Reviews

Tirant Hotel

Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

We loved the location of this hotel and found it to be quite nice. We loved that it was authentically Vietnamese. We were able to walk to so much of interest from it's location in Old Town Hanoi.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Peony cruise

The ship was nice with good food.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Unfortunately, Ha Long Bay is not being well protected from pollution and litter.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Eden Star Hotel & Spa

Ho Chi Minh City

Very dingy hotel. Our first room had a party room above it. As music was pounding above, we requested a new room, which they immediately provided. However, the new room was smaller and more worn that the first. If anything, when we encounter a problem with a room, we expect a room of equal if not better quality.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Silk Path Grand Hue

A beautiful hotel. But it could have been in any country in the world and didn't have a Vietnamese feel to it.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hoi An Historic

Hoi An

A hotel with Vietnamese character in a great location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

HCM City - Cu Chi tunnels

Ho Chi Minh City

We enjoyed this tour very much. Mr. Thong was quite difficult to understand, but he was a delightful personality.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ho Chi Minh city - Vespa tour after dark

Ho Chi Minh City

Our guide, Heidi was fantastic. Very good English. Very delightful engaging personality. Again, our interaction was more like a conversation rather than a script.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free at your leisure in Hanoi

Hanoi

Old town Hanoi is delightful.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanoi and walking street food tour

Hanoi

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanoi City Tour of Capital of Vietnam

Hanoi

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had trouble understanding our guide Daniel.

Transport

Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Lan Ha Bay (Peony cruise)

Vietnam

We specifically asked for this experience. But we have concluded that Ha Long Bay is over-touristed and is not being protected from pollution and litter. We would not recommend this visit to others. However, if one does visit, Peony Cruise was a good service provider.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

A full day explore the rural life in Hanoi

Hanoi

We enjoyed this day but were slightly disappointed with what was described as a 'village'. It turned out we stopped at a spot that was once a village and is now just set of buildings. The rest of the day tho, was great, with bike riding, market visit and a home visit with a war veteran.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had trouble understanding our guide, Daniel.

Transport

The bikes were barely usable.

Fly to Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam

Again, Thuy handled our experience beautifully and was very responsive.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

More cruise on the bay - transfer back Hanoi

Vietnam

Thuy did a good job getting us boarding passes and making sure all arrangements were made.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hue City Tour, Bike to Rural Villages

Hue

We loved our guide, Quyen. His English was easy to understand. Our interactions were more like a conversation and less like a script he had memorized. He answered all our questions and was very knowledgeable. The biking was fun and the visit to the organic farm and farm-to-table restaraunt was excellent.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hue to Hoi An Ancient town

Vietnam

Quyen did a great job escorting us from one city to another. He gave us a short orientation tour of Hoi An upon our arrival which helped us enjoy the city!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mekong Delta Day Trip (Cycling)

Ho Chi Minh City

We loved this biking trip. The Mekong area is delightful. The Trek bikes were excellent.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Mr. Thong's English is quite difficult to understand.

Transport

Visit Fishing Village & Tra Que village and basket boat

Hoi An

We loved the biking and learning to make and throw fishing nets. The basket boat tour was awful. Terribly touristy and fake. We would not recommend it for others.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

I recommend that Mua Cave to have been included in the trip. The photos of the Ninh Binhb area on the itinerary show the Mua Cave viewpoint hike, but I later realized it was not on the itinerary. This wasn't very clear, and when I brought this up, I was told by the guide there would be a ticket cost and additional cost for the car and driver. After I complained about this, KimKim waved it.
We enjoyed the hike and think it should have been included in the itinerary. Please don't include photos of places not on the itinerary.

The guide and driver were excellent

Quang was a great guide and very knowledgeable!

Hotel Reviews

Hanoi Boutique Hotel

Hanoi

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Our room only had a tub, no shower. Was so small, difficult to sit in, and I am 5 ft 11, weighing 185 lbs

Homestay

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The bed was very very firm and I found it very uncomfortable I would bring a camping foamy. 1 St home stay was only cold water in the shower. Second home stay had hot showers

Dragon Legend Cruise

Hon Gai

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tam Coc Boutique Garden

Ninh Binh

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Hanoi - Ha Long Bay - Bai Tu Long Bay with Dragon Legend Cruise

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Pu Luong Natural Reserve - Ninh Binh

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trang An Grottoes Boat Trip

Ninh Binh

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Further explore the Bay / On Dragon Legend Cruise

Ha Long Bay

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore the Rural Villages nearby Hanoi city (Half Day)

Hanoi

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hanoi - Mai Chau - Pu Luong Natural Reserve

Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Hidden trails of Pu Luong - Hieu Village

Pu Luong Nature Reserve

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our guide in Hue and to Hoi An via Da Nang was great (Quinn). He had a lot of knowledge about Viet Nam and its history and his English was good. Really an asset. He also wanted us to get the most of our trip and our experience, it was genuine.
He could also answer most of our questions.
Our guide in Hoi An (Bao) had so-so English skills and was not super responsive in our questions. The trip to Cham Island was a turist trap and we had a tough time getting over the pollution in plastic and the bad use of the island. Tourists should be limited and there should be better protection of Cham Island. Also the diesel fumes in the harbour area of Da Nang was awful. Lots of cheap sellers, too many tourists and very hard to breathe from the fumes.
Last guide in HCMC was fine (David). English skills was fine and he was a good guide. The trip to the Mekong Delta (Ben Tre) was a good taste of what the delta is and what is possible. For a next trip we would love to go deeper into this, perhaps on an overnight trip if possible to be able to explore more. Our day was good.

Wow what an amazing trip. From the moment a thought was planned Camellia planned our trip and communicated every small detail perfectly, from a small idea of ours a 17 day trip through Vietnam and Cambodia was formed. Our entire trip was professionally organised down to the finest detail. Every guide and driver arrived well before the schedule time, all guides spoke great English and were extremely knowledgable. Thanks for a wonderful trip. Most highly recommended.
Pam, Dean, Ben & Georgia

Mr Cường was a fantastic guide. He was funny and very knowledgeable about Vietnam and the places we went. Mr Hai, our driver, was very hospitable and always had water waiting for us in the car. The activities planned were fun and gave us a good mix of Vietnamese culture and landscape. I would highly recommend KimKim tours to anyone planning a trip.

Hotel Reviews

Tam Coc Boutique Garden

Ninh Binh

Beautiful little boutique hotel. The rooms were large and gave us easy access to shopping and restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Renea Cruises Halong

Hon Gai, Ha Long

This is a smaller cruise and is perfect! This allowed for a more personal experience and our guide in the boat, Duc, was fantastic. There was a good mix of activities and rest time and food was excellent.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hanoi Boutique Hotel

Hanoi

This hotel is located in the heart of the old quarter which made walking to shops and restaurants very easy. We highly recommend the Met restaurant for good, authentic Vietnamese food.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Bicycle Tour of Rural Villages - Cultural Tour of Hanoi

Hanoi

We had a rainy two days in Hanoi but still our guide still managed to show us a great time. The bikes were comfortable and Duc made sure to take time to get the right size for my daughter which made a huge difference for her. The cooking demo with the local family was so fun and the food was so good.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Drive to heritage site Trang An Grottoes

Ninh Binh

Trang A Grottoes is beautiful! It was a very hot day but the scenery was very worth it.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Tam Coc - Mua Cave - Thung Nham Bird garden

Ninh Binh

The flowers here were breath taking. We got stuck in a heavy downpour for about 30 minutes but still decided to walk through anyway and was so glad we did. Everything was so lush and colorful.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ninh Binh - Bai Tu Long bay welcome on board

Ha Long Bay

Loved loved loved this cruise. Bai Tu Long Bay is the bay less travelled and it was nice not to be surrounded by other cruises.

Quality of Experience

Food

So much delicious food! You won’t go hungry on this cruise, for sure.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

More cruise on the bay - transfer back Hanoi

Vietnam

At the floating fish village, we met cute little puppies!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cap La - Cong Dam - Thien Canh Son cave

Ha Long Bay

I’m glad we spent a second night because we got to go swimming! We swam on the first day after kayaking to the secluded beach but that was more like waddling. The second day, we anchored the little transport boat in the middle of the bay and jumped into the water! It was so refreshing and a good time.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We are very impressed with the travel organization and all guides who were very imformative and sociable. The two guides we spent the most time with: Lam in the south and Hiep in the north were really helpful and personable, and we really liked spending time with them. They were both very flexible, and adjusted the program to fit our needs when necessary.
The program was intense, but we enjoyed all parts. The highlights were Pu Luong Nature Reserve, Ninh Binh and Halong Bay.

Hotel Reviews

Sanouva Saigon

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bamboo Eco Village

Can tho

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hanoi HM Boutique

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tam Coc Boutique Garden

Ninh Binh

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Swan Cruise

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Betel Garden Villas

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

HCM City - Cu Chi tunnels

Ho Chi Minh City

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ho Chi Minh City - Cai Be - Vinh Long - Can Tho

Vietnam

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bicycle Tour of Rural Villages - Cultural Tour of Hanoi

Hanoi

We spent some time with a very lovely family who helped celebrate my husband´s birthday.

Can Tho - visit floating market then drop off Can Tho airport for a noon flight to Danang then transfer to Hoian

Can Tho

Hue - Hanoi

Vietnam

Hanoi and walking street food tour

Hanoi

Visit Tra Que Village & Hoi An City Tour

Hoi An

Great farm visit, cooking class and a bonus massage.

Cu Lao Cham Snorkeling (Join in a group) - Then transfer to Hue

Vietnam

Forbidden Purple City - Royal Tombs

Vietnam

Camellia did a nice job planning and executing our trip. Here are a few comments about the itinerary and overall experience of our time in Vietnam.

The eight day trip gave us a great sense of the northern regions of Vietnam. Four destinations in eight days was a bit more ambitious than we might have liked. Since we spent so much time in the van en route to Mai Chau, Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay, and back to Hanoi, perhaps three destinations rather than four would have been a bit better. The hotels were all nice with pleasant service.

Our guide Hiep was a lot of fun and shared interesting information about the country. Our driver, Mr. Hong, was also very good and helpful. I would say that Hiep tended to be a bit more reactive than proactive in terms of telling us about the culture and history of the country. That said, we enjoyed our time with him.

We found that a couple of the activities didn't quite map to the description. The "food tour" in Hanoi as described didn't happen. We sat down to eat at one location for Bun Cha, then walked around the neighborhood without stopping to taste or learn about different kinds of foods. By the end, we had a chance to have Bahn Mi, but were tired and by that point and just returned to the hotel after coffee (and didn't learn anything about egg coffee, as an example of something that was described in the write up, but never happened). By comparison, a food tour we did through Kim Kim in the Netherlands included about seven different spots to try seven different dishes and learn about them. Also, the bike rides were more challenging than expected so Carla didn't have a good experience. I have more experience cycling so they were fun for me.

The food was all good and we particularly enjoyed the opportunity to make spring rolls in a home in Hanoi. We appreciate Camellia's and Hiep's efforts to explain Carla's food allergies at all of the meals to keep her safe.

Overall, we enjoyed our time in Vietnam and are grateful for the different experiences that were organized for us.