Enjoyed

We arrived in Hanoi on November 14th for a three day stay. Private transfers and tours (we booked our hotel directly) had been organised with IziTour over WhatsApp in advance of our arrival. We had obtained our visas on-line, which is a simple, straight forward process (if you are a British citizen, you most likely do not need a visa). We had also organised a one-day cruise in Ha Long Bay, which we booked directly on our own. Huy Hung, our organiser, was flexible as we had to go through several iterations before finalising our trip (it took as a while before finalising our preferences), although not always responsive. Hanoi is a fascinating city, and all the people we met were very friendly and polite. Modern airconditioned cars were provided for the transfers (and the tour on second day), which took place without any issues. We did a jeep tour on the first half-day and the city highlights and monuments on the second. Both tour guides (young adults in their 20s) were very friendly, pleasant, polite and truly service oriented making best effort to accommodate any request we would have. Unfortunately, however they could offer only limited information/background on the sites that we were viewing. I would characterise them as “escorts” rather than proper tour guides. While we have very much enjoyed our trip and Hanoi experience, we were expecting a more professional/educational narration from our guides. Value for money was below expectations. As all payments were effectively made in VDN, I would also suggest that you agree prices in VDN to avoid FX movements that could work against you.