Cycling Ho Chi Minh - Cao Lanh - Phu Quoc islands

Hey guys- here is my review of the trip, please feel free to publish it on your website. I'll also be sure to publish it on tripadvisor.com and anywhere else that might be helpful to you. Here it is- 'My wife and I chose the 5 day tour across the Mekong Delta. We had hoped to get to know the 'real Vietnam' and knew that by cycling, we had a good chance of getting to more out of reach places. My expectations were already high for the tour but somehow it managed to far exceed those expectations in what turned out to be a journey we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Firstly, I need to assure whoever may be reading this that Vietnam Backroads as a company is one of a kind. Van pioneered this way of exploring the delta and his routing is just perfect, balancing every aspect of country life day by day with a journey that slowly but surely continues to surprise the rider. Trustworthy and professional, have no doubts about booking a tour with them. Further to this, it is well worth mentioning that the 'service' elements to the trip are also excellent. My wife and I had our own air conditioned support vehicle, standing by and transferring luggage and supplies out of sight but only ever a short ride away. We also had the luxury of having all minor costs including ferry fares, fruit, lunch, dinner and hotels completely taken care of, something that allowed us to completely relax and fully absorb the experience. Whilst on the bikes we had expert knowledge at our disposal from our wonderful guide Loc, who would always let us decide how far we'd like to go that day, customising the experience to suit both me (a regular rider) and my wife (someone who only rides occasionally). The pace was never dictated and photos or stops were always accommodated. The paths were usually completely car free and the flat delta made for very smooth riding. The experience took in more than just cycling too... we were taken on private boats to floating markets, explored mangroves and discovered Temples and history of all kinds along the way. Meeting the wonderful people is something i'll never forget, they are naturally joyful and are openly kind wherever you happen to stop. I can still hear the kids running out to yell 'Hello!' wherever we went! The Hotels were great, naturally some were better than others but only ever where the city or town didn't accommodate as many tourists- a minor cost well worth paying in exchange for the adventure of straying from the beaten track. In summary, we had an amazing time. We ate multiple courses of wonderful food, were expertly guided wherever we went, saw places I'd never have imagined and had every comfort taken care of in a land where we were greeted with smiles and hospitality from everyone we passed by. If you are considering a trip and are not sure, just book it. You won't regret it, and whilst I am certain that all the guides are great, be sure to request 'Loc' for your trip, his kindness, knowledge and service go far beyond any guide that I have ever experienced. Book now before the secret is out!' Adam and Jeanne. December 4, 2013

Adam Harrison From Britain

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know we had a fantastic time on our recent cycle tour of the Mekong Delta region with Vietnam Backroads. Both you & Dat were fantastic guides and made the trip a memorable one. We are more than happy to blog our experience / feedback on your web site and that of LonelyPlanet and TripAdvisor in the coming weeks. We would have no hesitation in recommending your company to other travelers or travelling with you again in the future. In fact we are already contemplating returning next Jan with our teenage daughters. Thanks also for providing the Backroads cycle jerseys and shorts. We had intended to pay for them as a souvenir of the trip, we didn't expect them for free. You are very kind. We will wear them regularly at home and take every opportunity to promote your company to others considering a cycle tour in Vietnam. 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 Jan 2014.Yours sincerely.

Lisa & Peter Lisa & Peter "theoggies"

Hello Mr Van the man I sent yesterday our note on Trip Advisor ( excellent of course ). I wrote it in French so that it may bring new bikers from french countries. It also is easier for us to express our deepest gratitude in French. So many moments filled with peacefullness and beauty are now part of our memory. Thank you for joining us those two days. Your sharp awareness for details made the journey a little more special. We are now planning a short stretch to Phnom Penh, as you know. Thanks to Ms Quang for the arrangment. By the way, we think she would be a great guide!!! May Vietnam Backroads lead you into your furthest dreams, best regards. Feb 6th-10th 2014

Isabelle et Claude Isabelle et Claude from France

Throughly enjoyed it. Dat was our excellent guide and I would recommend him to everyone. We was not have experienced true Vietnamese if we have taken a one day trip from HCMC or if we had stopped at age we towns, taken a boat trip. This trip showed us how people live, different culture belief, people in their daily lives. Beautiful landscapes and wonderful people. The truly memorial experience showed with excellent guide. 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 Dec, 2015

Patrick Swift party from UK

Biking to Phu Quoc Island Mekong Delta

Huy was a great guide – very knowledgeable and great sense of humor. He made sure that we had plenty of food and water and local treats. I would have preferred a different hotel uncomfortable beds, no windows, but did not affect our trip overall. I would recommend Vietnam Backroads and especially Huy! Megan: Huy was a great guide! He made the trip easy. His English is excellent and he is very knowledgeable on the history and culture of Vietnam, At some times he went a little too fast for me to keep up with but other than that it was a great four day trip! 2 - 5 Jan 2012

Dave family from the US

Our guide was very attentive, knowledgeable, kind. We were in very good hands. He is a lovely person. He mad the tour special. The driver- Mr. Huy was also wonderful. We had lots of snacks, meals, drinks. All really good. The sights biking and on car and ferry were so nice, including the visits to the markets. The Mekong Delta is a unique and beautiful place. THANK YOU!...April 26, 2014

Matteson from USA

Dat was very professional, helpful, friendly, prepared . He was fantastic. I appreciated his explanations. He was knowledgeable about the land + culture The lunch on the first day was excellent. Hotel was excellent. I really enjoyed the trip to floating market. Mr. Huy was an excellent driver and helpful with equipment. In the future, should make sure the back- up equipment is good. This time, when we had a flat tire, the spare was unusable. Bernie Brass. 26 April, 2014

Bernie Brass from united State

We enjoyed our tour very much. Our guide was very informative, we enjoyed stopping to look at scenery, fruit trees and see people making things. We loved tasting many fruits and foods. We liked the boat ride to floating markets. We appreciated the flexibility in the biking. 26 - 27 -28 Dec, 2015

Samantha family of 5 from US

Very enjoyable and good to see places that there were not many tourists. Mekong People are very friendly and welcoming. Loc shared us so many things and life interesting ways of Mekong Delta and its people. Thank you for a great trip!. 12- 13 - 14 Jan, 2015

Rowan Jessie and Jennifer Rachel Warren from UK

I would just like to say a big thank you for an amazing tour on our recent visit to Vietnam. Dat was a fantastic guide and he really brought the trip to life with interesting talks as we cycled along, it really added a lot to our trip. The rest of the team were also great as well and made sure the journey was totally faultless. We will definitely do another trip with you when we visit Vietnam again, it was the most enjoyable part of our two weeks visit to the country. 22 - 23 - 24 Oct 2015 Thanks again.

The McGroarty Family from UK

Thank you so much! We would have never seen the villages with friendly people without Phuc. We had the moment of wonderful experiences & sightseeing that we did without your cycling tour. We wish we have time to do more. Phuc was so welcoming and knowledgeable. We can’t say enough good things about the tour. Thank you for your welcoming us with open arms. 06 - 07 - 08 Dec, 2016

Julie and Matthew from US

Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh by bicycle & by boat

If you have ever dreamed of experiencing a National Geographic moment, you enjoy biking, you want to see the real Vietnam, and you want to get off the beaten path then follow ‘Van the Man’ from Vietnam Backroads. , December 18, 2010

Meggies family from Canada

Thanks, this was amazing. I will rave about it. Now we have done the best bike trip in the world we can retire! Great variety of scenery. December 22, 2013 Walter Shepherd from Australia Biking 4D/3N Saigon - Mekong Delta - Phnom penh Good to hear from you. We are in HCMC today and will leave for MuiNe tomorrow. We stay at the The Luxe Hotel on 261-263 le Thanh Ton St. My wife expects to be needing size S. Would be great if you'd manage to bring one to the hotel. We had a great time cycling through the Mekong Delta. Hi Hue, We have found the shirt and short at the reception today, the are very beautiful and are a perfect memory of a very nice trip. Thank you very much. If friends of us plan to travel to Vietnam we will certainly advise them to organize a biking tour with your biking agency!2012

Klaas de Groot family from Netherlands

Thanks to Dat- our tour guide, we had more than just a backroad cycle- this was a full cultural tour including local food & I have life threatening peanut allergies and he guided me with what to eat and made sure I was ok. Great scenery, lots of flexibility to stop when we wanted to take pictures. Dat was able to explain so much to us about the way of life for Vietnamese people, rice growing, weddings, funerals, etc, all the things we saw along the way. Thanks for an amazing memory. December 22, 2013

Joanne George from New Zealand

Good combination of physical extension, interesting combination of cultural exposure & experiences, great food, excellent guide and bikes. We will recommend your services to others. Feel free to send me trip tour updates as you created more tour packages in future. December 22, 2013

Fred from New Zealand

The absolute highlight of my Vietnam trip. Fantastic way to see the country. Thang was awesome- so nice and accommodating THANK YOU SO MUCH. April 18, 2014 Nicole Floyd from Australia Biking 4D/3N Saigon - Mekong Delta - Phnom Penh For a most terrific tour everything was wonderful - your staff, the tour itself, the price, the way everything runs so smoothly.... i can go on and on. I've been to vietnam twice before but this was the best thing (not counting the food in hoi an) i've experienced. Dat was absolutely amazing - as was, Ms. Quang and of course, you! gun (spelling?) is a very competent driver although the quiet type who seems to like to keep to himself. but! when he was needed, he was there. the food was more than enough -- and some of it was quite a treat when we stopped to rest, and the hotels were very good. so thank you to everyone. please tell Dat that i will forward a few photographs to him, via you, in the next few days if i can. thank you for everything, yet again!!!. --tamar 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 April 2014

Tamar Granovsky from the US

Dat was an amazing guide guide - Everything we could have asked for. Always taking our needs into consideration + very flexible, excellent knowledge - gave us a wonderful introduction to Vietnamese culture and people. We could not have asked for anything more. We could recommend him very highly. Absolutely amazing! Even better than expected. I really enjoyed seeing so much rural Vietnam. Dat was phenomenal and made the experience extra special. He gave perfect amount of information and was great at giving us a lot of new food to try. I also thought that he led the group very well. I really enjoyed all the scenery and all of the sights we went to. Dat was amazing! He was great at telling us knew about the culture and answering questions, great at giving us local food and we could not asked for a better tour guide. I had an amazing time but was improved a lot by Dat. 31 July - 03 August, 2016

Debbie Brockwell family of 4 from UK

My wife and I would like to pass a big thank you to the entire Vietnam Backroads team for the trip we have just had (24 – 27 DEC). It was extremely well run, well timed and well thought out. The route was fantastic and all the spots were brilliant. Special mention to our guide Viet who was outstanding. He is a great asset to your company and so well spoken with extensive knowledge about the area and Vietnam in general. He was fantastic with a special highlight being the Happy Hour beers every night after a long ride. He went above and beyond so please ensure Mr Van knows how good Viet is as well as the driver we had. 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 Dec, 2016

Chris Healey from UK

This trip had everything extremely well organised. from the mirror details which did not go unnoticed to the greater details. Everything was exceptionally well planed and very well catered for. The option to upgrade the hotels was a great idea. Viet was faultless. His English was excellent. He had great stories to share was friendly, fun and had a great sense of humour. We enjoyed happy hour with him each night and nothing was too difficult for him. We love our trip and our guide. 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 Dec, 2016

Deborah de Beurs from New Zealand

Cycling Vietnam to Cambodia - Saigon to Siem Reap

We arrived back home yesterday. Had a great time on our trip! Thank you for leaving the cycling jersey's for us at our hotel room in Chau Doc, we really appreciated those. We left our feedback form with Thai for the Vietnam portion of the trip. Overall we really enjoyed our experience. Both guides were great. Thai was extremely professional, educational and accommodating while we were there. Our guide in Cambodia, Po Leak, was maybe not as professional as Thai but was very informative, friendly, and helpful as well. The one thing that would have made the trip even better is if we were provided some kind of detailed map to follow along with where we came from and went every day that had descriptions about our destinations. I had a little trouble remembered where we were and where we were going each day because we went so many places in such a short time. Otherwise the trip was great and we will definitely recommend it to our friends. We also plan to write a review for you on Trip Adviser at some point in the next week or so to help promote Vietnam Backroads. 28 Nov 2011

Michael Jazwiecki family from US

Rider's Reviews