We spent a wonderful day with Smiley exploring the country side of Vietnam. We found him to be enjoyable, well informed and professional. He planned a day that was perfect for us. We rode bikes through local villages, had a delightful woman row us through caves and went to an old temple and spent a gracious time with the caretaker of the temple. I highly recomend letting Smiley create an exciting tour. He is a pro. Thanks, Smiley

We had a great time while on our trip to Vietnam, especially because we chose CVT . Our tour guide named Lam was very attentive, patient and genuine. We were lucky to finally try a trip with a private local guide because it doesn’t seem we will be doing it any other way. It’s more expensive but worth the expense. We were able to see and experience things that would have been impossible had we tried to venture there ourselves, especially since we couldn’t speak the local language. The highlight, we thought, was the home-stay in a village because it was so local, so real and so cultural. If it’s memories you want to take back to reminisce rather than grief, frustration and disappointment that sometimes come with traveling in a foreign country such as Vietnam, we would highly recommend CVT.

We found "Custom Vietnam Travels" through Trip advisor, and had no regrets after choosing them. We told them our interest and they custom tailored a plan for us and it was perfect. All our mails were responded to promptly. We booked our tour in the second week of Jan 2014. Our guides Quoc in Hoi An, Smiley (the owner of company) in Hanoi & Tony in Saigon were superb. They gave us so much information on Vietnam and ensured we were taken care. We had special requirements on the food being pure vegeterians and they made sure we had vegeterian food. They took care to instruct our food requirements clearly to the Halong Bay cruise also. Everything was perfectly planned right from the pickup from airport, our stay in hotels, food and the tour.We strongly recommend "Custom vietnam travels". Thanks CVT for making our vacation most memorable one. We would surely come back for Sapa & to explore more of Vietnam!

We are experienced Asian travelers who needed to organize a custom trip after finding out that Tibet had closed its doors to foreigner travelers. We are in our early 60's. Within a few hours of emailing the company, Smiley had answered my inquiry. I immediately appreciated his attention to detail and to our individual wants and needs. 24 hours later, final plans were underway for us to tour North Vietnam. We combined trekking in the highlands with boating in the Halong Bay and a few days in Hanoi where we greeted the Lunar New Year. These are good and trustworthy people who go out of their way to make your time in Vietnam memorable.

We had a food tour of Hanoi with tour guide Bien ,it was very informative and the street food was varied and tasty ,good value for money and the time seem to fly ever though we walked kilometres,very enjoyable would recommend to first timers

We recently had the pleasure of traveling to Ho Chi Min City and Hanoi. We were extremely pleased with the services provided by Sonny and Stephen. The tours were individualized to meet our needs, the vehicles used to transport were spotless and came with very experienced drivers, the guides spoke excellent English and catered to our every need. I highly recommend this company to anyone traveling in Vietnam. We had a wonderful time and made many unforgettable memories. Thanks Custom Vietnam Tours - you are the BEST!

I had requested my old review to be removed so that I can place a new one. The company has good ratings and we booked a one day tour for 4. Since the owner was busy as ptd to us earlier we were assigned their guide Sinh for our day tour. The guide was extremely rude and disinterested to show us the sights. He did not complete our tour. In the middle of the tour he told us that he cannot be going around the city. When we mentioned to him that he was being rude he told us three times that he does not care. The reason for not giving terrible rating is because their owners were very apologetic of what had happened and promised not to use the services of Sinh again. They seemed genuine in their apology so we restrict this review to their guide Sinh.

An excellent choice for a customized tour, I can't recommend them highly enough. (You can see I am a frequent traveller so I have worked with many agents and this company is the best!) I am so glad I chose this company from those I received quotes from. They were not the cheapest, nor the most expensive, but did provide me everything I wanted and more. From the beginning, the communications were prompt, professional and perceptive. My train tickets, private transfers and day tours, and general logistics were expertly arranged by Custom Vietnam Travel. All the transfers were on time, safe and comfortable. I met the owner, Smiley, and found him to be personable, honest and very knowledgeable. He kept in touch throughout my trip and competently and efficiently made last minute adjustments, even the day before his wife was due to have a baby! His offer to act as interpreter should I ever need one was very reassuring. He helped me with some shopping and introduced me to the restaurant near my hotel with the tastiest food. I was lucky enough to have him as a guide for one of my day tours and he competently answered all of my many questions and took me to places off the beaten track. I think what distinguishes this company is that they understand the “custom” part and don’t just give you the stock recommendations. If honesty, efficiency and flexible service are rewarded, this company will do well.

We arrived in Hanoi looking for the best way to plan the rest of our trip in the North part - Halong Bay, Sa Pa en Hanoi, so we started looking around in travel agencies for how to start. We visited some in the center and got information, but found CVT throught their internet page. They have this chat-application and we started to chat with them asking for information. They gave us a lot, but we wanted to meet real-life and while we were there we had in a few hours, an entire schedule made for us, based on our wishes. It all looked good, at first it was a little over our budget, but they adapted it, just as we wanted it. Then we agreed to go along with them, and Smiley, personal guide and also founder of the agency took care of us: he called us a taxi, he informed us what to do and what not to do in Vietnam and we were good to go. We had an itenrary with all the information we needed. They came to our hotel for further information, to give us a personal cellphone with their contact information... Everything was taken care of, if we wanted somthing different, they arranged it. The didn't make promises they couldn't realize. Smiley wanted to become a teacher, instead he became a traveler and based on his own experiences as a guide, he created an agency whos only purpose is to give everyone the trip of a lifetime!

My husband and I made a friend in Hanoi. Smiley is the perfect host and allowed us to experience and fall in love with Viet Nam. He made arrangements for our airport transfers as well as a day trip to Mai Chau. Everything was arranged according to our likes and dislikes. Not a detail was overlooked. The lunch was delicious, and our driver was careful and professional. The cost for all of it was more than fair. Smiley was a teacher and it shows. He is full of information that made it more than just a trek through the countryside. We fell in love with the country. We look forward to visiting again.