My father and I wanted to set up a day tour of Hanoi so that we could get an overview of Hanoi and get an idea of the places we might want to go back to later. We ended up with a private tour with Sun. It was so good we booked 2 more day tours - halong bay and Mai chau both private tour with sun. The company is professional and knowledgable. And I would recommend them to anyone. They are truly the best!

we planned to go to hanoi but had trouble with our visas at the last minute. i had booked a pickup from our the airport to our hotel and a day trip the next day. i had to cancel 4 hours before we arrived as we could not board our plane for both activities. custom vietnam travel promptly responded with condolences and understanding. in the emails leading up to that point, they were always quick to respond with helpful suggestions for the countryside adventure. although we did not ultimately experience the service in hanoi, i am extremely pleased with their customer service.

My friend and I haven't yet travelled (next week) however I just wanted to highlight the amazing job Phuong from CVT has done so far. From the very 1st email enquiry to the finalisation of our tailor made trip, Phuong has been absolutely brilliant. She has not only been very proactive in her responses but also understood every single need we had. CVT is so accommodating and reply to each and every query thoroughly and leave no space for doubts. Phuong has taken care of absolutely everything, even our visas that I had totally forgotten about and I am now looking forward to this trip so so much. This is travel made very very easy! This only regret I already have is not to have enough time to go around Vietnam! CVT is by far the best travel agency I have had to deal with. Great job Phuong!

Last time when I came to Hanoi, Smiley was only a tour guide. I am now glad that he set up his own travel company. He took care of the details of my itinerary when I first contact him. He gave me some good advice and information but not pushy so that we still feel at ease even if his recommendation is not followed. He is very accomodating and even lent us a mobile phone during the entire trip so that we can contact him in case of any need. For the meals we chose and booked ourseleves, he re-confirmed the booking for us and ensure everything is on the right track. As he always smiles, his name is "smiley". I am going back to Hanoi 2 months later and will definitely go for him again. I have no reservation to recommend him to my friends.

I feel extremely lucky that I visited Vietnam with Custom Vietnam Travel. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Smiley, our guide, was more than a guide; he was a friend, teacher, and travel companion. His amount of knowledge was incredible -- he answered every question with in-depth information and clear explanations. He even gave me an excellent language lesson over dinner. He definitely has a talent for teaching. Moreover, I felt very well taken care of and Smiley was reliable in every way. He is a complete delight to be around -- calm, funny, caring, and smart. Every detail was planned out and went smoothly. Every driver was excellent, which is saying something given the craziness of Hanoi traffic and the winding roads near Sapa. I can't recommend Custom Vietnam Travel highly enough. From the advance planning/thoughtful emails with Phuong to the fascinating history and culture shared by Smiley to the natural beauty of Vietnam, this is DEFINITELY the way to go!

We've been on several tours with Custom Vietnam and all have been sensational, we've never once had a bad experience. They took us to the fabric markets just out of Hanoi and helped me choose some excellent fabrics, then took us to Hoi An to have suits and fashion jeans tailor made - all fabulous quality. Ive used their services to go on Sapa and district tours, on other occasions its been Halong Bay tours and other places I can't even remember their names, but will never forget the memories we made and the friendships formed. Another lovely tour I did with them was to a Thai village (in Vietnam) for a few days, hopefully Smiley or Phuong can remind me of the name of the village, it was another "must do" on their tours.

Smiley is a great tour guide. We recently spent the day with him taking a two hour boat trip in the Tam Coc area of Vietnam and an unbelievable bicycle ride through remote areas of the country side. He is a very well informed person holding an in-depth knowledge of the geography and history of Vietnam. Smiley also has a great sense of humor, which made the trip that much more enjoyable. He was recommended to us by a friend and I am now writing this review to pass his name on as an exceptional tour guide for Vietnam and other parts of SE Asia.

My wife and I are in our late 50's early 60's. We love to travel independently and have traveled all over the world. We have gone to south east Asia many times, but never have experienced anything like our trip with Custom Vietnam Travels. We were fortunate to have "Smiley" as our tour guide. He became more of a friend than a travel guide. Smiley brought us into his Vietnamese life - not just showing us sights. We met his family and friends, went to parties with him and his friends. For example, we were invited to a one year old child's party which is a very special celebration. We could have opted to stay in our hotel that night, but instead we chose to go to this party. Well, in Vietnam, they call the 1st birthday of baby "THÔI NÔI". "Thôi" means a stop or leaving. "Nôi" means baby cradle. In the literal sense, it's a time for "Leaving Cradle" and walk! In figurative sense, this opens a new page in child life when the baby passed her 1st hard year dramatically and be ready to step into a new period. We would not have experienced this from any other tour guide. Hanoi is chaos when it comes to traffic - motor scooters and motor cycles and cars going in every direction. I expressed a desire to ride a motor cycle in Hanoi and do our own tour with Smiley on motor bike. What ever we wanted to do, Smiley made it happen. The next thing I knew, my wife and I were on motor bike touring Hanoi and being part of the chaos. It was incredible. Smiley's attention to detail was incredible. Every part of our trip was flawless. The hotels, the restaurants were impecable. However, the things that we did were so amazing and far and beyond what the average tour guide would have arranged.

Booked a driver and a guide to go to thay temple west of hanoi. Our advice: a) book another company b) if you book this company just get a driver. Our "guide" didn't know anything about the architechture or the sculptures or the history of the places we visited. he was either praying or waiting impatiently for us while incessantly performing obscure martial arts moves. If you like strange experiences then he's your man. If you like to hear very simplistic generalizations about buddhism and all the benefits of meditation then book this tour. If we had hired a martian, he could have told us more about vietnam than our "guide". At least he's smiling all the time, guess that's why he got positive reviews. On the way to the temple he told us that vietnamese mentality differs from our western in the way that they are more patient and try solve problems by discussion instead of fighting, for example if people have a traffic accident. Strangely enough, on the way back we witnessed an example of the eastern patience and harmony when we saw people involved in a fight after a traffic accident. Driving by we saw how one of the involved people was kicking another one in the face. When we told our "guide" that it would be better to call the police, he just smiled and said the police wouldn't come to such a faraway place anyway and he said it's ok. But in a way it was true, the people around this scene were continuing they daily life in a very harmonious manner... Just book another company.

Vietnam was the most beautiful and interesting country we've ever experienced.....from the bustling cities filled with street vendors and motor scooters galore, to the ethereal beauty of Halong Bay, to the amazing terraced mountains of Sapa where the minority tribes still fill the world with technicolor fabrics, fascinating markets and genuine smiles. Smiley (Nguyen Hong Phuong) made our every wish come true while we were there, taking care of every single detail so we could simply enjoy the culture, the scenery, the experiences. We can't imagine Vietnam without him! Thank you so much, Smiley! We hope to return and have you show us more of your outstanding country!!! Custom Vietnam Travel was so affordable and so...well....everything we had hoped for and MORE!