Intrepid Travel anyone?

[BaconAndAvocado]

Planning on a trip to Vietnam next summer but, as I have no experience whatsoever of travelling to anywhere like Vietnam, I was thinking of using an organised tour company.
We are 2 adults and DCs will be 15 and 17.

Equally, if anyone knows an easy way to plan a trip to Vietnam for a novice, please tell me!

I went Interrailing in 1991 as a youngster, but our family holidays have either been to Florida or 5 star AI resorts. So I feel very much out of my depth.

Tia

ShanghaiDiva that Hoi An hotel looks incredible!!

Having had a chat with DH last night , we've decided we'll plan the trip ourselves.... I'm just envisaging times when things might go wrong!!

Very out of my comfort zone but I think I just need to bite the bullet!!

@BaconAndAvocado Have fun planning!
One thing I want to do on our next trip is a local cooking class. My lot are teens now and would enjoy it.
With hotels and guest houses, there's always someone to help sort logistics.
Taxis are cheap.
Much accomodation on booking.com is cancelleable until fairly last minute so you don't have to get it right straight away. I added our last stop while sitting at Heathrow.

@MidtoLon , thanks so much, would you mind if I pm’d you, don’t want to derail the thread.

Like another poster we just used Intrepid for inspiration and ideas, and planned our Costa Rican and East Coast USA trip ourselves. It worked out quite a bit cheaper and we could tailor it to exactly what we wanted to do.

However, we are both planners and enjoy it, but if you don't then I think it makes perfect sense to use a company like Intrepid.

I did an Intrepid 10 day ish tour in Vietnam in the mid 00s. It was great. However it was a youngish group, mostly twenty something singles (some pairs of friends) and the standard of accommodation was at the budget end (all perfectly ok from what I remember).

i’ve also used Explore and Exodus
(though not in Vietnam). I think these two might cater to a slightly more mature crowd, if that matters to you .

I did Vietnam a few years ago with a. Company called Flashpack. It was a solo holiday for 30-50 year olds. There was 12 of us from all over the world, it was great fun. You share a room, although can pay extra for a room to yourself, lots to do, and luxury hotels included:

as a solo traveller it was great, there was always someone doing something, whether that be shopping/sunbathing/drinking/exploring.

I did a few days myself at the end in the island of Phu Quoc which was like paradise so would recommend that too

Countmeout yes happy to answer any questions if you PM me

Good for you. I'm pretty intrepid and always was. I now drag DH and DD into my plans. I think it teaches adaptability, resilience, stoicism and that our lives in the Global North are very privileged because even small bumps in the road travelling seem like a big deal to us when the locals deal with more every day.

Vietnam is a great introduction to more adventurous travel because the food is good, the weather is great, the people are typically helpful and resourceful. If you have money in Vietnam, you can find someone to put you up, feed you and transport you! Not true everywhere.

Just get a couple of travel books and look at a few websites and plan away. I am very jealous!

I did the same and would really recommend it. The tour guides we had we brilliant.
I was solo though and not with family so not sure about family tours.

Yay!
vietnam really is a fabulous country and it’s not difficult to plan the trip yourself. I have visited Vietnam about eight times and always had a fabulous time.

We have travelled with Intrepid several times on tours to India, Nepal, Ecuador and Mozambique. Never had a bad experience.

They subcontract the actual tours to local guides/companies but that has its advantages. Each time it has been a small group of between 10 and 20 people with usually one guide and a driver (if travelling by bus). The person leading the tours has always been great. Very experienced and native to the country so they know exactly how to deal with any situation. I would highly recommend them.

Countmeout I’ve replied to your PM

Thanks @MidtoLon

I love intrepid, have done 2x premium tours with them as a solo traveler (Mexico and Vietnam). It's a great way of covering a lot of stuff and multiple cities without having to do all the booking and planning, and the guides give you local colour that you wouldn't get on your own.

I went to Vietnam with intrepid and it was fantastic! Great tour and really knowledgeable and enthusiastic local tour guide.
I tried to book again with them recently and their UK Customer service / booking line wasn’t great (found it hard to get answers to a query and people all seemed to be wfh still) but I think that’s unfortunately the same for most companies post-pandemic.