After competing with the hordes of other tourists at Sapa, Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay, Cao Bang Province was extremely refreshing. Yes it's a long way by road to get up to the border with China to see the Ban Gioc falls, and another long day on the bus to get back to Hanoi. For me the beauty of the area in general (not only the falls/ cave/ lake that are the highlights), and fewer tourists, made that worthwhile. However what really made the difference was the fantastic organisation of our itinerary by Nginh (I know I've spelt that incorrectly). He changed our accommodation on night 1, as he could see we were an older group and would be grateful for some creature comforts. This also meant that we were closer to the falls the next morning, so had a more leisurely morning than we otherwise would have had. We were the first and only people in the Nguom Ngao cave the next morning, and there were very few other tourists at Ban Gioc falls when we arrived. By the time we left the crowds were growing. THIS is good planning, and I appreciated it. The other thing I appreciated was Nginh's concern that my physical limitations shouldn't prevent me from experiencing everything on offer. He encouraged me to take part when I was concerned I'd be too slow for the group. And often he held my hand to ensure I felt safe on stairs with no handrails. He's very passionate about the region, and often took photos along with us, even though he travels there as often as once a week. And to top the trip off we had Bao driving us. He was excellent. He handled the Hanoi traffic, the long days, and even a dodgy back road that was having roadwork done on it, with skill and good humour.

We had the worse guide In the first 2 days. his englisg was so bad, he didnt know anything about the local people and colture, he didnt know the rout so we drove for hours in the wrong direction, he took us to the worst restaurante. When we got to the trecking part, he opened google maps and took us to walk on the road with all the cars passing us through. It was so awfull We had to ask for another guide. I do not recommend!

The tour was very spectacular and felt very raw and authentic. More importantly this trip would not have been the same without our incredible guide Lam. He is very knowledgable about plants which made the walks that more interesting and is always very happy and positive. The tour is well organised and everywhere we stayed was very nice.

Guide Hoan and driver were excellent as was Phuong who was very responsive to our questions when organising our tour. Accommodation very good. However, we did not expect to be sitting in the car for 6/7 hours every day as the itinerary for the 8 day off the beat tour did not mention this. They mentioned the kms driven but I had not realised how twisty and slow the driving had to be and travel took many hours. Not a lot of trekking time as mentioned in the itinerary and several things we never got to see that are mentioned in the itinerary - no time. maybe we should have done this over 2 weeks rather than one in order to do the whole itinerary.

This trip was incredible from start to finish. We loved our guides (big shout out to Nguyễn Sơn Lâm)!! The food, the views, the people… everything was perfect!

We (family with 6yo and 9yo) stayed magnificently at Ba Be jungle house in the deluxe family room. We chose this place to relax after our adventures in Ha Giang, and loved the pool against the lake. After resting on our first day (free kayaks and bicycles available but we felt too lazy!) we decided to go on the Tham Phay cave expedition which seems to be quite the hidden gem in Vietnam. We had a great guide who led us through the lush jungles of Ba Be, crossing streams, rice paddies, bamboo forests and valley to a farm where my kids held a teeny baby goat. The farmer (and our English speaking guide who was full of great info about local flora, fauna and life in Ba Be) then led us down into the cave, lit only by our helmet lights and torches, just us. It was beautiful and very exciting. The guides let us know the safest places to stick to. We were provided with wet bags and offered wet shoes (we brought our own) and we walked and swam through the crystal cool waters of the underground river, observing fish and insects and bats, and hanging cave worm threads. The cave formations were amazing, full of sparkles and pools, stalactites and stalagmites, waterfalls and parts yet unexplored. Pristine ancient corridors curved and arched and widened before us, carved by water. One small opening required rolling into! After we climbed back out and dried off, we walked back to the car and went to a local home for lunch and shared a pot of tea. This experience was easily amongst the top in our Vietnam trip! I hope this cave remains protected and sustainably accessed without losing its rawness. Mr Linh's also organised a little boat trip for us on the lake in the morning after (enchanting) as well as our transport back to Hanoi. And 2 weeks of laundry! Thanks so much for a great experience in Ba Be.

Rachel Phuong with Mr. Linh's adventurous planned us an amazing trip throughout Vietnam ! We loved our 3 day trek with homestay in Sapa ! We loved our 3 day, 2 night cruise in Halong bay ! All our flights were easy to check in and left on time All our 4 star hotels were lovely All our local guides were excellent ! All our rides and guides were waiting for us holding a name sign which really helped a lot ! Nothing but 5 star service anytime I had a question through What's app Would highly reccomend thus company after a trip of a lifetime ! We also went up the Mekong for 3 days in Cambodia

We booked a two-week private tour through North and South Vietnam as a family with Mr. Linh's Adventures and were completely satisfied! Before the trip, we emailed Helen from the agency with our wishes. She then put together a proposal for a tour according to our wishes, which we liked. The trip was well planned and organized from start to finish. We never had to wait anywhere or queue for long as everything was booked in advance. You could just let yourself drift and enjoy. Excursions with boats, for example, were booked exclusively for us. Both guides, in the north and south of Vietnam, were very experienced and friendly. We always felt safe with the drivers, despite the stressful traffic for Europeans and the crowded roads. At our request, small hikes were also integrated into the daily schedule, which you could never have found on your own! Food: Local Vietnamese food was organized. We were always served more than we could eat (and we are not bad eaters 😅). Vegetarian requests were also catered for without exception! Communication on site: we always received an answer to our questions within a few minutes via WhatsApp. At this point: Thank you Helen for the great support! Special requests: at our request, a suitable car seat was organized for our four-year-old son for every trip. He also had his own bed in our room in every accommodation as agreed. The guides in the north and south were very professional and child-friendly - even if it took us a little longer. They also advised us well to skip some of the less "child-friendly" museums in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, e.g. on the Vietnam War. Budget: we were satisfied with the price-performance ratio. The all-inclusive price included domestic flights, 2-3 very tasty, local and generous meals per day, 3-star hotels or homestays, water, entrance fees, all trips and transfers as well as a private guide and driver. We were a little skeptical about booking 3-star hotels in Vietnam beforehand, but they were comparable to 3-star hotels in Germany. We had to pay for tips and drinks in the restaurant ourselves. We can recommend Mr Linh Adventures 100%. It was a wonderful, authentic vacation in a fascinating country. You get great insights into the culture, landscape and way of life - even outside of mass tourism. We are also convinced that without intensive research and Vietnamese language skills, it is impossible to organize this round trip independently - especially if you want to stay away from the big cities.

My friend and I really enjoyed the Ha Giang Secret Trails tour. They were extremely communicative in advance of the trip and were flexible and accommodating with our agenda. It was a good mix of trekking and road time, with amazing sights all along the way. We ended up customizing the trip so that we could do the first two days on motorbikes with Easy Riders and by car the last day, which I highly recommend if you have some extra budget. (As two 50 YO dudes we thought the bike option was safe and super fun but can be hard on your arse after a couple days.). Our guide Tu Ahn was exceptional and showed us many “off the beaten track” sights. She is obviously very passionate about her job and her country. Highly recommend!

I had a wonderful experience on the Oriental sails cruise And I would recommend it to you when you come to Ha Long Book it no matter the cost for your vacation. Alex tour guide

I had a wonderful experience on the Orient cruise And I would recommend it to you when you come to Ha Long Book it no matter the cost for your vacation.Alex tour guide

We arranged a customised week of trekking in the north with a particular request for seeing rice terraces, local minorities and lots of walking. The communication in advance was very good from Helen Tham. Whilst the itinerary was ambitious and was an opportunity for quite amazing views and experiences I would rate the overall experience as average. Our major disappointment was our guide who seemed not at all a trekking guide and seemed to not be very fit or had much local knowledge. There seemed to be no use of any local guides and Mike our guide told us he had not been to the area for a year! At times he seemed to be consulting his google maps on our treks which was not very confidence inspiring. Once he led us straight to a landslide! At times he seemed to be doing his best to persuade us to not go trekking but to go sightseeing instead. Sometimes we had to wait for our guide on a trek which was a first for us! There was a lot of emphasis on finding places for lunch despite our telling the guide we would rather get on with trekking than eating. Most of the home stays were good though at Hoang Su Phi had fabulous views but was actually a bit dirty and seedy. Our driver who spoke no English was very nice and he drove really well in quite challenging roads and tracks. This was an expensive trip and though we were pleased to have done it, it wasn’t the trekking tour we had in mind. Aside from 2 good treks, the rest of the days were spectacular drives and ad hoc little walks! I would suggest Mr Linh’s adventures take more care in choosing fitter guides for trekking holidays and look at using local guides with more local route knowledge or not to offer trekking holidays. It would be good to have feedback from Helen Tham or the Mr Linh management team.

I had contacted Mr Linh’s Adventures got a quick response and planed private trip to Ba Be -Ban Gioc for 4 days/ 3 nights, for 20th September. Paid my deposit of 30% late June. Was really looking forward to our trip, but then typhoon Yagi hit North Vietnam on 7th September, once I had heard about the typhoon 10th September , I contacted the tour operator asking the impact the typhoon had on the area we be going to, and wanted to make sure the trip would be safe. His reply was since your trip the 20th September it will be fine and I will update you. 13th September, I get a text saying the is over in Ba Be and has almost receded and SHOULD be back to normal in 3 days. After do a bit of research myself, and having friends reach out to colleagues they knew in VIetnam, I just didn’t feel this trip would be safe to take, specially as I would have someone else child with me. I emailed the company to cancel the trip stating my concerns about roads, bridges and landslides. After a few text it was pointed out to me that I was cancelling 5 days out from my trip and I would lose my deposit plus they wanted another 25% which I wasn’t going to pay and made that very clear. At no stage did the tour operator point out to me, when I first inquired about the typhoon that I lose my deposit and if I waited 7 days out they want another 25% and if I waited like he had asked until the Tuesday before the trip to cancel I would have been asked to pay the full amount for the trip I was planning on cancelling. After speaking to other people who had trips planned for Halong Bay and Northern parts of Vietnam (clearly with other companies ) who cancelled their trip just after I cancelled mine, were refunded their full deposit. As, I was cancelling for safe reasons and just not a change of mind, I feel the company should have refunded my deposit, specially since they were not give me basically no information of what areas were hit by the typhoon and where the damaged had occurred.

Our Pu Luong trekking trip has definitely been one of the highlights of our time in Vietnam. Mr Linh's adventures were very communicative and helpful over email while organising the trip. Our guide (Mr Hoa - John) and driver (Bao) were fantastic. They were so well organised, everything ran very smoothly without feeling rushed and Bao drove very safely. They also agreed to drop us off in Ninh Binh instead of Hanoi as this fitted better with our plans. The landscapes were very beautiful and it was fascinating to see the rural economy in action, we were lucky to be there during rice harvest and Mr Hoa's excellent knowledge helped explain everything we were seeing. He also pointed out local plants that we passed by, and gave us lots of insights about Vietnamese life, history and culture. We also felt very safe with Mr Hoa (he was on the look out for snakes and dangerous dogs etc). The walks took us off the beaten track on a range of terrains. As people who do a lot of hiking in the UK we found the distance and terrain enough to be enjoyable but not so much to be challenging. We didn't see any other tourists on hiking trails (only in villages). All the lunch stops were very tasty (VERY generous portions!) and we enjoyed trying rural cuisine and eating rice with very low food miles! The two homestays were in lovely locations next to the owners stilt homes, the people were really nice and food was good but be prepared for insects (although mosquito nets were provided to cover beds) and if you are from the UK, much larger spiders (although our guide said they weren't poisonous) and lower level of cleanliness than you might expect in the UK. Also the weather was fantastic- sunny, no rain (we had been worried about aftermath of typhoon yagi but didn't encounter any problems) in early October. Thank you Mr Linhs adventures, Mr Hoa and Bao!

Dear Cuong Joe , this message is to personally Thank you for being our tour guide. We enjoyed the tour in Danang and Hoi An with you from 14/9/24 to 16/9/24. You were very knowledgable when showing us all the sites , your English was excellent you were very organised and we felt very safe when on tour with you. I want to thank you for going out of your way. I really appreciate your service. I saw how you helped my older friends in the group too. I will recommend your company to my friends in Melbourne Australia. Thanks a lot Joe for all your help, much appreciated. Your friends from Melbourne Australia.