‘Choosing a Tour Company / Operator’ arms you with a few suggestions about reducing the risk of paying good money for a disappointing Vietnam tour package, or the worst-case scenario of being swindled.

‘Arranging a Tour’ explains what Haivenu–style ‘tailor-made’ holidays and tours really means by taking you through the entire process of creating a tour programme designed to meet your exact requirements. There’s also straightforward information needed for your Vietnam travel such as flights, visas and making bookings.

‘Travel Tips’ is a pot-pourri of hints, suggestions and advice about a Vietnam holiday. In general, it’s an ‘easy’ country - there’s not much crime, the people are very friendly, the likelihood of disease, disasters or terrorism is minimal, and there is adequate infrastructure to support tourism. Our Travel Tips smooth cultural ripples, provide practical tips and generally help to travel Vietnam problem-free!

Vietnam’s initial familiarity belies the considerable cultural, social and political differences between Indochina and ‘western’ countries. Because it’s the nature of Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian people to be friendly and smiling, and nobody seems to take much notice of rules and regulations, it’s easy to assume that ‘anything goes’.

Nothing could be further from the truth – inappropriate behaviour can cause grave offence, and sometimes land the unwary tourist in trouble. ‘Travel Tips’ is there to prevent such unfortunate occurrences.

The vagaries of ‘Weather’ in Vietnam and Indochina are a subject of obvious concern to intending travellers. The information in Weather is provided in good faith, but comes with the caveat that the number of places where the weather is reasonably predictable are few and far between. Please regard weather forecasts in Vietnam as a rough guide, not an almanac!

Finally, ‘Hotels’ is what it says – a complete list of all the Vietnam hotels we use with information and pictures. We always include a brief accommodation list with each itinerary - you can use the main list to find details and choose alternatives if you wish.