We spent the day visiting the Ninh Binh area. The tour guide was very informative and friendly. It was a private tour with just my fiance and me so we had the full attention of the tour guide to answer our question and share with us the history of the area.
The boat ride in tam coc was so beautiful and the history of the first capital was interesting. Plus we were able to ride a water buffalo! haha! (tripAd source)

Fantastic trip. Anh was a wonderful guide. Well organised and informative. We learnt heaps! Enjoyed our trek through the jungle in Cuc Phong NP to see ancient banyan trees. Heard lots of birds but too elusive to spot. Endangered Primate Rescue Centre enabled us to see langurs and gibbons up close. Hopefully some can be rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Highlight was actually spotting 5 langurs in the wild next day whilst on a boat ride around Hoa Lu, thanks to the eagle eyed Vietnamese woman paddling our boat. Visited the amazing Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Dai Hanh Dynasty temples. These temples date back to the 10th century. Wobbled my way on a push bike to Bich Dong Pagoda. Thankfully Anh found me a safe route! He also found an embroidery workshop to visit and suggested a great shop in Tam Coc market to buy embroidered table cloths. Tam Coc caves were a spectacular finale to our trip. Vietnam Golden Holidays are a reliable, online company that deliver the goods! (tripAd source)

We did a 2 day tour to Nimh Bin with a very nice and very knowledgeable guide in a very comfortable 4 wheel drive. Although it was pretty expensive we stayed in a fabulous hotel (Emerelda) overnight. It was a public holiday weekend so everywhere was very busy but the guide ensured we didn't have to wait too long anywhere and we had the chance to see an amazing ceremony at a temple (definitely NOT put on for tourists). Lunches were very good too.
Only gripe is that I really wanted to see the ruined temples but for some reason not apparent to us we missed this out and arrived back in Hanoi 2 hours before schedule (tripAd source)

We wanted an organised tour to pick us up from the train station (as we had just arrived by overnight train from Sapa) and take us to Ninh Binh. We asked them to pick us up at 5:30am and they were right on time. We did the 2 day 1 night tour and were well looked after with an amazing itinerary. Very reliable, very organised, excellent guide too! Highly recommended (tripAd soure)

Myself and four friends (all 18 and male) brought the nine day 'express' Vietnam tour, after which we continued travelling the country for three weeks on our own. It was our first time travelling to Vietnam and an introduction to the country, with its complex history and culture, was incredibly helpful.

Due to the nature of the tour, which involved two internal flights, we had three separate tour guides, of varying quality. All were good, with (mostly) understandable English, although sometimes the tour guides were unable to answer our questions, due to a language barrier rather than a lack of knowledge. Our first tour guide in particular, named Anh, was excellent. He was extremely friendly, on one occasion taking us all drinking and giving us a taste of his favourite local foods, and his relaxed approach really helped us to settle into a very different country.

The tour provided lunch, hotels, and transport. All were of a far higher quality than we expected considering the price we paid for the tour. Hotels were usually three or four stars, with one hotel including a spa and rooftoop pool; transport was largely via private, air-conditioned minibus and included two internal flights, which were also high quality; and the lunches were excellent and gave us a large variety of local specialities which we may otherwise have not have experienced. While we were initially worried that we may be ripped off, as the money was required up-front and we had no way of knowing the quality of the tour beforehand, this was most certainly NOT the case.

The tour itself featured many interesting aspects of Vietnam and also provided a good background of the country's detailed and complex history. We visited many museums and temples, and explored many different cities within the 9 days, but a personal highlight was the overnight tour of Halong Bay which the tour included. This involved a private boat with the 5 of us and 4 others. Cabins were shared between 2 people and there was an upstairs dining room with attentive staff to serve food and drinks. There was also a rooftop area for relaxing on sun loungers, all accompanied by the most stunning of backgrounds. The Halong Bay tour also included activities such as swimming and kayaking and was just one example of where we were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the tour considering its cheap price (compared to those of UK companies).

In summary, the tour provided great value-for-money, with great guides and really enjoyable activities. The services provided by the tour were of a high quality and it really allowed us to settle into Vietnam. (tripAd source)