Wonderful trips – excellent guides
Xuan Tu organised three personal tours for our family holiday. Our party was made up of nine people; me, my wife, two daughters, a son-in-law and four grandchildren – the age range being from 11 to 72. We went in July which is certainly a hot month for travelling – however, none of us found the heat troublesome during our visit. The tours were truly magnificent – we all felt we had really seen the real Vietnam both historic and modern. Our first trip was around Da Nang to see the Big Buddha and Marble Mountain and then on to the world heritage site of the temples of My Son. We really appreciated being taken to My Son in the relative cool of the afternoon and with very few tourists. Our second trip was to the riverside town of Hoi An – we went on a boat trip to an island and saw several families in their traditional environment. I was very impressed that we seemed to be so welcomed into their homes, again we saw very few other tourists which made us feel special. Our final trip was to the old Vietnamese capital of Hue, I don’t think any of us had realised prior to the visit the magnificence of the royal palaces and the dynastic tombs. For all of the trips we were picked up at our hotel in a minibus which was just for our family. We had a driver and one or two English speaking guides. There was an abundance of cold drinking water supplied and we were always taken to a restaurant for lunch – sometimes we also had a traditional Vietnamese mid-morning snack. The restaurants were always superb and very good value for money. In one they found out it was my grandson’s birthday and a cake was duly provided with the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’. The cost of the tours were each around $400 USD for all nine of us. This included all transportation, the guides, the water and all entries to museums, historic sites, etc. – a very reasonable price considering what was included. However, the real stars of the trips were the guides, Xuan Tu herself and Anthony. Their English was excellent – as was their knowledge of Vietnam both locally and generally. We all were continually asking trivial and in-depth questions which were all well answered. They stayed with us at all times and helped negotiate any purchases we wanted to make. They were also very flexible in changing the itinerary if we wanted to do something slight different, eg. in Hoi An we wanted to wander around a traditional covered market and this was duly organised for us at a moments notice. I think the main compliment I could give was that we felt that they became our family friends during our time together. — Traveller: ChrisCBlake from Tripadvisor
Awesome guide!
This was my first time going to Da Nang and having a tour guide showing me and some friends around for a day trip. The day was nothing like what you would expect. It wasn’t just your typical tour guide saying “on my left here you can see……. and on my right is the…..” Xuan Tu was very personalized, looking after a small group of us (5 people) she was fun and shared some very interesting history of the places we went to. The tour was very smooth and nothing was rushed, she was very accommodating especially when we had some last minute requests and on the spot cravings. Xuan Tu was absolutely flawless and we all clicked instantly. Keep in touch and see you again soon, either back in Vietnam or perhaps you should come visit us in Hong Kong! 🙂 — Traveller: xero_1 from Tripadvisor
SIX-star Review for Xuan Tu!
TLDR: We had an amazing time. Far from your average guided tour where 50 people are thrown onto a bus and then bombarded with facts, our day with Xuan Tu felt like we were visiting an old friend. Not only did we learn about Da Nang, Hoi An and My Son, we chatted and laughed over delicious meals in restaurants we never would have found by ourselves. We also took many, many jumping photos! Even though we actually did a lot in 12 hours, we never once felt rushed or hurried. We were so sad to say goodbye after dinner…. We went back to our villa in Da Nang after dinner and couldn’t wait to tell our other friends about the wonderful day we had. Speaking for myself, this was simply the best guided tour I’ve ever been on. Xuan Tu, you have set the bar very, very high. We admire your passion and we hope to see you again too! You must tell us if you ever decide to visit Hong Kong! — Traveller: Tse Yan Natalie L from Tripadvisor
Private Tour of Hoi An by Xuan Tu and Lam
Our family found this tour through TripAdvisor and we couldn’t be more impressed. Xuan Tu and Lam are incredibly knowledgeable about Hoi An and they taught us a lot about the history and culture of the local area. They picked us up from our villa and were very flexible with their plan for our day trip – we decided not to take a cycle trip on the day of our tour and they managed to organise around this. We visited a shipyard, a wood carving shop, and the homes of two local families who made rice pancakes and sleeping mats. We also toured Hoi An old town and made the occasional stop for snacks and juice! The pair were both very friendly and helpful, and even after our tour had finished they recommended places for us to visit. It was a great day and we would highly recommend their tour. — Traveller: funkylem0n from Tripadvisor
Da Nang with Pony (Tommy).
This was the first visit to Vietnam for my husband and I. We were based in Hoi An but wanted to see more. I stumbled across private tours and as a result we had met Tommy who we renamed ‘Pony’… (long story, but he loved the name). Pony dazzled us with his knowledge, wit, enthusiasm, amazing singing talent and general humour and good grace. He taught us so much about his country, culture and Buddhism. My husband and I definitely recommend you get Pony to show you the ‘sites/sights’ of Hoi An and Da nang it’s an experience you won’t regret. Thankyou Pony. From Wally &Nerida Giunta. .Wollongong Australia. — Traveller: Nerida G from Tripadvisor