Need tour company advice for Cambodia/Vietnam

No experience with Vietnam, but I greatly enjoyed the OAT tour I did in Sicily 2 years ago. The small group size is a plus (max 16). Our guide for the main tour was wonderful; the one we had for the trip extension to Naples and the Amalfi Coast was new and she was just OK. Local guides were very good.

Friends of mine did do the OAT Vietnam tour last year, and liked it a lot (they've done 2 other OAT tours as well).

One of the women on our Sicily trip was on her 20th OAT tour, so I guess they're doing something right.

I did OAT’s “Ancient Kingdoms” tour a few years ago — amazing! That one does Thailand (just Bangkok area), Laos, Cambodia, south Vietnam.

I also did Ancient Kingdoms with OAT, and it was a great tour.

As Slate mentioned it starts in Bangkok (but also includes a day trip to Ayutthaya). But there is a pre-trip extension that goes to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Kanchanaburi, I highly recommend this extension if you do the OAT tour.

I also highly recommend the post-trip extension in northern Vietnam: Hanoi and Sapa.

I’ve been on six OAT trips but family or work obligations have prevented me from doing the extensions. And the regular trip is enough travel for me. I had previously been to Chiang Mai and to Hanoi — in fact what most attracted me to this one was that it went to all the places I most wanted to see in SE Asia, and none that I’d been to before, except Bangkok. But agree with Lane that those places are great add ons if you have the additional time and $.

Look at Gate 1’s offerings.
https://www.gate1travel.com/tour/southeast-asia-escorted-15dkhvn27.aspx

Odysseys Unlimited has great tours. They offer small group tours. We have not done any of their tours of Asia but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. You might want to check them out.

I did a Gate1 tour of Bankgok/Cambodia/Vietnam. The guides were fine and personable but it was not remotely a Rick Steves experience. You might look at two companies run by former RS guides that offer tours in that area - Adventures with Sarah (https://adventureswithsarah.net/) and Imprint Tours (https://www.imprinttours.com/).

January or February?

I went on OAT’s “Inside Vietnam” tour in 2023 with the post-tour extension to Cambodia. It was a wonderful tour with a very good guide (maybe not as excellent as the Rick Steves guides I’ve had, but still very good!) OAT limits the group to 16 travelers which means you get a very personal experience. Beyond the typical sights, OAT also includes several activities in homes, small craft works and small villages where we had the chance to meet and talk with local people. Our guide also arranged some special activities during our free time and meals for those interested.

One note about OAT’s itinerary: Most western tour companies stick with the cities along the coast (Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City). OAT takes a detour into the interior to the city of Dalat. This city is up in the highlands of Vietnam. It’s built around a lake and is surrounded by mountains. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the tour. Our guide told us that many Asian travelers visit Dalat, but very few westerners, and that is what we observed.

I travelled to Vietnam with Intrepid over twenty years ago now and had a fantastic time, more basic travel back then. This year I went to Cambodia with Explore for 8 days . Small group of 11, great guide with excellent local guide in Phnom Penh, hotels were fine, some of the group had been in Vietnam before with this as an add on. Can recommend.

Holy crap. I just checked prices for the Travels with Sarah Cambodia trip. $2100 for a single or $3700 for a couple gets you FOUR, yes you read that correctly... FOUR days. Two days in Phnom Penh and Two days in Angkor Wat/Siem Reap.

Is this typical of folks' travel budget?

@Chris. If you look at typical RS tours the per day price can range from $340 a day (21 day best of Europe) to around $500 a day (Switzerland and Scandinavia). $2100 works out to $525 a day for Sarah’s tours, but these countries aren’t anywhere as expensive as Switzerland or Scandinavia. You pay for some things that are intangibles. A small group of people to travel with that have similar interests, a guide who will enrich the experience, and a carefully crafted itinerary with all logistics handled.

And yes, there are plenty of people with those sort of travel budgets. RS Europe fills tour after tour.

For the rest there are different companies that will match every budget. The Gate 1 tour I suggested has a cost of around $200 a day with gratuities and options added in. The group may be larger, there may be fewer dinners. There is still a good guide and a positive experience.

People simply have to decide what is important to them. For some, that extra money for a higher cost tour is worth every penny and they are happy. For others, spending less works well and they are just as happy. To each their own.

I have found OAT’s prices to be quite reasonable. For example, they’re currently quoting their Ancient Kingdoms trip as, starting at $260 per day. That is, of course, the price for their cheapest upcoming departure, with flight out of Los Angeles — because this price, unlike Rick Steves or many other companies, includes the airfare from the US to Asia and back. Most departures, and flights from other cities, will cost more. But in the same general ballpark. OAT also features single occupancy at no additional charge on most trips, although spaces are limited. You can purchase just the land portion and make your own flight arrangements. The OAT price also includes accommodation (hotels are good), all internal transport, admission fees for group activities (except for an occasional supplemental one), all guides and their tips except for group leader tip, all breakfasts, and about half the other meals. They also have frequent sales which can bring down the price significantly. If you buy their trip insurance that is extra.

Several years ago—well before COVID—we used Tonkin Travel, who were excellent: Their service and communication was impressively good, and they seemed honest, and very reasonably priced.

https://tonkintravel.com/

They look still to be in business, and their website looks decent. With all the caveats, if they are as good today as they were back then, I'd definitely recommend them.

Also @Chris, the costs for a small boutique type tour company with very small (or no) staff support is going to be quite different from huge enterprises like RS or OAT or Gate1. The OP asked for ideas for companies that offer similar experiences and guides as RS tours, I happen to know that Sarah's company does that.

You could check out someone like Kerry Newsome (whataboutvietnam podcast). There's a lot of good info on her pod but she also custom designs tours for Vietnam, and I assume Cambodia based on everything above that you are interested in. These can be fully guided, private tours; using local guides Kerry has vetted. We chose to go independently but it would have been less than $200/day for really nice accommodation and local guides

If you are going with another couple you might want to consider a private tour through odynovotours.com. We have used them for Morocco, Egypt/Jordan, Peru/Machu Pichu. We had our agent price out a 13-Day Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand Tour for 6 that would have cost us USD4,504 per couple. On our last trip (Morocco) we planned the itinerary and then we used our hotel points for accommodations which is always an option. Happy travels