North Vietnam Highlights 5-day Tour With Hotels From Hanoi

Enjoyable trip with superb view. Our guide Mr Luc was so friendly and good in sharing and guiding us throughout the trip in Halong bay.

We love this tour, the guider (Luc) is very good. He guides us and give full information to us. We really enjoy our trip. Such an amazing and fantastic trip.

We all love this tour, all informative and we have such an amazing tour guide, LUC. Thank you so much!

Arrow our guide was one of the most friendly person we ever meet in Vietnam so far. He explained everything we asked him all the time. The positive energy he shared with the whole boat. The kayaking and the visit of the cave was amazing. He is such an open and polite person, I can recommend him to everybody !!!

I did the 2-day/1-night cruise of Halong Bay and loved every minute. Our tour guide Peter was great, very informative and helpful. The tour picks you up in Hanoi and is a 4 hour bus ride to the bay. From there you board the ship and immediately start your journey! The groups are small which is nice and easy to get to know everyone. I went as a solo traveler and made great friends with the other couples and families on the ship. The rooms are decent for 1 night, the rooms are small and the beds aren’t the most comfortable but it is a small ship and it’s just 1 night, there is AC and hot water showers which was very nice! The food was some of the best I’ve had, the boat staff work very hard to prepare meals and make sure all your needs are met. My favorite activity was kayaking around the bay! We also did some treks through caves and to the top of a mountain for breathtaking views! I would absolutely recommend this tour!

Arrow He is a nice and caring tour guide Give a good explanation throughout the tour Enjoy the trip Thanks.....

We went on a 2 day trip to Halong Bay from Hanoi and it was amazing! Such a beautiful location, very peaceful and serene. Our tour guide Arrow was great, very friendly and knowledgeable. The boat was really nice and exceeded our expectations, the room was a decent size with big windows and the bathroom was big too with nice facilities - everything was really clean. The itinerary for each part of the trip was explained really well by Arrow who let us know exactly what we’d be doing and what we’d need to take. The food was delicious and we were very well catered for!

Very nice tour in a beautiful place! The cruise and tour is well-organized and the boat is very nice and welcoming. Arrow is an extremely respectful, funny and involving guide. The food on the boat is delicious and abundant: the meals were excellent!! The only 2 negative aspects (which however have nothing to do with the Lavender Cruise) are the crowds in every place you visit and, consequently, the amount of trash you find around. Besides that, definitely recommended!

Arrow is the best guide, not only in Vietnam, but in the world. He has a great sense of humor and provided a great deal of information making the tour really fantastic. We spent two wonderful days watching the beauty of the Halong Bay, eating delicious meals and having a great time with Arrow and the tour group.

Arrow the guide was friendly and took care of everyone! The tour is well organized. A must see when visiting Hanoi.

Halong Bay is one of the most magical and mystical places on the planet and I was very impressed with the care, the accommodations and the cuisine aboard our Lavender Cruise. Our guide Arrow was most gracious, knowledgeable and sincerely caring. He also loves his country and honors the land and his joy in sharing it all with us was infectious. My God brother and I were really lucky because we met a great group on friends on board, something you can’t plan. But I had a great massage on board as well and enjoyed waking up and doing Tai Chi with one of the staff. A most beautiful setting and a wonderful trip.

Despite clouds and temperature lower than expected, the 2 days cruise was great! Wonderful bay, nice excursions, delicious food, tidy and roomy cabins with spacious shower. The communication with the crew sometimes required more time due to their strong Vietnamese accent (but this is pretty common here in Vietnam), however Peter and the crew were always helpful. Recommended.

It has been a cold and windy period while we were in Halong Bay but the trip was organised very well and thanks to the amazing guide Hien we really enjoyed all the stay. Cooking was good, cabin very clean and all the cruise really nice. Surely suggested tour!

The trip was outstanding. We as a group enjoyed it a lot and that was mostly due to iur tour guide ARROW. He is a funny guy and provides great cultural knowledge and keeps attention for the group. Overall, this trip was something I will never forget. We can highly recommend traveling with lavender Cruise and Arrow as our tiur guide. You won‘t regret it.

We did a cruise on Christmas and we could not have asked for a better trip. Especially the Guide Arrow made it unforgettable. The food was good, also with a lot of vegetarian options. The rooms were clean with enough space. We even got a Christmas present and a gala dinner! I would recommend to everyone.

With the guide Arrow Arrow is friendly and knowlegeble and fun to be with. He speaks good English and explains well. He taught us to fish for squids and even cook for us. The fresh squids were delicious but we could only managed to catch 3 for the night. The highlight of the cruise was the Surprising Cave as the view was great.

Had a good time on the tour. It's a cool little boat with a dining area and a seating area on the roof for seeing the views and just chilling. Our tour guide Arrow was very friendly and quite funny actually. He had a good knowledge of the area and we felt very welcome and looked after. We did loads of things from Tai Chi early in the morning to climbing TiTop mountain, kayaking, swimming, fishing for shrimp and learning how to make spring rolls. Most of all was the view of Halong bay. We went a long way into the bay and were surrounded by karsts far from land. I met lots of cool people from all over the world and had a good time while enjoying the views from the deck chairs up top. Recommended!

Awesome experience we had with Lavender Cruises in Harlong Bay Vietnam. The crew on board served us the most deliciously freshly prepared meals and kept us entertained most of the night. Ship was kleen and room pleasant to sleep in clean white bedding and Aircon. Our tour guide Alex got us through all the long queues in seconds , I felt like a VIP at times. We enjoyed Alex’ s company and the fact that he spoke English very well help throughout the tour.

A huge thank you to the Lavender crew and Alex our host and tour guide 🙌🏼 had the most amazing time, the boat was very clean and crew so accommodating to all our needs 😃 I thoroughly enjoyed all the jokes and laugher we had not to mention the delicious food served 🤤 the most beautiful views and unforgettable memories made #goaisatravel

we went for a 2day-1night cruise - our tour guide Arrow was great, keeping the thought schedule fun and showing us the best places. He spoke very good English. Pick up from the hotel works well, the bus is a bit small but still acceptable. The boat is good and safe. Food was delicious and a lot! Ha Long Bay is great and the Tour top, however there are sooooo many people at the highlight spots and it is so crowded. The tour can’t change that though - so after all it was a great tour

That was an amazing trip with the young tour guide, Mr Arrow, so kind and talkative! He has some experiences and stories to share. I have learnt a lot on Vietnam, on the local people and their lifestyle, I strongly recommend him!

Great cruise with friends. We highly recommend! Hien, the guide, speaks English and French very well. It was appreciable. He has very good knowledge of the place since he has been doing this for 9 years. The activities offered are varied and interesting (cooking lessons, walking, swimming, kayaking, etc.).

Poor activities, consumptions are not included and the pearl market is not visited

Ha Long has many cruise providers, but we chose this one based on the good reviews on this page. Honestly, it worried me a little, as I could read up to our cruise that the company had received poor reviews, especially with claims that the remaining reviews were fake. And yes, the guide rightly asks to be mentioned in a review when the trip is over, and would like it written on the spot - something we have experienced in several places in Vietnam. To our surprise, however, it turned out that the trip exceeded our expectations. We were picked up in Hanoi by a bus with good seats, which could be laid down. The trip took about 4 hours, however with a small "tourist trap stop", which fortunately offered a lot of interesting crafts (although too expensive for us to hit). Our guide Arrow was charming and gave an exciting lecture in somewhat understandable English about the Vietnamese and their way of life, focusing on the New Year. When we arrived at Ha Long, a small boat with plenty of space for us all sailed out to the ship after which it stood at lunch and check-in. The rooms were really delicious, the shower warm and with a good "flow", but especially the food surprised us positively. Each meal consisted of 3 - 4 dishes of good quality local food, so we ended up eating more than what was good. The activities consisted of a visit to the Ti Top Island with good views of the surrounding islands (although reasonably tourist), and then a kayak tour into a lake, where there was not a heavy shift. Here we could sail right up the cliff sides and watch monkeys jump around in the trees. Although it rained little, it was a fantastic experience, and nothing we had expected. The second day offered a tour through a cave system, where Arrow told robbers stories and the various stone constellations. Although the info here was not super factual, he arranged for a fun tour in a really impressive cave. None of the activities felt rushed - something one could otherwise have feared by watching the program. We chose to sleep, d there was morning tai-chi, but heard from the other guests that it was a super competent instructor, although there was a certain language barrier. All in all, it has a super cool experience, with tremendously much value for money. Similar companies offer trips with the same program, but it's not cheaper than at Lavender Cruises, and I can't imagine it could have been done pretty much better:-)

Arrow is a great guide and presented us with a very pleasant tour to Halong Bay ! In addition, he could give us useful tips for our further journey through Vietnam ! This tour is highly recommended 😊😊😊😊😊 THUMBS VERY HIGH

We reached the port of long ha with the Shuttle Service offered by the company lavender for $20/person (hanoi - halong - hanoi), they picked us up from our hotel on time. The two guides, including one who speaks French, explained how the cruise unfolded and historical elements about Vietnam. Because of demonstrations on a large bridge we thought we could not do this cruise, but the two guides explained the situation well and kept calm. We finally joined the boat welcomed with a good meal even at 2pm. The guide of our boat (there are 2) was Peter, he is very friendly and took the time to explain us all and take us to tourist islands in the bay, and especially to visit a beautiful cave. The meals are good and the cooks know how to adapt to everyone's diets, all the crew is friendly even if they do not all speak English. The only downside was on the breakfast, which may lack fruit juice or milk. Rooms are small but comfortable, and beds are large, towels are provided but not shower gel. Thanks again to Peter who does everything possible to make the cruise pleasant to all.