Vintage Minsk Motorbike Food Tour in Hanoi

The Vespa tour surpassed expectations. We were able to get an authentic Viatnamese experience. Kai, Long and Linh were excellent Tour guides taking us across Hanoi. They were on time, friendly, knowledgeable and made sure that we were enjoying the experience . Top of it all was the amazing dinner at the Hidden Gem Cafe

The tour was very good from start to finish. Everything was well organized, and the schedule felt balanced without being rushed. The guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the experience more engaging with helpful explanations and local insights!!!

Tuna was a great tour guide. While we were on the Vespa, he gave great conversation and facts about where we were going. The food at the snake restaurant was also really delicious and Tuna did a great translation for us with the owner. We finished off with egg coffee and chocolate. I definitely recommend doing this tour when you come to Hanoi and hopefully you have Tuna as your guide!

As a review on the tour itself 5 star on the aftermath cash payment problem I’d give it a zero. The 5 star tour. The tour itself was wonderful and well organized the 4 of us that included two people in their 80’s had a great time, lunch was well catered for and the lady host was friendly and a laugh. The tour itself and the four drivers were careful and attentive although some could not speak English well but we all managed. The countryside is lovely the local farmers also and the temples were interesting. So yes this tour is worth doing and was great but be aware when it comes to cash payment at the end and act as I’ve suggested below. The questionable payment act and resolution = zero stars The owner organizer was contacted about the money issue and the end resolution in clearing it up, or not in this case was disappointing. However, we have suggested that staff do not touch cash until fully counted and agreed that it’s the correct amount, NEVER PUT LARGE AMOUNTS OF CASH DIRECTLY INTO ANYONE’S HAND AS YOU COUNT IT IN VIETNAM this will help avoid the uncomfortable and suspicious act of the old note switcheroo in Vietnam. This may or may not have happened in our case but is a concern. We made a fatal error that left us wondering whether we had been money switched when paying cash at the hotel at the end of this tour. We were aware of the change out of two Vietnamese notes that look similar scam where one is a of a a smaller denomination is switched for the larger 500,000 dong note scam. So we had counted our cash several times beforehand and had kept it separately to pay. We made a huge mistake of handing it from our hand to his and as my partner is counting he interrupts and says you’ve made a mistake and additional says “oh be aware of the scam with the notes”, “look at the difference” , I see suddenly there is a note in both hands 1 with the smaller dong note and the other hand with the higher, he starts moving to the notes in my partners hand yet to be counted, saying we hadn’t paid right not in a menacing way, very cool and calm and swapping with the one in his hands with one from my partners, I’m still processing how suddenly a single hand ended up with notes in both hands when we were only handed the money to him into one single hand, it was so quick and slick. This is not normal behavior, which is why I was suspicious and remain so. The guide pointing out that we had made a mistake had moved very quickly and here was the mistake and warning not just for this tour but for all of Vietnam. NEVER put cash directly into someone’s hands whilst paying them. Go to the reception desk have a staff member or security guard watch you count the money on the desk before getting the guide over and repeat the count in front of them with the reception staff/door man/security people, lay it open and clearly on the desk like a bank teller would in front of everyone and the reception cameras. No hands other than yours. Let the guide or staffer point out any error with their finger, if their is one then you can see clearly see if there’s an error and make changes without feeling fleeced. You have a 3rd party viewing too. Because the problem here is the way we allowed the money to be handed over left doubt and that marred for us an absolutely wonderful day. Now the guide was supposed to return to the hotel and we were all to go through the security cameras, he did not, this was tilt to us by the boss. This is not an admission of guilt on anyone’s behalf or a accusation just part of the promise we got from the boss that did not happen but we will never ever act with cash like this again. But after counting this money half a dozen times before the tour and being aware of this issue I doubt we had the wrong notes. However doubt will always remain we are uncomfortable with thinking someone might have scammed us and to accuse someone also feels uncomfortable. This is what scammers want you to feel. The person running this organization says he asked the guide about it and he was offended that we questioned this so why didn’t he not return to the hotel as his boss said he would. The owner running this company should have come to see for himself and meet us and see if the cameras in the hotel could help clarify what went wrong and to check for any possible wrong doing by his staff so we could see if in fact, if there was an error or scam. All other correspondence from this company was professional the final action was not. We heard nothing further from them. This review is not to harm a perfectly good tour or company, this is not to defame the guide I have reluctantly chosen not to use names but it does however offer a warning. We have learnt from this we hope you do too.

Johnny took our tour for our family of 6. He was fun, engaging and knowledgeable. Specifically my driver was Snow who also shared a tonne of additional interesting information. Linh was also amazing taking photos and braiding my girls hair over lunch. Highly recommend.