Booking, in five steps
No account to create, no card details on this website, and nothing charged until we have confirmed with our name on it that the date is available.
The five steps
- Tell us what you are thinking. Use the form at the bottom of any page, email or WhatsApp. We need four things: which day or days interest you, roughly when, how many of you and any ages under fourteen. Everything else can come later.
- We reply with availability and an exact price. Within about two hours on WhatsApp during island hours, within one working day by email. If a date is not available we say so and offer the nearest one rather than trying to move you onto something else.
- You confirm, we invoice a 25 per cent deposit. Bank transfer or a card link. The confirmation names the guide where we know who it will be, the pick-up window and the exact inclusions.
- Balance fourteen days before. By transfer, card link, or cash on the island against a numbered receipt. Inside fourteen days at booking, the whole amount is due at once.
- The day before, we message you. The pick-up time confirmed to the ten minutes, the weather position, the guide name and phone number.
What we need from you, and when
| Information | When we need it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dates and number of people | At enquiry | Availability, and the price depends on it |
| Ages of anyone under fourteen | At enquiry | Minimum ages differ by trip |
| Hotel name and area | At confirmation | Pick-up order and whether a supplement applies |
| Dietary restrictions and allergies | At confirmation, not on the day | The cooking family and the kitchens shop the day before |
| A WhatsApp number | At confirmation | How we reach you about weather at 20:00 |
| Riding experience, for the bike day | At confirmation | Which bike we bring |
| Flight times, if we drop you at the airport | A week before | Day four timing |
We do not ask for passport numbers, and no trip we run requires one. If anybody claiming to be us asks for a passport scan or a copy of your card, it is not us.
Weather, cancellations and changes
Two of our trips are weather-dependent in a way that matters: the fishing village morning, which needs the fleet to have gone out, and the motorbike day, which we do not run in wet-season conditions at all.
| Situation | What happens | Your options |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet stays in overnight | We call you by 20:00 the evening before | Another date, another trip at its price, or a full refund |
| Heavy rain on a farm or bike day | We call by 06:30 on the morning | Another date or a full refund |
| You cancel more than 21 days out | Deposit returned less anything already committed | Itemised, so you can see what was spent |
| You cancel 21 to 8 days out | Deposit retained, nothing further owed | |
| You cancel 7 to 3 days out | 50 per cent of the trip price | |
| You cancel under 24 hours | Full price | Except recoverable fees not yet paid out |
| You want to change the date | Free more than 7 days out, subject to availability | As many times as you like |
The full terms are on the booking terms page and the payment methods on the how to pay page. Those two pages are generated from the same figures used here, so they cannot drift apart.
Paying safely
Our bank details do not change. We will never send you new account details from a different email address, we will never ask you to pay a different beneficiary at short notice, and we will never contact you on a new number saying the old one is broken.
Stop and call the number on the contact page before transferring anything. Payment redirection fraud against small tour operators is common in Vietnam and the only defence that works is a phone call to a number you looked up yourself.
The deposit is 25 per cent. Card payments carry the processor fee at cost, shown separately rather than absorbed into a rounder number. Cash for the balance is fine and common; we issue a numbered receipt at the time.
Questions travellers ask most
How far ahead do I need to book?
Three to four weeks for December to February, especially for the cooking day and the homestay, which take one group and four rooms respectively.
Outside high season three days is normally enough, and we can sometimes take a booking for the next morning if the weather is settled and a vehicle is free.
Can I book when I arrive on the island?
Yes, and about a fifth of our bookings happen that way. Message us on WhatsApp when you land and we will tell you honestly what is free in the next few days.
The risk is only in high season, when the answer is sometimes nothing for four days.
Do you take payment on this website?
No. There is no card form anywhere on this site and no card details are stored. Payment happens by bank transfer or through a payment link we send from our processor, after we have confirmed availability.
That is also why an enquiry commits you to nothing.
What if we are late or miss the pick-up?
On a day trip the guide waits twenty minutes and calls. After that the vehicle has to move because the other guests have an appointment with a tide or a kitchen, and we will try to get you to the group by taxi at our cost if it is feasible.
On the dawn trips there is no catching up. That is the honest position and it is the reason we message the night before.
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Tell us what you want out of the island
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.