Reviews

That was simply brilliant; thank you!

Every aspect of our trip exceeded our expectations. Qatar Airways was a very smooth service, and the moment Tung met us at Saigon airport, we felt we were on the holiday of a lifetime; this view never changed. Our only concern is how can we possibly find a comparable cycling – or any other – holiday?!

A Great Holiday (mid Oct departure)

The itinerary is fast paced requiring early starts and a quick turnaround following the day’s ride – often arriving the hotel early evening/out an hour later for dinner at local restaurants. Some of the transfers are long but the coach was comfortable and had wifi. Chi, our Leader, and his team (Sow, Ee & Minh) were brilliant, as were their time management and organisation skills. The bikes (Giant Rincon) were brand new. Each day we were handed a detailed Ride Plan with the route stats, logistics and transfer timings etc which certainly managed my expectations re the gradients. The majority of roads were relatively quiet but when we had to navigate a couple of highway intersections the Team expertly shepherded us through (which was slightly daunting coupled with exhilirating). Some rides had several 8%-10% inclines which I and a few others part-walked – snack stops were usually every 15-20km. All meals throughout the trip were excellent, with one exception (Qui Nhon) – we arrived later than usual so ate in the hotel roof-top bar, however, the view made up for the poor service & meal. Hotels were good (one or two very much so), and when on ‘two-night stays’ the laundry service was efficient and inexpensive (I wished I’d packed less and made better use of the service). Highlights of the trip: a great Leader & team, sharing the experience with fellow travellers, the food, exploring Saigon (we travelled a day early), Whale Island, and Hoy An.

Vietnam Oct 2022

This was a great trip for seeing a huge amount of Vietnam – a rich fortnight of many new experiences and a wonderful introduction to a new country for me. The leader and his team were super and the bikes were excellent.

Fantastic Trip

I am a little late in posting a review. We returned from this trip in early March, right when everything started to close down due to Covid-19. I can tell you that the memories of this trip have kept me going while sheltering in place. If you are thinking this might be the trip for you, please know that it is very fast paced with moving from place to place almost every night was quite challenging. The cycling itself was challenging based on one’s fitness level. My husband completed every kilometer, while I did about three-quarters of the cycling. A lot of it depends on the heat, but for a female in my early 50s, I found it very doable. We had the most fabulous guide and crew. I cannot say enough of about our guide Son – he was absolutely amazing – taking care of all the details while we enjoyed ourselves. There are plenty of water/snack stops with fresh fruit and amazing snacks (ginger/nuts/cookies). They take very good care of you.

A Brilliant Trip

We have been on a couple of cycling trips before and this one was probably the best. Tri our guide was outstanding and all our fellow cyclists were a great bunch of people. We got a real flavour of life in Vietnam. Lots of interesting food.The meals were good and plentiful. Thought we would lose weight but didn’t! Good Hotels. Many highlights but a couple or so to point out,Whale Island and Hoi An, the 30km exhilarating downhill ride and cycling in city centre traffic…… great fun but leaves your heart racing. It is quite full on which leaves you wanting to spend more time in some of the places visited. The usual pattern is arrive at 5 – 6 pm, leave at 7.15 next morning. However we did find time to swim in the hotel pools. Overnight train was great fun ….all part of the adventure. To cover the length of the country there are some longish times in the bus but the bus was comfortable but great chance to talk with your fellow travellers. This also gives you time to see more of the country and people watch. Staggered us how much could be piled on a scooter!
The bikes were ideal for the road conditions as well as being clean and very well maintained. At the frequent refreshment/rest stops there was lots of juice, water, fruit, nuts and biscuits. The driver and bike mechanic were very friendly and very competent. Great organization, things happened when Tri said they would.

A good trip but.....

Good points.
A very varied trip. Plenty of cycling but other things too.
A taste of real life in Vietnam as well as tourist destinations.
Lots of interesting food.
Interesting culture
Good Hotels
Highlights are whale Island and Hoi An

Bad points
Too fast paced to spend quality time in some of the places visited – Arrive at dusk, leave at dawn.
Trip notes are full of things that there would never be time to see or do.
Overnight train is a low point!
Too much cycling in dangerous city centre traffic.
Lots of time in the bus.

Excellent, probably the best yet.

This was an amazing trip. Totally fell in love with Vietnam, We did so much in such in two weeks. The cycling, somehow. only felt like a small part of the experience as there were so many other things that we did. Each day was full on, exceptionally well organised, great food, etc Been on a few cycle trips, and I think this was the best one so far.

Wonderful experience

This was our first organized cycling trip, and it was very enjoyable. The group was larger than I expected (18, whereas I had thought we would be about 12), but everyone got along well and our tour leader, Tung, was very efficient and attentive, friendly, patient and entertaining.
There was also more city riding than I expected, through some rather hairy motorbike traffic and roundabouts. Tung and Lee, our tail gunner, shepherded us through them, but it took some guts at first to weave through the scooters and cars and buses. Note that red lights apparently don’t apply to motorbikes; they just sail on through. We got used to it after a couple of times and in the end it was rather exhilarating. Some riding on main city streets and bridges, too, and through towns and suburbs. All in all the tour was a bit more urban than I’d hoped. But I suppose if you want to see all aspects of Vietnam… Riding through the rice paddies and the countryside and along back lanes, on the other hand, was quite enchanting. Little children ran out to call “Hello!” everywhere.
I see this tour is rated as 3/9 for activity level. I would say more 5/9, and that’s without the (very enjoyable, if you’re up for it) 10-km uphill ride one day. On the other hand, the bus is always available and there was no shame in taking a day off.
We missed the Whale Island tour because of a typhoon, but Tung and Exodus rearranged everything seamlessly. The Halong Bay overnight boat tour was a real delight, as was the overnight train to Hanoi. And Hoi An and Hanoi were wonderful, particularly the pedestrian streets (no motorbikes!) on the weekend in Hanoi.
We could easily have skipped the boat trip to the overcrowded beach and hike up to the viewpoint on Halong Bay, however, and the kayaks were uncomfortable, at least for the person in the stern with no back support.
The meals were good, even for us vegetarians, the bikes were clean and very well maintained, and there was lots of juice and water and fruit provided at the frequent rest stops. Nice that they didn’t insist on handing out plastic bottles of water! The bus was comfortable and the driver and bike mechanic were friendly and very competent. Definitely a 10/10 for organization.

We didn't have a great experience

Our experience was that there were a number of significant issues with this Exodus tour;
– The tour lead was quite poor and we had issues with poor communication, being rushed from place to place, pressure to cycle quickly and therefore unable to enjoy the sights/views.
– Bikes provided were basically ‘end of life’ and we had issues with poor gear changes.

It contains quite a bit of bus time (4-5 hours at a time) and you feel like you are being rushed around all the time – the result is that it isn’t very relaxed, and we were frustrated that we didn’t have time to enjoy many of the places we visited/went through.

We were told that demand for this tour meant that Exodus had increased from 1 to 4 tours/week, but it looks like the bike maintenance/replacement hadn’t taken this into account, and possible why we ended up with a Tour Lead who was below par (as they didn’t have enough good tour leads).

We think Exodus need to take a good hard look at this tour and make sure that the quality is massively improved.

Good 'ole Exodus!

An interesting blend of Vietnam from north to south including an o/n sleeper train. The success and enjoyment of these trips is usually down to the blend of fellow travellers and team leader and this one was no different. The weather,early season, was mixed with a little more rain and cloud than hoped for but did not detract from the enjoyment but a little more sunshine would have enhanced the countryside. A read of the brochure and trip notes will give a very accurate picture of the breadth and variety of the trip. The daily riding distances are mainly governed by the fitness of the participants and their ability to cover the miles in a reasonable time and for the first time in my experience of 7 trips we were delayed by some participants who frankly were not cycling fit and I wonder if they had read and understood the pre – trip advice!