this is my highlight of vacation - my family spent 4 days to visit Mai Chau , Pu Luong and Ninh Binh that was booked with Tran ( a staff of Authentic Adventures Vietnam ) . I and my others were happy with this choice because we had many activities and the landcapes is absolutely breathtaking.

Great Ninh Binh day tour - Great tour, well paced and fun experience. Really enjoyed the hike. But the bike tour and lunch were excellent. The extra pad for the boat was really needed. Hoa was a great guide.

Mr. Thiep is the best! - We (my mom, my husband, and I) were very lucky to have Mr. Thiep as our private tour guide for 2 days. He was so friendly and went above and beyond to make sure he was accomodating our needs for this tour. He took us biking through Mai Chau to see the amazing rice paddies. The second day of the tour originally consisted of hiking up to caves, but with my mom’s limited trekking ability, he took us to visit a bamboo chopstick factory, a natural hot spring, and a beautiful waterfall which exceeded our expectations. In addition, we stayed at his family’s homestay (Eco Homestay) with delicious homecooked meals. Mr. Thiep is so knowledgeable about everything in Mai Chau - we learned so much! We highly reccomend this tour to anyone visiting Vietnam to get away from the busy city of Hanoi!

Northern Vietnam was perfect - It was wonderful to experience so, so many places in Northern Vietnam with “Joe”…especially the Ninh Binh”. He is very knowledgeable and easy to be around. It was especially nice to be transported around in an air conditioned private car….just Joe and the two of us. We had excellent accommodations. He took us to places for lunch (included) that we may not have ever tried if he hadn’t taken us and so got to experience local cuisine. I would totally recommend the tour & would do it all over again.

good tour mai chau pu luong ninh binh - The trip was amazing, well managed by the tour guide David. Stops were good and enough time Appreciate his effort. I highly recommend authentic adventure vietnam.

best tour best guide - We just completed a 4d/3n mai chau pu luong ninh binh with local guide adam huong our tour guide and we have had the most fantastic time. Exceeded all of our expectations. Unforgettable experience with a great tour guide.

good tour - This tour is definitely a must do! Reasonable prices to be treated like royalty. The food was fantastic and the staff wonderful, especially our friendly and helpful guide.

Best tour - have a trip memorable, so much activities and memoried!!! gudie told us a lot of interesting things about Vietnam country! excellent tour.

Fabulous trip - The trip was so enjoying and amazing with a lot of experiences that we cannot join if we don't go to the areas. All the places we visited were truly unexplored with very few tourists. We love the landscape, the local food, ethnic cultures. Highly recommend this trip.

Tranquil and fascinating! - Very interesting and peaceful trip. We did the 4-day, 3-night option, with 1 night in Mai Chau, 1 night near Pu Luong, and 1 night in Tam Coc. Compared to the other tours we'd been on, such as a Ha Long bay cruise, which were energetic and full of people, this was for the most part a very tranquil, quiet trip. Mai Chau and Pu Luong are well-known, and there is some tourist infrastructure, but they are really working farm villages, very quiet, and the tourist stuff is superficial. We may as well have been the only ones there. There were only 2 of us on this trip, and the occasional other tours that we encountered also seemed to be only couples or people who knew each other well. Our guide for the first 3 days, in Mai Chau and Pu Luong, was a local who had his own farm just outside of Mai Chau and spoke the local Thai language, so he was very informative about the lifestyle, flora and fauna of these areas. In Mai Chau and Pu Luong, you're biking and hiking around villages for hours at a time. It is very beautiful, and the peek into local life is truly fascinating. Everything is hand-made, from the homes to the textiles to the looms they're woven on. Every plant seems to be some kind of crop with a purpose. However, do not expect great excitement--these are very sleepy villages (at least they were when they were there). The main entertainment comes from the occasional stop at a local home to, say, observe someone spinning thread or weaving a scarf; or from asking the guide various questions. There aren't any other really engaging activities during these outings. The excursions can be quite long--like 3 hours of hiking around villages and rice paddies--so prepare yourself by bringing extra snacks and water. The only food we were provided were breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and there is no telling what time lunch might be served! The homestays in Mai Chau and Pu Luong were lovely if rustic. They are built like hotels or hostels, with separate rooms or bungalows, but they are also obviously working homes too. The same kitchen where your food is prepared is where the family running the place makes their food, etc. There were plenty of chickens running around at the first homestay. The FOOD at these places is EXCEPTIONAL! Probably the best food we had in Vietnam. The hosts were also willing to indulge my efforts to speak Vietnamese, and they could speak English passably as well. Tam Coc/Trang An/Ninh Binh area is much busier. Tam Coc is very much a tourist town, which for us was a bit of a relief after staying in such quiet villages the last few days. You can actually go out to get a beer if you want, for example! The sights to see are very popular, and the Trang An boat tour especially is a real operation, with the entrance being very much like the entrance to a theme park, complete with ticket counters, interpretive walks, etc. (You can do a 3 hour or a 1.5 hour tour--I suggest the 1.5 hour tour! It turned out to be more like 2 hours for us--it is a long time to be sitting on a hard bench on a small boat!) That said, the sights were still stunning, the historic buildings were impressive, and our awesome guide really did a great job explaining about what we were seeing, including the whole dynastic history of Hoa Lu, the ancient capital. Our guide (who was a different guide than we'd had the first few days) really made this day for us--he was very friendly, spoke English well, took tons of pictures of us, gave us explanations and local insight, and gave us great recommendations of places to go and things to do after the tour was over. I'll also say that our tour operator was very communicative over WhatsApp and was quickly able to answer questions, resolve issues, etc. They checked in with us every day to ask how things were going. Overall this was a great tour, but there are some things to be aware of: Our guide for the first few days was kind of shy. He was a great source of information and spoke English well, but I really had to prompt the conversation by asking questions. Otherwise, it would have been hiking or biking in silence most of the day--may be just fine for some! We weren't always sure of the itinerary, timeline, transportation. This is typical of other tours we've been on in Vietnam and Thailand, so this is just a reminder to be ready for anything. The meals were delicious, but we were often desperately hungry or thirsty by the time lunch or dinner rolled around. Bring snacks and extra water during the long excursions, these weren't provided for us. Mai Chau and Pu Luong are quite small so be sure to do your food shopping early before things close. Again, this is a very quiet, laid-back tour, but not in the relax-by-the-pool-drinking-beer way... more like an hours-of-quiet-hiking-through-small-villages kind of way. In the afternoons and evenings at your homestays in Mai Chau and Pu Luong, there isn't any night life to speak of, so you will be entertaining yourself. If this is not your cup of tea, and you prefer amenities such as bars, coffee shops, and restaurants, I would suggest either a shorter tour, or one that avoids Mai Chau and Pu Luong. We will definitely remember this tour as giving us a much better idea of how a lot of Vietnamese still live--the majority of the country is rural farmland, and people still make everything by hand and grow all their own food, not to mention have their own distinct ethnicities and local customs. Very grateful for the experience!