French colonial facade of the Saigon Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City under a cloudy sky.

How we book

What you are agreeing to, in plain words

The commercial part of a trip, written out before you pay rather than linked in small type afterwards.

Confirmation

What confirms a booking

For a day tour: a message from us naming the date, the pick-up time and the price, and a 35 per cent deposit on the same schedule as every trip: 85 per cent at confirmation if you book inside 30 days, the full price inside 7 days.

For a multi-day trip: a final day-by-day from us, your written agreement to it, and a 35 per cent deposit. The deposit holds hotels and any internal flights, and from that moment those two lines have real money against them, which is why the cancellation terms change at that point and not before.

Money

Deposit, balance and what each one buys

Day tours follow the same schedule as every other trip; a day tour booked inside 7 days is paid in full at confirmation.

Stage	Amount	What it does
On confirmation	35%	Holds hotel rooms and books internal flights
30 days before arrival	50%	Releases the full programme to our operations team
7 days before arrival	15%	Settles the trip before you arrive
Inside 30 days at booking	85%	Only when you book late — the suppliers want paying at once
Inside 7 days at booking	100%	The full price at confirmation

Cancellation

If you cancel

Our terms are built on what has actually been committed rather than a flat percentage, because a flat percentage is a way of charging you for costs that were never incurred. More than 45 days out, you lose only supplier costs already paid, itemised on a single sheet. Inside that window the supplier terms take over, and they vary: a family guesthouse usually refunds up to a week out, a bay cabin in January usually does not.

Whatever the stage, we send you the supplier invoices behind any deduction. If you think a charge is wrong, say so — twice a year we find a hotel has refunded us and not told us, and that money is yours.

When it does not run

If we cancel, or a day cannot run

Weather cancels boat days in the bay and in the delta a handful of times each year, and the coast between Hue and Quang Ngai floods most Octobers. When that happens we offer the alternative first and the refund second — a different bay, a different day, a rebuilt afternoon — and if none of it suits, the unused portion is refunded in full without an administration fee.

We do not run a trip we consider unsafe because it has been paid for. If a captain will not sail, we will not put you on someone else who will.

Fraud

Paying safely — read this before you transfer anything

Payment fraud against travellers works one way almost every time: an email that looks like it came from your operator, sent close to the balance date, giving new bank details and a reason. The reason is always plausible. The money is never recoverable.

Our bank details never change mid-booking. If you get an email saying they have, it is not from us.
We will never ask you to send a payment to a personal name, or to a bank account outside Vietnam.
Before any transfer, phone the number on this site — not a number in the email — and read the account number aloud to your planner.
We do not accept payment in cryptocurrency, gift cards or through a third-party link, and nobody legitimate in this industry does.

If something feels wrong

Stop and call. We would much rather answer a suspicious-email call at eleven at night than deal with the alternative the next morning.

Insurance

Insurance, and the two clauses that matter

Travel insurance is not optional on our multi-day trips and we will ask for the policy number. Two clauses are worth reading before you buy the cheapest one: whether motorbike travel is covered, which matters if any part of your trip is in the northern mountains, and whether medical evacuation from a remote area is included, which matters at Ha Giang, Phong Nha and on the islands.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Which currencies can I pay in?

US dollars or Vietnamese dong by bank transfer, or card in either. Cards carry the processing fee your bank charges; we do not add one of our own.

Is the deposit refundable?

More than 45 days before arrival, yes, apart from supplier costs already committed, and we show you the invoices for those. Inside that window it depends on what the hotels and airlines have already taken.

Do you charge a fee to change dates?

No fee from us for the first change more than 30 days out. Supplier costs, if any, are passed on at cost with the paperwork.

Can I pay everything on arrival?

No. Every trip, day tours included, is paid before it starts: 35 per cent to confirm, 50 per cent 30 days before and the final 15 per cent 7 days before. For multi-day trips, hotels and flights have to be paid before you land, and an operator who says otherwise is either lending you money or has not booked anything yet.