Balade gastronomique dans les rues de Hanoï

A taster of typical Vietnamese food. Perhaps not the more unusual street food that we expected. The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. He showed us interesting parts of Hanoi that we would not have found ourselves.

Our guide was great, although there was too much walking and with a bigger group of people, often hard to hear him.

Highly recommend this tour! First the good....then the ok:) Our guide Faizan was amazing. He spoke English extremely well and was very knowledgeable. He tailored the tour to exactly what we wanted and stayed friendly the entire time. He never hesitated to show us exactly where the good photo spots were or to hold our bags while our photographer at the Taj Mahal took our photographs. Always polite, a true gentleman. We had signed up for the train tour; however, we ended up receiving a driver and drove to Agra from New Delhi. Due to this, we did not receive the breakfast meal on the train so our guide took us to a nice restaurant and we could choose our meal and drink of choice. After we finished the Taj Mahal, we went to a shop where they demonstrated how marble inlay was made. It was interesting. I will warn you, you will be invited to tea and a look at the pieces they sell in the basement. They do not pressure you, it the pieces are so beautiful that I did choose to purchase a piece. After that we went to the Red Fort, again Faizan our guide was amazing! Great photo opportunities and great history. The lunch location is very nice. We chose our meal and drink. During that time Faizan sat with us and discussed anything we wanted. We were asked to provide a review at this location because there was Wifi access. Unfortunately, I can’t state anything else about the rest of the tour at the moment because it is not completed yet:) At the Taj Mahal, Faizan negotiated a photographer for us. We chose to purchase the photos for memories as the photographer new exactly what to photograph and how we should pose. Our driver Bunty arrived to our hotel 10min prior to meet up time and welcomed us kindly. When we passed places along the highway he told us what they were. He welcomed questions. The roads and traffic in India are crazy, but Bunty kept us safe. We chose to skip the last place in the tour because of the additional distance, 1-hour drive from Taj Mahal. This would have added two additional hours to our tour and we were exhausted. We were given an option to adjust the tour and proceed to other locations that were closer, but we chose to receive a “tour” via pictures. Our guide was great at giving us a commentary at the comfort of our table:) Before returning via car to New Delhi, we stopped at a small souvenair shop while our vehicle underwent an inspection to ensure we were safe to return without car problems. We were given an opportunity to shop. We bought a few things there to commemorate our time in Agra. The only negative thing I have to say is the communication with Maria Tours was difficult prior to the tour. The evening prior to the tour I had not been contacted by anyone and our meet up window was between 4am and 7am. Fortunately, I had an iPhone and Wifi and the agency contact was able to receive iMessage. We discussed the change in itinerary from Train to Cab and ensured we would not be disappointed with our tour.

Amazing tour of Hanoi's street food scene. Our guide Lucky not only helped us navigate the hectic streets but also brought us to hidden gems that we would have otherwise missed. The food was delicious and we had a fantastic overall experience. Would definitely recommend doing this tour if you are in Hanoi!