Laurus Travel Asia Tours

We had a wonderful trip and were very impressed with all the Laurus travel arrangements and guides. We were very pleased that arrangements were made for private tour guides rather than cancel a tour. Laurus has small groups to start with but for two cities we visited Laurus organized private tour guides for my wife and I as part of the package. We found the hotel accommodations to be extremely good in all cases and exceeded our expectations. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and personable. Food at local spots was very good and the variety ordered for us by our guides was terrific. We feel we really got to know the food and the local eating scene. The range of sites we visited were as advertised and we had sufficient time at them. Overall I would rate the tour as excellent and would highly recommend it. Thanks to Laurus Travel andthe very accessible staff for helping us have such an enjoyable trip to China.

I just returned from the 18 day Essence Of China Tour wth Laurus, and it was spectacular. I don't want to gush, but every aspect of the tour was first rate. Laurus provides a tour leader as well as local guides in each city. They are knowledgeable without being stuffy and look for any way to make your trip memorable. The local restaurants chosen for lunches and dinners were excellent. And our fellow travellers were delightful. Sarah Kennard

We just returned from an 18 day tour in SE Asia with Laurus. A couple of years ago we went on the 12 day tour of China and were really pleased, so decided to use them again to tour Vietnam, Cambodia and end with a couple of days in Bangkok. We met our other 3 couples on the tour in Hanoi in the end of October along with our tour leader Jacob. Everyone turned out to be pretty seasoned travellers, and having a small group in this environment is the only way to go. When you see the larger groups being herded around sites and airports, you realize how fortunate you are not being in that situation. We have been in SE Asia in the past, and were very aware of the heat and humidity that is in the area, so starting in Hanoi was the way to go. This allowed us N. Americans who were all starting winter back home to ease into the climate changes a bit more gently by working our way south into the higher temperatures and humidity. We talked to folks who started their tours with other companies in Bangkok and worked their way north, and that just didn't make much sense to us knowing the effects of the instant heat and humidity of places like Bangkok and Cambodia. This is super, hassle free way to get a great experience and taste of SE Asia. Laurus does an excellent job with small tours that used really good hotels in each of the cites, superb knowledgable local guides that speak really easily understood English, and an itinerary that didn't kill everyone off by working us every moment. Our group were maturely aged and were looking to experience the history of this part of the world and have good food experiences in a comfortable environment. Laurus delivered this very well. You can both spend more or less on a tour like this, but we found that Laurus seems to really hit the "sweet spot" as they did when we were in China with them. Traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia is to visit developing countries. Vietnam is further along - especially as you go south, than Cambodia, but we personally really loved Cambodia. Siem Reap with its access to the temples, and Phnom Penh with its colonial French Architectural buildings was fabulous, and the people were amazing. Our tour leader Jacob was fantastic and really needs a shout out. Nothing fazed him as we had to clear the travelling between the countries etc. We flew all the distances between the cities on the tour and only had a small bus to travel in within each center. The neat thing that using Laurus did for all of us was allowing us to customize our travels. They use a kind of "modular" approach to their tours and allow you to add, drop, change type of incoming and outgoing flights etc. We for instance, continued on after the tour ended in Bangkok, to Borneo and Singapore by ourselves, others went to Laos and other parts of Thailand, and others were incoming to this tour from a tour in China with Laurus. Some flew business class to Asia, all used different airlines from different cities win N. America, and Laurus just made it all happen without a fuss. If you want a really great experience in this part of the world, we highly recommend Laurus Travels to you. We travel a lot, and usually do our own arranging of travel in Europe, HK, Singapore etc, but in developing SE Asia, things are different. We wanted no hassles, a great experience without food issues, and really good hotels along the way because we knew how the heat and humidity of the region affects a person. One important tip is to travel lightly....we were gone for close to a month with only a carryon each. With the hassle of claiming luggage etc these days everywhere in the world, it is possible to travel this way in this very warm climate.

Toured China with a stopover in Hong Kong at the end. Staff were fantastic! They are friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. Food was delicious everywhere we went. Buses and drivers are top notch. This was an amazing trip. We saw and did so much but never felt rushed.