As we make final preparations for our trip to Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam next month, I’ve been booking some tours. We’ve never been to any of these places before so how am I figuring out which tours to take and which to avoid? There are a few good sources of information.

1. Friends and Family. Obviously, if people you know and trust have been to any of these places, they are a great source of information about which tours to book, where to eat and what to see and do. I am fortunate that I have a good network of friends in the points, miles and travel space who have given some recommendations of things to do and even things to avoid.
2. Online Sources. TripAdvisor, Flyertalk and other forums provide detailed reviews of tours, hotels and restaurants in these destinations. While I don’t necessarily believe everything I read on these forums, I do rely on trusted long-time members with a track record of providing useful information.
3. Previous Tour Guides. We’ve been to Vietnam before and took an amazing food tour in Hanoi. I reached out to our guide there and asked if he had some recommendations for the places we were headed this time. He provided some great information and I ended up booking a food tour in Ho Chi Minh City he recommended.

If you are wavering on a tour and not sure if it’s worth booking, you can always reach out to the company and see how quickly they respond and whether they provide good information in their response. I found that most well-regarded tour companies will do that. There’s one car service in Da Nang that I must have communicated with 10 times over the past six months as we’ve rescheduled the trip and changed our itinerary multiple times.

So, what have I booked so far? In Singapore, nothing, as I think the food centers and tourist sites are fairly easy to navigate on our own according to those I trust who have visited. In Cambodia, I booked a well-reviewed Angkor Wat guide and a food tour in Siem Reap. I still need to book transportation for Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields and Genocide Museum but I can do that when we arrive. I also booked a driver to take us between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. In Ho Chi Minh City, I have booked us a food tour on motorcycles (recommended by our Hanoi guide) which should be a lot of fun. In Hue, we’ve booked a food tour and a car to drive us to Da Nang. I’ll probably book a food tour in Hoi An as well.

I’ll provide lots of pictures and feedback on the tours we’ve booked after the trip. If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.