Where we came from
Son and Thanh started guiding in the 1990s, when a foreign traveller in a northern village was still an event. They founded Footprint in 2001 with a single office in Hanoi and a habit that has not changed: go and walk the route before selling it.
We have grown since then into an operator running trips across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but we still design routes the same way. Somebody from this office has slept in the homestay, eaten the dinner and walked the path before it appears on this website.
What we are trying to do
Vision
To be the operator people recommend when a friend asks how to see this part of the world properly — and to do it without leaving damage behind.
Mission
Design trips that are genuinely personal, keep the money we earn circulating in the communities we visit, and give our own team a career rather than a season of work.
How we measure it
- Repeat travellers and referrals, which are the only reviews that cost something to give
- The share of each trip's spend that stays with local hosts, drivers, guides and family kitchens
- Our published annual sustainability report, and the Travelife criteria we are audited against
How we work
- We are the operator, not a middleman. The guide, the driver and the itinerary are ours.
- Guides are regional specialists. In Pu Luong you walk with someone from Pu Luong.
- Groups stay small. Our own departures run private by default, so the group is whoever you brought.
- Every trip is quoted in writing with what is and is not included, before you pay anything.
- Our office is contactable around the clock while you are travelling, not only in Hanoi business hours.
Talk to a planner
Tell us when you want to travel and what kind of trip you have in mind. One of our planners will write back with a route and a price.