Fully-Guided and First-Class Vietnam from $150 Per Day

In Vietnam, people greet foreign travelers with smiles and waves. Whether you're walking down the street, riding in a bus or renting a bicycle, you'll feel the hospitality everywhere you go. Travel to Vietnam also means tasting some of the best street food in the world; experiencing a burgeoning, young, vibrant, and affordable art scene; diverse topography; and hip urban centers where nightlife means late-night cafes and fried spring rolls. During autumn in the U.S., the weather in Vietnam becomes dry, hot and temperate -- a perfect time to enjoy the many faces of this exciting country.

For air deals to Asia, Malaysia Airlines (tel. 800/552-9264; https://malaysiaairlinesusa.com/mys/eng) has a fall special to Bangkok and Phuket starting at $705 roundtrip from Los Angeles. This offer expires October 31, 2006 with travel good from October 1 to November 30, 2006 and between January 31 and March 31, 2007. The same fare is available with travel out of Newark Airport between October 1 and November 31, 2006. Air taxes and security fees are not included.

Pacific Holidays (tel. 800/355-8025; www.pacificholidaysinc.com) has a special package to Vietnam and Taiwan that visits Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and Taipei. Starting at $1,699 per person for double occupancy travel, this eleven-day, eight-night fully-guided package includes roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle, all hotel accommodations at three and four-star hotels, all intra-Asia travel, daily breakfast and half-day city sightseeing tours. Hotel upgrades or additional nights are available. The $45 processing fee for travel visas to Vietnam and Cambodia is not included. In Taiwan, you'll visit one of the world's tallest buildings as well as centuries-old outdoor markets selling snake blood. In Vietnam, tours visit the same mix of high and low: Reunification Palace and the local markets that serve fried spring rolls and marinated peanuts. Most air travel is on China Air. In total, the trip spends three nights in Ho Chi Minh City, two nights in Hanoi and three nights in Taipei.

Friendly Planet (tel. 800/555-5765; www.friendlyplanet.com) has an early booking special to Vietnam. If you book by October 31, 2006, you can save $600 per couple reducing the price of the trip to $2,499 per person for the 16-day fully guided tour to Vietnam, Bangkok and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. With Friendly Planet, the hotels are first class bordering on luxurious, the tour guides are top of the line and you get a fair share of time on your own with no pressure to join excursions. Visiting Vietnam from "north to south," this particular package takes you to Confucian temples and the Lake of the Restored Sword in Hanoi, an overnight cruise in a French colonial steamship on Ha Long Bay, Hoa Lo Prison (where they kept American prisoners of war), the beaches of Hoi An along the South China Sea, and the depths of the Mekong Delta on the route to Cambodia. You'll fly home from Bangkok. Departures in 2007 fall on January 10, February 18, February 28 and March 26, 2007. Additional dates will be announced soon. Visas are granted upon arrival in Vietnam and Cambodia and cost $25 and $20, respectively. Friendly Planet will send detailed Visa instructions to each traveler who reserves a spot on the tour.

For an independent air/land package to Vietnam, Go-Today (tel. 800/227-3235; www.go-today.com) has a quick six-night air-inclusive trip to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi starting at $1,279 for travel good through November 30, 2006. The same trip is available throughout the fall and winter months starting at $1,329 for travel from November 30, 2006 to March 31, 2007. The booking deadline to lock in these prices falls this Thursday, October 5, 2006. The independent trip spends three nights in Hanoi and three nights in Ho Chi Minh with breakfast, airport transfers in Vietnam, and the flight between the two cities included in the package price. Daily sightseeing tours are available from Go Today on pay-by-excursion basis. Airport taxes, security fees and Visa costs are not included in the price of the package. This trip departs out of Los Angeles and San Francisco with New York costing an additional $270 per person.

If you decide to travel through Vietnam alone, in addition to using www.frommers.com and buying Frommer's Vietnam (shameless plug, we know), check out Vietnam Adventures (www.vietnamadventures.com). Intended to sound like a "good friend just returning from a trip," Vietnam Adventures is the brainchild of two American travelers who were "frustrated" with material that wasn't up to date. Loaded with tips on how to act, what to eat, where to stay and what to do, the informal but accurate site even has a current section on beer drinking decorum that serves up such tips as never fill your own glass (let your neighbor or co-drinker do it for you) and don't fall asleep at the table. Rules travelers everywhere should probably follow.