World Vegan Travel was featured on Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s award-winning podcast, in a recent episode about her trip (which we organized and ran) in Vietnam.

Click here to listen to the episode.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is our friend and partner in a collaboration that’s come to be known as CPG Vegan Trips. We’ll definitely have to write a post on how we came to be on this crazy adventure of working together to create amazing trips for vegans around the world!

In April 2018, Colleen, David (her husband), Seb, and Brighde traveled to Vietnam on our FIRST CPG Vegan Trip to Vietnam.   It was Colleen and David’s first trip to Vietnam and they absolutely loved it!   And what’s not to love: from the all-vegan cruise around UNESCO World Heritage Halong Bay on our very own private junk boat, to our welcome night cyclo ride around the crazy streets of Hanoi, and add our visit to the ancient citadel of Hue, our bike ride around the Hoi An countryside, and so much more, and you can start to see why Vietnam is one of the top travel destinations in the world!

Our hotels — which were not vegan or even offered vegan menus before our trip –all went above and beyond with the food that they created for us.  It was a culmination of a lot of work between the hotel’s chefs and the restaurants, Chi (our wonderful person on the ground in Vietnam), and Brighde and Seb.  Our incredible travelers were blown away by the quality and variety of the food provided by the local providers, as Colleen pointed out in her podcast. In fact, she now prefers Vietnamese food to Thai food!

Please do check out the podcast for a recount of our trip as well as some tips and warnings about what to look out for if you are traveling in Vietnam.

Hotels and restaurants that stood out

Colleen mentions so many of the hotels, restaurants, and organizations in her podcast. Here’s an overview of the ones we visited on our CPG Vegan Vietnam 2018. We want to give them a shout-out for stepping up to the challenge of providing incredible food for our group and being prepared to go out of their comfort zone. And of course to the already vegan places!  Keep doing you!  You are amazing!

• Uu Dam Chay (Hanoi, mostly vegan restaurant) This stunning restaurant in downtown Hanoi welcomed our travellers to such abundance on their first night.
• Temple of Literature (Hanoi) The oldest unviersity in Vietnam. A must see while in Hanoi,
• Reaching Out Tea House (silent tea house in Hoi An) gives employment for the local deaf community.​
• Tra Que Vegetable Village (Hoi An) Seaweed is what gives the nutrients to this organic vegetable group of farms.
• Vegan Cruise of Halong Bay: We worked with this cruise company to create an ALL vegan cruise of Halong Bay on our private boat.
• Fisherman Cafe Hoi An This newly opened beach cafe and bar in Hoi An is changing the vegan scene in Hoi An. Head here for relaxed chilled out music and some nightlife.

Sights we visited that Colleen mentioned on her podcast

• ​Hỏa Lò Prison (Hanoi) Prison built by the French and then used as a POW Camp during the Vietnam / American war.  Also where John McCain was incarcerated.
• Hải Vân Pass: One of the most beautiful roads in the world.
• War Remnants Museum (Saigon /Ho Chi Minh City): ​ This museum in HCMC is a must-see. Sharing some haunting images and showing the visitor what life was like during the French and American Wars.

Organisations we visited

• Jack’s Cat Cafe  A cat cafe and education centre raising awareness about the plight of cats in Vietnam:  eneral homelessness and also the stealing of cats for the cat meat trade. Now completely vegan!
• Green Viet (protecting Red-Shanked Douc Langurs) This organisation educates the locals on the plight of the Douc Langurs. Threatened by poaching and habitat destruction (for resort development), these amazing people are working tirelessly to help the Douc.
• KOTO (nonprofit program in Hanoi that trains underprivileged youth in the hospitality industry). This lovely restaurant, we visited for a catered vegan lunch, and is where the young trainees get their work experience.

Other places

These places are not mentioned on the podcast but are worth going to visit if you can. Animals Asia:  This incredible place is trying to help Moon and Sun bears who are often kept in terrible conditions so that their bile can be extracted. This place is only open for visitors at certain times.  If the timing works for you,  then check it out.  Seeing these bears in comfort after such a tough life will be a highlight!