Cambodia and Vietnam

elantan

Hi everyone,

looking for some ideas and any advice anyone can help with info for a holiday to Cambodia and Vietnam.

Husband and i got to talking about our 25th anniversary and we talked about holidays ( we really enjoy getting away )

we were talking about Thailand and how much we enjoyed going there for Hubby's 40th birthday, this got us to talking about where else east we fancied and both of us agreed Cambodia and Vietnam, however we dont know much about either place or how to go about booking, are we best going to a travel agent or can i do it all myself? i have booked breaks myself before so this doesnt daunt me at all, but if it isnt any cheaper than going through a travel agent then it might not be worth the hassle.

can anyone recommend things to do in both places? possibly an itinerary ? we dont mind traveling about at all and taking internal flights is ok as well, when we did Thailand we did Bangkok, Chaingmai and Phuket, and last year when we did west coast USA we traveled quite a bit as well. We want to see the best of both countries, we do fancy finishing at a beach type place though to unwind before going back home

Accommodation wise we want to go business to luxury class as this is our anniversary and we want to spoil ourselves a wee bit .... to give you an idea we have enjoyed places like the Merlin beach in phuket, Hotel aqua in icmeler ( well we are going there soon so cant exactly say if we love it but it looks like the type of place we would enjoy) coconut residence in The Gambia and Qubus in Krakow ( not trying to show off or anything but trying to give you an idea of what we like) but wouldnt mind going a wee bit cheaper if its good accommodation.

Also do i need anything like a visa to get into either country?

would i be best booking a flight to Bangkok then flying to Cambodia ?

I have so many questions but dont want to Bombard anyone just now

any questions please ask

Thanks in advance

el

richardw

When do you want to go?

Where are you in the UK?

How may weeks is the trip?

elantan

richardw wrote: »

When do you want to go?

Where are you in the UK?

How may weeks is the trip?

thanks Richard ...

our 25th anniversary is feb 2015 so i have plenty of time to plan book and save .... we are in central Scotland but happy to fly to London for an onward journey ( have done so many times now)

were thinking 3-4 weeks for the trip ... hopefully enough time to do most things

spacey2012

From what I gather on Cambodia , avoiding the mosquito season is the key to the holiday, apparently they have around 3 weeks where you are bitten half to death, it happens around 10 days after the summer rains.

elantan

Thanks Spacey that would deff be something to plan around as i get bitten really badly, hoping though that end of Jan/Feb would be after the summer rains still warmish but not too hot ... i could be wrong though so will double check that

richardw

I've been to Phnom Penh and the temples at Siem Reap, it was a great trip and the temples are outstanding.

Haven't been to Vietnam, but as we'll as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh cities there's also Ha Long Bay and Phu Quoc to consider.

The airline situation will probably be better for when you want to go.
Thai Airways have one of the best business class offerings apparently.

elantan

have to admit we flew with Thai airways to Thailand ... it was such a pleasure, my fave airline to fly with so far, i wouldnt mind staying cheap seats with them though tbh as they are wonderful even cheap, we got upgraded to first class flying from Phuket back to Bangkok and whilst it was even better i dont think it would be worth forking out excessively for ...the places you mention are deff the type of places i want to go, i am just not entirely sure what way to do it and what to NOT miss if you know what i mean

phatbear

never been to cambodia but ive been to vietnam so can only really write about that.

if you hold british passports you will need visas to enter vietnam. There are two routes for this the obvious, and most expensive way, is through the vietnam consulate in the UK or you can do a visa on arrival, this involves getting a letter of introduction from a vietnamese company, i used

http://www.myvietnamvisa.com/

the letter costs £12'ish each and then when you arrive in vietnam you get your visa on arrival, the clues in the name, you will need to pay a stamping fee, which when we went last year was $25 each but looking at the site i mentioned it appears to be $45 each now. For a lot more indepth info tripadvisor is prob your best bet. There a lot of stories of waiting for hours for the visa but me and the ex waited no more than 15-20 mins and there was quite a few people in front of us, i also noticed that greasing the palm of the local young officers seemed to get a lot of people seen to a lot quicker.

i really enjoyed vietnam we spent the vast majority of our time in ho chi minh, but also visited hoi an, which was lovelly we used a cheap internal flight to get their, mui ne, which was alright, and bien hoa, where my bro lives that is the armpit of vietnam.

if i could i would happily re-visit 'nam to go back to hoi an, which i fell in love with, and to visit saigon and ha long bay.

Pollycat

Re an itinerary, why not look at some of the companies that do escorted tours and see what places/sights they include?

Here's a few that do Cambodia/Vietnam tours. some also include Laos.
http://www.vjv.com/

http://www.ctshorizons.com/

http://www.wendywutours.co.uk/

We did a wonderful 27 day tour of China with CTS Horizons a few years ago.

Maybe take a look at the Cambodia and Vietnam boards on Tripadvisor too.

PompeyPete

Been to Thailand loads of times, and Cambodia twice. Both countries are very, very easy to do independently. The problem with Tour companies is that you are more or less bound to follow their itineraries. Travelling independently you set your own pace, and if you fancy loitering somewhere, which you will, then you simply tweak your programme. No need to book hotels in advance, other than your arrival hotel in PP.

I can't comment on Vietnam, but this is how we we did Cambodia 4 months ago...

Flew Air Asia from Don Muang (Bangkok) to Phnom Penh (PP). Takes 1 hour.

Visa on arrival is US$20. US$ is the de facto currency and there's no need to buy Cambodia Riel. Plenty of ATMs and Banks. Canadia Bank is the best. You'll get Riels in your change (US$ = 4,000 Riel), but they're easy to spend. There are no coins.

Loads of hotels and restaurants in PP to suit all budgets.

4 nights will probably be enough, taking in Killing Fields, S21 Genocide Museum, Russian Market. There's loads more to see depending on what your interests are.

Bus to Siem Reap. Giant Ibis is the best company. Takes 6 hours.

The main sights in Siem Reap (SR) are at the Angkor Historical Site. Can be done over 1 day or several days. It depends on how quickly you get temple fatigue. We stayed in SR for a week.

Bus to Battambang (3 hours). Stayed 5 nights.

Taxi to Poipet (infamous Thai/Cambodia border).

Train back to Bangkok.

There's loads of other sides trips you can arrange independently, but getting around is very easy by public transport. Don't travel overnight.

Didn't have much of a problem with mozzies in March, and used Jungle Formula (50% deet), and Avon So-soft, which did the trick for us.

I got most of our advice from the Trip Advisor discussion forum, and Lonely Planet/Rough Guide.

littlereddevil

Just back from Vietnam. We flew Glasgow to Dubai to Ho Chi Minh with Emirates. Got 2 business class flights for £3700 ! We stayed a few nights in HCMC then flew Vietnam airlines up to Da Nang and on to Hoi An which is just lovely. We sent our passports in advance to the Vietnamese embassy in London, nearly £100 for the two visas but saved a lot of queuing when we got there. I haven't been to Cambodia but as it isn't far you could easily incorporate the two countries if you wish.