Cambodia and Vietnam holiday

slinga

I understand not many agree but 'for balance' - we like travelling in the Far East but were disappointed with both Hanoi and HCMC which we visited on seperate occasions 6 days each time.
HCMC was the better imo.
See if you can get a deal on the Governor's Suit at the Rex Hotel in HCMC. It was £80 per night two years ago.

bylromarha

slinga wrote: »

I understand not many agree but 'for balance' - we like travelling in the Far East but were disappointed with both Hanoi and HCMC which we visited on seperate occasions 6 days each time.

Not a big fan here either. We're well seasoned SE Asia travellers, but found the bigger cities in Vietnam weren't enjoyable for us. Hanoi was preferable to HCMC to us, but neither were "must go back" destinations.

OP - 2 weeks to cover all those places is logistically doable, but you'll be rushing everywhere to see everything of importance. If that's how you like to holiday, go for it and have a great time! If you like a little bit of rest, then SR is probably the calmest place to rest your feet for a few days and drop either Hanoi or HCMC.

Mardrew

bagby wrote: »

I do research myself but sometimes you get ideas that you would not sometimes think of yourself.

I totally agree with this. As I've just mentioned in the Cambodia thread, we just got back from Vietnam earlier on today. Before we went (and as I usually do before any holiday, I spent hours reading TripAdvisor) and one of the things we did based on this research, although totally not moneysaving(!) was the speedboat trip to Ch Chi Tunnels with Les Rives. My husband says this was one of his highlights. Check out the reviews on TA. The general consensus is it's expensive but worth it.

My highlight, and again soooo not moneysaving(!!!) but I loved it, was the one night cruise we did to Halong Bay (or rather Bai Tu Long which is the quieter part.) After much research we chose Orchid Cruise. Again, expensive, but worth it to us. During the day, I think we saw one other ship - this was midweek - and when we were parked up at night, in the far distance, perhaps about 12 ships.

Mardrew

slinga wrote: »

See if you can get a deal on the Governor's Suit at the Rex Hotel in HCMC. It was £80 per night two years ago.

This hotel looked fabulous and in a perfect location. We stayed in the Liberty Central Citypoint which was just behind it.

Just to add a moneysaving tip, as my post above is rather a splurge post, the roof terrace of the Rex has a happy hour between 5 pm - 7 pm where there are about 10 cocktails that are buy one get one free. There may have been some other items as well but I can't remember.

DUKE

I'll be keeping a close eye on this threat too bagby, hopefully Vietnam is next on my list. Unless an amazing too good to miss deal comes along. I've put Both Cambodia & Vietnam off for far too long now, but mainly to do other parts of SE Asia

slinga

slinga wrote: »

I understand not many agree but 'for balance' - we like travelling in the Far East but were disappointed with both Hanoi and HCMC which we visited on seperate occasions 6 days each time.
HCMC was the better imo.
See if you can get a deal on the Governor's Suit at the Rex Hotel in HCMC. It was £80 per night two years ago.

We won't return to Vietnam but for any who want to try it here's a review posters might find worth a read.

http://www.mycarforum.com/topic/2705729-central-vietnam-da-nang-hoi-an/

Hope this sort of thing is allowed on this site.

PompeyPete

Slinga.....thanks for posting that link.

We had 4 nights in Da Nang in September 2015, staying facing the river with the Dragon Bridge to our right. Had the penthouse room with panoramic private terrace in a place called Rainbow Hotel @ £17 a night including breakfast. We enjoyed Da Nang, but didn't realise there was quite so much to see, and obviously missed out on a lot of it.

Also spent a week in Hoi An.....touristy, but still a one-off, particularly after dusk as proved by the photos in the link.

WAYT

Just missed a super deal with Qatar Airways £560 for a return ticket from SGN-LHR in Business Class.
SGN to Spanish cities for around £440 return USA £515 etc
There was Jo'burg, Sao Paulo...

It was announced on their Twitter feed yesterday, but I discovered it a couple of hours too late, just as the last seats were selling out.
https://twitter.com/qatarairways

bagby

Anyone flown Vietnam airlines. Shortest direct flight Heathrow in and out of Hanoi. Will have to get a multiple entry visa. Looks like it will be best value to get these flights then fly to Saigon,and Phnom Penh then back out of Hanoi. Work out at about £730.

PompeyPete

bagby wrote: »

Anyone flown Vietnam airlines. Shortest direct flight Heathrow in and out of Hanoi. Will have to get a multiple entry visa. Looks like it will be best value to get these flights then fly to Saigon,and Phnom Penh then back out of Hanoi. Work out at about £730.

Why do you need a multi entry visa? Use your 15 day visa waiver entitlement for the first visit, and then get a single entry visa for the second visit.