Vietnam/Cambodia with Bali

lady1964

Hi all,

DH & I are looking into planning a trip to Vietnam & Cambodia and adding a week in Bali at the end.

We’ve got a Trailfinders brochure and have also looked at a few other tour operators who run the type of holiday we’re looking at. We’re looking at March ‘25 for the best weather.

At this early planning stage, we’re unsure if we should look at a guided tour or if we could DIY a trip like this. I feel I could DIY this trip using tour operators plans as my guide but my DH has concerns around cost, safety and planning and also concerns around things that could go wrong, ie hotel rooms, visiting highlight spots, for example Angor Wat etc, etc.

I guess I’m looking for advice and help with the best way to approach this. We have a rough budget in mind and a rough length of time, a week in each place is the current idea.

Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to offer advice and guidance.

Shimrod

lady1964 said:

Hi all,

DH & I are looking into planning a trip to Vietnam & Cambodia and adding a week in Bali at the end.

We’ve got a Trailfinders brochure and have also looked at a few other tour operators who run the type of holiday we’re looking at. We’re looking at March ‘25 for the best weather.

At this early planning stage, we’re unsure if we should look at a guided tour or if we could DIY a trip like this. I feel I could DIY this trip using tour operators plans as my guide but my DH has concerns around cost, safety and planning and also concerns around things that could go wrong, ie hotel rooms, visiting highlight spots, for example Angor Wat etc, etc.

I guess I’m looking for advice and help with the best way to approach this. We have a rough budget in mind and a rough length of time, a week in each place is the current idea.

Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to offer advice and guidance.

Both countries are doable quite easily as independent travellers and we've never had any problems with hotel bookings or travel arrangements beyond the usual flight delays you can encounter anywhere. Safety was not a concern although as always you should be aware of pickpockets.

A week in each country does not give a lot of time - for Ankgor Wat I'd recommend the 3 day pass as the complex is huge and it is tiring in the heat. We stayed at the le Meridian when we visited as that is the closest hotel to the temple, but it's really only a matter of minutes if you want to stay further or out. Treat yourself to a guide with an Aircon car (about 80 dollars) or get a tuk tuk. Your hotel will book for you or you can just step out in the street and there'll be around.

Cambodia only has two international airports, so if doing multi location in Cambodia Phnom Penh is the other obvious location. Fly between the cities or take a six hour coach journey.

For a week in Vietnam, I might suggest Hanoi and a Ha Long vay cruise.
We did have some friends 'copy' one of our SE Asia trips but they booked through trailfinders with all pickups and transfers arranged as well as guides. They were pleased with the trip and the price, although it was more expensive than DIY

camelot1001

I can't comment on Cambodia or Bali but I was in Vietnam in July - very hot and humid!

I booked the whole trip myself (solo traveller aged 62) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Vietnam seemed to be a very safe place, everyone very helpful and internal transport between cities very reasonable. Whilst in the cities I used Grab for taxis or mopeds which are very cheap.

All hotels were booked through booking.com and a couple of airport transfers too. I visited Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi with a trip to Ha Long Bay too - I would recommend a two night cruise.

Hope this helps and enjoy your trip!

lady1964

Thank you both for your comments, they’re really helpful. what camelot1001 suggests for Vietnam is exactly what we’d like to do, can I ask how long you spent in Vietnam? 

Our current plan is to pop into our local Trailfinders office and tell them what we’d like to do, get a rough price and then I’ll research DIY to compare prices. I’m quite confident that I can put together the trip we want, I’m quite savvy with finding flight deals and hotels but I do wonder if an organised trip would be better, certainly it would be less stressful but I do like a good challenge and the feeling of accomplishment 😁

camelot1001

I spent 3 weeks in Vietnam - started off in Ho Chi Minh City, flew to Da Nang and transfer to Hoi An, transfer again to Hue then back to Da Nang for a flight to Hanoi. Went to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi and flew back from Hanoi.

I thought hotels were quite reasonable, a couple were outstanding too.

I had some trips and activities booked before I left but found quite a few more once I arrived. Food tours were good, one in Ho Chi Minh by moped (passenger) was particularly good.

Hope you manage to sort something out, starting at Trailfinders seems like a great start.

jimi_man

We did 15 days (the exact visa length) in Vietnam in March 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some great places to visit from the North to the South. We also did Ha Long bay on a two night cruise though tbh I wouldn’t bother. Once you’ve seen the limestone outcrops then there isn’t a lot else and it’s massively oversubscribed in terms of tourism which spoils it. A fair amount of rubbish/litter in the water as well. It was quite disappointing. 

But Vietnam is worth visiting. 

Shimrod

jimi_man said:

We did 15 days (the exact visa length) in Vietnam in March 2020 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some great places to visit from the North to the South. We also did Ha Long bay on a two night cruise though tbh I wouldn’t bother. Once you’ve seen the limestone outcrops then there isn’t a lot else and it’s massively oversubscribed in terms of tourism which spoils it. A fair amount of rubbish/litter in the water as well. It was quite disappointing. 

But Vietnam is worth visiting. 

We really enjoyed our Ha Long bay cruise, and would have liked another day. As well as the limestone outcrops we went through a cave by small boat, had a cycle ride and jungle walk on Cat Ba island and visited Surprise Cave. For the more adventurous you could do kayaking and paddle boarding as well.

We went with Au Co cruises which were a bit more expensive but at the time there had been a spare of fires on board the wooden junks so we chose a boat with a metal hull!

frankie

We did a 6 week Indochina package through Traiflinders.  Their advice and suggestions were first class, the guides that they organised were outstanding, we particularly had a good one at Ankor Wat, got us through the crowds, asked people to move so we could take photos!, it was first class. We stayed in Seam Reap rather than the large hotels to get the local vibe, fantastic, Pub street(s) were fab.  We had similar experiences in Vietnam, South to North. Don't miss Hoi An, stunning. Hanoi and Halong Bay a must.  Also went up to Sapa did some walking amongst the Hill Tribes with another fantastic guide. Went onto Loas and had a great time there, then got the boat up to Thailand. Stayed in Northern Thailand again walking amongst the villages, guide asked if we'd been to Myanmar and he took us over for a day, that was an eye opener!
Through out we said we wanted small hotels in centre of the places whilst still having a good comport level. Trailfinders delivered on all counts and the local guides were absolutely brilliant and were able to bond with them, sad goodbyes as we left them.

We went to Bali on a separate tour but spent most of our time in Lombok, much more authentic and less touristy, that was back in 2002 though, lots of Aussies in Bali and they could dominate at times.

What ever you choose to do I have no doubt you will have a fantastic time.

Voyager2002

lady1964 said:

Hi all,

DH & I are looking into planning a trip to Vietnam & Cambodia and adding a week in Bali at the end.

We’ve got a Trailfinders brochure and have also looked at a few other tour operators who run the type of holiday we’re looking at. We’re looking at March ‘25 for the best weather.

At this early planning stage, we’re unsure if we should look at a guided tour or if we could DIY a trip like this. I feel I could DIY this trip using tour operators plans as my guide but my DH has concerns around cost, safety and planning and also concerns around things that could go wrong, ie hotel rooms, visiting highlight spots, for example Angor Wat etc, etc.

I guess I’m looking for advice and help with the best way to approach this. We have a rough budget in mind and a rough length of time, a week in each place is the current idea.

Thanks in advance to anyone who is able to offer advice and guidance.

When I visited Cambodia I stayed for a month. A week is far too short.

DIY is very easy, and costs very much less than booking a package. Angkor Wat is the country's star attraction, so you might consider flying into Siem Reap. Your hotel or guesthouse there will arrange your airport transfer, probably at no additional cost.

Angkor Wat deserves a week and you can get a one-week ticket. Your guesthouse can arrange everything, or you can book a guided tour (I was very impressed by the guide from Buffalo Tours). I visited using an electric bike, which was also great for exploring the countryside.

If you want to visit the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, you could fly or spend a day on a bus but it is more exciting to get there by boat. Again you should allow a full day for this.

I think that Cambodia and Vietnam offer sufficient variety to fill an entire holiday. I doubt if a week in Bali would be worth it when tacked on to these two countries. Remember that you would need another visa and the flights would use up the best part of a day (including airport transfers and queues for passport control), not to mention the additional cost. Perhaps consider a final week at a beach resort in Cambodia or Vietnam?

lady1964

Thanks to everyone for their comments, they’re much appreciated.

We did decide to book with Trailfinders although we’ve made a few tweaks to one of their tailor made holidays. We’ve got 12 days in Vietnam, a week in Cambodia and a week in Bali to relax at the end. Bali has been on our list to visit since we had to cancel a trip there 12 years ago so we were always going to tag that on.

It may be that we re-visit Cambodia for longer at another time, maybe after one of our biannual Australia trips. 

Once again, thanks ☺️ 

dinhoecotour

What is your plan in a 12 day trip to Vietnam?