Vietnam/Cambodia with Bali

lady1964

dinhoecotour said:

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

We arrive in Hanoi then as follows:
Halong Bay - overnight cruise 
Hoi An
Hue
Ho Chi Minh
Mekong Delta - overnight cruise
Back to Hanoi 

we have a day off touring mid way through but visit the main spots before leaving for Cambodia.

dinhoecotour

Assuming you have a day off while staying in Hanoi, you can consider doing a day trip to Ninh Binh.
Otherwise, add it to one of the listed places.

Shimrod

lady1964 said:

dinhoecotour said:

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

We arrive in Hanoi then as follows:
Halong Bay - overnight cruise 
Hoi An
Hue
Ho Chi Minh
Mekong Delta - overnight cruise
Back to Hanoi 

we have a day off touring mid way through but visit the main spots before leaving for Cambodia.

That's a lot of travelling in those 12 days and l'd find it quite exhausting. If you have the option to change the itinerary I'd consider dropping one of the destinations and spend a bit more time exploring one of the others. Even if flying between some of the locations, you'll spend a lot of time in the airports. My travel preference these days is to spend 3-4 days at least in each location rather than trying to complete a tick list of sights in a country. There's always the option of a return trip to see the rest of the country!

Doshwaster

I've done Cambodia and Vietnam twice each as an independent traveller without problems. Haven't made it to Bali yet.

Vietnam is a lot bigger than you may think and it could easily take a month of your time to do end to end. If you only have a week or two then I'd concentrate on either the north or south and then save the other half for another time. Fantastic country and amazing value for money. Never paid more than £20-25 for a good standard accommodation.

I'm less keen on Cambodia. Siem Reap is a must for Ankor Wat but I easily get temple fatigue so one day of doing the sites was enough for me. The town itself is a nice relaxed place to hang out for a few days. Phnom Penh is a rapidly developing city which changed a huge amount between my two visits. It's still a bit rough in parts so you have to be more careful where you wander compared to other SE Asian cities. Worth hiring a driver for the day to take you around including the Killing Fields - one of the most heart-breaking places you will ever go but essential to understand the country.

lady1964

Unfortunately we can’t change the schedule as we’ve booked the Classic Vietnam and Cambodia visits with Trailfinders. We’ll be tired at the end which is why we’ve booked Bali for a week at the end so we can recover and relax, with maybe one or two trips whilst we’re there. 

I did seriously consider doing DIY but as this is our trip, we felt that booking with an agent would be much less stressful. If we decide to return, I’d have more confidence to DIY.

Doshwaster

lady1964 said:

Unfortunately we can’t change the schedule as we’ve booked the Classic Vietnam and Cambodia visits with Trailfinders. We’ll be tired at the end which is why we’ve booked Bali for a week at the end so we can recover and relax, with maybe one or two trips whilst we’re there. 

I did seriously consider doing DIY but as this is our trip, we felt that booking with an agent would be much less stressful. If we decide to return, I’d have more confidence to DIY.

DIY is really easy in SE Asia as there are well trodden routes done by backpackers and independent travellers, it's easy to book things as you go and there is always a lot of help available.

I'm just back from 3 weeks in Thailand and didn't book anything more than 2-3 days in advance. Unless you are travelling at peaks season there will always be lots of availability everywhere.

lady1964

Doshwaster said:

lady1964 said:

Unfortunately we can’t change the schedule as we’ve booked the Classic Vietnam and Cambodia visits with Trailfinders. We’ll be tired at the end which is why we’ve booked Bali for a week at the end so we can recover and relax, with maybe one or two trips whilst we’re there. 

I did seriously consider doing DIY but as this is our trip, we felt that booking with an agent would be much less stressful. If we decide to return, I’d have more confidence to DIY.

DIY is really easy in SE Asia as there are well trodden routes done by backpackers and independent travellers, it's easy to book things as you go and there is always a lot of help available.

I'm just back from 3 weeks in Thailand and didn't book anything more than 2-3 days in advance. Unless you are travelling at peaks season there will always be lots of availability everywhere.

Thanks, I’ll remember that if we like it so much we decide to go back. I’ve DIY’d three Australia trips and one to Malaysia but this one overwhelmed me as it tends to be all on me if things go a bit awry.

jbrassy

All those places are easy to do as a DIY holiday. You can book flights through Skyscanner and hotels through Booking. The easiest way to get around in these places is by downloading Grab (basically the same as Uber) which is really easy and cheap to use. If you want to visit Angkor Wat etc, you can just book tours using Get Your Guide or Viator. 

Someone else rightly mentioned that Cambodia doesn't have great links from it's airports. It may be easier to spend a day or two in Bangkok as you can fly practically anywhere from there. 

Doshwaster

jbrassy said:

All those places are easy to do as a DIY holiday. You can book flights through Skyscanner and hotels through Booking. The easiest way to get around in these places is by downloading Grab (basically the same as Uber) which is really easy and cheap to use. If you want to visit Angkor Wat etc, you can just book tours using Get Your Guide or Viator. 

Someone else rightly mentioned that Cambodia doesn't have great links from it's airports. It may be easier to spend a day or two in Bangkok as you can fly practically anywhere from there. 

For tours I would always try to book locally - either through your hotel or a local travel agent as the sites like GetYourGuide or Viator charge huge markups and you can often negotiate a discount in person especially outside of peak season.

I would agree that a stopover in Bangkok can be a good idea. It's the hub for low cost flights for the whole region and it's one of my favourite cities in the world for a couple of days.