cferrb

My husband, son and I hope to fly to Vietnam on or after Dec. 17 from Los Angeles to meet up with our daughter, who is there already on a study abroad. We hope to stay in SE Asia until about Jan. 4, and we want to see some of Vietnam and Angkor Wat. We are very flexible at this point about flying into Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Bangkok or somewhere else.

As far as I can tell, at this point we are looking at about $1,500 RT regardless of where we fly into. I am hoping that someone has some suggestions about a more economical way to fly, while maximizing our time there. We cannot leave before the evening of Dec. 16 because hubby and I are both teachers, so we won't be able to leave work until about 3:00 p.m.

Any inside knowledge would be welcome.

Thanks a bunch.

Kathie

You are traveling at the most expensive time of the year - no way around that. Traditionally, the least expensive gateway to SE Asia has been to fly into Bangkok. But you need to look at your whole trip to decide the best plan for you. You are going to VN, so you will have a significant expense for visas for VN. If you get your visas in advance from a consulate in the US, the price will be about $220 per person for a one year multi-entry visa if you are traveling on a US passport. If you opt for the pre-arranged visa, you will each pay $135 stamping fee when you arrive in VN plus whatever fee the agency charges you for the approval letter. While you will need a visa for Cambodia, they do have a visa on arrival for US$30 per person.

No magic available - just do your research and see what airfares you can find.

lcuy

My first piece of advice is to keep trying. Prices can change, sometimes a lot, from day to day.

I like to shop on Kayak.com. Choose the 'flights' section, then type in your departure and arrival cities. Underneath these cities, click 'include nearby'. under the SEARCH box, click on show flexible dates.

You will have to run separate searches for each of Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi.I see that China Airlines has flights for about $1100 on your dates. Once you have found good flights, I also recommend going directly to airline sites to try the same search. Sometimes, but not often, it will be cheaper that going through Kayak. Kayak will also let you set an alert on your searches, and will notify you if prices drop.

Once you have your international flights, you can work on the inter-Asia flights. Some of the regional airlines will not show up on Kayak, so go to AirAsia.com to check their prices. They are a good airline, but charge extra for everything, (bags, seats, even using a credit card) so make sure you total up the whole amount before comparing.

Flights into Siem Reap (for Angkor) tend to be high. If you fly into Phnom Penh, it might be a lot cheaper for four of you to get to Siem Reap by hiring a driver.

Vietnam visas are expensive, so unless you get the multi-entry type, don't plan on entering the country more than once, except for a transit through the airport on the way home.

MmePerdu

I find this website very useful for keeping an eye on fares: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

You can also sign up for low-fare alerts on airfarewatchdog.com. They'll send you an email when there's a fare drop to any/all of your proposed cities from your own airport, or those nearby.

It's important to make a decision as soon as you see one you can live with and buy it immediately, as especially the sale fares are grabbed up instantly.

leehudson

One good way to save travel costs within SE Asia is to use domestic flights internally and then travel between country by bus.

Vietnam Airlines has really cheap travel within Vietnam.

Bassaka Air has really cheap flights within Cambodia.

AirAsia has the cheapest flights connecting Cambodia to Thailand.

rhkkmk

China eastern air is one of the cheapest

Kathie

Lee, your tip to use buses between countries isn't very practical for people with limited time. Air Asia has excellent prices between these counties.

leehudson

Kathie your tip to fly AirAisa between Cambodia and Vietnam is not very practical because they do not fly this route. I would only suggest a bus between HCMC and Phnom Penh which saves you a lot of money.

lcuy

Actually, Air Asia does fly Siem Reap to Saigon (flt #541).
However it has a long layover, so the fastest would be Vietnam Air or Cambodia Angkor Air. They both have non stops from Siem Reap to Saigon for about $150 and take only an hour.

The bus takes 12 hours.

MmePerdu

What about boats?

cferrb

Thank you all. I understand that it is possible to travel from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi MInh City along the river. Is that a viable option?

sartoric

Yes, river travel is a good option. Pandaw runs between PP and HCMC, they take about 4 nights with stops in the delta area. Have a look at their website.

crellston

If you have the time a nice way to travel between HCMC and PP part bus and part boat through the delta. Bus to Can Tho (4 hours) overnight there and visit Cai Rang floating market in the early morning. Then get the bus to Chau Doc (3 hours) which is one of our favourite places in the delta. A couple of days there would enable you to visit the submerged forest, Sam Mountain and temples and the Cham villages.

There are several fast boats plying the route to PP. We used Hang Chau, about six hours and $30.

There are some photos and more info in the Vietnam section of our blog
https://accidentalnomads.com/category/vietnam/

With regard to your international flights, I would be inclined to explore the option of flying into Kuala Lumpur as Air Asia has lots of options to fly to all the cities you have mentioned and their fares are generally very good.

cferrb

Thank you all. I will look into flying to Kuala Lumpur. Crellston, I assume that the six hour boat is from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh, not from HMC to PP.

crellston

It is from Chau Doc to PP.

cferrb

Just a brief update. I am flying into Hanoi, then traveling south through Hoi An to HCMC, through the delta, then a boat up to Phnom Penh and on to Siem Reap, and then flying to Bangkok. Thank you all for your advice, especially Crellston and the boat. We are going to do take that from Chao Doc to Phnom Penh, and to those who recommended local airlines. VietJet has turned out to be really affordable (there was a flight for $9 from Hanoi to Da Nang), and ThaiSmile will get us from SiemReap to Bangkok without breaking the bank and without sitting on a bus all day.