r1955

We (a couple +-60) are planning a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in January. I've decided to do only south and central Vietnam and leave the North to a warmer month, hoping we'll be lucky and don't have much rain in the centre. I haven't reserved any domestic flights yet so that can be changed.

22.1 fly into Siem Reap in the evening
23-25.1 Siem Reap
26.1 evening flight to Phnom Penh sleep in Phnom Penh
27.1 Phnom Penh
28.1 express boat to Chau Doc (leaves at noon) sleep in Chau Doc
29.1 morning in Chau Doc then transfer to Can Tho (bus or private?)
29.1-30.1 sleep in Can Tho
31.1 early afternoon flight to Danang. This flight is only on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday so any change would have to be accordingly.
Transfer to Hoi An.
31.1-2.2 Hoi An. 2 February is full moon so would like to be in Hoi An if possible
3.2 trip from Hoi- An to Hue
3.2-4.2 Hue
5.2 evening flight from Hue to Saigon
8.2 evening flight home

I'm not sure if to do a day in Phnom Penh or add to Siem Reap. Or to shorten Cambodia by 2 days and add to Hoi An (maybe too long?).
Any input would be very welcome.

LancasterLad

If your main reason for visiting Siem Reap is to spend most of the time at Angkor, then 3 days should be enough. If you want to hunt down every single Temple then you'll need longer.

Angkor is spread out, it'll be hot, and fatigue can quickly kick-in. Hiring a tuk tuk or taxi for the day is what most folk opt for. Easy enough for your hotel to organise unless you've got a trusted recommendation.

It'll be the back-end of High Season, so expect the main sites to be v.busy. Risk assess every temple before you go clambering up and down.

There's also plenty of other places to distract you in and around Siem Reap.

How long you want in Phnom Penh really depends on what you want to see. I think that everybody who visits Phnom Penh should visit The Killing Fields, and S21 Genocide Museum, in order to see some of the evidence of Cambodian's bloody recent history still in the living memory of many people.

kmkrnn

It seems to me you are going to be spending a lot of time in transit. Traveling from point A to B is not always easy, and go wrong very easily it that part of the world. Secondly, you are traveling over the busy New Year holiday, when hotels and planes are booked full or almost. I would think some reservations should be made soon.

As stated above Siem Reip is good for at least 3 days on the ground. You are not going to be moving very fast in that heat, and will need to plan a bit more time.

Hoi An is a delightful little town. it is nice to spend time there after the tourist busses for the day have gone back to where ever they came from. The lanterns at night make it very picturesque. have fun

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LancasterLad

Just to add.

The trip you're planning is a much trodden one. In addition to any new information/advice you'll get in response to your opening posting, also do a forum search as there's lot and lots of sound information hidden away.

Simply do separate searches for Siem Reap and Phnom Penh by entering the destinations into the 'Search the Forums' box on the right at the top of this page.

r1955

Thank you for the answers. New Year (if you mean the vietnamese) is on 19 February in 2015 so I hope it won't affect our holiday too much. As I understand it the Vietnamese don't get that much time off so our dates are quite a bit before.

yestravel

I spent 3 days in SR and it was a good amount of time for me. We were there in January and it was very hot.
not much to see in Chau Doc and the drive to Can tho is pretty boring.
do you have 2 days in HoiAn?

crellston

I doubt you will have any problems with Tet in Jan as next years date is around 20 Feb. A week either side of that will be busy and difficult to book travel but apart from Tahiti it will be fine. We will be travelling in the opposite direction from Saigon to Phnonm Penh about the same time. Who knows, we may meet in the delta! ��

As far as your itinerary is concerned, I think you have too many places scheduled. As mentioned above, if temples are your main interest then add time to Siem Reap ( 2-3 nights min are required. Teh temples there are far superior to the Imperial City and Tombs in Hue ( although they are v. Intersting too). Hoi An during a full moon is great but it is very touristy.

Saigon deserves a couple of days. Maybe it would be better use of your time to fly to Saigon from PP and take a side trip into the delta?