Hi, I have to plan a very last minute (leaving week of 22 Nov!) 2 week trip to Asia. Help! I have never been and am struggling with an itinerary-there are so many places to go!!

I would ultimately like it to be a tour of variety. Maybe fly into a city (one that Virgin Atlantic flies to) and go to 2 different places from there.

I would like to include a big city with vibrant culture but also smaller places of the artsy market/cafe kind where you can just absorb the local culture without running around too much. I would also like to relax in a pretty beach town for a day or two. I am not really interested in going to places known for being tourist party hubs.

My initial thought was to fly into Hong Kong or Shanghai and go somewhere south from there. I would love to include Bali - down side is that it is far away and the prices to fly down seem to be steep. Cambodia and Laos also seem interesting and the weather is supposed to be great now but know very little about these places.

As you can see, I need some help figuring this out. Can anyone out there suggest a good combination of places to go to cover the above description?

Many, MANY thanks.

China is so big, and you have too many choice

As you are leaving this Monday, you will have to go to countries which do NOT require a visa to be obtained in advance, as you don’t have enough time to obtain one between today and Monday. That would rule out the PRC. Cambodia and Laos also require visas, but you can obtain them on arrival (you need to have passport size photos with you when you land).

Indonesia does not require a visa. Neither does Hong Kong. I assume you are a US citizen. If you are a citizen of another country, visa rules will also apply.

Cambodia has some beaches which may work. Laos of course, does not. Hong Kong has some very nice beaches, and weather is lovely here now. But no hotels on a beach. Given your interests, I think Bali may work better for beach/artsy/café, as opposed to Cambodian beach areas which are relatively undeveloped. The Phuket/Krabi area on the west coast of Thailand would also work (at least for beach and café, maybe no so much artsy). That area is easy to reach from Hong Kong, but so is Bali. Can’t say how air fares to the two compare.

You might consider the west coast of Malaysia, places like Malacca, Penang/Georgetown and then perhaps inland areas. These areas are far less touristed than Bali and places like Luang Prabang. You could fly into Singapore and go overland into Malaysia by train, bus or rental car. This would be cheaper than flying to Bali. But as you seem to have done little research and plan to leave on Monday, perhaps going to a country you may never have heard of is not such a good idea.

You could theoretically get a PRC visa while you are here in Hong Kong, however you need 3-4 days to process it; with only a 2 week trip, you may not want to devote that much time to this. Also, the PRC consulate here from time to time stops issuing visas for people who are not residents of Hong Kong, so there is a chance you would come here only to find you can’t get a visa. If you merely want to transit through Shanghai airport on to a flight out of the PRC to elsewhere (i.e. Bali), then you don’t need a visa.

Thanks Cicerone! I hate not having time to plan but it cannot be helped in this instance. Doing loads of research and narrowed it down to 2 options - HK to Yunnan but hadn't considered the wait for a visa. Hmmm. Or Singapore to Java and Bali.

I think the combination of a city plus Bali is a good. My choice would be Hong Kong over Singapore, but they're both interesting and both have frequent non-stop flights to Bali/Denpasar. There are several budget carriers that operate between Bali and other Asian cities.

Bangkok plus one of the Thai beaches would also be good, easy choices.

Right now wouldn't be the best time for Java (assuming you mean Central Java/Borobudur)as there's a lot of disruption in the area due to the erupting volcano.

You do need a visa to enter Indonesia but for almost all nationalities you can acquire a visa on arrival at the airport. Just make sure your passport is valid for 6 months after the date of your arrival.

Bali seems like it would have a lot of your wish list...beaches, artsy stuff, local culture, etc.

This would also be a nice time to go to Siem Reap in Cambodia and see Angkor Wat and the other temples. The weather is getting cooler and you can get a visa on arrival (don't even need photos, although they may charge you an extra dollar or two). Only problem may be getting air tix from your base city.

Siem Reap has very nice places to stay in all price ranges from $20 a night to $800 a night. Most hotels will pick you up at the airport and can arrange a guide and car or tuktuk for temple touring at the very last minute. There are lots of good restaurants and fun places to just sit. Do some temple touring, ride an elephant or balloon, go on a boat ride, ride an ultralight plane over the town, or even go help at one of the schools supported by the Ponheary Ly foundation. (www.theplf.org)

you can't go wrong with Bangkok, Singapore or HK for your big cities.

Sorry, can't help with beaches. i'm from hawaii, so I don't usually do beach vacations!

If you don't mind flying between location 1 and 2, dang, Bali and Siem Reap seems like a killer combination. No big city, but shoot, there are cities everywhere.

'sheeed