4-5 days in Thailand or Vietnam in March
 

My husband, 17 yr old son and I will be visiting our daughter in Singapore in March. We will have 4 to 5 days to explore a surrounding country. I would classify us as semi-experienced travelers (spent 1 college year in Europe and strong US travel). We enjoy history and culture of the area--maybe one beach day. Not interested in shopping. I had considered Vietnam but seems somewhat difficult to travel without a guide or tour for the less experienced traveler. Am now considering Thailand. Any suggested itineraries? We want to make sure we get to experience as much as possible without making it a "readers digest" vacation. Thanks.

With 4 - 5 days, you need to choose one location (not one country - one location). This is easy to do in either country with no need for a guide or a tour. With so little time, you don;t want to go from place to place, as each change of loaction eats up most to all of a day.

Several suggestions to consider:

If VN, consider Hanoi (a more interesting city, IMO). You could spend the whole time in Hanoi and find plenty to do, but could instead choose an overnight trip to Halong Bay (you stay on a boat).

If Thailand, I'd recommend Bangkok. There is more than enough to keep you interested and occupied in the city. You could opt for a daytrip to Ayutthaya (an old, ruined capital city).

Another option to consider is a visit to Angkor Wat - truly one of the wonders of the world. You can fly non-stop from Singapore to Siem Reap, Cambodia. If you choose this option, you will need a car and driver in Siem Reap, and probably a guide. But there is no ned for a tour company. There are lots of recommendations for guides here, or you can simply have you hotel set it up for you.

Photos can help you make your decision. You are welcome to view photos of our SE Asia travels (especially look at Angkor photos): www.marlandc.com

for ease of everything, i would suggest thailand and bangkok as the only site...

there is plenty to do in bkk and very good eating of all types of food....it is also cheap in comparison to singapore...

you can get there easily either on air asia or on tiger air...both are discount airlines...

many of us suggest staying on the river especially for a first visit, but unfortunatly these are some of the more expensive hotels... most hotels do not have family rooms, but many allow a cot in the room for the 17 y.o.....

my preference is the marriott resort and spa... other river options are the royal orchid sheraton, the shangri-la, the peninsula, the hilton..

another option is serviced apartments....i am going to stay in a marriott one on soi 24 sukhumvit on my next visit...it is brand new and very nice...i looked at it personally last month... centre point silom or other locations is also a good option....

adelphi suites another option

in city center you might look at the marriott courtyard, bangkok holiday inn ( not the silom one), majestic grande, rembrandt, plaza anthanee (www.spg.com--- i just stayed there and it was fantastic, and a great location)...

sights: grand palace, wat pho, wat arun, jim thompson house, prasart museum, v-mark palace, suan pakkard palace and others...

taxis are very cheap and there is a wonderful elevated skytain...

come back when you have more ideas and we will help you

Vietnam is wonderful and easy to travel around without a guide, but cities/destinations are far apart and take time. If you choose one city, Hanoi might be a good bet.

Bangkok definitely has a lot going on and you could always do a day trip to the beach at Hua Hin. I have only been to the beaches further south, though, so can't speak from experience on that.

Kathie's suggestion of Cambodia is a great one! You could do Phnom Penh, which is a really fantastic city, in addition to a few days at Angkor Wat. It's only a 5ish hour busride between them.

Info and pics from our time in SE Asia at http://patrinadoestheglobe.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the advice. I probably didn't explain myself very well when I said "explore" another country. I should have said "sampled". Having been in Europe I know the dangers of "if it's Tuesday it must be Paris". But that said-looking for a fun adventure that will still be vacation. Leaning toward Thailand as our daughter may be able to meet us in Malaysia for the weekend before we fly back out of Singapore.

MCHS, there are so many great cities to visit in Thailand. I would recommend splitting your time between Bangkok and Chaing Rai. In Bangkok, be sure to visit the famous temples called Wat Traimit, Wat Po, and Wat Benchamabophit. In Chaing Rai, I would visit Wat Maha Dhat Phitsanulok and the grand Buddha statue, Phra Buddha Jinaraj. If you have time, you may also want to look into doing an elephant ride. Good luck planning the rest of your trip!

Gee, Gate1 sounds just like a travel agent. You have 4 or 5 days, but Gate1 recommends you go to two places so you spend another whole day in transit. If you had a week or more, two places would make sense. In four or five days... no way.