best way to travel between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Siem Reap, Cambodia
 

Hello,

Is flying the best way to travel between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Siem Reap, Cambodia or are there other ways to do this in one day?

Thanks,

There is a bus. It takes more than 12 hours, as I remember. Take a look at www.talesofasia.com which will give you full information.

If by best you mean fastest, obviously you fly. I would say that the best way is by boat to Phnom Penh and bus or car from there, but that will take more than one day.

Highly recommend flying. Budget vacation or not, it's worth it to avoid the headache of driving/bus on the roads there. Driving on those roads are definitely an experience to see, but it gets old after 10 minutes. You'll be fearing for your life for another 12 hours after that.

Heed the advice of tpuffvb.
FLY.

If you want speed fly. If you want to see some of the country, get the bus or, better still, a bus and boat combination as Thursdaysd suggests.

Vietnam Airlines has a non-stop flight that only takes an hour. I punched in a random date (March 20) and it's only $180. To not spend all day getting there, that's totally worth it unless you have quite a bit of time.

"To not spend all day getting there, that's totally worth it unless you have quite a bit of time"

And unless you actually want to see the country, as opposed to flying over it and seeing clouds.

<<<And unless you actually want to see the country, as opposed to flying over it and seeing clouds.>>>


The question was about getting there in one day. Most people don't have as much time as they might want and can only spend a couple weeks in the region at most so time has to be budgeted. Spending more than a day just getting between two places, when you don't have an option to stop and look at the things you're passing is often not a practical option. Many people are worried about the cost and I think that the trade off between time being able to walk around and the higher cost of the plane ticket vs a bus is worth the cost.

Also, many bus trips do not actually let you really see the country... it flashes by quickly when you have decent roads, or it flashes by on a bumpy road while you close your eyes and try not to be sick, or you're in thick trees and can't really see much beyond the trees on either side of the road.

You said: "that's [cost of the plane] totally worth it unless you have quite a bit of time"

Now you say: "The question was about getting there in one day."

I thought we had moved on from the OP's one day issue. I already posted "if by best you mean fastest, obviously you fly"

I have flown from Saigon to PP. I have taken a boat from Saigon to PP. (Both times I went overland to SR.) The boat was more interesting than the plane, especially the contrast between Vietnam and Cambodia immediately apparent on crossing the border.

How along have you got for the trip? There is no boat direct from HCMC to PP anymore.

The best way is to get a boat from Chau Doc to PP. around $25_30 pp. Leaves around 07.00 and takes 6 hours. We used Hang Chau arranged by Murray Guesthouse. Book in advance in Dec!

Details of that trip on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2015/05...bodia-by-boat/

If you have time do spend some of it in the delta, an often ignored part of the country some photos etc in the Vietnam section of our blog

Agree with the post above - No boat directly from HCMC to PP just bus. You should do 1 night in Can Tho and 1 night in Chau Doc before taking a ferry boat from Chau Doc to PP on day 3.