itinerary help laos/vietnam/camb
 

I have 17 days in March and my husband and I would like to do the following. I do know that each place deserves more time, but this is all we have for now.

Vancouver to Bangkok and staight to Luang Prabang - 2 days

LP to Hanoi/Halong Bay - 4 days

Hanoi to Hoi An - 2 days

Hoi An to Siem Reap - 3/4 days

Then we would like to spend 3-4 days on a beach - have heard phu quoc is nice, kho samui and phuket.

Or is a different order possible, keeping in mind that we want to relax at the end on a nice, warm beach!

Also, we are planning to fly to each city - I know I have to fly into Danang to get to Hoi An - if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate your advice.:)

IMHO you are trying to visit way too many places in to short a period. You shoul allow at least a day to travel between locations (and that's assuming the connections work out!)

Hanoi alone is worth 4 days, as is Luang Prabang and I would suggest forgeting about Halong Bay and spend longer in Hanoi.
I would also favour spending longer in Siem Reap and forgetting about Hoi An which is OK but very touristy.

The beaches in Thailand are preferable to Vietnam and, depending what sort of experience you are looking for, will offer a much wider variety of places to stay.

If you stick to your current itinerary, i estimate you will spend approx, 6 days in transit (i.e. one third of your vaction) in transit!

Crellston is absolutely right... way too many places in way too little time. You'll see lots and experience nothing (except airports and ground transport) with this itinerary.

Your time in LP - one of my favorite places - is really wasted. You'll arrive there from Vancouver via a major transit airport and then Bangkok and you're going to stay two days? I don't know how you've counted your "days" but you only have two days there if you're spending three nights. You'll be jet lagged and not really ready and able to fully immerse yourself in the place. I think you need a minimum of 3 full days in LP, and more would be better.

Hanoi, as crellston says deserves 4 days (again, don't count your travel days). I agree with him to cut Halong Bay.

I also agree that cutting Hoi An makes sense. The spend a minimum of three full days in Siem Reap.

I'm guessing you haven't ben to SE Asia before. If that it true, I'd recommend you re-think your itinerary. I'd suggest cutting Hanoi for this first trip - save it for another time when you can spend some time in VN. To go all that way and not experience Bangkok would be too bad. A more reasonable itinerary might be:

Bangkok - 2 nights
LP -4 nights
Siem Reap 4 nights
Beach 4 nights
Bangkok 3 nights

This itinerary would also allow you to take advantage of Bangkok Air's Discovery pass.

Thanks to both for your suggestions. Kathie, I see your itinerary has 2 nights in Bangkok at the beginning and then 3 at the end - so you are suggesting 4 days in total in Bangkok.

Although I would like to spend some time in Thailand, for a first time visitor (you're right), my preference is to spend more time in the other 3 countries.

This visit I'm not sure I want to spend so much time in Bangkok - do you see any other way I can have my cake and eat it too? By that, Luang Prabang, Hanoi and Siem Reap are the 3 places we would like to see - do you think this is possible with time on the beach or should I adjust my thinking??

Several thoughts to consider. By visiting so many different countries, it will be difficult to get oriented to the culture of any of the countries. Even the itinerary I proposed is really too many countries for a first visit in the sense that you won't have much of a sense of any of the individual cultures.

Since you have to fly in and out of Bangkok, adding that as a destination makes logistical sense. But also, if you want any sense of the Thai culture, I think you have to spend some time in Bangkok. Bangkok is a fabulous city. It's my favorite city in the world. If you read some of the trip reports, you'll see that there is an endless supply of things to do in Bangkok.

Do you have 17 days on the ground in Asia or does the 17 day total include your travel time from Canada? If you have 17 days on the ground in Asia, you can visit up to 4 different places without making yourself crazy. If the 17 days includes your travel time, you would be wise to cut back to three places.

Consider this as your first trip to SE Asia. What is important to you to see first? Some places are changing rapidly, Luang Prabang and Siem Reap come to mind. So it makes sense to try to see those soon. Other places - Hanoi, Bangkok and beach are not changing so rapidly. Also, some places make more sense or less sense to combine. I'd advocate for saving any place in VN until you have time to spend a couple of weeks there and get a sense of the country.

If Luang Prabang, Hanoi and Siem Reap are the 3 places you really want to see, you could do it - but I'd recommend you cut the beach then. It will be hard to get a sense of the places as they are all different countries and cultures, so spending the maximum amount of time in each would be wise. You also need to look at logistics. With those three places, most of your air connections will require a plane change, so you are really losing almost a full day each time. Adding in a beach means you lose 4 full days out of your vacation, plus the transfer time it takes from Bangkok to your first destination and the transfer time back to Bangkok from your last destination.

It's your trip. My "rules" for planning a great trip are
1. Know thy self.
2. Know they destination.

Your know yourselves, what you like and don't like, etc., but you don't know the destinations. My goal is to offer info about the destinations that will help you make good decisions for you.

If it were my trip (and it is not), I'd choose three destinations. For me, it would be Bangkok, Luang Prabang and Siem Reap.

Hi Kathie,

Yes, I have spent the afternoon looking through the posts and see that you are well versed in s.e. asia. You have given me more to think about and thanks. The trouble is is that I want to see it all and have to remember to be patient . . . But I am itching to see Siem Reap, Luang Prabang. Those are priorities for sure.

I will probably be asking more questions as I go.

Thanks!