We just were able to increase our stay in SE Asia to 12 days, so we're altering our 8-day itinerary. Before we had 4 days BKK, 4 days Siem Reap. We now want to add Luang Prabang and perhaps a beach within driving distance to BKK. The problem is that we can only get a flight to LP for 48 hours (but we managed to get reservations at a fabulous hotel - La Residence Phou Vou):

3 nights BKK
3 nights SR
2 nights LP
3 nights Hua Hin or back to BKK if we love it

Considering we rarely get to Asia (we're Latin America people) and REALLY want to see LP, should we go for just 48 hours? Or should we do a 5-day Yaang Come Village/Anantara combo instead?

Too much in too little time (do you get tired of reading this from me?). Don't go to LP for 48 hours. Not only will you not get the expereince of LP that you want, it will make all the rest of your trip so crowded that you will spoil some of your enjoyment of it. If you could get a minimum of three nights in LP perhaps, but I'd want at least 4 nights (3 days) so that you could get a flavor of it.

Of course it's always nice to have more time, but the reality is that most people don't. I was in Luang Prabang for 48 hours and it was the highlight of my trip. The town is small. You will be able to acomplish quite a bit in 2 days. You will wish you had more time to linger, but you will not regret going for 48 hours. I say go for it, even if means cutting out days in BKK. More and more people are going to L.P and it will soon lose some of its appeal. BKK will remain the same, as it's a big city and you will likely need to connect through there in the future if you ever get back to Southeast Asia.

While I'd like to say you should go to Luang Prabang for the 2 days, I just can't imagine us doing the same trip, so I can't recommend it. I agree with Kathy that this "on the move" itinerary might make your whole trip less enjoyable. On the other hand, I hear what you are saying about not getting to Asia again...but isn't that all the more reason to enjoy it rather than try to keep with a too packed itinerary?

With 11 nights, you could have a really nice 3 stop trip, with time enough for both sightseeing and relaxing.

I would skip Hua Hin to be honest. As a beach, it is not very nice in my opinion, though there are some quite nice hotels and resorts there. If you want a nice beach, it takes the same amount of time to fly to Samui or Phuket or Krabi as it does to drive to Hua Hin.

Is there a way you can juggle the Luang Prabang dates too make the stay there a day longer...or even to 4 days? Did you investigate flights to LP from Siem Reap that don't stop in BKK...I think Lao Airlines offers that, at least they were due to start that on Mondays and Thursdays. www.laoairlines.com

Maybe if you try to work around a stay in Luang Prabang of 3 days using Lao Air from Siem Reap and Bangkok Air to Bangkok?

I agree with Kim. I'd skip the beach in favor of LP even if you do only have 48 hours for the latter. It's so wonderful and so different from a beach destination that I'd figure out a way to fit it in. AND I agree with Kathie that you're trying to do too much! Hence, the suggestion to drop Hua Hin. Maybe 4 nights BKK, 2 nights LP, 4 nights SR,and back to BKK for 1 night before flying home... or if you get a late flight out of SR so that you still have three FULL days, you could do just three nights there and add a night to BKK. Good luck!
Karen

Thanks, everyone. I am driving my family crazy, so it's wonderful to have a patient, supportive community as my travel advisors.

Karen & Landini - Did you go to LP with kids?

Hua Hin is now out. Have juggled things around and have come up with 4 possibilities - one super-adventurous, one adventurous and two safe, but probably more kid-friendly (our sons are 13 and 16). Currently we have 3 nights BKK, 3 nights SR, 3 nights booked in LP and 2 additional free days. I agree with everyone that we should spend more time in LP (we are generally "slow" travelers and rent houses, often spending weeks in one place) but the problem is getting a flight out. Is there a way to book Lao flights online? I have contacted various travel agencies, but haven't heard back. Meanwhile, to complicate things, we have been invited by a teen community service organization to spend a day at their base in an unspoiled village near Udon Thani. So here are the choices:

1) Spend 3 full days in LP, then hire a driver to take us from LP to Vientiane (8 hrs!) Meet a Thai driver at the border, spend a day in the village, then fly back to BKK from Udon. (This journey was suggested by the Udon people, but would realistically take 10-11 hours with the border crossing.)

2) With some luck, take (and survive) a Lao flight from LP to Vientiane, then follow part 2 as above.

3) Forget LP and opt for 4 days CM area and 1 day Udon (we can get a nok air flight there from CM). Found a cool place to stay out of town to get our rural fix.

4) Following Karen's suggestion, increase SR and split up BKK time - 2 nights BKK, 4 nights SR, 2 nights LP, then 2 more nights BKK.
(but doesn't this count as four destinations? - we can't do 4 consecutive BKK days because of lack of availability of flights to SR)

Thanks again to everyone for your help. Please let me know if you need Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru or Cuba advise.

To me, option 2 seems best. It seems like a good idea to do the thing in Udon Thani. It seems maybe interesting to go LP to UT overland, but with a mere 11 nights spending an entire day doing this journey seems like too much of a time investment.

If it were me with 11 nights after a transpacific flight, I'd do Bangkok and Siem Reap and that's it. But that's me, and we tend to be slow, lazy travellers who manage to sightsee amazingly little considering the time we spend in places.

You have so little time, I'd recommend that you fly as much as you can. You cannot buy Lao Air tickets online (there is a website that looks like a Lao Air website, but it's a French travel agency which will take your money and send you an email that looks like a tickets, by Lao Air won't accept it.

Eddie (at the AmEx Agency in Bangkok) can book Lao tickets for you. Email him at [email protected]

You can also play it by ear, wait until you get to LP, then book tickets from LP to Vientiane. It'll be cheaper to buy the tickets there, but you do take the chance that they won't be available.

It seems to me that option 2 is the best all around, though it's a busy schedule.

Thanks to everyone. Eddie promptly came through with LP-Vientiane tickets, so we now are going with Option 2.

Great! Enjoy!

Enjoy! It must feel great to have your plan settled.

Thanks again. Will post our trip report in January.