Scott_in_LA

Looking for a tour that starts and ends in Bangkok and sees the above countries. Any recommendations for agencies/packages? Any items that are a "must see/do"?

Gpanda

You could do this by yourself, but if you want assistance, try Gregg at Innovasian.com. He was very helpful on our first trip to Thailand. He can assist with all the countries you have named.

Kathie

How much time do you have? There are certainly tours that will take you to all four countries in 2 weeks, but it would be a ghastly experience. To glimpse the four countries, I would suggest that you need at least 4 weeks. Anyone who knows SE Asia will encourage you to slow down.

Certainly there are many "must sees" in those 4 countries. What are your interests? Once you know what you are interested in, someone from a travel agency (like the person listed above) can help you put together a package, or you can do it on your own.

Sameera_Anand

Comp agree with Gpanda and Kathie. Would suggest you plan your own itinerary then use someone local e.g. Handpan in Vietnam and book a driver and guide (Ponhearty comes strongly recoed on this forum; I used someone else who I was very happy with) in Camb. Laos the charm of LP is exploring on your own without a set agenda IMHO. In terms of time at least 3 days each in Siem Reap (Camb) and Luang Prabang (Laos). Vietnam depends on your agenda - one option is Hanoi-Halong Bay min 4 days. You will have to factor in flight times, airport transfers, etc into all this as these are clear 12 hour day suggestions. Have u been to Bangkok before? What were you planning to do in Thailand?

nislam

If you do it on your own it is much cheaper though you will have to do a little bit of work on the planning. But here are my suggestions if you want to do it yourself:

For flights that link all these countries, try www.bangkokair.com. They have great service and new planes and a special program called discovery pass that links world heritage sights in all these countries. You pay $80 per one way journey(one coupon) and you have to buy at least 3 coupons. These are the best fare deals I have seen especially if you want to go from say bangkok to Luang Prabang (Laos) to Siam Riep (Cambodia) to Hue (Vietnam)back to Bangkok (all for $320). You can always travel the interior of vietnam by local air/bus/train. I would do the above cities and you can add Hoi An and Hanoi in Vietnam.
In Thailand (also by Bangkok air coupons which are $50 each way or by the really cheap airline www.airasia.com, you can fly rountrip from $40 RT to the northern cities or Phuket beach). In Thailand you can go to the North for the mountains of Chiang Mai and/or the South for fantastic beaches, Krabi or Phuket (Which both link to Lanta or Phi Phi islands), or Samui.
Lastly for hotels, I have found that www.sawadee.com and www.asia-discovery.com offer some of the best rates, and they have a wide selection of hotels available.
Good luck with the plans.

Scott_in_LA

Thanks for all the replies so far. To answer one of the above questions, the trip will 4 weeks long. You all have talked us into not doing a 20+ day tour that is a "if it's Tuesday, it must be Laos" type of thing. We are now looking at doing modules with plenty of time to just relax in a city (week at least in Bangkok, trip to Sein Rep, a module to Northern Vietnam, and then possibly just several days relaxing at a Thailand beach). Have an interesting website called "Passionasia". Does anyone have any experience with this agency?

Gpanda

Modules sounds perfect. RhkKmk is currently doing exactly that using BKK as a base. You mentioned BKK as a relaxing point. You can certainly relax there if you want, but if you've never been, there's a lot of stuff to see and do and relaxing may become secondary. It's fairly typical to use one of the beaches to relax,e.g., Koh Samui, Phuket, Hua Hin. 4 weeks will pass in a blur.

VeloAsia

For pre-booking, I would receommend you not do it all through one agency, such as Passionasia - they are simply doing that step for you and often have no other relationship with local companies. Operators in all four countries run very different companies, best to find a local one who specializes in their backyard. As for your trip, I would plan the bulk of time in Vietnam, many places to cover and all very different from each other.