Itinerary Vietnam and Cambodia - trying to fill in the blanks!
Replies: 19 - Last Post: Nov 3, 2012 10:41 PM Last Post By: Sassy_Traveller
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Itinerary Vietnam and Cambodia - trying to fill in the blanks!
Hi - we are currently in Vietnam and just trying to work out our onward route for heading south and in to Cambodia between now and 30th November. We are interested in scenery, people, food, cycling, walking etc (already seen a lot of temples!),.29th - 31st October (3 nights) - Hanoi (great place by the way) and we leave tomorrow 1st November
1st & 2nd November (2 nights) - Halong Bay
3rd November (1 night) - Hanoi
4th November (1 night) - sleeper train booked to Hue and the following is what we are proposing
5th & 6th November (2 nights) - Hue and then train & bus to Hoi An on 7th
7th, 8th, 9th November (3 nights) - Hoi An (perhaps we should increase this by a night?)
10th to 15th (6 nights) - not sure, not too keen on Nha Trang, we are late 50's and heard this was more of a party town, perhaps Dalat??
16th, 17th, 18th (3 nights) HCMC - 2 full days for war museum and Cu Chi tunnels and general exploring
19th, 20th (2 nights) - Can Tho (Cai Rang floating market?)
21st (1 night) - Chau Doc before taking the boat to Phnom Phen in Cambodia
Perhaps we should take a couple of nights off Vietnam and add to Cambodia, our itinerary is looking as follows :-
22nd (1 night) PP
23rd, 24th, 25th - Cambodia Rainforest Lodge
26th - PP
27th, 28th, 29th - Siem Reap (water festival time? Angkor Wat)
30th leave for Bangkok
Any advice on this would be most welcome, thanks in advance - Heather
1
Looks good. Personally I would add the extra day to Hue rather than Hoi An. I usually spend at least three days in Hue. That gives plenty of time for the citadel and that part of town walking around the stretch of road and canal adjacent to Hen Island, the temples and tombs trip and generally stroll around the other side of the river for the temples and the two cathedrals.I would put Da Lat above NT. However, NT is not just the beach it also has some great parts like the cathedral, the temple with the big buddha, the Cham tower and the fishing harbour area. But to pick of the two, then Da Lat. You could do just one day in NT and then use the excellent bus service to Da Lat, about three hours I think. Phuong Trang and Mai Linh are good services
For the Cu Chi tunnels combine the trip with one to the Cao Dai temple.
2
Everything is good planIn Hue visit city Hue 1 day, Phong Nha cave 1 day or combine Pardise cave and phong nha cave 2 days
Cooking class in Hoian or visit Tra Que vegetable village - interesting
3
Thanks for quick response and ideas of what to do in the various places. Now my biggest headache is I have left the nights of 10th to 15th November (6 nights) with no plan and I am not sure whether to split these and add an extra 3 nights to Cambodia or add in say Dalat, or somewhere else en-route or just spend more time in Hue, Hoi An, HCMC, Mekong etc. Thanks, Heather4
This looks pretty good. 3 nites in Hoi An is plenty. It's a nice place..very picturesque and good food but overrun with tourists. Your headache sounds like more of a blessing. Just play it by ear. You're bound to find yourself enjoying somewhere more that you'd expected so just spend another day. Also, from Phnom Penh think about stopping of in one of the small cities on the way to Siem Reap. They don't have any "must see" attractions but there are things to see and do including just wandering aimlessly and taking in the atmosphere. This will give you a better idea of the "real Cambodia" than you'll get from the other places you plan to see. If you stay in Battambang you can take the boat to Siem Reap and enjoy the life along the river. It is a fascinating trip but you might want to research it a bit to see what it involves.6
I would say, see Dalat and spend more time in HCMC, a great town.Don't try to see too many individual places. I understand the temptation -- they're right there -- but you end up mostly seeing the back of the bus seat ahead of you that way.
In PP it's sort of compulsory to see Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek.
7
Looks about right. I love Hue, but wouldn't recommending spending more than 2 nights there (unless you've got excursions planned to the caves or other locations).Hoi An is absolutely awesome. Good food, things to do etc. You appear to be JUST missing the full moon festival. See if you can shift things a little.
All up, my favourite bit of the country was Hoi An + Hue, so perhaps add an extra day to this block, extend your stay if you like Hue, or just spend it in Hoi An if you don't.
10
Heather, it's possible that we'll bump into you in Chau Doc! We'll be there Nov 21 or 22, heading for PP.I think your itinerary looks good. You might want to allocate a couple of chill days in Nha Trang or Dalat. It's very tempting to overdo the sightseeing and Nha Trang and Dalat are both good places to just hang out. (You don't HAVE to party in Nha Trang, there is more to the town than the bars.) Dalat will be pretty chilly this time of year, great if you're a cold weather person.
You might want to spend a bit longer in Ho Chi Minh City. Walking around the main sights of the CBD will take up most of a day. The Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum both require a few hours.
You need to allocate plenty of time for the food in Ho Chi Minh City too. There are so many options - high end, international food and street food (check out Saigon Street Eats if you like street food). And you need to allocate some time to just sit and watch the traffic. The chaos is just mesmerising!
I think you're going to have a fantastic trip.
11
FLAWS !!!29th - 31st October (3 nights) - Hanoi (great place by the way) and we leave tomorrow 1st November
1st & 2nd November (2 nights) - Halong Bay
3rd November (1 night) - Hanoi
4th November (1 night) - sleeper train booked to Hue and the following is what we are proposing
5th & 6th November (2 nights) - Hue and then train & bus to Hoi An on 7th
YOU ARRIVE IN HUE AROUND 10AM SO YOU VISIT THE IMPERIAL CITY AND THIEN MU PAGODA IN THE AFTERNOON AND THE MAUSOLEUMS THE NEXT DAY NOV 5
7th, 8th, 9th November (3 nights) - Hoi An (perhaps we should increase this by a night?)
HOI AN IS VERY SMALL, 2 DAYS ARE ENOUGH !
10th to 15th (6 nights) - not sure, not too keen on Nha Trang, we are late 50's and heard this was more of a party town, perhaps Dalat??
THE ENTIRE REGION BETWEEN HOI NA NAD DALAT IS MARVELOUS (HIGHLANDS); YOU SHOULD HIRE A CAR AND DO
Hoi An-Kontum
Kontum-Lac lak
1 Day lac Lak for the minority villages
lac lak-Bon Me Thuot-Dalat
At lest 2 days Dalat
Fly Dalat-Saigon
The rest is OK
16th, 17th, 18th (3 nights) HCMC - 2 full days for war museum and Cu Chi tunnels and general exploring
19th, 20th (2 nights) - Can Tho (Cai Rang floating market?)
21st (1 night) - Chau Doc before taking the boat to Phnom Phen in Cambodia
12
not sure, not too keen on Nha Trang, we are late 50's and heard this was more of a party town, perhaps Dalat??you're right. I've lived in Nha trang for 8 years. For tourists low class,sleazy party joints without any soul and thousands of large Russians on what Natgeo calls "One of the world's worst beaches".
