Cambodia to Vietnam - New Border Crossings Trapaeng Sre/Thlong

Good on you for checking it out. However, it will work only if you have a visa for Vietnam in your passports already. Visas upon arrival are not available at any border crossing in Vietnam.

1.Trapaeng Thlong (Cambodia) - Xa Mat (Vietnam)

This is the main road Kampong Cham / Krek / Trapaeng Thlong (Cambodia) / Xa Mat (Vietnam) / Tay Ninh City / Saigon. Even if there is still no transport all the way to say Tay Ninh City, any moto or share taxi driver in Kampong Cham will know how to get you at least to Trapaeng Thlong. It is a major trading point. Upon arrival, you simply walk across the border and get together with the moto or share taxi drivers on the Vietnamese side. Same goes for the Trapaeng Sre / Loc Ninh crossing.

If you do either of these crossings, please don't forget to upload a note here about your experience.

You'll find local transportation from Xa Mat to Tay Ninh, regular buses from Tay Ninh to Saigon.

No idea about the other crossing.

2. Trapaeng Sre (Cambodia) - Loc Ninh (Vietnam)

The gateway on the Cambodian side is at Snoul. Travelfish found that someone has done it. See

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/visabordercrossings/5017_border-crossing-snuol---loc-ninh</a>

Take a Cambodian moto from Snoul to the border gate, where you walk across to the Vietnamese side and talk with the Vietnamese moto drivers who will be waiting to ferry you to Loc Ninh.

The only problem is that a visa for Vietnam must be in your passport beforehand.

Maybe one day Vietnam will also become a "visa upon arrival" place?

After they've kicked those paranoid commies out maybe.

Thanks for all the great input. Since posting we've heard equally encouraging noises from people in Kratchie and Sen Monorom.

Fortunately we had the forsight to get our Vietnam visas in Phnom Penh. A pretty decent same day service.

We're going to give it a blast. We're leaving for snoul in the morning, so all being well - touch wood - we'll be in Vietnam tomorrow and ideally Ho Chi Minh tomorrow night. We'll be sure to record here how we get on.

Thanks again for the advice.

Hi Chris and Sarah

I will be so grateful if you can post your experiences crossing either of those borders. I posted this exact question 1 month ago with no luck. I have searched the internet and called both Vietnamese and Cambodian embassies here in Sydney..still no luck. I would prefer to cross at the Loc Ninh crossing but the Xa Mat is a good second. I'm coming from HCMC so if you can remember if there was transport avail at the border crossings coming into Cambodia (going to Snoul etc) that would be a great help. Also if you can remember the bus company going to HCMC from the border/border town (but that might be a big ask!). I'm a female traveling alone so since it is remote did it feel safe? ANY info you can give me would be appreciated. You can PM me if you like. I will have visas.

Thanks

Success!

We left Cambodia this afternoon at Trapaeng Sre entering vietnam at Loc Ninh. The crossing was nothing more than a couple of sheds but it served its purpose at the staff were really helpful and perhaps a little intruiged by a couple of tourists passing through. They're building a whole new complex which implies that the crossing will become increasingly popular.

We took a moto each from Snoul (approx. 6km at $3-$4). The motos came with us across the border and took us on to Loc Ninh (another 10 mins by moto at a cost of $3). The main street of Loc Ninh acted as bus station for links to HCM City. The buses seemed frequent. The correct fare HCM is 50,000 dong (approx. $3). They'll try and get 6 or more dollars from you but stand your ground. The bus arrived in Ho Chi Minh City approximately 4 hours later at Mien Dong Bus Station about 7kms north of the city centre. You can take a local bus (3,000 dong) number 26 (and probably many more) to the main bus station at Ben Thanh Market.

Hi Chris and Sarah

Thanks so much for the info! Have sent you a PM.

Hey,

Thanks to Chris and Sarah's post I tried the Trapaeng Sre / Loc Ninh border crossing today and it all went really well. I left Kratie on a bus at 7.15am and was checked into a guesthouse in Pham Ngu Loa, Saigon, by 2pm.

So I took the bus to Snoul from Kratie that took about 1.5 hrs ($3). Get off at the restuarant / toilet stop in Snoul. The bus driver sorted me out with a motorbike to the border ($4) as soon as I stepped off. Yes, a motorbike with my massive backpack and day back. The driver took my big bag and put in on the floor of the bike in front of him and I jumped on and clung onto him for dear life. Actually he was pretty good so it wasn't a problem. It was about a 30 min drive along a big road that was getting surfaced at intermittend points. There were only bikes and dumper trucks on it, although the latter were mega dusty to pass so thankfully I had a scarf to put over my face.

Got to the border - a wooden hut - and waited around for 10 mins till they stamped me out of Cambodia. Then some random took me on the back of his motorbike (backpack on my back this time) to the Vietnam side - a few hundred metres which was nice to not have to walk. We stopped in at a brick hut, some guy looked at my passport (I don't know why), then said to go to immigration. Vietnam immigration was a massive brand new sparkly building. Only one counter open, but fortunately I just walked up and again another 10 mins to flick through my passport then stamp me into Vietnam. I think all the locals were a bit annoyed they'd just arrived behind the only Westerner for the week / month.

I was told by immigration to take a motorbike for $5 outside the building. Again it was just some random guy so I haggled him down a buck. We drove for 20 mins, this time I felt quite unbalanced with my bag on my back and one on my front preventing me to huddle into the driver for stability. Well I didn't fall off so nothing to moan about really. He took me to a bus for Saigon, which left with me immediately. I had called a travel agency in Vietnam yesterday who told me buses left Loc Nihn every hour. I was asked to pay '5', which I mistook for dollars. I think it should have been 50,000d which is much, much less, but hey I don't really mind for the distance. Something to check in the future. I had to change buses with everyone somewhere in the city outskirts, but after about 3 hours by bus I got to the Mien Dong bus station and then took my last motorbike to the backpacker's area of Saigon - Pham Ngu Lao ($2).

I didn't see any other westerners the whole way. It felt like a total adventure but I was pretty tired when I arrived. I would thoroughly recommend this route as safe (I'm a young female travelling alone), much speedier than going through Phnom Penh and a bit of fun. I didn't feel hassled at all.

Hope that convinces a few more people to take the same route.