Three countries, eleven days, and what that costs you
Be clear about the trade before you read the itinerary. Eleven days across Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand buys you the headline of each one and none of the depth. Northern Vietnam gets four working days. Angkor gets a single long one. Thailand is a beach, not a country. Two regional flights sit inside the plan, and the Siem Reap to Phuket leg normally carries a connection, so two of the eleven days go mostly to airports.
People still choose it, and for good reason. It works when the leave is fixed and the wish list is not negotiable: the bay, the temples, the sea. The order helps, because the heavy days come first and the last three ask nothing of you at all. In Vietnam and Cambodia you have a private guide, a car and a driver. In Phuket you have a hotel and an open diary. If reading that makes you want to add days instead, say so and we will rebuild it slower.
Day by day
Day 1
Your flight lands at Noi Bai and a driver holding your name takes you into the city, roughly forty-five minutes. An early arrival leaves the afternoon open; a late one leaves only sleep. At some point that first evening your guide comes to the hotel, walks you round a few blocks of the Old Quarter and talks through how the week is put together.
Day 2
Ba Vi, ninety minutes west, where the flat delta finally lifts into hills. You walk a trail through pine forest in the national park, past the foundations of old colonial villas, and reach a viewpoint over the valley when the cloud allows it. Lunch is cooked by a family in the village below: chicken, bamboo shoot, greens cut that morning. Back in Hanoi for the evening.
Day 3
A longer day south to Ninh Binh. A rower, usually working the oars with her feet, takes you through flooded paddy at Tam Coc and under limestone tunnels low enough that you duck. Then Hang Mua, several hundred stone steps for the view across the whole basin. Goat is what the area is known for and lunch is included. Hanoi again by evening.
Day 4
Two and a half hours east on the expressway to the harbour. You board around midday and lunch arrives as the islands begin to close in. The afternoon holds a kayak into a sheltered inlet, a cave lit up rather too enthusiastically, and a swim off the deck if the water suits. Dinner and the night on board, with squid fishing off the stern for anyone still awake.
Day 5
Breakfast while the boat works back through the karst, with one more stop on the way, a grotto or a pearl farm depending on the route. You step ashore towards noon and reach the city by mid-afternoon. The rest of the day is left empty on purpose, because four days of moving is enough before a flight. Your guide leaves a short list for dinner.
Day 6
A free morning, then the transfer out to the airport and a direct flight to Siem Reap, a little over two hours. A Cambodian guide meets you on arrival and takes you into town. The evening is yours, and most people eat early and go to bed early, because the temple day starts in the dark. Breakfast is at the hotel in Hanoi.
Day 7
One full day at Angkor, so it is a long one. Sunrise behind the towers of Angkor Wat, then the galleries and the bas-reliefs while the stone is still cool. Angkor Thom, the faces of the Bayon and the royal terraces before lunch. Ta Prohm late on, when the light falls behind the fig roots. Back at the hotel by early evening, properly tired.
Day 8
To the airport for Thailand. A non-stop service between Siem Reap and Phuket is rare, so the day usually carries a connection and a wait, and you land in the afternoon or early evening. A driver meets you and runs you to the beach hotel, which can be an hour from arrivals depending on which coast you picked. Dinner where you are staying.
Day 9
Nothing scheduled, which is the point of the last stretch. The west-coast beaches get the sunsets, the quieter bays sit south and east, and boats leave each morning for Phang Nga Bay or the Phi Phi islands if three empty days start to feel long. Breakfast is included. Everything after it is a matter of what you feel like.
Day 10
Another open day. Things we can arrange in advance: a longtail to a quieter island, a cooking class that starts at a market stall, an hour at a Muay Thai gym, or Phuket Town for its Sino-Portuguese shophouses and its coffee. A good number of travellers pick the pool and a book instead, having earned it over the previous week.
Day 11
A last swim and a slow breakfast, then the transfer to Phuket airport for your flight home or onward. We allow extra time because the road north up the island crawls in high season. If you fly late, we can hold the room until mid-afternoon or book a day room so you are not sitting in a lobby with your luggage.
What the price covers
- Ten nights with breakfast, split between Hanoi, a cruise cabin, Siem Reap and Phuket
- Regional flights Hanoi to Siem Reap and Siem Reap to Phuket, economy class with checked baggage
- Private vehicle and driver for every transfer and excursion in Vietnam and Cambodia
- Arrival and departure transfers in Phuket
- English-speaking guides in northern Vietnam and at the Angkor park
- All meals named in the itinerary, including everything served on the Halong boat
- Entry tickets for Ba Vi, Ninh Binh, the bay and the Angkor archaeological park
- The rowing boat at Ninh Binh and the kayak session on the bay
Not included
- International flights into Hanoi and out of Phuket
- Entry permits for Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand where your passport requires them
- Travel insurance, which every traveller should hold
- Lunches and dinners in Phuket, and anything booked on the two free days
- Drinks, tips and personal spending
Good to know
The first week is busy: early starts on days three, four and seven, several hours on your feet at Ninh Binh and Angkor, and a flight on two separate days. Nobody sees Bangkok, central Vietnam or the Mekong on this plan, and one day at Angkor covers the three main temples and no more. The second half corrects the balance, and by Phuket the only decision left is which beach. If the first half sounds too compressed, we would rather add two days than sell you a blur.
- Take a small overnight bag for the bay; the rest of your luggage waits at the Hanoi hotel
- Hanoi is cold, grey and damp from December to February, and the bay looks quite different under that sky
- Phuket's wet months run roughly May to October, usually as short heavy downpours rather than whole lost days
- Angkor requires covered shoulders and knees, and the stairs at some temples are steep with shallow treads
- Three countries means three sets of entry rules and three currencies, so check each against your passport
- Cruise boats are occasionally held in port by the authorities in rough weather, and we replan that day if it happens
Plan this trip
- Days
- 11
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