The 3 best routes to visit Southeast Asia in one trip
Southeast Asia Route: What do you want to see? In what order? How much time do you need?
A lot of people ask me about what route to take through Southeast Asia. There are hundreds of combinations depending on your time, what you want to visit, what you are willing to spend and your preferred mode of transportation.
One of the most fashionable routes is the one that you visit in one trip Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. If it is your first time in Asia, I always advise you to go to Thailand first. It’s the easiest country to travel to and the most touristy, so you won’t have so much “culture shock”.
How long will you be in each country?
Whatever route you take, always remember to check whether the border is still open or not. The time you spend in each country will depend on the time you have available.
I always advise a minimum of two weeks for Thailand, two weeks in Laos, two weeks in Vietnam and one week for Cambodia. Although ideally one month in each country and two weeks for Cambodia which is somewhat smaller.
Below, I leave you a map with the main places of interest in each country and I describe, one by one, what in my opinion are the three best routes to visit Southeast Asia:
On this route you can choose to just see northern Laos and from there, cross into northern Vietnam.
Vietnam:
Then descend all the way to Vietnam, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
Stopping at Halong Bay, Ninh Binh, Hui, Hoi An and/or Nha Thang to end up crossing to Cambodia.
Cambodia:
Visit Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor Wat.
Go down to the islands of Cambodia, to visit the island of Koh Rong.
This route is good because you start with the incredible beaches of Thailand and end with the beautiful and almost desert beaches of Cambodia.
Our 3-month route through Southeast Asia:
In our case, for three months we were travelling through Thailand, Vietnam and Laos:
In Thailand we spent two weeks in the north and two in the south. We went to Vietnam by plane because before to enter Thailand you were asked for an exit ticket.
In Vietnam, we started from Ho Chi Minh City, visited the Mekong Delta and then spent a month going up to the north.
In Laos we entered through the land border with Vietnam and spent two weeks visiting northern Laos.
Then, in my case, instead of going to Cambodia, I chose to head north and travel to China, specifically to Yunnan Province, which is close to Laos.
Here’s a map where you can see the whole route we took. Almost everything was by bus, except the train trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, the plane trip from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh and the boat trips to the islands:
Have you traveled in Southeast Asia? Have you taken a different route? Comment on your route and start a dialogue about different travel routes in Southeast Asia. And if you liked this post: comment, rate and/or share. Thank you!
I’d rather have a passport full of stamps than a house full of stuff.
Hi, I'm Marcos.
One summer day I decided to go on a trip to Asia to see the world and I liked it so much that I ended up staying.Almost without realizing it I spent 8 years in Asia, most of the time living in China, learning Chinese, teaching English and traveling around countries like Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, India, Japan, ...Now I'm back in Spain, but I keep blogging whenever I can and I organize tours to China. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me:
contacto@sindestinoaparente.com
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