Work north to south through Vietnam, then hop an hour west to the largest religious monument ever built. No backtracking, no wasted flying, and two countries that feel nothing alike despite sharing a border.
Fly into Hanoi and out of Siem Reap. Doing it as a return trip wastes two days and several hundred pounds.
Vietnam is long and thin, so you travel down it rather than around it — Hanoi, Ha Long, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, each an hour or so apart by air. From Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap is a one-hour flight west. Ending there and flying home from Cambodia means you never retrace a step. Open-jaw flights usually cost the same as a return, and almost nobody books it this way because the online engines don't show it.
Thirteen nights, three internal flights, all booked as one package under a single ATOL certificate.
1The old capital, and the bay everyone comes for. Two nights in the city, one on the water, one back.
Where you stay: Old Quarter or French Quarter in Hanoi, plus one night aboard a bay cruise.
Getting there: 12 hours from the UK with one stop, usually via the Gulf.
2A UNESCO trading port frozen in the eighteenth century, and the best food in Vietnam.
Where you stay: Old town for atmosphere, or a beach resort at An Bang and cycle in.
Getting there: 1h 20m Hanoi to Da Nang, then 45 minutes by road.
3The commercial south, and a day out into the delta.
Where you stay: District 1 for everything within walking distance.
Getting there: 1h 20m Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City.
4Three nights, not the day trip everyone sells. Angkor is 400 square kilometres and there are dozens of temples.
Where you stay: Central Siem Reap — the town is walkable and the restaurant scene is serious.
Getting there: 1 hour Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap. Fly home from Cambodia.
Everything below is quoted up front. Nothing appears after you've paid a deposit.
Guide prices per person, two sharing, outside school holidays. The hotel standard is the biggest single variable.
| Standard | What that means | Guide price pp |
|---|---|---|
| 4-star | Good hotels throughout, comfortable bay cruise | £2,099 |
| 4-star plus | Boutique old-town hotels, upgraded cruise cabin, riverside Siem Reap | £2,699 |
| 5-star | Luxury throughout, private guide at Angkor | £3,899 |
The Ha Long cruise is where standards vary most — the cheapest boats are crowded and the itineraries are rushed. Paying up one tier for a smaller boat in Lan Ha Bay rather than Ha Long proper is the single best upgrade on this route.
Vietnam is long enough to have three climates at once, so no month is perfect everywhere. November to March comes closest.
November to March is dry in the south and in Cambodia, and cool in the north — Hanoi can drop to 15°C in January, which surprises people. Hoi An's central coast gets its rain October to December, so late season is better there. April and May are hot but dry throughout. June to September brings the monsoon, though it's afternoon downpours rather than all-day rain, and Angkor's moats fill so the reflections work properly.
We'll build the open-jaw routing, book the internal flights and the bay cruise, and write the payment plan out in full.
Because going back to Hanoi to fly home wastes two days and adds cost. Open-jaw is usually the same fare and always the better trip.
It's the minimum we'd recommend. One day gets you the postcard and a queue. Three gets you the outer temples and a morning off, because temple fatigue is real.
Lan Ha, if the budget allows. Same limestone scenery, a fraction of the boats. Ha Long proper can have two hundred vessels in a single anchorage.
Vietnam needs an e-visa applied for in advance; Cambodia offers e-visa or visa on arrival. Both have deadlines and we'll tell you when to start.
Similar shapes, and the ones people most often weigh up alongside it.
Same approach, different shape. All reshapeable around your dates.
12 nights · Nov–Mar · from £1,849pp
12 nights · Apr–Oct · from £1,749pp
13 nights · Nov–Mar · from £1,649pp
13 nights · Dec–Mar · from £1,599pp
14 nights · Apr–Oct · from £1,849pp
15 nights · Apr–Oct · from £2,199pp
