Ha Giang
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh City
Ha Long
Sapa
Mekong Delta
Da Nang
Hue
Hoi An
Ninh Binh
Da Lat
Nha Trang
Phan Thiet
Phu Quoc
Quang Binh
Quy Nhon
Vung Tau
Thai Nguyen
Greetings everyone,
Below is the draft itinerary for our 19-night, 20-day trip covering Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.
2 nights in HCMC $\to$ 3 nights in Phnom Penh $\to$ 3 nights in Siem Reap $\to$ 2 nights in Danang $\to$ 1 night in Hanoi $\to$ 1 night on a Halong Bay cruise $\to$ 1 night in Hanoi $\to$ 4 nights in Bangkok $\to$ 2 nights in HCMC.
For the initial two nights in Ho Chi Minh City, we are considering the following attractions:
Day 1:
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Reunification Palace
-
Museum of War Remnants
-
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
-
Central Post Office
-
Evening street food exploration
Day 2:
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Bui Vien Pedestrian Street
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Ben Thanh Marketplace
-
Nguyen Hue Boulevard
-
Evening street food exploration
And for the return visit to HCMC, this is what we have planned:
Day 1:
-
Trip to Cu Chi Tunnels combined with a Mekong Delta tour
Day 2:
-
Souvenir shopping and a leisure day
Have I successfully included the major sites in HCMC? Are there any other crucial locations or landmarks that we should not overlook? All advice and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
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2 nights in Phnom Penh is good enough (IMO).
Cu Chi tunnels and Mekong Delta are in the opposite directions.
Agree with Scott on the sights over “sites” thing.
Simon offers sound advice. I don’t know if you will gain much by just throwing Thailand in. Better to focus on Cambodia and Vietnam.
The border issues between Thailand and Cambodia are land borders, not by air or airports.
Wow, that’s a lot of moving around!
And also, quite the list of ‘sites’.
Just don’t forget the ‘sights’.
Far more interesting, in my opinion. 😉
Replying to scottj765
Ha ha. Thanks for the reply Scott. As you know, travelling to the other end of the world and trying to make the most out of it. Also, had to circumvent back to Vietnam before heading to Thailand due to the border issues.
But how does our day 1 and day 2 at HCMC look? Are those doable?
Planning to stay at Caravelle which I hope is walkable distance to many of these attractions.
Replying to mijauju
War Remnants Museum will take a few hours, the cathedral about 5 minutes, as you take photos of all the scaffolding it’s clad in, and the post office, which is across the road, won’t take long.
The Independence Palace, l can’t help you with, as we still haven’t found the time, or a strong enough desire, to make the effort.
Might get there one day….
Bui Vien ‘walking street’, you should see at night, when it’s all lit up in tacky lights, along with ear damaging music.
It’s quite the sight….
And looks nothing like that during the day.
You should get most of your list done, so long as you can handle the heat.
Scott
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. We as a family are not much of nature lovers or adventure seekers. We like to explore more on the attractions, bustling life, food and cultural sights. I am not sure if Sapa/Hue/Ninh Binh will suit us.
But I like the idea of skipping Da Nang and adding an extra night in Hanoi. I had purposely included Danang to have a beachside stay at least once in our itinerary.
Personally I’d drop Bangkok and concentrate on Cambodia and Vietnam.
Even with the recent border closures, flights were still operating to Bangkok from Cambodia.
I’m always wary of “nights” as most tourists want days for sightseeing. People often underestimate how much time getting from A to B takes including check in, transfer, etc and how much that can eat into a “day”.
Replying to SimonPedal
I agree about cutting Bangkok. Maybe cut Danang too? Then you could have an extra day in Siem Reap or Hanoi.
I visited the Independence Palace in HCM and spent about an hour there. I found it quite interesting. But what I most loved about HCM was wandering about the alleys/hems and getting a wonderful sense of daily life. I’m going back to HCM soon just to get lost in the alleys again!