Southeast Asia forum

Best Route - 4 weeks in Thailand, Cambodia and poss. Vietnam

Xana

newbie
Posts: 1

Hi, we are 2 teachers on August summer holidays and are planning to go to Thailand and Cambodia - and possibly take in Vietnam if we have time. We are both keen on diving (I have my Open Water and my friend wants to learn) so we would like to spend at least a week by the coast.

Can anyone recommend a route that would make the most of our time? We are also a bit worried that it will be problematic visiting these 3 countries during a v. rainy period. Is this the case? Would we be better off visiting Indonesia in August?

Thanks!

#1 Posted: 13/3/2006 - 16:41
somtam2000

admin
mahout
Posts: 5884
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Hi Xana,
Welcome to Travelfish!

While you can dive in Cambodia and Vietnam, by far the better diving is in Thailand.

Now in August in the Gulf of Thailand, you'll have some rain but it certainly won't be raining cats and dogs. So I'd lean towards working the diving mecca of Ko Tao into your trip.

Now that the diving is sorted out, now you just have to decide where to spend the other three weeks. I'd make the following two suggestions:

1) Look into budget airlines - for example, you could do something like:
Bkk - fly to Hanoi (Air Asia) travel south for two weeks to Saigon, then overland to Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat (Siem Riep) and back to Phnom Penh, then fly from Phnom Penh to Bangkok (Air Asia), then an overnight train/bus south to Ko Tao.

2) Less is more. Don't try to cram 62 different destinations into the four weeks. Go to less places and spend longer at each one. There isn't anything quite as awful as a trip where you're travelling every other day, and Vietnam in particular is a deceptively BIG country.

#2 Posted: 14/3/2006 - 15:33

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