A few weeks my lovely girlfriend for some daft reason agreed to become ‘Mrs Tom B’.

We’re currently sat with Covid isolating in our motorhome so are trying to cheer ourselves up by planning our honeymoon.

We’re hoping to have at least 3 weeks and would love to go to Vietnam and Cambodia. Obviously this is assuming Covid restrictions aren’t in place etc….it’ll probably be Summer 2023 or Spring 2024.

Definitely want the cultural/adventure side rather than the shite that people put on Insta etc….I’d happily do all 3 weeks in a hostel, but after numerous trips of that nature I cant help but feel that my girlfriend deserves some nice none slumming it places to stay too!

Any suggested itineraries etc? Budget will be around 5k I guess?

Unless poverty porn is your thing I’d give Cambodia a miss and stick with Vietnam, Bali or Thailand.

We stayed here for a couple of nights in 2017

Welcome to Topas Ecolodge – Sapa – Vietnam

It about 5 hours north of Hanoi and the company will bus you there and back. Its a truly stunning part of the world. I’d highly recommend it for the “honeymoon” part of the trip.

there’s not much there – you can go on guided walks and there is a fleet of mountain bikes to borrow but its really laid back.

we only had two weeks so did a few internal flights to cut down travelling time. I really enjoyed the Hue – the imperial palace is fabulous.

I’d spent more time in Hanoi next time – the city has a great feel to it. I’d also probably swerve Hoi an – it just felt a bit too artificial , but its a great place for a cookery course.

Didn’t see much of south vietnam – saigon is a proper SE Asian mega city – a real contrast to Hanoi.

I preferred Hanoi beer overall.

Nice hotels aren’t too expensive in Vietnam so we stayed in very nice places for “reasonable” western prices.

If you want treat at the start/end the Sofitel in Saigon is fabulous.

Ooh cheers for that Sapa info @slackboy I’d read a little about the area so it is definitely on the hit list.

Interesting about Hoi An, I’d read that as a must see/do….artificial is 100% not us though!

Ignore @tonyf1 Cambodia is an amazing place, Vietnam is great but Cambodia was even better! Laos was missed out but that really appeals too.
Message me if you want a copy of our 3 week itinerary

3 weeks is about the right amount of time to see the highlights of both, you can either pre book everything or play it by ear, especially the tours which are much cheaper there than booked via the internet.

Ive been to the region twice, backpacking, so a bit different to what you’re looking for 🙂

Don’t get me wrong hoi is nice and fine for a beach break, and if you have time it makes a decent overnight/2 day stop but I wouldn’t make it a must see.

Everyone there is either a tourist or an expat wholesale tailor.

Yeah I guess so…..usually when we’ve been to Asia we’ve booked our first nights accommodation then played it by ear…..I’m thinking that my girlfriend will want a little bit more structure for her honeymoon though!

@bikerevive I’ll pop you a message now, had already decided to ignore the first reply 😂

Tom, only advice based on our own experience but feel free to ignore.

My (now) wife and I did a trip to Vietnam 5 years ago. If I was going again I wouldn’t bother with anything south of hoi An and just stay in the North. Personally I adored hoi an, but it probably wasn’t such a big thing then as it maybe now.
Loved Huw and Hanoi, abs yes we did do hulong bay which again, beautiful but was just on the cusp of being overly touristsy ( still amazing mind you)

Would also recommend the sleeper train down the country, although you will share with another ( probably western) couple but it is lots if fun

2024? Steady on – don’t do anything rash !!

IMO you need 2 trips – one to do the touristy places, which really are fabulous despite the touristyness. And one to spend longer somewhere you can enjoy more deeply.

(Ps. Sleeper train is not fabulous – cold and damp Soviet era tin box with a smelly toilet)

Holiday in Cambodia? Don’t forget to pack a wife.

My BiL spent some time in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. He said Laos was one of the most beautiful places he’s seen and the people were so friendly and accommodating. He didn’t enjoy his time in Vietnam as much.

Some great climbing in North Vietnam if that’s your thing. Sleeper train is fun up the coast. Temples round Ankor are great by bike early or late to avoid the hordes.

I’d agree on Laos if you want some more relaxing time in a fantastic country. Luang Prabang was the nicest of the 5 or so cities we visited across Laos & Vietnam. Vietnam is hectic in the towns & cities but a must visit imo. Did some hikes through rural areas which were stunning too.

If recommend an organised tour for the ease but know plenty that have done it on their own. It’s a lot of ground to cover in 3 weeks though which is where a tour helps.

Mrs BigJohn and I did a Vietnam trip a couple of years ago. We booked a few things but the rest of the time we just booked a couple of days ahead. It was excellent and it’s a place we’d love to go back to.
We booked 2 tours with Ethnic Travel in Hanoi. One was a 3 day boat trip round Halong Bay, the other was a 2 day trip round Mekong Delta. We were mega impressed by them. Both tourist hotspots but they turn left when everybody else turns right so we didn’t see another tourist party and we found ourselves right in the heart of local people. On the Mekong, we had a bike ride (just the 2 of us with Lucy, our guide) and I said I was totally disoriented with all the little bridges and rivers we’d crossed and what would I do if we got separated? Her reply “You stop and I’ll ask people if they’ve seen the foreigners”. Like we were the only foreigners they’d seen that month!
The sleeper train was fun. Got on at midnight and there were 2 blokes asleep in our 4 berth compartment – that was fine, we knew. Woke up at 8 and there was just 1 bloke – but a different one! They get on and off all the time.
You must see Hanoi before it gets into the 20th century. Totally barmy! Oh, and you have to learn how to cross the road all the time. It’s different in every city!

I loved my month or two bike packing around Vietnam and Cambodia.

Cambodia:
Ankor Wat (Siem Riep) is very touristy, with good reasons to be. Incredible ruins. But you can go to some other ruins in the country that are way quieter. All accessible by coach (surprisingly comfortable) then local taxi (or by bike!)
For quieter but still amazing ruins I recommend: Beng Maelea, Sambor Prei Ku.

Vietnam:
Mekong Delta, floating markets at Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City;

Then my girlfriend flew out and we spent a really nice week on Con Dao Island. Very few westerners, seemed to be where the vietnamese go on holiday. A few posh hotels and some cheaper ones too. Beaches, jungle, snorkeling etc. My one advice is fly to the island, the boat was horrendous.

If you want to see some photos: https://www.polarsteps.com/TomNaylor/1585265-south-east-asia

If you still like backpacking and are primarily interested in people/culture, then doing 10-14 days backpacking and then 5 days on a beach or a nicer inland stay somewhere seems a good compromise and will make your budget easier.

There are quite different climates/ weather through Vietnam from the mountains in the north (that can get snow in winter, but are generally cold and drier in winter and rainy in summer), to the hot, humid conditions in the south (also rainy in summer). The ‘best’ time of year to go will depend if you want to do active stuff and/or want to relax on a beach and also if you want to snorkel/dive.

Friends who visited Angkor Wat (Siem Riep) said if you are going to bother with all the travelling to get there then spend more than one day (it’s huge and especially staying nearby you can visit the site early or late when day visitors are gone).

I’m not sure that I have a great deal more to add, but wanted to post just to echo what others have said. We went to Vietnam in 2018 and had a fabulous time.

Before arriving, after being quite hassled by street traders in Bali 20+ years ago, we lectured the kids (18 & 16) about how to kindly brush aside potential street hawkers. On arriving we found all of the Vietnamese to be super friendly, and nobody hassled us about anything, at any point, for the whole trip.

Hanoi was brilliant, loved it. Homestays were great, We liked Hue, Hoi An, and Can Tho. The Mekong was great (lovely home stays and bike rides) but I would echo that I was not bothered about Ho Chi Minh city. There’s nothing wrong with it, but its just a mega-city. The kids wanted cocktails on the 51st floor of a tower-block, which was nice, but not what I’d gone for.

Its worth learning some of the language, though that might be tricky if you are doing multiple countries. No one learns Vietnamese, so the fact that I did made some of the evenings in the homestays so much more fun. I wasn’t able to have in depth conversations (obvs) but I would say what everyone’s name was, and how old they were, and the Viet kids loved it. A very simple book is https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1479123528/ and Duolingo has Vietnamese.

I’d go back to Vietnam in heart-beat.

Rob

me, sofagirl and some friends did a couple of week trip to Vietnam 3 years ago. started in Hanoi and worked our way down to Ho Chi Min by train. the train was great way of doing things and lovely to watch the country side go by outside your window, however for the sleeper parts of the journey you want to book the tourist carriages – privately operated business of two or three carriages tacked onto to the state run trains and nicer / cleaner / more comfortable than the sate run carriages (although they were fine for the short hops).

obviously we couldn’t do everything we wanted and see everything we wanted in such limited time so didn’t get chance to go north of hanoi or go to the meekong delta, both of which are ment to be amazing, however my thoughts for what theyre worth:

Hanoi – incredible place, stay in the old french quarter and juts wonder around. amazing street food / little kerb side places, some great bia hoi places for fresh beer and just a general assault on the senses after you’ve got off the plane

Ha Long bay – we did 3 night 3 day tour, which was great because you got to some of the less congested areas of the bay (the more immediate ones are full of tour boats) and got to see the floating fishing village and some of the less touristy parts of cat Bah island (the front around the bay is like blackpool for russians). deff worth going to ha long bay as the rock karsts make for an other worldly waterscape, but if i was doing it again i’d do a shorter trip and use the time elsewhere

Phong Nah national park – by far my favourite location in the trip (fly / train to Da Nang and then get a coach / taxi form there). we only had 3 days there but could of easily spent a week. main attraction is the caves that you can get boat tours through and have a wonder around, however there all types of jungle treks etc available. land scape was stunning, the exploring down dirt road on motor bikes was amazing and the place was relatively unspoilt – one road big village with a hostel and couple of hotels. we stayed at some newly opened luxury service villas called Victory road – it think they cost us £40 per night each, but made for a beautifully relaxing part of the trip after the chaos of Hanoi / Ha Long. most people go there as a day trip form da nang, i’d deff recommend staying

Hue – cool place, satyed in teh back packer area and some lovely bars and eateries, however some massive multi floored bars and huge restaurants that were totally empty – apparently it’s heaving at certain times of the year in peak Chinese and Russian holiday periods. the imperial place is deff worth a day, trips to the DMZ and tunells are worth it if you want some war history, but 2-3 days max would be enought

Hoi An – really liked the place. yes it’s busy (but not as bad as you would think as it’s all very state controlled) and there were hoards of coaches turning up each day, however we stayed on An Hoi island (10 min walk into the centre) and it was lovely and all the coach tourist disappear by 5/6pm. gerat place to just wander around the old town and see all the old buildings, stopping for a beer when you fancy. you can get to the beach pretty easily if that’s your thing, but where it shines is at night with all the lanterns, water lanterns on the river, night markets etc. had some of the best BBQ food i’ve ever eaten sitting on some little stools down by the riverside. would deff recommend c 3 days here. we also went to the nearby cham chi (sp?) ruins for a day trip, but if your going to ankor wat they pail into insignificance.

Ho Chi min – if we weren’t having to get our return flight form here, i probably wouldn’t of bothered. we had 2 days in ho chi min and it’s just a massive westernised city. i’,m sure there are good things to do and as a staging post for the neekong it’s convenient, but i wouldn’t rush back

I loved vietnam and would happily go back. everyone was super friendly and helpful and none of the hassle or scamming of many south east Asian hotspots in Thailand for example. i suspect it’s a lot to do with state control as the police were evident in many places in the cities and nearly everywhere closes at 10pm, but would go back in a heartbeat and was genuinely sad to leave the place

I wouldn’t automatically dismiss siem reap. I know plenty of people that had itvery crowded, but we got lucky when I went. Perhaps it was time of year (approaches start of traditional wet season) but we literally had the place to ourselves.
It was surreally quiet. To the point of climbing all over the main temple feeling like we were trespassing as we were almost the only people there. Unforgettable.
Fly straight to Siem Reap so can’t comment on other parts of Cambodia, but pottering around there was awesome.

Some excellent info here cheers. I think we’re definitely going to go in January ’24….so will be able to extend to a month out there.

If you’re thinking January, check out the dates for Tet, Chinese new year. One of our guides told us that it’s a brilliant time to be there, another said a lot of places and trips closed down. We went just before and our trip in the Mekong was enhanced as all the flowers were being prepared and shipped into Saigon (as the locals refer to the city). Talking of which – one of our best experiences was the boat trip to the floating market there. We were got up from the homestay at 5 am., got on the little boat with one other couple and whizzed up and down buying coffee and breakfast from boats, other locals tied on to us and we joined in with passing plates and cups across. Then we saw the other tourist boats, 100 yards away from the action and rows of people sitting with life jackets on. We felt very smug.

I do not advise celebrating a honeymoon in Vietnam. My friend bought a tour to Vietnam.

Another vote for Laos – we did a boat trip down the Mekong River for a couple of days staying overnight at a hotel part way down and finishing in Luang Prebang with a few stops at tribal villages. People were friendliest of all the countries in that area. It’s much less developed and less touristy than its neighbours. Angkor War is a must see – easy to spend a couple of days exploring the many different temples.

This thread has made me quite nostalgic for a brilliant backpacking trip a decade ago. We took the slow boat down the Mekong from Thailand to Luang Prabang which is a great spot for a few days, then on to Vientiane, and Si Phan Don which was idyllic (islands in the Mekong delta). We then went overland to Phnom Penh then to Siem Reap to see the temples. We hired bikes which was great because we could cycle in the opposite direction to the coach tours, giving us the place to ourselves. For the outlying temples, we hired a Tuk tuk and driver for the day, which again went really well. We then did a very long trip via coach and overnight train to reach the Thai islands where we learnt to dive, before heading south to Malaysia and Singapore.

Can’t believe it’s not been posted yet. 😂

Funkmasterp did a reference

We did Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos as part of a honeymoon/career break almost 10 years back.

+1 to bikes around Siem Reap and Hoi an & Luang Prabang being highlights.

Vietnam’s roads were the worst for general craziness & constant beeping (they use the horn for everything. The whole time).

Mui Ne was a windy sandstorm of a beach full of Russians. Not being into any wind related sports meant we didn’t stay long.

Hua Long bay very busy but worth doing if you get the right tour/captain.

Phnom Penh was the hottest & humid place we’ve ever been to. Sweating now just thinking about it..

everyone we met was lovely & generous and we tried as much as possible to get off the more touristy bits (not always doable but worth the effort).

We flew south out of Luang Prabang after initially having a coach/bus booked. We then spoke to several people who had caught the coach/mini bus up & pretty much all of them said ‘don’t do it’. One nurse was very vocal telling everyone that everyone on her bus was sick. Everyone. And there was so much of it it was running down the aisle. Hours & hours of windy roads, ruts, crazy suspension & no AC take their toll apparently

We did the coastal train in Vietnam & it was great. Amazing views & far more relaxing than being on the road.

We spent a couple of weeks in Vietnam pre-COVID and it was great. We flew into Saigon and stayed in a Peninsula hotel to get over the jetlag for a couple of nights. Then got a transfer down to the Mekong, where we stayed in a lodge actually on the riverside for a night, and on a houseboat on the river itself for another couple of nights, which were both excellent.
After that, transfer back to Saigon and flight to Hoi An, 3 nights there. Hanoi after that, Ha Long Bay for a night (beautiful area, but we were on a cheapy boat), and a couple of nights in Hanoi.
Internal flights are quite cheap but rarely on time. And we did things like cookery classes, walking tours etc to try to get a feel for the place, not just the tourist-y stuff.

Cambodia I’ve not been for a few years, but IMHO it’s more suitable for the backpacker type trip; it’s possible to overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap (but not very comfortable). Angkor Wat was overrun with tourists, albeit it may have abated with COVID.
We got a boat down to Phnom Penh which was incredible; the city itself is fine and interesting enough.
And Sihanoukville is quite pleasant for a few days on the beach. But again, very backpacker-y when I went, and perhaps fewer options for nice honeymoon-esque places to stay.

I cycled from Saigon to Hanoi in 2001 – went inland quite a lot, spent a couple of weeks in Hoi An, ride up to the Highlands as well. Hazy memories but amazing trip, fantastic people, great food and the beer was cheaper than water.

We flew south out of Luang Prabang after initially having a coach/bus booked. We then spoke to several people who had caught the coach/mini bus up & pretty much all of them said ‘don’t do it’

Yeah, we took the bus. Don’t do it!

it’s possible to overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap (but not very comfortable)

Overland from Siem Reap to the Thai islands was about 30 hours but most of that was the overnight train from Bangkok. Getting to Bangkok itself I don’t remember being too bad.