Bangkok to Hanoi: Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Bangkok

   Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) to the old city

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bangkok
   Détail du jour 1

   Your trip starts at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), east of the city, where we meet you and drive you to a central hotel within reach of the river and the old royal quarter. The afternoon is for resting after the long flight, a swim if the hotel has a pool, or a first walk. In the early evening you meet your See Sight Tours guide and the rest of the group, no more than 12 of you, for a short briefing on the three countries ahead: the money, the visas, the two border days and what each morning looks like. Then we go out together for a welcome dinner of Thai dishes to share, with your guide explaining what is spicy, what is sour and how to order when you are on your own. If your flight lands late, we meet you at breakfast instead and your guide goes through the briefing then.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to rest before the welcome dinner

2. Jour 2 : Bangkok's royal quarter

   Wat Pho, the Grand Palace and the National Museum on foot

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Bangkok
   Détail du jour 2

   We start early, because Bangkok's royal quarter is at its coolest and quietest in the first hour. Wat Pho opens first, so we begin with the great Reclining Buddha, 46 metres long with mother-of-pearl inlay on the soles of its feet, and the courtyards of glazed chedis around it. Next door, the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha open at 8:30 and fill quickly once the coaches arrive, so we are near the gate when it opens. Cover shoulders and knees for both. After lunch together near the river, we walk to the Bangkok National Museum, where the galleries include carved Cham stone figures from central Vietnam, a first look at a culture we meet again later in the trip. The museum closes on Mondays and Tuesdays; on those days we take a long-tail boat through the Thonburi canals instead. The late afternoon and evening are free.

   Compris

   • Wat Pho
   • The Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha
   • Bangkok National Museum, or a long-tail boat through the Thonburi canals on Mondays and Tuesdays
   • Cross-river ferry

   Activités en option

   • Evening Chinatown street food walk

   Option plus facile : Take a tuk-tuk or the vehicle between the three sites instead of walking.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : Dress code at Wat Pho and the Grand Palace: covered shoulders and knees.

   

3. Jour 3 : Fly to Siem Reap

   Bangkok to Siem Reap by air, then sunset at Pre Rup

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 3

   A morning flight of a little over an hour takes us from Bangkok to Siem Reap Angkor International Airport (SAI), which opened in 2023 about an hour's drive east of town. Your guide handles the Cambodian visa or e-visa check and the arrival card with you, and a local Cambodian site guide, licensed for the Angkor temples, joins us in Siem Reap. We check in, have a rest through the hottest part of the day and buy the three-day Angkor pass together in the afternoon. Then we drive out to Pre Rup, a tenth-century temple mountain of brick and laterite on the east side of the park, for sunset over the rice fields and sugar palms. It is a steep but short climb, and far calmer than the crowded sunset hill of Phnom Bakheng. Dinner together in town, with first Khmer dishes such as fish amok and lok lak.

   Compris

   • Flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap
   • Transfers to and from the airports
   • Three-day Angkor pass
   • Sunset at Pre Rup with a licensed Angkor guide
   • Khmer dinner in Siem Reap

   Option plus facile : Watch the sunset from the base of Pre Rup instead of climbing the steps.

   Temps libre : Early afternoon free after check-in

4. Jour 4 : Angkor Wat at sunrise

   Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Bayon, then Ta Prohm in the late afternoon

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 4

   This is the alarm-clock day, and it is worth it. We leave about 4:45 am to be at Angkor Wat before dawn, when the five towers stand black against the sky and reflect in the pools in front of the west gate. Most of the crowd leaves for breakfast after sunrise, so we stay and walk the galleries and the long bas-reliefs while they are quiet, then have breakfast. Late morning we enter Angkor Thom by the south gate, with its causeway of stone gods and demons, and walk the Bayon, a temple of more than 200 carved faces, and the Terrace of the Elephants. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the park, then back to the hotel for a rest and a swim through the heat. At about 3:30 pm we go to Ta Prohm, where silk-cotton and strangler fig roots grip the walls, after the morning groups have gone.

   Compris

   • Sunrise at Angkor Wat with a licensed Angkor guide
   • Angkor Thom: the south gate, the Bayon and the Terrace of the Elephants
   • Ta Prohm in the late afternoon
   • Lunch in the Angkor park

   Option plus facile : Skip the upper level of Angkor Wat, which has a steep staircase, and wait in the shade of the galleries.

   Option plus active : Climb to the upper sanctuary of Angkor Wat, when it is open, for the view over the towers.

   Temps libre : Midday rest at the hotel and the evening free

   Activité : About 8 km on foot over the day, much of it on uneven stone and steps.

5. Jour 5 : Banteay Srei and a night at the circus

   Siem Reap to Banteay Srei and back, then Phare

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Siem Reap
   Détail du jour 5

   A later start, then a 45-minute drive north-east through villages to Banteay Srei, a small tenth-century temple in pink sandstone with the finest carving at Angkor: lintels and false doors covered in deep, crisp scenes from the Hindu epics. We aim to arrive before the late-morning tour buses. On the way back we stop at a palm sugar stall by the road to see how the sap of the sugar palms is boiled down, and we are in town by lunch. The afternoon is free: a massage, the Angkor National Museum, the old market or simply the pool. In the evening we go together to Phare, The Cambodian Circus, where performers who trained at an arts school founded by refugees after the Khmer Rouge years tell Cambodian stories with acrobatics, theatre and live music. Dinner tonight is your own, in town before the show or after it.

   Compris

   • Banteay Srei with a licensed Angkor guide
   • Palm sugar stop on the way back
   • Tickets for Phare, The Cambodian Circus

   Activités en option

   • Kbal Spean riverbed carvings, an uphill forest walk of about 1.5 km each way, added to the Banteay Srei morning

   Option plus active : Add Kbal Spean, a forest walk up to carvings in a riverbed, to the morning.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free; dinner on your own

6. Jour 6 : Fly to Phnom Penh

   Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by air, the Royal Palace and a river sunset

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Phnom Penh
   Détail du jour 6

   We fly from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh in under an hour instead of spending six hours on the road. Phnom Penh sits where the Tonle Sap river meets the Mekong, and its riverfront still has the wide boulevards and shuttered villas of the French period. After check-in and a rest, we visit the Royal Palace when it reopens in the afternoon: the throne hall, the gardens and the Silver Pagoda, whose floor is laid with more than 5,000 silver tiles and which keeps an emerald-green Buddha and a life-size gold Buddha set with diamonds. Dress code is shoulders and knees covered, as in Bangkok. At the end of the day we board a small boat for an hour on the river at sunset, past fishing boats and the Chroy Changvar peninsula, as the lights come on along Sisowath Quay. The evening is free, with the night markets and riverside restaurants close to the hotel.

   Compris

   • Flight from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh
   • Transfers to and from the airports
   • Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda
   • Sunset boat on the Mekong and the Tonle Sap

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : The Royal Palace closes over midday and on some state occasions; ops confirm the times for each departure.

7. Jour 7 : Phnom Penh: Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek

   Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Choeung Ek, then a free afternoon

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Phnom Penh
   Détail du jour 7

   Today is the hard one, and we give it the time it needs. In the morning we visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former high school that the Khmer Rouge turned into the S-21 prison, where thousands of people were photographed, interrogated and sent to their deaths between 1975 and 1979. Your guide stays with you through the rooms, and an audio guide in English carries the survivors' own words. We then drive about 15 km south to Choeung Ek, one of the Killing Fields, where a memorial stupa holds the skulls of victims found in the mass graves around it. Both visits are distressing, and no one has to go inside: your guide can wait with you in the garden. Afterwards we sit down together for a quiet lunch, and the afternoon is free for the Central Market, the riverside or rest.

   Compris

   • Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum with audio guide
   • Choeung Ek memorial with audio guide
   • Lunch together after the visits

   Activités en option

   • Afternoon Khmer cooking class
   • Afternoon tuk-tuk ride to the Russian Market

   Option plus facile : Stay in the gardens at either site instead of going into the rooms.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : Both sites contain graphic material and human remains; not suitable for young children.

8. Jour 8 : Up the Mekong to Chau Doc

   Phnom Penh to Chau Doc by speedboat, then Sam Mountain at sunset

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Chau Doc
   Détail du jour 8

   We cross from Cambodia into Vietnam by river, not by road. An early fast boat runs up the Mekong and along the Bassac channel from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, about five hours in all, with stops at the Cambodian and Vietnamese river border posts at Kaam Samnor and Vinh Xuong, where your guide helps with the forms and the Vietnam e-visa check. From the deck you see stilt houses, fishing nets on bamboo poles and ferries crossing between river islands. A packed lunch is served on board. Chau Doc is a busy river town close to the border, home to Vietnamese, Khmer, Chinese and Cham Muslim communities. After check-in we drive a few minutes out of town to Sam Mountain, with its pilgrimage temple to Lady Xu at the foot and a view over the flat rice fields into Cambodia from the top, at sunset. Dinner together in town.

   Compris

   • Speedboat from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, with the border formalities
   • Sam Mountain and the Ba Chua Xu temple at sunset
   • Dinner in Chau Doc

   Option plus facile : Ride to the top of Sam Mountain by vehicle and walk only around the summit.

   Option plus active : Walk up the steps of Sam Mountain instead of driving.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free after check-in

   Activité : The river border crossing can add an hour or more on busy days. Boat operators and schedules are confirmed by ops before each departure.

9. Jour 9 : Chau Doc to Saigon

   Floating fish farms by boat, then by road through the delta to Ho Chi Minh City

   • Environ 5.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
   Détail du jour 9

   This is the longest road day of the trip, and we say so plainly: about 250 km and around five and a half hours of driving, because there is no fast boat or short flight from Chau Doc to Saigon that saves time. We break it into three parts. First, at 7 am, a small boat on the river takes us past the floating houses with fish farms beneath them and across to a Cham village with its mosque and weavers, while the river is busiest. Then we drive about two hours to Sa Dec, a flower-growing town on the Mekong, for a sit-down lunch and a walk through the house of Huynh Thuy Le, the Chinese merchant's son who inspired Marguerite Duras's novel The Lover. The final leg, about three and a half hours, crosses the river and joins the expressway to Ho Chi Minh City, arriving about 5 pm. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Boat trip to the floating fish farms and a Cham village at Chau Doc
   • Sa Dec flower village and the Huynh Thuy Le house
   • Lunch in Sa Dec

   Temps libre : Evening free in Ho Chi Minh City

   Activité : Longest drive of the trip, broken by a morning on the water, a long lunch stop and short rest stops every 90 minutes or so.

10. Jour 10 : Ho Chi Minh City

    Independence Palace, the War Remnants Museum and the old centre, then street food

    • Environ 30 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Ho Chi Minh City
    Détail du jour 10

    Saigon wakes early and so do we, to walk the centre before the heat. We start at the Independence Palace, the 1960s seat of the South Vietnamese government, kept as it was in April 1975, from the war room in the basement to the rooftop helipad. Then the War Remnants Museum, where your guide stays with you in the galleries and gives the history around the photographs, rather than leaving you to go round alone. Some exhibits are graphic. On foot we pass the Central Post Office, designed under the French in the 1890s, Notre-Dame Cathedral, seen from outside (its restoration has only just finished, so we confirm access at booking), and City Hall from the square at the top of Nguyen Hue. Lunch is your own choice at Ben Thanh Market or nearby. The afternoon is free, and in the evening we head out together for a street food dinner in the side streets of District 4 and District 1.

    Compris

    • Independence Palace
    • War Remnants Museum with your guide
    • Old centre walk: Central Post Office, Notre-Dame Cathedral from outside and City Hall
    • Street food dinner with your guide

    Activités en option

    • Cu Chi Tunnels half-day trip, instead of the free afternoon

    Temps libre : Afternoon free

    

11. Jour 11 : Fly to Hoi An

    Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang by air, then Hoi An and the river at dusk

    • Environ 45 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Hoi An
    Détail du jour 11

    A short morning flight of about an hour and a half takes us from Tan Son Nhat (SGN) to Da Nang, and from there it is about 45 minutes by road to Hoi An. Hoi An was a trading port from the 15th to the 19th century, where Japanese, Chinese and European merchants settled, and its old town of wooden shophouses, assembly halls and temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After check-in and lunch on your own, your guide walks you through the old town with the entry ticket, into one of the merchant houses and one of the Chinese assembly halls. Then you have time to rest before dusk, when we take a small rowing boat out on the Thu Bon River as the lanterns are lit along the banks, and you can set a paper lantern on the water. Dinner is your own, with the riverside restaurants a short walk from the hotel.

    Compris

    • Flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang
    • Transfers to and from the airports
    • Hoi An Old Town entry and walk with your guide
    • Lantern boat on the Thu Bon River at dusk

    Temps libre : Early afternoon and evening free

    

12. Jour 12 : Hoi An at first light and Tra Que

    A dawn walk in the old town, then a cooking class in Tra Que village

    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Hoi An
    Détail du jour 12

    At about 6 am the Japanese Covered Bridge, reopened in 2024 after a long restoration, is often empty, and the yellow walls of the old town take the first light. Your guide walks the quiet lanes with you while the market sets up and before the shops open; please keep tripods off the bridge itself. Back at the hotel for breakfast, then we cycle about 3 km on flat lanes through the rice fields to Tra Que, a village that has grown herbs and greens for Hoi An's kitchens for generations. You help in the gardens with a farmer, then cook dishes such as banh xeo pancakes and fresh spring rolls in a cooking class, and eat them for lunch. The afternoon and evening are free: a tailor, the beach at An Bang, or a swim at the hotel. My Son is offered as an early morning option for those who would rather see the Cham temples.

    Compris

    • Dawn walk in Hoi An Old Town and at the Japanese Covered Bridge
    • Bicycle ride to Tra Que vegetable village
    • Cooking class with lunch

    Activités en option

    • My Son sanctuary at opening time, instead of the dawn walk

    Option plus facile : Ride to Tra Que in the vehicle instead of by bicycle.

    Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

13. Jour 13 : Over the Hai Van Pass to Hue

    Hoi An to Hue by the Marble Mountains, the Hai Van Pass and Lang Co

    • Environ 3 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Hue
    Détail du jour 13

    Today the drive is part of the trip, about 130 km and three hours of driving in all. We leave Hoi An after breakfast and stop first at the Marble Mountains on the edge of Da Nang, limestone hills with Buddhist caves and pagodas inside them. Then the road climbs the Hai Van Pass, where a spur of the Truong Son range runs into the sea and the old Nguyen gate stands at the top. Cloud often sits on the pass, so your guide watches the sky and picks the time; if it is hidden, we take the tunnel underneath and spend longer by the lagoon. Lunch is seafood at Lang Co, a fishing village between a lagoon and a long sand beach. We reach Hue by mid-afternoon and go into the Imperial City, the walled palace of the Nguyen emperors, in the softer light before it closes.

    Compris

    • Marble Mountains, Da Nang
    • Hai Van Pass, weather permitting
    • Seafood lunch at Lang Co
    • Hue Imperial City with your guide

    Option plus facile : Stay at the foot of the Marble Mountains instead of climbing the steps to the caves.

    Temps libre : Evening free in Hue

14. Jour 14 : Hue, then fly to Hanoi

    Thien Mu Pagoda by dragon boat and the tomb of Tu Duc, then a flight north

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Hanoi
    Détail du jour 14

    One night in Hue means we use the morning well. After an early breakfast we board a dragon boat on the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda on the north bank. The pagoda was founded in 1601; its seven-storey tower dates from 1844. The monks are at their morning routine and the river is calm. Then we drive to the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc, a walled park of lotus ponds, pavilions and pines that he used as a retreat while he was alive. After lunch on your own near the river we drive to Phu Bai airport (HUI) for an afternoon flight of a little over an hour to Hanoi. In the evening we go out together on foot in Hanoi's Old Quarter for a street food dinner: bun cha, a bowl of pho, crisp banh mi and, if there is room, an egg coffee.

    Compris

    • Dragon boat on the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda
    • Tomb of Emperor Tu Duc
    • Flight from Hue to Hanoi
    • Transfers to and from the airports
    • Street food dinner in Hanoi's Old Quarter with your guide

    Temps libre : Midday free in Hue

15. Jour 15 : Hanoi

    Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn, the Temple of Literature, Ba Dinh Square and Hoa Lo Prison

    • Environ 30 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Hanoi
    Détail du jour 15

    Hanoi is best seen early, when the people of the Old Quarter are out doing tai chi, badminton and dance classes around Hoan Kiem Lake before work. Your guide meets anyone who wants to go at about 6 am; the rest join after breakfast. We then visit the Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 as a temple to Confucius and soon after the site of the country's first university, with its courtyards, gates and stone stelae carried on turtles, naming the scholars who passed the royal examinations. From there we go to Ba Dinh Square and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum; visits are in the morning only, it is closed on Mondays and Fridays and for an annual maintenance period (in 2026 from early September to early November), and on those days we see it from the square. After lunch together we visit Hoa Lo Prison, the French colonial jail later known to American airmen as the Hanoi Hilton. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

    Compris

    • Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn, for early risers
    • Temple of Literature
    • Ba Dinh Square and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, when open
    • Hoa Lo Prison
    • Lunch together

    Activités en option

    • Thang Long water puppet theatre, early evening

    Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

    

16. Jour 16 : A night on Lan Ha Bay

    Hanoi to the coast, then an overnight boat among the islands

    • Environ 2.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Lan Ha Bay
    Détail du jour 16

    After breakfast we drive east on the expressway, about two and a half hours, and board an overnight boat around midday. Ha Long Bay's thousands of limestone islands rise straight out of the Gulf of Tonkin, and in 2023 the UNESCO listing was extended south to the Cat Ba archipelago and Lan Ha Bay, which has fewer boats and quieter water. We choose a route in that quieter part. Lunch is served on board as we cruise out. In the afternoon there is kayaking among the karsts and through low arches into enclosed lagoons, or swimming from the boat or a small beach when the weather is warm. Back on deck for sunset, when the islands fade into dark outlines one behind another. Dinner is on board, and you sleep on the water instead of driving back to Hanoi the same evening.

    Compris

    • Transport from Hanoi to the harbour with your guide
    • Overnight boat in Lan Ha Bay in a private cabin with its own bathroom
    • Kayaking among the islands, weather permitting

    Option plus facile : Stay on the boat or take a bamboo rowing boat instead of a kayak.

    Activité : Kayaking and swimming depend on the weather and the sea. The boat and its licensed route are confirmed by ops before each departure.

17. Jour 17 : Sunrise on the bay, back to Hanoi

    Lan Ha Bay to Hanoi, then a farewell dinner

    • Environ 2.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Hanoi
    Détail du jour 17

    Get up for sunrise if the sky is clear: the light comes up behind the islands and the bay is at its stillest. There is an optional tai chi session on the top deck, then a light breakfast and a last short cruise or a visit to a cave or a floating fishing area, depending on the route. Brunch is served on board before we return to the harbour in the late morning and drive about two and a half hours back to Hanoi. The afternoon is free for the shops of the Old Quarter, a last coffee on a balcony above the traffic, or rest. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner together, the last dinner of the trip, with your guide and the group, at a restaurant serving northern Vietnamese food.

    Compris

    • Sunrise and a morning cruise on Lan Ha Bay
    • Cave or floating fishing area visit, depending on the boat route
    • Transport back to Hanoi
    • Farewell dinner

    Temps libre : Afternoon free in Hanoi

18. Jour 18 : Depart from Hanoi

    A free morning, then Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)

    • Environ 45 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 18

    The last day is yours, with no early start. Breakfast at the hotel, then the morning is free until your airport transfer. Walk round Hoan Kiem Lake once more, visit the Vietnamese Women's Museum or the Hanoi Opera House area, or find a last bowl of bun cha before the lunchtime queues. If you would like more time in Vietnam, we can add hotel nights in Hanoi at the end of the trip, or arrange the north as an extension with Ninh Binh or Sapa; ask when you request to book. We drive you to Noi Bai International Airport (HAN), about 45 minutes north of the city, at the time that suits your flight home. Allow at least three hours before an international departure. If your flight leaves late in the evening, a late checkout can be requested but is not guaranteed.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Noi Bai International Airport (HAN)

    Temps libre : Morning free

Faune et météo : November to March is the dry season in Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam, with warm days and the lowest humidity of the year at Angkor. The Mekong is still high in November and December, which makes the river crossing to Chau Doc at its greenest. Hue and Hoi An can have heavy rain and flooding into early December. Hanoi and Lan Ha Bay are cool, around 15 to 20 degrees, and often misty from December to February, so bring a light jacket for the north.

• Bangkok2 nuits
• Siem Reap3 nuits
• Phnom Penh2 nuits
• Chau Doc1 nuit
• Ho Chi Minh City2 nuits
• Hoi An2 nuits
• Hue1 nuit
• Hanoi2 nuits
• Lan Ha Bay1 nuit
• Hanoi1 nuit