Twilight view over Luang Prabang's rooftops and the Mekong River winding between forested mountains.

Vietnam · Cambodia · Laos

Three countries that travel very differently

Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos sit on the same map and get sold as one trip, but they move at three different speeds and reward three different lengths of stay. These pages say what each one is actually like, including the parts that have been worn out.

Plan my trip

countries, one ground team: 3
nights before three countries works: 14
places most routes are built on: 6

What the three are, in one paragraph each

Vietnam is the long one. From the Chinese border to the last mangrove in Ca Mau is about 1,650 kilometres, and the weather at the two ends is rarely the same in the same week. It has the most varied food, the heaviest traffic, the best road network of the three, and the shortest patience for travellers who want everything slow. Most people need ten to fourteen nights here and still leave a third of it out.

Cambodia is small and flat and hot, and the reason to come is not only Angkor. Angkor is genuinely one of the largest religious sites ever built, and the central temples between about nine in the morning and three in the afternoon are now unpleasant for reasons that have nothing to do with the stone. The country away from the temples — the Mekong towns, the Tonle Sap, the south coast — carries almost no visitors and is where the eight-day route spends half its time.

Laos is the quiet one, and the one people most often under-book. There is one town, Luang Prabang, that carries most of the country's visitors, and it is small enough to walk across in twenty minutes. If you arrive there with two nights you will see a curfewed version of it. Three nights is the minimum that makes sense, and the second and third are the ones people remember.

The three countries

Each page below covers the same ground in the same order: what the country actually is, how many nights it holds, month by month weather, how you get in and move around, what a hotel room and a meal cost, and who should leave it off their list.

HAN · DAD · SGN

Vietnam

Three climates, 1,650 kilometres, and the densest food culture in the region. Ten to fourteen nights, and it still will not be all of it.

Read the Vietnam guide

Ancient stone bas-relief carvings depicting warriors and battle scenes at Angkor Thom's Bayon temple in Siem Reap.

REP · PNH

Cambodia

Angkor at the right hours, and the two thirds of the country that has no queue at all. Six to eight nights.

Read the Cambodia guide

A wooden pirogue is moored on the muddy Mekong riverbank near Luang Prabang with mountains in the distance.

LPQ · VTE

Laos

One river, one small town, and a pace that punishes anyone in a hurry. Five to eight nights.

Read the Laos guide

Six places most routes are built around

These six appear in nearly every itinerary we write, and each one holds more nights than the standard circuit gives it. The number beside each is what we would defend, not the minimum you can survive on.

Northern Vietnam

Hanoi

Three nights. The old quarter at 06:00 and the old quarter at 20:00 are two different cities, and you need a full day between them to notice.

Hanoi

Northern Vietnam

Lan Ha Bay

One night aboard, two if you can. The same water as Ha Long, entered from Haiphong, with a fraction of the boat traffic.

Lan Ha Bay

Central Vietnam

Hoi An

Three nights. The old town is busy from ten until nine; the rice fields, the river and the beach fifteen minutes away are not.

Hoi An

Cambodia

Siem Reap

Three nights, two temple mornings. The three-day pass exists because nobody looks properly at stone after the fourth hour.

Siem Reap

Laos

Luang Prabang

Three nights. A town of roughly 50,000 people on a peninsula between two rivers, where the third morning is the good one.

Luang Prabang

Southern Vietnam

Mekong Delta

Two nights, and not the day trip. Everything worth seeing here happens before eight in the morning or after four in the afternoon.

Mekong Delta

How the three compare on the things people ask about

	Vietnam	Cambodia	Laos
Nights that work	10 – 14	6 – 8	5 – 8
Main entry airports	HAN, DAD, SGN	REP, PNH	LPQ, VTE
Best months overall	Oct – Apr, varies by region	Nov – Feb	Oct – Feb
Worst months	Sep – Oct in the centre	Apr, then Jul – Sep	Mar – Apr, smoke
Land cost per person per day	USD 190 – 330	USD 170 – 300	USD 180 – 310
Longest normal drive	3 h 30 m	5 h 30 m	4 h
Internal flights usually needed	Two	None, or one	None, or one

About the cost line

Land cost, per person, two sharing, at our usual standard: four-star or good boutique hotels, a private vehicle, and a guide on most days. It excludes international flights and visas. Cambodia is the cheapest of the three on hotels and the most expensive on entrance fees, because the Angkor pass alone is USD 62 for three days.

Putting two or three of them together

The joins matter more than the countries. Hanoi to Luang Prabang is a short flight but usually routes through a hub, so it eats most of a day. Luang Prabang to Siem Reap is about two hours in the air and is the cleanest join in the region. Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City is under an hour and often cheaper than either.

What does not work is adding a country without adding days. Three countries in ten nights means three internal flights, three arrival evenings and three departure mornings — six of your ten days are travel days. Two countries in ten nights is a real trip. Our fifteen-day route exists because fourteen nights is the first number at which the three-country version stops being a corridor.

Vietnam and Cambodia, 12 to 14 nights — the easiest pair, one flight between them, and no season conflict from November to March.
Laos and Cambodia, 10 to 12 nights — the quietest pair, and the cheapest, but it skips the food most people came to the region for.
Vietnam and Laos, 12 nights — good if you already know Angkor or do not care about it, and the only pair where the northern hills of both countries can be done in one trip.
All three, 14 nights and up — see the fifteen-day route, which is this join done with a night of slack on either side of each flight.

Where we would not send you

Three places we are regularly asked for and generally talk people out of, with the reason attached.

Ha Long Bay on a day trip from Hanoi. Four hours of driving for two hours on water, arriving at the hour every other day boat arrives. Sleep on the water in Lan Ha, or leave the bay out.
Sapa town in July and August. The town itself is a building site with hotels; the valleys below it are the reason to come, and in mid-summer they are under cloud and mud for days at a time. Go in September or from March to May, or go to Ha Giang or Pu Luong instead.
Angkor in a single day. It is done constantly and it produces the same three photographs and a headache. Two mornings and one late afternoon over three nights costs one extra hotel night and changes the whole experience.

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Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Can I see all three countries in ten days?

Physically yes, usefully no. Ten days across three countries is three internal flights plus three hotel changes, which leaves roughly four full days on the ground. We would rather run two countries at that length, and we will say so before you book.

Which country is best for a first trip to the region?

Vietnam, for most people. It has the most range in a single country, the best internal transport and the most food, and it is forgiving if your plans change mid-trip. Cambodia and Laos are better second trips, or better first trips if what you want is fewer places and more time in each.

Are these three countries expensive?

On the ground they are among the cheaper places in Asia to eat and move around, and mid-range hotels are good value. The costs that surprise people are entrance fees in Cambodia, domestic flights in Vietnam during Tet, and boat charters anywhere.

Do I need a separate visa for each country?

Yes. There is no shared Indochina visa. Vietnam uses an online e-visa, Cambodia issues both an e-visa and a visa on arrival, and Laos issues a visa on arrival at its international airports and main land borders. Fees and validity differ by passport, and we send a written summary for each traveller before you book flights.