Trip notes
If you are going yourself
Everything practical for Cambodia and Vietnam in one place — where it actually is, where to sleep, how to move, what to eat, what the weather does, and what to put in the bag. The story itself follows.
Travelled
As a couple — Two of us, one carry-on each, and a rule that whoever booked the flight did not also get to choose the hotel.
The route
5 stops · 4 slept in · 6 nights
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Siem Reap
1 night · Cambodia
Reached 23 Oct, 12:20Good with kidsNo dogs
One night, which is one fewer than Angkor deserves. In at midday, temple ticket bought the same afternoon for the following dawn.
Good signal — 4G everywhere and a cheap tourist SIM at the airport. Buy it there; you will not find a better price in town.
Angkor
Passed through · temples at dawn
Reached 24 Oct, 05:10Good with kidsNo dogs
Eight kilometres north of town by tuk-tuk, booked the night before for half past four. Angkor Wat for sunrise, Ta Prohm and Bayon before the heat.
Patchy signal — A signal at the main causeway and very little in the outer temples, which is part of the point.
By road · 7.5 km · 10 min driving
Hanoi
1 night · Old Quarter
Reached 24 Oct, 18:40Good with kidsDogs welcome
A two-hour flight and a different country entirely. One night in the Old Quarter, which is not enough and we knew it when we booked.
Good signal — Fast 4G and free wifi in every café and most street stalls. Grab works for everything.
By air
Hoi An
2 nights · lanterns & rain
Reached 26 Oct, 14:30Good with kidsDogs welcome
Fly to Da Nang, then forty minutes south by car. Late October is the wet end of the year here, and the old town takes it in its stride.
Good signal — 4G across the old town and out to the beach. Most tailors will send you fittings over Zalo.
By air
Bãi Xếp
2 nights · fishing-village beach
Reached 28 Oct, 15:50Good with kidsDogs welcome
A fishing hamlet in a cove thirteen kilometres south of Quy Nhơn, reached down a lane off the coast road. Boats on the sand, three places to eat, and no promenade.
Patchy signal — 4G in the village and along the coast road, thin in the cove itself. Nobody is working here.
By train
Siem Reap, then Hanoi to the central coast17.4000° N, 106.5000° E
Open route in Google MapsOpen in OpenStreetMapDay by day
7 days, start to finish · 23–29 October 2024
Day 123 Oct
Siem ReapStaying Siem Reap
- Drizzle, 33°/24°
Day 224 Oct
Starting from Siem ReapBy road toAngkorSaw: Sunrise at Angkor WatSaw: Ta ProhmSaw: BayonBy air toHanoiStaying Hanoi
- Overcast, 29°/19°
Day 325 Oct
HanoiSaw: The Old Quarter on footSaw: Bún chảSaw: Egg coffee upstairsSaw: The evening train streetStaying Hoi An
- Overcast, 30°/17°
Day 426 Oct
Hoi AnSaw: The tailorSaw: Lanterns doubled in the wet streetsStaying Hoi An
- Rain, 25°/22° · 52.1 mm
Day 527 Oct
Hoi AnSaw: A cooking class indoorsSaw: The river visibly higherStaying Hoi An
- Rain, 26°/20° · 116.1 mm
Day 628 Oct
Starting from Hoi AnBy train toBãi XếpSaw: The Reunification line, Đà Nẵng to Diêu TrìStaying Bãi Xếp
- Drizzle, 28°/23° · 6.1 mm
Day 729 Oct
Bãi XếpTravelling home
- Drizzle, 31°/24° · 1.1 mm
What to pack
Hot, humid, and one country of it likely to be wet
- Clothing
- Waterproofs
- Shoes
- Slip-on sandals
- Money
- USD and dong
- Medicine
- Motion sickness
Where to stay
Siem Reap, Wat Bo side
Small hotel or guesthouseGood with kidsNo dogsVegan options
Quieter than Pub Street and ten minutes' walk from it. Anywhere here will arrange a tuk-tuk for a dawn start without being asked twice.
Hanoi Old Quarter
Boutique hotelGood with kidsNo dogsVegan options
Right in the noise, which is the reason to be there on one night only. Ask for a room off the street or you will hear all of it.
Hoi An, between the old town and the beach
Garden homestayGood with kidsDogs welcomeVegan options
Ten minutes by bicycle from either. Cheaper, quieter and far more useful than the riverside hotels in a wet week.
Bãi Xếp
Beach bungalows and village homestaysGood with kidsDogs welcomeLittle for vegans
A handful of places in one cove, most family-run, some with the fishing boats parked in front of them. Book direct and by email.
Getting around
Between the two countriesGood with kidsNo dogs
Siem Reap to Hanoi is about two hours in the air. Book it as a one-way on a regional carrier rather than trying to make it a connection.
Internal flightsGood with kidsNo dogs
Hanoi to Da Nang is 80 minutes and cheap if booked more than a fortnight out. Hand luggage only is worth it — the bag fee often exceeds the fare difference.
The Reunification railwayGood with kidsNo dogs
Da Nang south to Diêu Trì takes around six hours and is the best-value thing in Vietnam. Book a soft seat on the seaward side and take your own lunch.
LocallyGood with kidsNo dogs
Grab in the cities for cars and bikes, tuk-tuk by the half day at Angkor, and a bicycle in Hoi An. Do not hire a motorbike on a licence that does not cover it — your insurance will not either.
Food stops
Bún chả
Hanoi lunchGood with kidsDogs welcomeLittle for vegans
Grilled pork in a bowl of sweet-sour broth with cold noodles and a plate of herbs on the side. Lunch only, and gone by two.
Cao lầu
Hoi An specialityGood with kidsDogs welcomeLittle for vegans
Thick noodles, pork, greens and almost no broth — made with water from one particular well and served nowhere else. Have it once at a market stall and once in a restaurant.
Fish, in the cove
Beach kitchenGood with kidsDogs welcomeLittle for vegans
Whatever the boats brought in, grilled whole with salt and lime. You choose it from a tray, they weigh it, and you wait forty minutes.
Fish amok
Cambodian dinnerGood with kidsNo dogsLittle for vegans
Freshwater fish steamed in coconut and lemongrass. Milder than anything Vietnamese and a better first night than the Pub Street barbecues.
Main attractions
13 in 7 days
Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Day 2
Ta Prohm
Day 2
Bayon
Day 2
The Old Quarter on foot
Day 3
Bún chả
Day 3
Egg coffee upstairs
Day 3
The evening train street
Day 3
The tailor
Day 4
Lanterns doubled in the wet streets
Day 4
A cooking class indoors
Day 5
The river visibly higher
Day 5
The Reunification line, Đà Nẵng to Diêu Trì
Day 6
Bãi Xếp
Day 7
The story
Seven days for two countries is not enough, and we booked it anyway. Four beds and no fifth: Cambodia, Hanoi, two in Hoi An, two on a beach nobody had mentioned.
One night at Angkor is one dawn
- Buy the pass the afternoon you land. Tuk-tuk booked for half past four.
- Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Bayon, in that order. By ten it is too hot and too full.
- Sleep near Wat Bo rather than off Pub Street, and eat early.
Hanoi deserved more
- Old Quarter on foot, bún chả at a plastic table, an egg coffee up an alarming staircase.
- Late October is the north at its best — dry, twenty-six degrees. We had nineteen hours of it.
If we ran the week again we would give Hanoi two nights and Hoi An one, and accept that the tailor would have to be quicker.
— the argument we are still having
Hoi An will rain on you
- Fifty millimetres on the first day, more than twice that on the second. Plan for it rather than hope.
- A wet morning is what tailors, cooking classes and long lunches are for. Lanterns are better doubled in puddles.
- Stay between the old town and the beach, and use a bicycle.
- Cao lầu twice: once at a market stall, once sitting down. Not the same dish.
The beach we would repeat
- Bãi Xếp, a fishing cove south of Quy Nhơn: basket boats on the sand, three places to eat, all somebody's front room.
- Đà Nẵng to Diêu Trì by train — six hours of coast for less than a taxi across a city. Seaward side.
- One whole day with nothing in it, which after five days of airports was the point.
Two countries and six nights: temples before the light, a Hoi An that rained, and a beach with a fishing fleet on it and almost nobody else.
- #vietnam
- #cambodia
- #temples
- #beaches
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