Southeast Asia map & itineraries
Bangkok, in south central mainland Thailand before it snakes off down south, is often an arrival hub for travellers heading to Indochina. Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand, is the country's second largest city and also serves as a stopping off point before crossing the Golden Triangle into Laos and then exiting east into Vietnam. From Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, Vietnam is an overland adventure in its own right however, follow the Mekong Delta to the northwest of Saigon (the former name for HCM) and you'll find Cambodia and Angkor Wat the filling in a Vietnam Thai sandwich.
Find out more in our map & highlights guide below.
Find out more in our map & highlights guide below.
1.
Angkor Wat
2. Bangkok
3. Cambodia
4. Chiang Mai
5. Halong Bay
6. Ho Chi Minh City
7. Hoi An
8. Laos
9. Luang Prabang
10. Mekong River
11. Phnom Penh
12. Phonsavan
13. Siem Reap
14. Thailand
15. Vientiane
16. Vietnam
2. Bangkok
3. Cambodia
4. Chiang Mai
5. Halong Bay
6. Ho Chi Minh City
7. Hoi An
8. Laos
9. Luang Prabang
10. Mekong River
11. Phnom Penh
12. Phonsavan
13. Siem Reap
14. Thailand
15. Vientiane
16. Vietnam
Angkor Wat
1. Angkor Wat
As the subject of photos and guidebooks around the world, you’d think Angkor Wat needed no introduction. However, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is more than just a jungle-clad temple; it’s the 160sqkm centre of an empire dating back a thousand years, complete with intriguing extras such as the far-flung ruins hidden in the forest which are just as worth exploring as its main showpiece.
Bangkok
2. Bangkok
Thailand’s crazy capital is a bustling blend of ancient and modern, traditional and cosmopolitan. Take a tour on foot, tuk tuk, riverboat or Skytrain; discover the floating markets, temples, Buddhas and palaces, have dinner in a floating restaurant, or escape across the river to the lush jungle to the secret Bang Krao Jao gardens. Don’t forget your street food fix – and try recreating it yourself in a cooking class.
Cambodia
3. Cambodia
Cambodia is painted as a one-trick pony, home to the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat and little else. Tourists whizz through ignoring the fact that beyond the crumbling temples there is an entire country waiting to be discovered. The country’s smiling Khmer people are really what universally astounds and delights travellers, especially given Cambodia’s dark – and very recent – past.
Chiang Mai
4. Chiang Mai
Founded 800 years ago at the foot of a mountain, Chiang Mai is a welcome retreat from the southern heat. The city itself has temples to explore and a wonderful elephant sanctuary, as well as Thai cookery classes and a fascinating night bazaar. It is also a convenient base for adventure sports including hiking, biking and rafting. Alternatively, head into the mountains to visit the region’s many hill tribes.
Halong Bay
5. Halong Bay
This dreamy seascape is one of Vietnam’s most distinctive scenes. A UNESCO Site, Halong is the world’s largest marine karst landscape, with over 2,000 giant limestone boulders emerging from the waters. Sail on a classic wooden junk, paddle into secluded caves and admire the sunset over the karsts from the deck of your boat. You can also visit the surrounding fishing villages, and a floating school.
Ho Chi Minh City
6. Ho Chi Minh City
A marvellous Asian microcosm of markets, temples and roaring motos, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), is an instant immersion into urban Vietnamese life. You could easily spend several days losing yourself in the Ben Thanh Market, Chinatown, Taoist temples, and the excellent, emotive, War Remnants Museum. Get stuck into the street food too – delicious and unbelievably cheap.
Hoi An
7. Hoi An
Hoi An is a leap into the past. The car-free streets of the old town are lit by lanterns, and evidence of Spanish and Portuguese settlers is visible in the crumbling architecture. Tailors and artisans abound; this is the best place in Vietnam to buy a tailor-made suit or dress, as well as paintings and ceramics. Walk or cycle the narrow streets, browse the riverside fish market and visit a community project for local children.
Laos
8. Laos
Enchanting Laos retains a very laid back and distinctly old-fashioned charm, its architecture vying between the stilted wooden huts of its shabby riverside settlements and impeccably preserved French-Indochinese temples. Dawn brings shuffling monks in robes of bright burned orange and riverbanks alive with the fascinating and staggeringly simple day-to-day lives of their gentle people.
Luang Prabang
9. Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang is not Laos’s capital, but it is the jewel in the country’s crown, a heady mix of burnt orange colonial houses flanked in frangipani, enrobed monks chanting in the morning mist, and a UNESCO-worthy collection of delicate French-Indochinese architecture. The whole city is a World Heritage Site and has a modest air of grandeur unparalleled across the country.
Mekong River
10. Mekong River
Laos’s lifeline, the Mekong, is a mammoth river that winds its way 4,909km through six countries. Cruising the Mekong gives you little choice but to shelve any impatience and surrender to your surroundings, a rolling scenery of forested hillsides, plots of papaya and swirling whirlpools created by granite outcroppings that punctuate the water like rocks in a Japanese Zen garden.
Phnom Penh
11. Phnom Penh
The gateway to Cambodia is often just seen as a departure point for the wonders of Angkor Wat. But Phnom Penh offers a unique chance to discover real Cambodian life, with its hectic markets, crazy tuk tuks and gorgeous French colonial architecture – as well as its museums and palaces. Siem Reap is a town for tourists – but this is a town for locals, and people-watchers will be in heaven.
Phonsavan
12. Phonsavan
Phonsavan itself is a pretty uninspiring modern recreation of the original town that was blitzed by bombs during Vietnam, but its back roads and traditional villages are a nod to its cultural past. The ace in its pack is the Plain of Jars, a fascinating series of giant stone jars perched on hills over hundreds of sqkm around the town, the ancient origin of which is entirely unknown.
Siem Reap
13. Siem Reap
Despite being the gateway to Angkor Wat, the city of Siem Reap itself is a Cambodia highlight in its own right. There’s faded French architecture, streets thronging with tuk-tuks, markets to explore, and the Landmine Museum, which doubles up as an education and support centre for local children. There’s also a lively nightlife for those who want to let it all out after a day exploring temples.
Thailand
14. Thailand
Thailand is a tourism titan that’s weathered trolleyed backpackers, massive development and a devastating tsunami, but bounces back again and again. Crystalline waters, limestone karst bays and exceptionally beautiful beaches, it has it all, not to mention a rich local culture, a zingy cuisine, and stretches of monsoon forest alive with tigers, elephants and gibbons.
Vientiane
15. Vientiane
Unlike the frenetic push for power and profit that characterises other Asian capitals, Vientiane is relatively quaint. Inevitable and welcome change since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 has brought about growth, but it has a small town feel and a host of beautiful sights. That Luang is the country’s national symbol, a Buddhist stupa topped with gold that glows warmly at sundown.
Vietnam
16. Vietnam
A patchwork of straw-hatted rice farmers, terraced rice paddies, enchanting bays, glitzy cities, unexplored rainforest and stilt-house villages, Vietnam is a marvel at every turn. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Hanoi are frenetic, moto-filled urban sprawls, while the Mekong Delta reveals rural Vietnamese life: fruit trees, rice paddies, fishing villages and floating markets.
Our Southeast Asia (Indochina) Holidays
Indochina tours
An awesome adventure Cambodia Laos Thailand & Vietnam
From
£3208 to £3960
30 days
ex flights
Indochina holiday adventure
Laos and Cambodia; Luang Prabang, the Plain of Jars & Angkor
From
£2125 to £2175
14 days
ex flights
Indochina overland tour, Saigon to Angkor
Vietnam and Cambodia: the Mekong Delta to Angkor Wat
From
£1800 to £1850
15 days
ex flights
Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City
Thailand to Southern Vietnam via Angkor Wat
From
£570 to £835
9 days
ex flights
Thailand, Vietnam & Laos holiday
Some of Asia’s most remote but spectacular regions
From
£2810 to £2885
21 days
ex flights
Indochina tailor made holiday
Southeast Asia tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam
From
£5450
21 days
ex flights
Travel Team
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Southeast Asia sample itineraries
Indochina overland – 30 days:
Bangkok > Golden Triangle > Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng > Vientiane > Hanoi > Hue > Hai Van Pass > Hoi An > Ho Chi Minh > Cu Chi Tunnels > Mekong Delta > Phnom Penh > Siem Reap > Angkor > Siem Reap
Indochina tour – 30 days:
Bangkok > Chiang Mai > Chiang Khong > Mekong River > Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng > Vientiane > Hanoi > Halong Bay > Hue > Hoi An > Ho Chi Minh > Phnom Penh > Siem Reap > Battambang > Bangkok
Indochina tailor made – 21 days:
Bangkok > Chiang Rai > Pakbeng > Luang Prabang > Phonsavan > Vientiane > Phnom Penh > Ho Chi Minh > Hoi An > Hanoi > Halong Bay > Hanoi
Bangkok > Golden Triangle > Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng > Vientiane > Hanoi > Hue > Hai Van Pass > Hoi An > Ho Chi Minh > Cu Chi Tunnels > Mekong Delta > Phnom Penh > Siem Reap > Angkor > Siem Reap
Indochina tour – 30 days:
Bangkok > Chiang Mai > Chiang Khong > Mekong River > Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng > Vientiane > Hanoi > Halong Bay > Hue > Hoi An > Ho Chi Minh > Phnom Penh > Siem Reap > Battambang > Bangkok
Indochina tailor made – 21 days:
Bangkok > Chiang Rai > Pakbeng > Luang Prabang > Phonsavan > Vientiane > Phnom Penh > Ho Chi Minh > Hoi An > Hanoi > Halong Bay > Hanoi
Travel times in Southeast Asia
The following times give you a rough idea of the travel times between the main attractions in Indochina.
More about Southeast Asia (Indochina)
The best time to visit Southeast Asia is generally between November and February, when most countries are dry and warm.
Our Indochina travel guide incorporates all the charm, creativity and chaos of four of South East Asia’s most beguiling countries: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The beauty of travelling in Southeast Asia is that capital cities, such as Bangkok, and key cultural sites, such as Angkor Wat, are relatively close together and easily accessible, even if they’re in different countries.
Flowing south through Laos, Thailand and Cambodia before forming the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, the Mekong is the life source for many of the region’s capital cities and rural villages, and a wonderful place to explore.
Seeking out the street food stalls and cooking classes of Southeast Asia allows travellers to taste the difference and compare the cuisine of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
If you’ve been to Southeast Asia and feel like you’ve seen all there is to see, perhaps it’s time to check out Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam from a slightly closer perspective.
If you’re planning on travelling in Indochina with kids then go for it, as from primate rescue centres and bamboo rafting along the Mekong River to hidden temple ruins and friendly local people, this region of South East Asia is made for families who love to explore.
We’re proud to be able to publish some genuinely helpful Indochina travel advice that has come directly from our friends in Indochina with food advice and tips on visiting ancient cities just as insightful as tips on how to travel safely in Indochina.
We know that all responsible travellers want to travel right in Indochina which is why our responsible tourism page highlights the important issues, including orphanages, poverty, animal rights and boycotting Thailand’s tiger temple, plus what you can do to help.
