sarahmann7214

Hello! My family of 5 is planning 3 weeks in SE Asia next spring. I've created a very early plan and would love your thoughts. I know it is A LOT but also that we only have 3 weeks to see as much as we can. We *should* actually take this down a day or two. Kids are teens/tweens and great travelers. What would you remove from this if you had to? What are we missing that must-do? Is this totally insane and not do-able? Is an overnight train/bus worth it to save time? Otherwise we were planning to fly from the nearest airports into each destination. Generally like a mix of city and relaxing/adventure. Thank you!

March 23 Hanoi
March 24 Hanoi
March 25 Hanoi
March 26 Hanoi
March 27 ha long bay
March 28 Da Nang/Hui/Hoi An
March 29 Da Nang/Hui/Hoi An
March 30 Da Nang/Hui/Hoi An
March 31 Da Nang/Hui/Hoi An
April 1 Bangkok
April 2 Bangkok
April 3 Bangkok
April 4 Bangkok
April 5 Chiang Mai
April 6 Chiang Mai
April 7 Chiang Mai
April 8 Thailand beach TBD
April 9 Thailand beach TBD
April 10 Thailand beach TBD
April 11 Thailand beach TBD
April 12 Thailand beach TBD
April 13 singapore
April 14 Singapore
April 15 Flight home

MmePerdu

First thought is your format for planning. The list above is incomplete in that it isn’t specific enough. Unanswered is which are travel days & where are you sleeping each night. So arrival date? Then which nights in Hanoi, etc. That will give us & you a clearer picture of how much time you’ll have where. For instance is Halong Bay a day trip? And do you fly to Singapore on the 13th? That means you have only 1 full day in city, the 14th. So lay it all out with travel days & which nights where & it will all be clearer.

Regarding overnight buses with 3 kids, I wouldn’t. Other “shoulds” & “shouldn’ts” I’ll leave to others as I’m a slow traveler & wouldn’t enjoy your pace, though it could definitely be worse.

sarahmann7214

thanks! All of the cities are where we will stay those nights. From what I can tell there are options for flights out in morning or afternoon so can be somewhat flexible there. Hope that helps!

crellston

That seems like a reasonably relaxed itinerary and, though faster than we would move, entirely "do-able".

Hanoi - four nights gives you three full days in the city which is about the minimum I would recommend. There is a huge amount to see, do and eat and you probably wont hit the ground running because of jet lag. A trip to Ha Long bay wouldn't be high on my list but I accept it is a "must do" for many. If you do go I would search out a tour that takes you to Lan Ha or Bai Tu Long Bays which are less polluted and less crowded.

Other options close to Hanoi might be a trip into the countryside. We did one trip from Hanoi which was from Mai Chau to Ninh Binh which would certainly tick off the "adventure " part of your wish list.

Da Nang/Hui/Hoi An - Pick one and maybe visit the others on a day trip. For me it would be Hue. A nice city that you can navigate on bikes fairly easily. Great food, the Perfume River and, of course the Imperial Citadel and Tombs. Hoi An of course is the world renowned UNESCO site. Very quaint and pretty but for that reason it does get VERY crowded. It does have some halfway decent beaches nearby and the Cham ruins of My Son are a half day trip. Da Nang is a huge city and one which I would avoid unless to want to stay in one of the many huge 5* hotels strung out for 20kms or so along the beach road.

Bangkok is a city jam packed with temples and markets. Again, 4 nights and 3 full days is about right. Stay somewhere near the Chao Praya river and use the river buses and BTS to get around.

Chiang Mai - April is usually the height of the burning season in Northern Thailand. For that reason I would definitely avoid Chiang Mai. We have visited a couple of time at that time of year and had to move one very quickly. The air was thick with smoke from which there was no escape. The only solution was to get on a plane out ASAP. You could be lucky and escape it but frankly,IMO it s not worth the risk.

Thai Beach - I think I would head for theAndaman coast but choose your location/hotel wisely. They range from remote island beach shacks to 5* mega resorts. We have stayed in many places of the years but not for some considerable time so I hesitate to recommend anywhere. This is quite good site for a frank description of locations https://www.travelfish.org/country/thailand

Here is a link to our blog covering some of our travels in Vietnam https://accidentalnomads.com/category/vietnam/ which may provide some alternative ideas

Getting Around - Very easy in SE Asia where there are lost of budget airlines to choose from. We tend to aim for Air Asia where possible; they have the widest network, are very reliable (and I am used to booking with them). For most journeys you realistically need to allow half a day. I like to get early flights where possible which gives a fighting chance of half a day usable time at your destination.Almost like taking buses! I would avoid buses for all but the shortest journeys , especially in Vietnam which has an appealing road safety record. For many places, a private car and driver are inexpensive and, for a family , can be a very viable option for journeys of up to say 3-4 hours.

Overnight trains are a great way of getting around, especially in Vietnam. With your itinerary as is, I would definitely take the train from Hanoi to Hue. See https://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm for timetables and how to book. There are also a few shorter train rides in Thailand worth considering.

Other Places - If you didn't go to Chiang Mai, I would perhaps adding that time to Vietnam. You could break your journey between Hanoi and Hue and spend a few days in Phong Nha Khe Be taking a look at the largest cave system in the world. Saigon plus the Mekong Delta is another option as is a trip to the far north around Ha Giang.

Happy planning!

sarahmann7214

This is super helpful THANK YOU!