I am interested to travel to these countries. Trying to decide between a river cruise down the Mekong, or a land tour. Has anyone done either or both? I like river cruises because of the pack/unpack once idea, but open to land tours if they allow more access to areas.
Thanks
You would see much more with a land tour. We did an Odysseys Unlimited tour to both Vietnam and Cambodia that was wonderful. You stay in fantastic hotels, often 3 nights in each, in very central locations. Wonderful food. Take a look at this trip. We loved it 🥰
I did a 17 day Road Scholar tour, The People of Mekong: Vietnam, Cambodia and Angkor Wat. We spent one night in a boat on Halong Bay but the rest was a land tour. Our guides were fantastic and it was a great trip. We were able to see and experience so much because we were busy all day every day visiting locations and went out for group dinners and events in the evenings. I’ve never been on a cruise so can’t compare it to our trip but we had a jam-packed itinerary and felt like we had ample opportunity to see the areas we visited.
About 10 years ago I did a cruise on the Mekong from Saigon to Seam Reap. It was in the dry season and water was too low to navigate Tonle lake so we were bussed to Seam Reap. There we did our own trip, booking hotels and a wonderful tuk-tuk driver who took us to the Angkor Wat. Unfortunately I cannot remember his name. The Mekong cruise was run by Pandow and I loved it. The boats were modern but built in the old colonial style. The food on board was consistently good and we did interesting shore excursions. These included a floating market, a colonial villa that was undergoing renovation in a small town with a great street market, a Muslim village, a fish farm. A village of silk weavers, Phnom Phen including the Killing Fields and the Detention Centre. And of course temples and Wats everywhere, fascinating. I loved the cruise, the crew couldn’t do enough for you. It was very casual, about 40 people mostly Australians and Americans. We went in January, New Year decorations were still up in Saigon. Weather was warm and sunny and not humid. Angkor is huge and fabulous. I think my favourite temple was Bayon. I would recommend the way we did it, the cruise was well worth it.
I did the Avalon Southbound from Siem Reap to Saigon in February 2024 and it was amazing. Great ship and wonderful people.
I just returned from 6 weeks in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Would you have the time, budget and energy to do a cruise, from say Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon is only one small area in HCM City), then pick up a land tour that goes up Vietnam to Hanoi (or reverse leaving the more relaxing cruise to last)? I did trip all by land, but with day boat trips. The Mekong and its Delta would be lovely to visit by a boat, but it is quite different to the rest of Vietnam.
I used a Vietnam company for my Cambodia/Vietnam portion (Legend Travel Group). Local agents may advertise group tours, but know they are not escorted tours as we know from North America. In so many ways I like them better, as you can do a little personalizing on them, and some time they are private, other days may be with other folks. They get you to airports for internal flights but you do the flight process yourself...and they meet you on the other side. So guided, but not escorted. Easy peasy. I wasn't expecting non escorted, but once I got my head around it, I really liked it. We tended to stay 2-3 nights in any one place and there were levels of accommodation to choose. I suspect most would prefer the 2 or 3rd upgrade option, though the basic level was adequate, clean, working AC, hot water and elevator. They will also build a private tour, which may be cost effective with 2 of you.
If this may be your only trip to Vietnam, I personally think just the south as a cruise would be short changing all that the country has to offer.
Take a look at Trip Report forum. There is a detailed report posted this month. Primarily for Vietnam with a side trip to Cambodia.
