Thailand and Vietnam Itinerary

Thailand, for most people. It's the easier landing after a long-haul flight, with simple transport, more English and one clear dry season, and once you've got your bearings in Bangkok, Vietnam's longer travel days feel like part of the trip rather than a shock.

Start in Vietnam if your dates push you to. Hanoi and the north are at their best from October to April, and central Vietnam around Hoi An is wet from September to December, with typhoons in October and November. In a December trip that means Hanoi first, the center skipped or kept short, and Thailand's Andaman coast to finish, which is in peak season by then. From Europe, the nonstop Vietnam Airlines flights from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan and Copenhagen to Hanoi make Vietnam-first easy as well.

Whichever you pick, book it as an open jaw (multi-city on any flight search). Flying in and out of the same city forces you to double back the length of Vietnam or across Thailand, and that costs a day and a flight you didn't need.

Two weeks is the minimum that does both countries justice, and it means choosing. This version gives Thailand Bangkok and one beach, and Vietnam its three essential stops, Saigon, Hoi An and Hanoi, flying between each so the trip is all arrivals and no long roads. Fly into Bangkok and home from Hanoi.

It's built for November to April, when Phuket and Krabi are dry. Hoi An is wet until about January, so in November and December swap its three nights for a night in Ninh Binh and an overnight cruise on Ha Long Bay out of Hanoi.

Three weeks is the comfortable length, and the one I'd plan around. Thailand gets ten nights, counting the one on the train, enough for Bangkok, the sleeper to Chiang Mai and three nights on the Andaman coast. Vietnam gets ten and runs north to south, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay first, then Hoi An, then Saigon and the Mekong Delta. Fly into Bangkok and home from Saigon.

The two Thai legs come straight from the two-week Thailand plan, the 18:40 train from Bangkok that reaches Chiang Mai at 07:15 and the direct Chiang Mai to Krabi flight of 1h55, so its booking advice applies here too. The lower berths sell out weeks ahead from November to February.

Four weeks lets each country have a full two weeks, and it's where the trip stops feeling rushed. The Thailand half is the two-week Thailand route as written, Bangkok, the north and the Andaman islands, ending in Phuket. From there the nonstop to Saigon starts a south-to-north Vietnam, with time for Hue and Ninh Binh, which the shorter plans skip. Fly into Bangkok and home from Hanoi.

At 14 nights the Thailand half fits easily inside the 30-day visa-free stay. In Vietnam, travelers on the 45-day exemption need nothing, and everyone else needs the e-visa before they fly from Phuket.

Thailand gives citizens of 60 countries, including the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, 30 days free on arrival, cut from 60 days on 15 September 2026. Every entry is a fresh 30 days, so flying out to Vietnam and back into Thailand starts the count again, and every plan on this page fits. Everyone files the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card online up to three days before each arrival. Entries by land on the exemption are capped at two a calendar year, but flights aren't, and these routes are all flights.

Vietnam gives 45 days free to the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Nordic countries, the Benelux countries, Switzerland and much of central and eastern Europe. Everyone else, including Americans, Canadians, Australians and the Irish, Austrians, Portuguese and Greeks, applies online for the e-visa, $25 for a single entry or $50 for multiple, valid up to 90 days. Apply on the official evisa.gov.vn site rather than an agency, and do it before you leave home, since you'll be boarding in Thailand.

You can't do it through Cambodia by land at the moment. Every Thai–Cambodian land crossing has been closed since June 2025, so the old Bangkok to Siem Reap bus route is gone. Cambodia still works by air, and Angkor fits between the two countries if you fly in and out.

The overland route that still runs goes through Laos. Head north to Chiang Khong, cross the Mekong to Huay Xai in Laos, take the two-day slow boat down the river to Luang Prabang, and carry on from Laos into Vietnam. It's the Banana Pancake Trail, which backpackers usually run over two to three months, so it suits a long trip, not a three-week one. The Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang guide covers the Thai half.