Small boats drift on calm waters as the sun sets over the sea in Cambodia.

About

About Indochina Journey

Indochina Journey plans private, long, slow trips through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, built leg by leg around trains, river boats and roads. This page says how we work, what we will not do, and what we do badly.

Plan my trip

What we do

We plan one kind of trip: private journeys of three to five weeks that cross Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia mostly on the ground and on the water. Every trip is for one party — a couple, a family, a few friends — on dates they choose. We do not run group departures and we do not sell short routes.

Our starting point is always the legs. Before we pick a single hotel, we draw the route as a chain of movements: this train, this boat, this border, this road. Each one gets an approximate time, a comfort note and a source with the date we checked it. Only then do we decide where to stop and for how long. The overland legs table is that working document, published.

How we work, in practice

We write before we sell. Every journey on this site is fully written out, leg by leg, with the reasons for each stop. If a route does not make sense written down, it does not go on the site.
We put the trade-offs in front of you. Night train or flight, public or premium slow boat, coach or private car: we quote both sides where both exist, and say which we would choose and why.
We name hotels. No 'three-star or similar'.
We confirm each leg against the operator before you travel, and send a printed leg sheet with times, border notes and a visa checklist.
We reply by email to the address you give in the form, so everything agreed is written down.

What we do badly

Short trips. Under eighteen days, our way of planning — long stays, rest days, overland legs — does not fit, and we will say so rather than squeeze it.
Luxury at every stop. On the river stretches of Laos and Cambodia there is no luxury hotel to book. If every night must be five-star, we are the wrong people.
Large groups. We plan for parties of one to six. Beyond that, trains, small boats and guesthouses stop working the way the journeys are written.
Speed of reply on complex routes. A trip with three borders takes us longer to draw than one with none, because we check each leg. If you need a full quote tomorrow, we are not the fastest option.
Languages other than English. Our planning and our written material are in English only.

Why there are no reviews on this site

We do not publish customer quotes or star ratings here. Reviews on an operator's own website are chosen by the operator, and readers know it. They prove little.

What we offer instead is the detail on every page: hours, comfort, sources and dates that you can check against anything else you read, and a quote that lists every component. If anything in the quote is unclear, ask: we answer in writing before you commit to anything.

What we will not do

Add shopping stops to guided days.
Plan a leg that depends on buying a visa at a border.
Promise a timetable we have not checked.
Remove rest days to make a price look lower without telling you.

Where to go from here

If you are still deciding whether a trip like this suits you, read how we pace a long trip. If you know roughly what you want, look at the four journeys or the places they stop. When you are ready, send the form on any page; we reply by email to the address you give.

Common questions