The Long Way Round: Hanoi to Angkor overland

Days 1–3

Hanoi: arrive, sleep, walk

You arrive on your own international flight; a driver meets you and takes you to a hotel in or near the Old Quarter. Day 2 is a half-day walk with a guide through the Old Quarter and the lanes around Hoan Kiem Lake, ending at a lunch you choose. Day 3 is free. Jet lag on a long trip is worth respecting: the first long leg is a night on a train, and you want to start it rested.

Day 4

The night train south to Hue

Waking up to rice fields and the first sight of the central coast

The SE trains of the north–south railway take about fourteen hours from Hanoi to Hue, leaving in the evening and arriving the next morning. We book a 4-berth soft-sleeper compartment; for two travellers we can book all four berths so the compartment is yours. Bring a light layer: the air-conditioning runs cold.

Days 5–8

Hue: four nights in the old capital

Hue was the capital of a unified Vietnam from 1802 to 1945 under the Nguyen dynasty, and its citadel, palaces and royal tombs are inscribed by UNESCO. Day 5 is for sleep after the train. On day 6 a guide takes you through the citadel and the Imperial City in the morning, when it is cooler. Day 7 is the tombs along the Perfume River by car and boat. Day 8 is empty — our first planned rest and laundry day.

Day 9

Hue to Savannakhet, across the Lao Bao border

The longest road day of the trip. The international bus between Hue and Savannakhet runs about eight hours, crossing the Annamite range and the Lao Bao – Dansavanh border; we can arrange a private car to the border instead, with the bus or a Lao-side vehicle after it. Have your Lao visa arranged before this day. Do not rely on getting one at the border.

Day 10

Savannakhet: a day off

Nothing booked. Savannakhet sits on the Mekong across from Thailand, and its old town of shuttered shophouses is quiet enough to walk without a plan. After the border day this is the point where most people simply sleep.

Days 11–13

South to Champasak and Vat Phou

About five hours by road to Pakse, then the last stretch south to Champasak, a one-street town on the west bank. Day 12 is Vat Phou, a UNESCO-listed Khmer temple complex laid out along an axis of about ten kilometres from mountain to river; go early, before the heat. Day 13 is free.

Days 14–17

Si Phan Don: four nights in the islands

Road to the landing at Ban Nakasang, then a short boat across to Don Det or Don Khon. Four nights is deliberate: the islands are where this route stops moving. Rent bicycles, see the Li Phi falls on Don Khon, take a boat out at dusk. Laundry here is done by guesthouses and dries in a day in the dry season.

Days 18–20

Across into Cambodia, to Kratie

A boat back to the mainland, then the Nong Nok Khiene – Trapeang Kriel border, where there is no public transport that runs only to the post — we arrange a vehicle on each side. About an hour and a half to Stung Treng, then four to five hours to Kratie, longer in the rainy season. Days 19 and 20 are slow: the riverbank, the market, and a morning boat on the stretch of river where Cambodia's remaining Mekong dolphins live.

Days 21–24

Phnom Penh

A full day by road down the Mekong to the capital. Four nights here give you a guided morning at the Royal Palace and the National Museum, a second morning for the city's recent history if you want it, and two days unplanned. This is the second laundry stop.

Days 25–29

Siem Reap and Angkor

Coach or private car to Siem Reap, about six and a half hours. Angkor holds the remains of the capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century, across some 400 square kilometres. Three temple days with a guide, starting early and stopping by midday, and two days off between them. Five nights is not too many.

Day 30

Leave from Siem Reap

A driver takes you to the airport for your onward flight, which is not part of the trip.