How to See the Best of Southeast Asia in 2 to 3 weeks

We’re marking the end of our four months in Southeast Asia, and we realize our incredible good fortune to have so much time to explore such a beautiful and interesting part of the world. Yet we know this kind of timeframe is simply unrealistic for most people. So we began asking ourselves: if this were our annual 2-week vacation (and even that was stretching it at our old jobs!) and our one chance to see the best of Southeast Asia, how would we do it?

First, you really need at least two weeks. Flights over here are time-consuming and expensive. One week just wouldn’t make any sense.

This two-week itinerary encompasses the highlights of Southeast Asia: big, hectic cities, great food, ancient ruins, natural beauty and sun-drenched beaches.

The Best of Southeast Asia in 2 Weeks

Day 1: Travel Day (It took us almost exactly 24 hours to reach Bangkok from Atlanta)

Days 2-3: Bangkok, Thailand

Day 4: Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day 5: Temples of Angkor

Day 6-8: Hanoi, Vietnam

Days 9-10: Halong Bay, Vietnam

Days 11-14: Thai beaches (flying into Phuket). You don’t have to stay in Phuket. We immensely enjoyed Khao Lak, about an hour’s drive from the airport.

Day 15: Travel day – fly home

Day 16: Rest day at home

Another week gets you some time in the mountains and an escape from big cities, along with a stop in one of our all time favorites: Georgetown, Malaysia. A three week itinerary (which we highly advise if you can swing it) might look something like this.

The Best of Southeast Asia in 3 Weeks

Day 1: Travel day

Days 2-3: Bangkok, Thailand

Days 4-6: Chiang Mai or another mountain town in Northern Thailand (we liked Chiang Dao)

Day 7: Travel day to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Day 8: Temples of Angkor

Days 9-10: Hoi An, Vietnam

Days 11-12: Hanoi, Vietnam

Days 13-14: Halong Bay, Vietnam

Days 15-17: Georgetown, Malaysia

Days 18-21: Thai Beaches

Day 22: Travel day – fly home

Day 23: Rest day at home

These itineraries all require lots of flying (no time for overland travel — we had great experiences on AirAsia for cheap short flights) and are the antithesis of our favored “slow travel.” They also skip the beautiful country of Laos, though you could certainly sub-out the time in Vietnam for time in Luang Prabang. Still, considering the limited time, we think these sample itineraries allow enough time to take in the best of each of these stops. And we highly recommend some beach time at the end of any vacation this action packed!

39 Responses to "How to See the Best of Southeast Asia in 2 to 3 weeks"

Derek says:

August 27, 2013 at 10:34 pm

Hi! Your website is fantastic!!! So great to see what you two are doing!!

My girlfriend and I are hoping to do SE Asia with your 3 week itinerary. We are from Chicago. How much should we expect to pay for flights, including roundtrip?

Thanks!
1. Skyler McDonald says:
  
  August 29, 2013 at 9:42 am
  
  Hi Derek,
  
  Thanks for following the blog! We’re glad you like it and thrilled our itinerary is a guide for you. I’m not sure how much a roundtrip flight from Chicago to SE Asia would cost. We flew over on points and then onward to India. I would suggest doing the typical searches on Kayak, Expedia, etc. As for flights in Asia, we used Air Asia and had a great experience with them. For our three inter-Asia flights, we spent about $330 US (for both of us). Hope this helps and please feel free to send us any other questions you two may have.
  1. Derek says:
    
    August 29, 2013 at 2:11 pm
    
    Awesome! Thank you so much for the reply! Just wanted to see what we should expect for flights within Asia…. thanks again! And safe travels!
Heidi Kempeneer says:

September 30, 2013 at 6:53 am

Hello,
We are planning a 2 week South east asia trip, but have already spent quite some time in Thailand.
How would you fill the 2 weeks in this case? tx a lot!
Heidi
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  October 1, 2013 at 2:22 pm
  
  You could easily spend that entire time in Vietnam or Malaysia by themselves. They each have a nice mix of big cities, historic cities, and nice beaches. Or, perhaps a combined visit to Laos and Cambodia?
Sara says:

October 5, 2013 at 11:39 am

Hello – I am wondering if you have a more detailed experience of your three week travel itinerary to Southeast Asia. Such as how you travel to all these places (by bus, train, plane, etc.) Thank you!
1. Skyler McDonald says:
  
  October 7, 2013 at 4:27 pm
  
  Hi Sara!
  
  You can check out our old posts on each of these places for ideas on what to see and do. As for inter-city travel, the general rule is that your fastest, but most expensive option is to fly between all points. There are trains and buses, of course, that are cheaper, but much slower. For example, you can reach Chiang Mai via plane or overnight train from Bangkok. Anywhere beyond Chiang Mai, and you’re looking at local buses or songthaews. You’d want to fly to Siem Reap (not sure if there’s a direct from Chiang Mai, but at worst you’re connecting in Bangkok). The closest airport to Hoi An is actually Da Nang, about 35 km away. Again, you may have to connect someplace like Saigon, but this is a long trip, and you’d likely want to fly. You could fly or (time permitting) take the train to Hanoi from Da Nang. (I think the train ride is about 16 hours). Absolutely every single hotel, hostel, and travel shop in Hanoi can sell you a Halong Bay package. We booked ours when we arrived, but I think the real luxury boats do book up in advance. To get to Georgetown, you’ll have to fly, likely connecting through Kuala Lumpur. There are also buses from KL to Georgetown if you want to do that. From Georgetown, you can either fly into the nearest Thai beach airport or take the train from Butterworth. (There are some dangerous parts of Southern Thailand, so whether to take the train or not is a personal judgment call).
  1. Olivia H says:
    
    March 16, 2014 at 5:04 pm
    
    Hi, love the post, has given me a great starting point for my first short, solo trip to Asia! I know it’s a slightly blonde question but for planning things like overnight trains and buses etc, how do you organise yourself for this? Do you have to get tickets in advance someplace – and how do you find which buses go where? I’ve never travelled on my own before and only ever been to Malaysia once on a diving trip so I have honestly no idea how to go about this!!
    1. Jordan McDonald says:
      
      March 20, 2014 at 5:47 pm
      
      Hi Olivia. Good question, we had no idea how this worked be we left either. We just booked as we went. Typically, we could just buy a ticket to our next destination at either our guesthouse/hostel or at the local bus terminal. There was usually no need to buy anything more than a day in advance (and usually we’d just show up and hop on the next bus out). The transportation network in SE Asia in pretty well developed and easy to navigate!
Nomad Capitalist says:

November 3, 2013 at 5:03 pm

Good itineraries and great photos! Personally, I think the Philippines are better than Thailand in most regards. Phnom Penh in Cambodia is worth seeing especially for history, but may not fit into a 2-3 week whirlwind itinerary. And I think Kuala Lumpur deserves space as a great city with great developed amenities at a lower price point than, say, Hong Kong or Singapore.
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  November 5, 2013 at 6:08 pm
  
  All great points! We haven’t made it to the Philippines but we would like to one day. We actually spent a while in PP waiting on our India visas, it’s quite an enjoyable city to spend a while in.
Vicky says:

November 26, 2013 at 9:38 pm

I hear mixed reviews about Halong Bay… especially in January. Halong Bay will clinch my decision to either go to Vietnam or Laos. (I would visit Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue and HCM or Luang Prabang, Viang Veng and Vientianne)… so I guess the question is… Halong Bay in January… re: weather, worth the trip or should I just save Vietnam for another time? I would be flying in from either Thailand or Cambodia. Thanks!
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  November 27, 2013 at 10:16 am
  
  Vicky, that’s a tough one for us. We visited Halong Bay in April. I imagine it might be a little chilly up there in January, but I suppose that all depends on your perspective!
  1. Vicky says:
    
    December 1, 2013 at 6:23 pm
    
    Hello Jordan! Thank you for your response. Your site is awesome and I am taking into account for my trip now as well as a 6 week trip planned in South America. I especially appreciate the realism of not necessarily being able to take a year off at one time. I have done most of my traveling in 3-6 week chunks and I try to see as much as I can, because I never know when I will be back (actually sometimes sooner, rather than later and then I can go more in depth, but you never know!) I think I will just have to make a call between Laos and Vietnam in relation to whether or not to do Halong in January. I am thinking I will do Vietnam north Hanoi to Hue and try to go to the DMZ and the caves, which seem interesting to me 🙂 Again thanks for your prompt reply. I used to live in South Africa and really liked your posts for CPT and Garden Route… I live in Panama now if you guys are stopping by this area feel free to email me I would love to show you around or offer you a spot to stay 😀
    1. Jordan McDonald says:
      
      December 7, 2013 at 11:48 am
      
      Vicky, how kind of you to offer to show us around Panama! We’ll get close, but I think we’ll be ending our trip in Colombia. If our plans change, we’ll surely let you know. Thanks for the nice words about the blog!
Cara says:

December 1, 2013 at 9:09 pm

Hi! I’ve been planning a month-long trip through Thailand for quite a while now, but now considering hitting up some of the countries close by. I’ll have 4 weeks – what would you suggest for that? I’d like to spend more time in Thailand and just do “mini trips” into the other places.
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  December 7, 2013 at 11:51 am
  
  Cara, that’s a great idea. We met an America couple that rented an apartment in Penang in Malaysia for several months and explored SE Asia in little mini-trips from there. Air Asia offers some really cheap flights that make that easily doable. You could easily fill a month in Thailand alone, but if you’ve never been to Angkor Wat, I would definitely add that to your itinerary. We really liked a small town in northern Thailand called Chiang Dao, particularly the lovely Chiang Dao Nest guesthouse, for exploring the mountains. You might also consider a side-trip to Penang, it’s one of our favorites.
Lauren says:

December 18, 2013 at 4:29 pm

Thanks for the outline! My husband and I are trying to swing 3 weeks in SE asia next fall and this is a helpful start. There are SO many places to see!
1. Skyler McDonald says:
  
  December 21, 2013 at 6:13 pm
  
  Lauren,
  
  Agreed — so many places to see, and not enough time to see them all! You just have to tell yourself that you’ll be back (and, once you’ve got the travel bug, you will!) 🙂
Damien says:

January 12, 2014 at 3:33 pm

Hi, I am planning a 1 month trip around South East Asia and I was wondering if you had a few tips on a couple of things, love your site by the way, i’ve been using it as a loose travel plan. The loose plan is Bangkok – Chiang Mai – Siem Reap – Hoi An – Han Oi – Halong Bay- Phuket – Krabi – Koh Samui.
Basically we’re looking to spend 3 weeks travelling and the final week in Koh Samui, as my brother is living there at the minute. How did you find winging it with hotels, or did you pick out the hotels before you left? Are there any places in Vietnam that maybe you could miss out, to give more time somewhere else? Thanks for your time 😀
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  January 13, 2014 at 11:44 am
  
  That sounds like a great itinerary. We tend to book our lodging a few days, maybe a week or so in advance. We would usually spend 1 day a week plotting out where we were headed next, and then look for accommodation — we don’t like to show up and shop around, although many people do. I definitely recommend agoda.com for finding good accommodation in SE Asia. As far as Vietnam goes, if we went back we’d probably skip Dalat and Hue. Your itinerary of Hanoi, Hoi An and Halong Bay sounds like your hitting the highlights!
Mindy Cleaveland says:

February 16, 2014 at 4:22 pm

I’m planning a 2 week vacation to Asia next Feb 2015. I’ll be starting in Hong Kong to stay with a friend and ending there, but want to visit at least two other countries. Which would you suggest? We are thinking Bali and are deciding on the second. I would like to go to Thailand but I’m not 100% set on it. Also, would you suggest getting the flights before we go out there or is it easier to do there? Thanks!
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  February 23, 2014 at 4:51 pm
  
  Mindy,
  
  It really depends on what you’re looking to do. It sounds like you’re hitting the big city with Hong Kong and the beaches in Bali, so perhaps something different, like taking in the ruins of Angkor Wat or a UNESCO heritage city like Penang, Malaysia? If you are really a big-city person and want more of that, I’d suggest doing Bangkok or whichever of the big Vietnamese cities appeals to you. If you’re more into beaches, Thailand’s are some of the best we’ve ever been to.
  
  As for flights, we did book a few weeks ahead, but since you know when you’re going to be there, I’d sign up for AirAsia’s email listserv and see if you can’t jump on a good sale.
  
  Thanks for your questions!
rohan says:

March 21, 2014 at 4:21 pm

Hello,
After hours of reading–please help with my itinerary.
I will be traveling after my honeymoon (so will get some beach time in tropical area in Indian ocean). I have about 3 weeks left after that time to see this area. **My only flight confirmed back is my last day September 2nd from Ho Chi Minh City to US and my start has to be from India (Hyderabad)**
**With current schedule: I have about 7 days i’m not accounting for** (but have skipped the beach area in thailand for now but can add if other areas covered and not really interested in doing LAOS on this trip).
Schedule:
Leave Hydrabad August 9th 1am flight
August 9 (Saturday)- 12: chiang mai
August 12-(Tuesday)-15th : fly to BKK
August 15th (Friday)-18th: fly to siem reap; do angor wat
– http://www.two-fortheroad.com/2013/07/getting-the-best-from-angkor-wat-in-2-days/
August 18th (Sunday)- 20th : fly to phnom phem—leave 20th night
August 20t- 23nd; Fly in to Hanoi at night; go to halong bay
August 23nd-26th Fly to DANANG; do day trip to Hoi an

Sept 2nd: HCM 5:30am
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  March 30, 2014 at 11:07 am
  
  Rohan — That sounds like a great trip! I wish we could join you on it. You’ve got a little bit of everything: mountains, beaches, big cities and small cities. We didn’t stay in Danang, rather in Hoi An itself. Hoi An is certainly beautiful, albeit quite touristy. Enjoy!
Ryan Burke says:

April 7, 2014 at 5:39 pm

Thanks for posting this blog. Just booked my trip for December based on what you wrote 🙂
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  April 7, 2014 at 6:38 pm
  
  Great — Let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy your trip!
Sarah says:

April 21, 2014 at 5:49 pm

Hi! Don’t know if you’d be able to help or not but I will be in Cambodia for a few months this Summer for an internship. I have a few friends who will be meeting me at the beginning of August. We are planning on spending a few days in Cambodia then we have 2 weeks to explore Thailand and Vietnam. I need to book my open jaw flight ASAP so I would like a recommendation on what order to do the trip since I will be starting in Cambodia. Should I fly to Vietnam then over to Thailand then back to the US? Or should I travel to Thailand then fly to Vietnam and head back to the US from there?

Any additional tips on itinerary/ideas are welcome as well 🙂
Diane says:

July 22, 2014 at 6:57 pm

I want to spend three weeks between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Any ideas? What’s the best airport to fly into? And a good route.
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  August 1, 2014 at 9:03 am
  
  Diane, it’s fairly easy to get around between those places, especially if your budget allows a few domestic flights so if I were you I’d fly into whatever airport is least expensive and plan from there. Perhaps you could fly into Hanoi, travel down to Saigon via bus or flight for a week or 2, and them hop over to Cambodia via bus or another flight. Laos is a little more challenging to get around quickly, but it can be done. Especially via Bangkok.
Nicolas says:

April 18, 2015 at 3:10 pm

Hi guys, just found you on Google, really nice post.. I traveled 2 years to Europe, and now I want to visit Thailand.. I have 2 weeks.. My first plan was Thailand (Bangkok and islands.. Like Maya Bay), Malaysia (KL) and Singapur. But maybe I can change just like u posted.. Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.. Do you recommend Vietnam and Cambodia as a first trip over Makaysia and Singapur.. I know it’s not a fair question..
Hong Kong and Thailand wouldn’t be bad too.. But I don’t know.. Haha.. I guess I’ll keep looking some comments.

Thank you, and greetings from Argentina
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  April 22, 2015 at 7:29 pm
  
  Hi Nicolas! It depends on your objectives. I would personally argue that Angkor Wat shouldn’t be missed. You could reach it fairly easily from Bangkok via plane or bus, before returning via plane to the islands for some beach time. Trying to squeeze in Vietnam, in my opinion, would be too much for 2 weeks. However, Malaysia and Singapore are great options too! We really really loved Penang in Malaysia, it was one of our favorites.
Lisa says:

June 1, 2015 at 10:21 pm

Hey! Great read! Thanks for all the answers! I’m planning on going to thailand this year sept 24-Oct 15. I’d love to hit Laos, Bali, beaches and maybe Vietnam.. Is this possible? Also, should I get currency here or use credit travelling? I’m not to sure about the money but I figure $4000 will get us around ? I don’t want to plan too much but should we book are first stop on Bangkok? And then start travelling? Any suggestions where to stay and eat? Things to see? Thanks again!!
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  June 10, 2015 at 7:18 pm
  
  Not too many places even accept credit cards. ATM’s are everywhere. We opened a bank account through Charles Schwab that didn’t charge ATM fees and just withdrew cash every few days where ever we were.
2. shea says:
  
  October 28, 2015 at 4:09 am
  
  Hi Lisa, just reading your post and realized youve just gotten back from your travels. I hope it went well. Im curious to know how your itinerary shaped up and if you could shed some light on what places were your favorites. Im planning a 3 week trip to SEA in early July. So many options on where to go but anything will help. 🙂
Lynn A Girard says:

June 5, 2015 at 12:41 pm

What a great post. It seems that Southeast Asia is becoming very common for honeymooners. I did 3 weeks in Southeast Asia on my honeymoon & had the best time.

Check out our blog post about our trip which details out where we went & what we saw:
http://moneyleftfortravel.com/southeast-asia-honeymoon/
Sierra says:

June 8, 2015 at 7:02 pm

This is an amazing itinerary— my buddy and I might actually copy the two-week itinerary for our SEA trip on December! Just a question though— from Ha Long, did you guys fly out back to Phuket? Also, would you advise just going to Phuket after Bangkok, instead of flying back from Vietnam to Thailand?
1. Jordan McDonald says:
  
  June 10, 2015 at 7:17 pm
  
  Yes, we flew from Hanoi to Phuket on AirAsia. We personally like to end our vacations which some relaxing beach time, but you’re right that Bangkok to Phuket makes more sense logistically.
Summer says:

September 8, 2017 at 10:15 pm

Hey! This article was so helpful and interesting 🙂
We’re from Australia and our rough 3 week plan is too fly into Vietnam then Cambodia- Laos- Philippines. Money isn’t an issue as we have been saving for this trip but wondering what our thoughts are on trying to do all 4 countries in such a short amount of time and also visas for travelling inter-countries?
Vietnam- 6 days
Cambodia- 7 days
Philippines – 4 days
and Laos- 4 days.

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