Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam
The Indochina circuit in the cool, dry months. Temple dawns, hill country and a junk on a quiet bay.
The window for mainland South-East Asia is narrow and worth holding to. From November to February the north-east monsoon has cleared the air, the humidity drops, and the heat that makes March and April punishing has not arrived. It is the only stretch when Angkor at dawn is comfortable, the northern Thai hills are cool at night, and the crossings in Halong Bay are calm.
Seventeen nights, three countries. Bangkok and the northern Thai hills around Chiang Mai to begin, Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor in the middle, and then Vietnam from Hanoi and Halong down to the old port of Hoi An. The distances are long on a map and short by air, which is the point of doing it this way rather than in three separate trips.
The set pieces earn their reputation. Angkor Wat and the Bayon before the gates, with a guide who knows which galleries are empty at first light; the Grand Palace and the canals of Bangkok; the hill temples and an ethical elephant camp above Chiang Mai; a chartered junk overnight on the quieter water of Lan Ha rather than the crowded heart of Halong; and Hoi An's lantern-lit old town, still the best place in the country to have something made.
Movement is straightforward. Bangkok, the Siem Reap–Angkor airport some way out of town, Hanoi and Da Nang all take business jets, and the country hops run under two hours. Halong is reached by road from Hanoi and then by boat; Hoi An by a short drive from Da Nang.
Among our preferred hotel partners we use Mandarin Oriental and Capella in Bangkok, Amansara in Siem Reap, Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi and Four Seasons The Nam Hai on the coast at Hoi An.
Ask your advisor about private access to Angkor before opening, a chartered junk on Lan Ha rather than the main bay, and a tailor in Hoi An given enough notice to do it properly.