Southeast Asia Self-Launched Journey: Hanoi to Siem Reap
13 days · Vietnam & Cambodia
G Adventures charges £1,900
No-markup version: ~£748 per person
Estimate only, not a guaranteed price. Always verify costs independently before booking.
A self-launched 13-day route from Hanoi to Siem Reap covering the same highlights as the G Adventures National Geographic Family Journey: Hanoi's Old Quarter, Hoa Lu and Tam Coc, Ninh Binh countryside, imperial Hue, lantern-lit Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City and the Cu Chi Tunnels, then overland into Cambodia for Angkor and Phare Circus. Everything is booked direct: budget guesthouses and hostels instead of group hotels, local buses, trains and Open Tour sleepers instead of a private coach, budget flights for the long hops, and self-bookable or walk-in equivalents of the included activities (cyclo rides, water puppets, sampan boats, noodle cooking class, Angkor guides, Phare workshop). Costs are rough backpacker/budget-traveller estimates in GBP and exclude international flights.
Day-by-day
Arrive Hanoi — Old Quarter orientation
Hanoi
Land at Noi Bai and take the Vietnam Airlines shuttle bus or bus 86 into the Old Quarter (about £1.30) rather than a private transfer. Check into a guesthouse near Ma May or Hang Bac. Spend the late afternoon wandering Hoan Kiem Lake, getting a SIM card from a Viettel or Mobifone shop (about £4-6 for 30 days of data) and eating bun cha or pho bo for dinner at a street stall. Book your onward Tam Coc trip and a cyclo tour locally this evening.
🚌Airport bus 86 or shuttle (~£1.30); walking
🛏Old Quarter guesthouse, private twin or dorm (approx £12-16/room)
- →Hoan Kiem Lake walk
- →SIM card setup
- →Street food dinner
Hanoi cyclo tour and water puppet show
Hanoi
Book a cyclo through your guesthouse or a street-side operator — one hour around the Old Quarter's craft streets runs roughly 150,000-200,000 VND (£5-7) per cyclo and is the exact same experience the tour includes. In the afternoon buy a ticket for the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre on Dinh Tien Hoang (about 100,000-150,000 VND, roughly £3-5) — book online or at the box office a day ahead for a good seat. Evening: bia hoi corner on Ta Hien street.
🚌Walking and cyclo
🛏Old Quarter guesthouse
- →Cyclo tour of Old Quarter
- →Thang Long water puppet theatre
- →Ta Hien bia hoi corner
Hoa Lu temples and Tam Coc sampan caves
Ninh Binh / Tam Coc
Take a Limousine-style minibus or the local bus from Hanoi's Giap Bat or My Dinh station to Ninh Binh (about 2-2.5 hours, 120,000-200,000 VND / £4-7). A local taxi or hired scooter gets you to Hoa Lu's Dinh and Le dynasty temples (entry 20,000 VND). Afternoon: the classic Tam Coc sampan rowboat down the Ngo Dong River through the three caves — book at the Tam Coc boat station, about 195,000 VND per person for the boat (£6-7) plus an optional tip for the rower (they row with their feet). Sleep in Tam Coc village, which has good cheap guesthouses and nightlife.
🚌Minibus Hanoi-Ninh Binh (~£6); taxi or scooter locally
🛏Tam Coc village guesthouse or homestay (£10-15/room)
- →Hoa Lu ancient capital temples
- →Tam Coc sampan boat through three caves
Tam Coc bicycle loop, Bich Dong and sweet potato chips
Ninh Binh / Tam Coc
Rent a bicycle from your homestay for about 50,000-80,000 VND (£2-3) and peddle the countryside loop past rice paddies to Thung Nang (Sunshine Valley) and the Bich Dong pagoda built into a cave — all free or a tiny entry fee. Ask at your homestay about a short Vietnamese cooking session; many Tam Coc homestays will show you how to make sweet potato or banana chips for a few pounds, otherwise join a half-day cooking class on Klook (roughly £15-20). Late afternoon back to Ninh Binh for dinner, or book a Hang Mua viewpoint sunset climb if you have energy left.
🚌Bicycle hire; local taxi
🛏Tam Coc village guesthouse or homestay
- →Bicycle countryside loop
- →Thung Nang and Bich Dong pagoda
- →Sweet potato chip cooking session
Hanoi craft workshop, then fly to Hue
Hue
Bus back to Hanoi in the morning and visit Bat Trang ceramics village by local bus 47 or a Grab (about 100,000 VND) — the pottery village is the same one the tour visits, and you can throw a pot or paint a plate at one of the workshops for 50,000-100,000 VND. Vietjet and Bamboo Airways fly Hanoi-Hue from about £30-45 one way if booked a week or two out; alternatively the Reunification Express sleeper is roughly £18-25 and takes 13 hours. Arrive Hue, check into a guesthouse in the backpacker pocket around Vo Thi Sau street, and walk the Perfume River promenade in the evening.
🚌Bus to Hanoi, Grab to Bat Trang, flight to Hue (~£35) or sleeper train (~£20)
🛏Hue guesthouse, Vo Thi Sau area (£12-18/room)
- →Bat Trang pottery village workshop
- →Perfume River evening walk
Hue Imperial Citadel, then Hai Van Pass to Hoi An
Hue to Hoi An
Do the Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City early (entry 200,000 VND, about £6.50) — rent a bicycle or just walk, and pick up an audio guide or a cheap local guide at the gate for about £10. Lunch at a Buddhist nunnery or a vegetarian restaurant in Hue is easy to arrange locally. In the afternoon there is the choice: the Open Tour bus Hue-Hoi An over the Hai Van Pass is about 200,000 VND (£6.50) and includes a photo stop, or for the iconic version hire an Easy Rider motorbike guide from Hue to Hoi An for roughly £25-35. Check into a Hoi An homestay or hostel in the old town or Cam Nam.
🚌Open Tour bus over Hai Van Pass (~£6.50) or Easy Rider motorbike (~£30)
🛏Hoi An homestay or hostel (£12-18/room)
- →Hue Imperial Citadel and Forbidden Purple City
- →Hai Van Pass crossing
Hoi An Old Town and custom tailoring
Hoi An
Get the combined Old Town ticket (120,000 VND, about £4) covering five heritage sites including the Japanese Covered Bridge, Tan Ky old house and Chinese assembly halls. Then do the tailor thing: pick a shop on Tran Phu or Nguyen Thai Hoc, get measured in the morning for a shirt (roughly £20-35 depending on fabric), and it will be ready tomorrow. Optional extra: a lantern-making workshop in the old town for about £8 (the tour lists this as an optional too). Sunset boat ride on the Thu Bon River is 100,000-150,000 VND per person.
🚌Walking, bicycle hire (~£2)
🛏Hoi An homestay or hostel
- →Hoi An Old Town heritage ticket
- →Custom shirt fitting at a tailor
- →Sunset Thu Bon River boat
Noodle cooking class and countryside basket boat
Hoi An
Book a Hoi An cooking class through Klook, GetYourGuide or directly at one of the old-town kitchens — a market tour plus noodle cooking session runs £18-25 and covers the same ground as the Oodles of Noodles experience (Cao lau, white rose dumplings, fresh spring rolls). In the afternoon rent a bicycle (£2) and ride out to Cam Thanh coconut village, where a basket boat ride through the water coconut palms is about 100,000-150,000 VND per person. Pick up your finished shirt from the tailor in the evening.
🚌Bicycle hire
🛏Hoi An homestay or hostel
- →Market tour and Vietnamese noodle cooking class
- →Cam Thanh basket boat ride
- →Collect tailored shirt
Fly to Ho Chi Minh City, cyclo and Ben Thanh
Ho Chi Minh City
Fly Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City with Vietjet or Bamboo (from about £30-45 one way, or the Reunification Express from Da Nang takes about 20 hours for £25-35 if you have the time). Check into a District 1 hostel — the Pham Ngu Lao / Bui Vien area is cheapest and most sociable. In the late afternoon take a cyclo around the French colonial quarter (Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office, Reunification Palace) for about 150,000-250,000 VND, then plunge into Ben Thanh market for dinner and shopping.
🚌Flight Da Nang-Saigon (~£35); cyclo in the city (~£6)
🛏District 1 hostel or guesthouse (£10-16)
- →Cyclo tour of colonial Saigon
- →Ben Thanh market
Cu Chi Tunnels half-day
Ho Chi Minh City
Book a small-group Cu Chi Tunnels tour via Klook or GetYourGuide (roughly £15-22 including entry and transport) or, cheaper still, take bus 13 from Ben Thanh to Cu Chi town and a motorbike taxi to the site yourself. Either way you crawl through the tunnels, see the booby traps and try the cassava root with salt and sesame — exactly what the tour does. Back in the city by mid-afternoon for the War Remnants Museum (40,000 VND) if you want more context, and dinner in District 4 or a banh mi night market.
🚌Shared minibus tour or local bus 13 (~£2) plus motorbike taxi
🛏District 1 hostel or guesthouse
- →Cu Chi Tunnels half-day tour
- →War Remnants Museum (optional)
Overland to Siem Reap via Bavet/Moc Bai
Siem Reap
The tour flies this leg, but the budget overland route is a well-trodden one: take a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh (Giant Ibis or Mekong Express, about £10-12, 6 hours) and then a second afternoon bus or minivan to Siem Reap (£10-12, 6 hours), or buy a through ticket from a District 1 travel agent for roughly £22-25. Cross at Moc Bai/Bavet — have USD cash for the Cambodian visa on arrival (about $30 plus photos) and your e-Arrival form done online. Flying is the fast option if you have the budget (Vietjet/Sky Angkor, roughly £45-70). Arrive Siem Reap and eat a Khmer amok dinner at one of the New Hope-adjacent training restaurants along Wat Bo Road (£4-6), which supports the same vocational model the tour promotes.
🚌Through bus Saigon-Phnom Penh-Siem Reap (~£22) or flight (~£55)
🛏Siem Reap guesthouse near Wat Bo or Sivatha (£12-18/room)
- →Moc Bai/Bavet border crossing
- →Khmer dinner at a vocational training restaurant
Angkor sunrise and Phare Circus workshop
Siem Reap
Buy the one-day Angkor pass (about $37 / £29) and pre-book a tuk-tuk driver for the sunrise run (around $18-20 for the day, split if you're in a pair). Do Angkor Wat at dawn, then Bayon's faces and Ta Prohm's tree roots — hire a local guide at the gate for the morning for $25-35 if you want the stories, or use a self-guided audio app. Afternoon: book the Phare Circus workshop direct at pharecircus.org (roughly $20-25) and get a ticket to the evening show (from about $18 for B seats) — Phare is the same social enterprise the tour partners with.
🚌Tuk-tuk hire for the day (~£15, shared)
🛏Siem Reap guesthouse
- →Angkor Wat sunrise
- →Bayon and Ta Prohm temples
- →Phare Circus acrobatics workshop and evening show
Depart Siem Reap
Siem Reap
Easy morning: a Khmer breakfast at a local market, a wander through the old market for souvenirs, or a short cycle to the Wat Athvea pagoda just outside town. Tuk-tuks to Siem Reap International Airport take about 20-30 minutes for $10-15 (£8-12). If your flight is later, squeeze in a sunrise return to Angkor with the same pass or a Koh Ker/Tonle Sap day trip extension.
🚌Tuk-tuk to Siem Reap airport (~£10)
🛏None (departure day)
- →Old market shopping
- →Wat Athvea pagoda cycle (optional)
Self-launched vs. G Adventures
| This itinerary (self-launched) | G Adventures | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per person | ~£748 | £1,900 |
| Duration | 13 days | 13 days |
| Who books it | You and your group, direct | Tour operator, guided group |
| Savings | £1,152 per person (61%) | |
Estimate only, not a guaranteed price. Always verify costs independently before booking.
Want to see more G Adventures-style trips? Check them out here.~£748
estimated per person
You never pay Travel Crew for this — you pay hostels, transport, and activity providers directly, the same as if you'd booked it all yourself.
This publishes your dates so other travellers can find and join you — no tour operator needed.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does Southeast Asia Self-Launched Journey: Hanoi to Siem Reap cost?+
Doing it yourself with this self-launched itinerary costs an estimated £748 per person for 13 days in Vietnam & Cambodia. This is an AI-generated estimate based on typical budget-traveller prices — actual costs will vary by season and how you book.
Is this cheaper than booking with G Adventures?+
Yes — G Adventures charges around £1,900 per person for a similar tour. Doing the same route independently, using the same standard of accommodation and activities, costs an estimated £748 — a saving of roughly £1,152 (61%) per person.
How long is the Vietnam & Cambodia trip?+
This itinerary runs 13 days, covering 13 day-by-day stops through Vietnam & Cambodia.
How do I join this trip?+
You can join an existing open departure using this itinerary if one is scheduled, or launch your own departure with your own dates and invite other travellers to join you — no tour operator required.
Isn't it easier to just use a tour operator?+
Well, yes, a tour operator will book all the individual parts of your travel for you and provide a guide. That's obvious, but doing this has the potential to save the group thousands, which can in turn improve your itinerary substantially or save you huge amounts of money. Also, when you launch a departure, Travel Crew has tools in place to help you book the individual sections of the trip or make it easier for you to do this as a group. Really, you do not need a middle man. If you are more comfortable paying more and using a middle man, then you should certainly do this.
Is it safer to book through a tour operator?+
Arguably, there isn't much difference. A self-launched trip runs on the same principle as a group travel crew: collective responsibility, everyone looking out for each other, the same way it would if a group of friends organised the trip themselves — because that's exactly what's happening. You should always take out travel insurance before you go, self-launched or not; that doesn't change either way. Every open departure is published publicly with real dates and a real trip organiser, so it's never an anonymous arrangement, and our support team is reachable any time you need help, including in an emergency while you're away. Longer-term, we're building direct relationships with ground DMCs in popular destinations, offered as an optional paid add-on for extra on-the-ground support. Ultimately, though, the group is responsible for its own conduct and safety on a self-launched trip, same as on any trip you plan yourself.
What kind of trip is this?+
This is a culture, foodie, budget trip through Vietnam & Cambodia, self-launched rather than run by a tour operator — you organise it with a group you find or bring yourself.
Would you like to name the operator, name the trip, or have any suggestions about how to improve this itinerary?
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