Seven Days, Four Cities in a Backpack: Itinerary for a Trip to Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangkok

A tri-city trip to Vietnam, Bangkok and Cambodia is a part of many traveller's bucket list because other than the richness in cultures that these countries boast, they are also relatively near to each other that it's very fast and easy to move around. I have been holding off writing this specific itinerary for so long because it is far too elaborate that I didn't know how to approach this without being too lengthy. 

I will be going through per country for the guides and you will find a detailed itinerary available for download at the end of this pot.

If you have been planning to go on this sought-after trip but don't know exactly where and how to start, I hope this helps you out a little bit. Given that this packs quite a lot of spots in a very limited number of days, expect that you will be very exhausted and you will have to move fast. 

So, pack up your 7kg backpack and let's get to planning.

Singapore

The trip to Singapore is only a side-trip. The key here is to book a flight via Scoot because they have trips with layovers over 20 hours. Check for the earliest trip with the longest layover.

When you get to Singapore, don't go to transfers. Instead, follow the arrow that leads to the immigration  counters. Present all your necessary documents such as flight itinerary, hotel bookings, tour bookings, etc and let them know you will only be staying in Singapore for a number of hours since you have a next flight.

Jewel Changi Airport. After immigration, take a train to the Jewel Changi. You will find signages for "Jewel" or you can also ask the airport staff for directions to the train to the Jewel. 

There is no free to enter, but expect tons of tourist especially during the daytime. I suggest you go up high as you can where you can take better photos.

I know Singapore has so many other places but if you have limited time, the spots you should visit that really does not take too much effort and time would be the Esplanade, Raffles Hotel, Merlion Park and Marina Bay Sands. You can also sneak in some time to go to Chinatown the following morning before your next flight.

And don't forget to try famous local Singaporean dishes!

Vietnam

Vietnam is a truly charming country - with tons of motorcycles. The sound of beeping horns are just too frequent that is almost sounds like music. The Vietnamese culture is a unique and rich one. For this trip, let's check something very important and should be in you travel bucket list: a tour of the Mekong Delta.

On your first day, you should go on a walking tour around Ho Chi Minh or take a Grab car around. If you're staying in the city centre, you should be able to go to the War Remnants Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon Central Post Office and perhaps catch a show at The Opera House.

Vietnam's culture is still very much embedded in their architecture so a walking tour is a very great experience.

On the second day,  I booked a Mekong Delta Excursion Tour via Klook which is a join-in tour that takes you through some pagodas as well as the famous river tour. The tour also includes a lunch highlighting a few local Vietnamese cuisine. I will be posting a separate post about this full day excursion in detail. You can book the full day excursion tour for less than Php 1500 per person here.

Cambodia

If you follow the downloadable itinerary, you will arrive in Phnom Penh in Cambodia in the afternoon. As of today, I cannot find a bus that travels from Ho Chi Minh directly to Siem Reap which is where this itinerary focuses in. Siem Reap is where Angkor Wat is located and it is around 6 hours by bus from Phnom Penh.

Since the night bus to Siem Reap leaves at 11:00pm, you have a few hours on your hand in Phnom Penh. There are plenty of options: you can rent a room for a few hours to take a rest, hang out at a cafe, or look for local food spots and nightlife. Just be sure that you are sober enough to make it to the night bus.

You should not also try and see the Grand Palace as well as the Wat Phnom Temple. I lost my photos for those places but they're also very beautiful and picture perfect.

When you arrive in the morning, take the tuktuk from the bus station to your hotel and request for an early check in. You can book a Grab Tuktuk in Cambodia. They also trade in US dollars which means you can pay for anything using that currency. The only place I would suggest if you could only go to one place in Cambodia, it would be the Angkor Wat temples. My regrets were that I did not prepare my outfit and gadgets properly. I could have made the most out of my tri if I did. It is still in my bucket list to go back someday and visit every single temple.

Bangkok

This would be the last country on this seven-day trip and by this time, you'll most likely be very exhausted. Bangkok is just like a lot of busy Asian cities and it can get overwhelming even if you are used to it. Traffic can get really bad and there are crowd surges during rush hours as expected.

What I recommend is that you take things a little slow on this stop. I know the past few days almost seemed non-stop and very rushed so in Bangkok, you can spend all the remaining days visiting maybe a couple temples near the city and to go shopping. Bangkok is a hotspot for budget and even luxury shopping. Hit up the markets and shop and eat to your heart's content. 

I hope I was able to cover the necessary details, but I am also thinking of making detailed itineraries for those countries if I can still remember as much - it has been a looong time ago.

This is not for the faint of hearts and this definitely is not for the staycation loving types of travellers. However, I think this is still a great cultural adventure, the greatest that you may experience in a lifetime.

Happy travels!

Downloadable Content

Click the button below to download the pdf file of that contains all the details of this seven-day itinerary to Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and Bangkok. 

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