So I’ve never been to Asia. I don’t foresee another long term travel trip possible over the next few years (like id like to take a couple months to do Vietnam and Thailand but that’ll have to wait). If I was going to hit one destination/country and had 5-7 days, what would be yalls vote?
Man that's tough in such a short time. Thailand would probably be easiest with flights and a good tourist infrastructure already in place, could do Bangkok + Chiang Mai or Bangkok + islands. Northern Vietnam, out of Hanoi, would be awesome -- Hanoi, then can fit in Halong Bay, Sapa, Ninh Binh (all couple hour by bus or train) possibly. Vietnam would probably be my vote, but it's 1a and 1b.
I'd probably skip SEA on that short of a trip and fly direct to Seoul, hong kong, Tokyo or something like that from one of the major us cities. Will save you like a day of travel time when it's all said and done
Japan would certainly be easier and faster, but also about 10x more expensive (not including airfare)
seconding this, that short of trip having a great easy flight path and infrastructure to get to a secondary city if desired would be key. Seoul + Busan or Tokyo probably the most valuable use of time.
i had a friends girlfriend with us on my last thailand trip that only had 7 days in country. she was pretty rushed but they still got to do a lot.
Dirt cheap from Atlanta TO: Amsterdam (AMS) - $286 Barcelona (BCN) - $279 FROM: Atlanta (ATL) WHEN: March through May 2019, including tulip season for Amsterdam
1. Vietnam, I’ve done Hanoi (plus Halong Bay) and Da Nang/Hoi An. Beautiful country, great food, nice people. Easy to get to from HK. 2. Japan. I don’t think it’s that expensive if you just avoid taxis and are fine with smaller hotels. I really enjoyed Hiroshima for the history aspect, but I also caught a baseball game and went to Miyajima for a partial day trip. Good for a 2 day trip away from Tokyo. Kyoto is tough to do on little time. Thailand is a bit further, about 3 hours flight from HK. Bangkok is fine. Chiang Mai is awesome. Heard good things about Taiwan, but haven’t explored much. I’m not as high on Korea, but did Busan in October and had a good time. Indonesia, Singapore, most of Philippines (don’t go to Manila) and Malaysia are pretty far for a 1 week trip.
Oh I’m biased but HK is a great starter city in Asia. Great food, easy to get around, busy city right next to tons of nature (beaches, mountains, islands) easy access from US. There’s the typical stuff everyone does but get out into places like Wong Nai Chung/Tai Tam, Sai Kung, Stanley and you’ll experience another side of the territory. Macau and Taipei are easy trips if you want some variety. Just don’t recommend over doing it itinerary-wise. The jet lag can be rough and if you’re not living in a market that has a direct flight then you’ll be traveling for 20+ hours.
Yeah is that 5-7 days on the ground or total? Some of these destinations are like 2+ days just in the air... I’d probably opt for Japan or SK despite the higher cost just because you’re not going to lose as much time to the airports, and if it’s going to be years until your next vacation you might be more willing to splurge on this one.
It’s hypothetical at this point. Most likely would be flying from Atlanta so would need to connect somewhere. So the simpler the flights the better. Noted.
For those who have been to Angkor Wat, is one day enough for Siem Reap or is it worth it to do more to experience the area? We're going to do it at the beginning or end of our trip, so it's looking like we'll land in Siem Reap in the evening, do Angkor Wat the next day, then fly on to Vietnam or start the trip home that night or in the morning.
TO: Barcelona (BCN) New York City (JFK) - $275 New York City (LGA) - $275 Newark (EWR) - $275 TO: Madrid (MAD) Boston (BOS) - $230 New York City (JFK) - $267 New York City (LGA) - $267 Newark (EWR) - $217 WHEN: Varies by route. Generally April through May and September through October 2019
Their Dreamliners are smooth and quiet, but I'm nervous whenever I fly over ocean with only two engines
Seattle to Gatwick nonstop for $270, too I think that would be good, preferably leaving the next morning. Siem Reap is pretty small. Def try and make sunrise. Prolly need more time if you wanna blow up a cow with an RPG.
based on my extensive research (Youtube wormhole last night of attractive millennials doing travel reviews) I've learned that sunrise at Angkor is both magical because of the solitude and overrated because of overcrowding
I think a day for Angkor Wat is plenty. We hired a private guide and air con car (Should do this, it was only like $40) and after about 3-4 hours we had seen enough. Theres hundreds of temples, but you go to the 3-4 main ones and thats enough. Siem Reap is a pretty cool town to hang out it though. Its very touristy but you can get hour massages for like 5 bucks and theres tons of bars and restaurants so while you don't really need to spend much time there its still fun to hang out in. I'd recommend having a day for angkor and a day in town unless you are super pressed for time.
Room 15 About the fastest you can get to Thailand is about 22 hours on delta through Seoul If 5-7 excludes travel, you could do Bangkok and Chiang Mai for 2/4 It be quick tho
As someone else mentioned, get an initial direct to either Seoul, Hong Kong, or Tokyo. I did S. Korea and Thailand for 12 days back in May. Seoul was ok. Thailand was amazing. Try to do a Friday to following Sunday trip. You'll lose a day each way with flights. If you're in Atlanta, take the Delta flight direct to Seoul. It's on the new A350 (badass new plane) and 13-14 total hours. We flew Vietnam Airlines from Seoul to Bangkok. It's not direct and you will stop in either Hanoi or Saigon. However, it was on a 787 and we were in business class. Korean Air has directs to both Bangkok and Phuket Island. I would go to Bangkok for 2 nights. Three great hotels all very close to each other and very affordable are the Royal Orchid Sheraton, Shangri-La and Le Bua (Sky Bar from Hangover II or III) is on the 65th floor. Go eat at Jack's Bar for one meal. Go to Sky Bar. Tour the temples. If bringing a lady, ask the concierge to help you get on one of the more intimate night time dinner cruises on the Chao Phraya river. It's pretty damned cool. Go to tailor and have them tailor you a suit or two as well. We spent our beach time in Phuket. 5 nights at the Naka Island resort. It's a Category 6 for Marriott/SPG and was badass. Google Image Search it. We then spent 2 nights at the Westin Siray Bay. Also awesome. When there, go to the Elephant Sanctuary. If at a resort like Naka Island, take the Thai cooking class. If open, do the Phi Phi Island tour. Eat a ton of Thai food. Pro tip, tip bartenders upfront. I always tipped about 300-400 bhat. That's 9-12 USD. You will get doubles and sometimes triples from them. I can add pics later on if needed.
Yea I was thinking somewhere non-Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia as I hope to combine those into a longer trip some day. Will keep an eye on Seoul/Tokyo/HK once my schedule starts getting more defined.
Royal Orchid hotel in Bangkok was the #3 hotel on Tripadvisor when we booked last year. No idea now. It was about $115/night equivalent and very nice. Naka Island was expensive. Westin about 199/night equivalent. Cabs are cheap as hell. Negotiate. 4 entrees and 4 glasses of wine at Jack's Bar was 40 USD including tip. Sky Bar is 16-20 USD per drink, but the view. Lots of very attractive women up there each night. My wife was not too happy with my conversation with 2 German chicks once drunk at Sky Bar. Brits travel in packs there. Like usually minimum of 6-8 people in each group. If partying, you'll love them. If trying to relax, you'll hate them.
We had 9 total nights. I wanted to go to Chiang Mai, but the wife didn't want to do 3 places in 9 days. It was still a great trip. We're going back next year and doing a split trip between Vietnam and Thailand. Chiang Mai and Halong Bay are priorities.
Just booked the departure. Jfk to Zurich to bkk. Land on a Saturday morning. Will do Saturday and Sunday in chiang mai before crossing to laos.
I booked flights from Barcelona to Seattle last night. Barca to San Fran non stop, easy hop to Seattle Need to book the flight to Europe. Tempted to jump on the cheap Norwegian air flight to London, but also about to book a safari in SA I forgot about. Spain folks -- it's looking like we fly into London, and the initial plan was to fly from there to Madrid immediately, but I'm having second thoughts. 100% spending our last 4/5 days in Barca, but may hit up another Western Euro destination outside of Spain beforehand instead of Madrid. Could just be overthinking it and trying to do too much, though. Madrid--Valencia/coast--Barca is super easy. Madrid just doesn't do much for me from my Google research, but it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong
South Africa folks -- is Jo-burg worth a shit, only for a day? We land at 5-6 AM, and can catch a shuttle to Kruger at 11 AM the same day. We were going to spend the day in Jo-burg, then go to Kruger the next day, but it might make more sense to go straight to Kruger and add an extra day in Cape Town. Jo-burg is pretty damn sketchy and looks like nothing but a concrete jungle
We completely skipped Joburg, but Cape Town is my favorite city on the planet so in my biased opinion any extra time you can get there you should do it. What do you have planned there?
Personally I think Madrid is underrated, my wife and father in law actually liked Madrid more than Barca.......I really enjoyed taking a day trip to Toledo as well from Madrid..........but you could make a quick trip to Lisbon or Porto ?