Vietnam rewards travellers who plan it as a journey, not a single stop. The country runs more than 1,600 kilometres from the Chinese border to the Mekong Delta, and each of its three regions feels like a different trip: Hanoi’s lakes and old quarters in the north, lantern-lit Hoi An and beach-city Da Nang in … Read more
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you book through one of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Da Nang is the easiest big city in Vietnam to love quickly. The airport sits inside the city, the beach is ten minutes from most hotels, and in a single … Read more
Hoi An rewards wandering — lantern-lit lanes, a slow coffee, a tailor fitting, an evening on the river. But the experiences visitors talk about most on the flight home are usually the ones they booked: cooking the food they had been eating all week, standing among thousand-year-old Cham towers before the heat set in, and … Read more
Hoi An looks tiny on a map, but where you sleep changes the trip completely. Stay on the edge of the Ancient Town and the lantern-lit lanes are your evening walk home. Sleep among the rice fields in Cam Chau and mornings start with birdsong and a bicycle ride. Base yourself at the beach and … Read more
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you book through one of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Hoi An is the stop in Vietnam that slows everybody down. This small town on the Thu Bon River, about 30 kilometres south-east of Da Nang, was one of Southeast … Read more
You can hire a tuk-tuk at the gate and wander Angkor on your own — plenty of people do. But Siem Reap is one of those places where a good guided tour genuinely changes what you see. The temples are vast, the carvings are a written language most of us cannot read, and the difference … Read more
Siem Reap is a small, flat, easy town — and yet where you stay shapes the whole Angkor trip. Base yourself by the Old Market and your evenings are night markets, street food and a short stroll home. Sleep across the river in Wat Bo and the same town feels leafy and local. Stay up … Read more
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you book through one of these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Three days in Siem Reap is the sweet spot for Angkor. One day is enough to gasp at Angkor Wat and rush home; three days lets you watch the sun … Read more
Langkawi has four classic days out, and they could hardly be more different: a cable car up a 550-million-year-old mountain, a quiet boat through mangrove rivers older than almost anything else in Southeast Asia, a bouncy speedboat morning between southern islands, and a slow evening sail into the Andaman sunset. Most visitors have time for … Read more
Langkawi is a small island with very different corners, and where you sleep shapes the whole trip. Stay on Pantai Cenang and you can walk to dinner, the beach and a sunset bar. Stay in the north and you may not leave the resort — happily. Stay in Kuah and you trade sand for duty-free … Read more