Anyone been to Vietnam and/or Cambodia recently

[vickster]

I am off to Vietnam and Cambodia for a couple of weeks on 4th November, doing a private tour with a friend. Travel, hotels, transport, entry fees are covered and some but not all midday and evening meals. I think we get breakfast each day

We aren't sure how much cash to take and was wondering how much meals, drinks etc tend to cost. Let's assume mid range, three courses, couple of beers each and a large bottle of water. I'm guessing incidentals like snacks and soft drinks are pretty cheap and plentiful (it's hot over there right now). We are travelling for around 10 days in total. Will obviously have a credit card each.

We also need to cover tips for guides and drivers, and have been told by the travel agent to budget around $25 a day between us I think so that's on top

My understanding is we need USD and VND for Vietnam, just USD in Cambodia (they don't much like their own currency apparently).

I don't mind having USD left over as I'm off to the U.S. In February but I don't want VND left as apparently they can't be easily refunded!

Anybody got any experience?

 

[Hill Wimp]

@hopless500 has done a fair bit of travelling over there in the last couple of years.

 

[biggs682]

@vickster my stepson was over there last year , cant ask him about it much as he is in Paris till next Thursday . He has started a website but unsure if he has mentioned those 2 places yet , its worldonabudget.com

 

[hopless500]

USD definitely necessary. We used little else in Cambodia - we did take some Riel, but struggled to use them as they wanted USD everywhere.
Accommodation can be as cheap or expensive as you want. We just stopped each day in the town we intended being in, found a bar with wifi, and got googling to see what was available. Failing that we chose a couple of b&bs/hotels on a street and had a look at them to see which was best. Food's cheap, especially by the side of the road.

 

[User482]

Cambodia: eat the street food - it's tastier, cheaper and you're less likely to get poisoned than using "proper" restaurants or hotels. I had no trouble using either Riel or USD, but that may be different in hotels (we were backpacking in hostels).

Tuk tuks are the best way of getting round Phnom Penh, but keep your bags well inside as there were problems with drive-by snatchings when we were there. Bicycles are a great way of seeing the temples at Angkor - whenever we saw a coach party we headed in the opposite direction, and generally had the place to ourselves. It's a short ride to Angkor Wat from Siem Reap, but you'll appreciate a cool swim afterwards if your hotel has a pool - it's very hot there.

Again, use a tuk tuk for the outlying temples - you can negotiate a day rate with the driver upfront.

 

[hopless500]

Cambodia: eat the street food - it's tastier, cheaper and you're less likely to get poisoned than using "proper" restaurants or hotels. I had no trouble using either Riel or USD, but that may be different in hotels (we were backpacking in hostels).

Tuk tuks are the best way of getting round Phnom Penh, but keep your bags well inside as there were problems with drive-by snatchings when we were there. Bicycles are a great way of seeing the temples at Angkor - whenever we saw a coach party we headed in the opposite direction, and generally had the place to ourselves. It's a short ride to Angkor Wat from Siem Reap, but you'll appreciate a cool swim afterwards if your hotel has a pool - it's very hot there.

Again, use a tuk tuk for the outlying temples - you can negotiate a day rate with the driver upfront.

We were cycle touring and just finding whatever was available. The problem we had with Riel was that a lot of the street vendors insisted on USD.

 

[PaulB]

I fought in Nam.

Cheltenham.

She had a vicious right hook on her.

 

[vickster]

The hotels are all booked and paid for, as well as a couple of nights on boats (Halong Bay and down on the Mekong). As it's a private tour for just the two of us, we have a guide and driver to take us around. No tuk tuk needed, not a backpacking holiday in any way. I assume we will get the guide's advice on eating and help ordering

We have one afternoon with bikes in Vietnam when we go out of Hanoi to a place called Nimh Bihn (sp)
I'd like to ride around Angkor but my friend isn't a cyclist so we will see

You've said food is cheap, how cheap? That's what we need to know in terms of how much money to take

 

[Booyaa]

You can feed yourself for about USD 10 a day easily, both in the big cities and especially in the smaller places like Danang and Hoi An. You could also spend easily USE 100 a day, it all depends on what you want to eat. Sounds like you are going for the higher end of a trip to Vietnam and having a guide and all so I would suggest you will likely need c. USD 50 a day. The street food is excellent though, I suggest you try that as much as possible, as said above it is normally much safer to eat than in the restaurants!

 

[vickster]

Thanks Booyaa, $50 a day was where my thoughts were. I'd rather have too much money than too little. Do we need Dong in Vietnam or can we survive with USD and maybe changing smaller amounts if needed?

Certainly not averse to street food as long as I know what I'm eating

In Vietnam, cities wise we are only going to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh

And yep it's a big holiday cost wise

 

[Hacienda71]

@Keith Oates used to be in that neck of the woods iirc

 

[L Q]

@vickster sorry for dragging up an old thread (search button is useful) but just wanted to know how you got on in Vietnam.

Would you recommend it?

I have just started looking at a trip for next year as the flight prices are very reasonable.

I do fancy doing an organised cycling tour as it looks way too chaotic to do yourself.

 

[vickster]

Fantastic, best holiday ever. Not cheap though as we did a private tour, by car, no cycling (well one morning around Angkor). Try to get out to Halong Bay. We did the speedboat from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, more fun than flying (we then flew from PP to Siem Reap)

Eating and drinking is very inexpensive if you want it to be

Onthego tours are good (we didn't use them but the friend I went with has in the past) if they offer cycling jaunts

Thinking about Burma and Northern Thailand for 2017

 

[L Q]

Ha Long Bay looks the business. It seems most cycle tours offer that in the package.

I thought the food would be a decent price.

Cheers.

 

[Dayvo]

I met Keith Oates in Ha Long Bay.