10-Day Vietnam & Cambodia Itinerary: Ho Chi Minh City, Angkor Wat, Hanoi & Ha Long Bay
Vietnam and Cambodia work incredibly well together for a first trip to Southeast Asia. In around 10 days, we moved from the energy of Ho Chi Minh City to the waterways of the Mekong Delta, crossed into Cambodia for Angkor Wat, then finished in northern Vietnam with Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.
It was an active itinerary, but it never felt like we were simply rushing from place to place. We had enough time to explore each stop properly, with a mix of cities, temples, history, countryside and day trips.
10-Day Vietnam & Cambodia Itinerary at a Glance
Day 1: War Remnants Museum, Independence Palace and city exploring
Day 2: Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda & Mekong Delta Day Trip
Day 3: Cu Chi Tunnels
Day 4: Cao Dai Holy See and Ba Den Mountain
Day 5: Travel to Siem Reap and explore the town
Day 6: Angkor Wat and the Angkor temple complex
Day 7: More Angkor temples, countryside quad biking and Siem Reap
Day 8: Travel to Hanoi, Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the Old Quarter
Day 9: Ha Long Bay / Lan Ha Bay day cruise
Day 10: Temple of Literature, Hỏa Lò Prison, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex and more time in the Old Quarter
We chose to fly between each destination rather than travel overland. You can certainly use buses and trains through parts of this region, but with limited holiday time we preferred to spend those hours at the destination.
Ho Chi Minh City
My strongest memory of arriving in Ho Chi Minh City is the sound.
Within minutes of leaving the airport, we were surrounded by scooters, motorbikes and cars, with horns sounding almost constantly as the traffic moved around each other. It felt chaotic initially, but there was also something exciting about being dropped straight into the middle of it.
Ho Chi Minh City is busy, noisy and energetic, and that quickly became part of the experience.
Where we stayed: Rex Hotel Saigon. We stayed at the Rex Hotel in central Ho Chi Minh City. During the Vietnam War, the hotel became associated with the daily military press briefings that journalists famously nicknamed the Five O’Clock Follies. We also loved the rooftop bar and city views.
Day 1: Central Ho Chi Minh City
Our first full day focused on some of the major historical sites in central Ho Chi Minh City, including the War Remnants Museum, Independence Palace and Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon.
War Remnants Museum
The War Remnants Museum documents the Vietnam War and its aftermath, including powerful exhibitions relating to Agent Orange.
Independence Palace
We also visited Independence Palace, often referred to as Reunification Palace.
It was formerly the presidential palace of South Vietnam and became one of the most significant sites associated with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Day 2: Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda & Mekong Delta Day Trip
This was one of the experiences I had wanted to do long before arriving in Vietnam. I remember learning about the Mekong Delta in primary school in Australia, so actually finding myself out on the river years later felt slightly surreal.
Our day began with a visit to Vĩnh Tràng Pagoda, near Mỹ Tho. Dating back to the 19th century, it is one of the best-known Buddhist temples in the area and is particularly interesting for its mix of Vietnamese and other Asian architectural influences with European details.
The grounds are also home to several large Buddha statues, including this large seated Buddha, one of the most distinctive features of the complex.
Exploring the Mekong Delta
From there, we travelled by larger boat through the delta before transferring into a smaller wooden sampan that took us through the narrow waterways.
Our tour also included stops in local villages, where we saw some of the food and produce traditionally made in the region.
Overall, the Mekong Delta was absolutely worth doing. It gave us a completely different perspective on southern Vietnam from what we had experienced in the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City.
Mekong Delta tours: As of September 2026, tours from Ho Chi Minh City were showing from around A$27–A$45 per person. Prices vary depending on the inclusions, including whether you choose a shared or private transfer, combine the trip with the Cu Chi Tunnels, or add experiences such as visiting the floating markets.
Day 3: Cu Chi Tunnels
The Cu Chi tunnels are an extensive underground network used during the Vietnam War, particularly by Viet Cong forces. Sections are now open to visitors, giving you some sense of how people moved, sheltered and operated underground.
You can enter parts of the tunnels yourself, although they are extremely confined.
Even spending a short amount of time underground makes it difficult to imagine what it must have been like to use the network for extended periods.
Cu Chi Tunnels tours: As of September 2026, half-day tours from Ho Chi Minh City were generally showing from around A$19–A$22 per person, with higher prices for private tours, upgraded transfers or combined itineraries such as the Mekong Delta, Cao Dai or Ba Den Mountain.
Day 4: Cao Dai Holy See
Cao Dai Holy See at Tây Ninh is the spiritual centre of Caodaism, a Vietnamese religion founded in the twentieth century that draws on elements from several major religious traditions.
The most recognisable symbol is the Divine Eye, which appears throughout the temple.
The building itself is incredibly colourful and ornate, but the most memorable part for us was arriving while a religious ceremony was taking place.
We watched from above as worshippers dressed in white filled the main hall, while members of the clergy wore brightly coloured ceremonial robes.
Cao Dai Holy See and Ba Den Mountain tour: As of September 2026, full-day tours from Ho Chi Minh City combining the Cao Dai Holy See with Ba Den Mountain were available from around A$44 per person. Prices vary depending on transport, group size and whether the Ba Den Mountain cable car is included.
Siem Reap and Angkor
Angkor was every bit as impressive as I had hoped, and having two full days to explore meant we could take our time rather than rush from temple to temple.
What Is Angkor?
Angkor is an enormous archaeological landscape containing the remains of successive capitals of the Khmer Empire. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed area includes Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Prohm and many other temples and structures spread across a vast site.
Where we stayed: Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort. It worked really well as a base for Angkor. We could head out in the morning, spend a few hours exploring the temples, then come back to the hotel for a swim and a break before heading out again later in the day. In the heat, that made the days feel much more manageable than trying to stay out sightseeing from morning until evening.
Day 5: Our First Day Exploring Angkor
For Angkor Wat, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day rather than joining an organised tour. It worked really well for us because we could move between the different temple sites at our own pace, with our driver dropping us off and collecting us when we were ready.
Our first impressions of Angkor Wat are still some of the strongest memories I have from the trip. The huge man-made moat, the long approach to the temple and then the sheer scale of the buildings make it difficult to appreciate from photographs alone.
We spent the day exploring some of the major sites and then returned to the resort when we needed a break from the heat.
Day 6: More of the Angkor Temples
The second day gave us time to explore more of the wider archaeological park.
We visited temple areas with enormous carved stone faces, long corridors and ruins where tree roots have grown through and around the stonework.
Sunset Quad Biking Through the Rice Fields
One evening we went quad biking through the countryside and rice fields outside Siem Reap. Riding through the countryside in the late afternoon as the sun went down showed us a completely different side of Siem Reap.
Siem Reap quad bike tours: As of September 2026, countryside quad bike tours were starting from around A$46 per person. Prices vary depending on the length of the ride and whether the route focuses on villages, rice fields or sunset.
Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
Our final stop was Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital.
The city felt very different from Ho Chi Minh City. One of the things I particularly liked was the architecture, including the visible French colonial influence that remains from the period when Vietnam formed part of French Indochina.
Where we stayed: Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. The hotel itself became part of the experience because its historic, French-influenced style fitted perfectly with what we liked about Hanoi. It is also very centrally located, making it easy to get out and explore the surrounding streets and nearby Hoan Kiem Lake.
Day 8: Exploring Hanoi
We spent the day exploring central Hanoi without a rigid sightseeing schedule, walking through the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake.
Hanoi felt busy, but more compact and walkable than Ho Chi Minh City. What stood out most was the contrast between grand colonial-era buildings, narrow streets, small shops and endless rows of motorbikes. We were happy simply wandering rather than trying to tick off a long list of attractions.
Day 9: Ha Long Bay Day Trip
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed seascape in northern Vietnam, famous for its limestone islands and karst formations rising dramatically from the water.
Our day trip took us from Hanoi out to the bay, where we boarded a boat and spent the day travelling through Ha Long Bay and neighbouring Lan Ha Bay.
The scenery was beautiful. Calm water, limestone formations in every direction and the slower pace made it feel completely different from the cities and temple sites earlier in the trip.
We also stopped at Ti Top Island, one of the well-known stops in Ha Long Bay, before continuing through the bay. Later, we visited one of the caves and walked through the rock chambers inside.
Ha Long Bay was a complete change of pace from the rest of the itinerary and one of the most scenic days of the trip.
Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay cruises: As of September 2026, day cruises were generally starting from around A$47–A$61 per person, while overnight cruises were showing from around A$150–A$240+ per person. Prices vary depending on the boat, length of the cruise, cabin type, transfers from Hanoi and what is included.
Day 10: More Time in Hanoi
Start with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex, then visit the Temple of Literature, one of the city’s best-known historic sites. From there, head to Hỏa Lò Prison for a very different look at Hanoi’s history.
Leave some time in the afternoon to return to the Old Quarter and explore without a fixed plan. Hanoi is a city where simply walking, stopping for coffee or food, and taking in the street life is part of the experience, so an extra day gives you the chance to do that without squeezing everything around your arrival and Ha Long Bay trip.
Hanoi tours: Half-day and full-day city tours are available, along with food tours, jeep tours and sightseeing tours covering the Old Quarter and other major attractions.
Final Thoughts
What I liked most about this itinerary was how much the experience changed every few days.
We went from the traffic, history and energy of Ho Chi Minh City to the waterways of the Mekong, then on to the extraordinary temples of Angkor and the Cambodian countryside, before finishing with the architecture of Hanoi and the calm waters of Ha Long Bay.
If you enjoy holidays built around history, culture and experiences, rather than simply staying in one place, this is a route I would happily do again.
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