Planning

Where to fly in, and where to fly out

The single decision that shapes a multi-country trip more than any other is which airport you arrive at and which one you leave from. Here is how to make it.

Plan my trip

Book an open-jaw ticket

Almost every good multi-country route in this region is a line rather than a loop, and a return ticket into and out of the same city forces you to retrace it. The extra cost of an open-jaw ticket — in at one end, out at the other — is usually small, and sometimes nothing at all.

The most common shape we build is Hanoi in, Phnom Penh or Ho Chi Minh City out. The second is Hanoi in, Bangkok out. If you have already booked a return into one city, tell us at the enquiry stage; it is not fatal, but it usually costs a day and sometimes an internal flight.

Airlines will price an open-jaw as two halves of a return, so the search term is “multi-city” rather than two one-ways, which is almost always more expensive.

The five gateways worth considering

Airport	City	Long-haul connections	Best used as
BKK Suvarnabhumi	Bangkok	The best in the region by a distance	Start or end of a four-country trip
SGN Tan Son Nhat	Ho Chi Minh City	Strong to Europe, Australia, East Asia	End of a north-to-south Vietnam route
HAN Noi Bai	Hanoi	Good to Europe and East Asia	The most common start
KTI Techo	Phnom Penh	Regional, plus a growing long-haul list	End of a Cambodia-finishing route
SAI Siem Reap Angkor	Siem Reap	Regional only	Start of a Cambodia-first trip

Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Pakse all have airports and all are regional. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai the same. None of them is a sensible long-haul gateway.

Two practical notes on the newer airports: Siem Reap Angkor opened in 2023 and is 45 kilometres from town, about 55 minutes. Techo in Phnom Penh opened in September 2025, is 20 kilometres out, and takes 45 to 60 minutes in normal traffic and longer in the evening peak. The old Pochentong airport is closed. Both of those catch people with tight connections.

How the closed border changes the routing

Before June 2025, the standard four-country line ran Bangkok → Siem Reap → Phnom Penh → Vietnam, with Laos hanging off the top. Every land crossing between Thailand and Cambodia has been closed since then, which removes the first leg entirely.

The routing that works now puts Thailand between Laos and Cambodia: in at Hanoi, north Vietnam, fly to Laos, overland to Thailand across the Friendship Bridge, then fly Bangkok to Siem Reap, and out at Phnom Penh. That is one forced flight rather than two. Run in reverse, it needs two, because you would have to fly into Thailand and out of it.

This is the whole reason our twenty-four-day route goes the direction it does. Read crossing borders for the current status.

When to buy

Long-haul: three to five months out for November to February; six to eight weeks is fine for May to September. Fares to Bangkok are consistently the lowest in the region and often worth flying into even if the trip starts elsewhere.
Intra-regional flights we book for you: we buy these once the itinerary is confirmed. Hanoi–Luang Prabang is the one that moves most; it is a thin route and the fare roughly doubles inside four weeks.
Do not book long-haul before the itinerary is agreed. The entry and exit airports are a routing decision, and a fixed return ticket into one city sometimes costs a day of the trip.

We do not book your long-haul flights. You will beat us on price with your own miles and your own preferences, and open-jaw tickets are easier to manage when you hold them. We will tell you exactly which airports and which dates the itinerary needs before you book.

Arriving, practically

Most long-haul flights from Europe land in this region between 06:00 and 09:00 or between 21:00 and midnight, because of the connection times through the Gulf and East Asia. Both are awkward and both are normal.

Every itinerary we build puts nothing on the arrival day. If you land at 07:00 we will have a room ready rather than making you wait until 14:00, and if you land at 23:00 we will not schedule an 08:00 start the next morning. The day you arrive is not a day you use, and pretending otherwise is how the first three days of a trip get wasted.

We meet you inside the terminal, at the door, with your name on a board. Not at a desk outside, and not in the car park.

Getting home

The mirror of the arrival problem: evening departures mean a whole day with your bags somewhere. We hold your room until 16:00 rather than putting the luggage behind reception, at no charge, on every itinerary.

Budget the transfer honestly. Techo is an hour from central Phnom Penh in the evening peak, Siem Reap Angkor is 55 minutes, Noi Bai is up to 80 minutes in the morning. We leave two and a half hours before an international flight and three at Techo.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Should I fly into Bangkok even if my trip starts in Vietnam?

Sometimes. Bangkok fares from Europe are often USD 150 to 300 below Hanoi for the same dates, and the connection to Hanoi is short and cheap.

Do the arithmetic including the extra connection and the risk of a missed bag. It is worth checking, not worth assuming.

Can I add a stopover somewhere on the way?

Most Gulf and East Asian carriers allow a stopover for little or nothing. It is a decision about your long-haul ticket rather than about the trip, and we will work around whatever you book.

Do you book internal flights?

Yes, every flight inside the region is included in our prices and issued by us: Hanoi–Luang Prabang, Bangkok–Siem Reap, the domestic Vietnamese legs and so on.

We do not book the long-haul into and out of the region.

What if my inbound flight is delayed?

Tell us the new arrival time and the driver waits. There is no charge for a delayed arrival; the transfer is booked for your flight number, not your original time.

If a delay costs a day of the itinerary, we compress rather than cancel and we tell you what we have moved.