Tours

What it costs, and where the money goes

Day rates by style and party size, then the same money broken into hotel, vehicle, guide, flight and border-day components so you can compare our quote against anyone else's.

Plan my trip

USD 100per day, lowest

25%deposit

4currencies behind it

The headline numbers

Per person, per day, land only. Twin share. Excludes international flights into and out of the region, and excludes visa fees.

Style	2 travellers	3 - 4	5 - 8
Simple	USD 145	USD 118	USD 100
Comfortable	USD 225	USD 185	USD 160
Excellent	USD 395	USD 350	USD 320

Two adjustments to those figures

Multi-country routes sit 10 to 15 per cent above them. Trips under six days sit 15 to 20 per cent above, because arrival and departure transfers are fixed costs spread over fewer days.

“Simple” is not backpacking. It means a family-run hotel with air conditioning and hot water rather than an international brand, local restaurants rather than hotel dining rooms, and the good public train where the good public train exists. “Excellent” means the best hotel in each town, which in Luang Prabang and Siem Reap is genuinely excellent and in Nong Khiaw is still a guesthouse, because that is what exists there.

The same money, at supplier level

These are what things cost us, before our margin. We publish them because a quote you cannot decompose is a quote you cannot compare, and because the differences between countries surprise people.

Line item	Vietnam	Laos	Cambodia	Thailand
Guide, per day	USD 55 - 75	USD 50 - 65	USD 45 - 60	USD 65 - 90
Car and driver, per day	USD 60 - 90	USD 70 - 110	USD 45 - 65	USD 70 - 100
Minibus and driver, per day	USD 95 - 140	USD 110 - 160	USD 80 - 120	USD 110 - 155
Simple hotel, double room	USD 30 - 50	USD 30 - 55	USD 25 - 45	USD 40 - 65
Comfortable hotel, double room	USD 70 - 120	USD 75 - 130	USD 60 - 110	USD 90 - 150
Excellent hotel, double room	USD 200 - 420	USD 220 - 500	USD 190 - 450	USD 240 - 600

Laos is the expensive one and it catches people out. Fuel is imported, the road network makes every transfer long, and there are fewer vehicles chasing the same season. A Laos driving day costs more than a Cambodian one and covers less ground.

Fixed costs that sit outside the day rate

Item	Cost	Note
Angkor 3-day pass	USD 62	Valid on any 3 days within 10. One day is USD 37, seven is USD 72.
Koh Ker entry	USD 15	Not covered by the Angkor pass. Cash at the gate.
Hanoi – Luang Prabang flight	USD 130 - 220	One-way, one bag, booked 6 to 10 weeks out.
Bangkok – Siem Reap flight	USD 90 - 190	One-way. The only way between the two countries in 2026.
Vientiane – Luang Prabang train, 2nd class	about USD 15	Two hours. Booking opens 7 days ahead.
Bangkok – Vientiane sleeper, 2nd class berth	about USD 26	874 baht, lower berth. Twelve and a half hours.
Huay Xai – Luang Prabang public slow boat	about USD 23	Two days with a night in Pak Beng.
Chau Doc – Phnom Penh speedboat	USD 38 - 45	About five hours including both immigration posts.

What moves the price, in order of size

Party size. The single biggest lever, and it is not close. Two people pay for a whole vehicle and a whole guide; five people split the same cost. Going from two to five travellers cuts the day rate by roughly 30 per cent.
Number of countries. Each border adds a vehicle day that carries an empty return leg, a second guide overlapping, and in the Thailand–Cambodia case a flight. Budget USD 180 to USD 400 per crossing for a party of two.
Hotel style. The gap between Simple and Excellent is mostly one line: the room. It is also where a cheaper quote hides, because “4-star” is a claim and a hotel name is a fact.
Flying versus driving. Domestic flights in Vietnam are cheap and save a day each. In Laos they are expensive, less reliable and often slower door to door than the train.
Season. Luang Prabang and Siem Reap hotels move 40 to 60 per cent between May and January. Guides do not move much. Vehicles barely move at all.
Pace. Fewer places means fewer transfer days, and a transfer day costs the same as a sightseeing day while delivering less.

How a quote gets to be 25 per cent cheaper

Not by magic, and not usually by fraud. There are about six standard moves, and every one of them is legal.

The guide is dropped on transfer days. You get a driver who speaks fifty words of English on the day you cross a border. This is where most of the saving comes from.
Hotels are named by star rating rather than by name. “Superior 4-star” covers a very wide range in Phnom Penh.
Commission stops are inserted. Two hours of your day in a silk workshop pays the operator a margin you never see on the invoice.
Flights become night buses. The itinerary still says you arrive in Luang Prabang on day six.
Angkor gets a day and a half. Cutting a day off the pass saves USD 25 and cuts the best part of the trip.
Guides are shared across countries. One guide travels the whole route, which sounds like continuity and is actually a guide working outside their expertise for three of the four countries.

We are not saying every cheaper operator does these things. We are saying that if a quote is 25 per cent under ours, one of these six is usually the reason, and it is a fair question to ask them which.

What is never in our price, and why

Travel insurance. We require you to have it and we will not sell it. Selling insurance to your own customer creates a conflict on the day they claim.
Visa fees. Four countries, four fee schedules, and yours depends on your passport. We tell you the amount; you pay the government.
International flights. You will beat us on price using your own miles and your own dates. Multi-country trips are usually open-jaw and that is easier to book yourself.
Tips. Not included, not expected as a fixed percentage, and our guides are paid properly without them. Guidance if you want it: USD 10 to 15 per party per day for a guide, USD 5 to 8 for a driver.
Most dinners. Included dinners are named day by day. Eating where you feel like eating is one of the better parts of this region and we do not want to book it for you.

Payment terms in plain numbers

Deposit	25 per cent to confirm
Balance due	21 days before the first service
Cancellation ladder starts	45 days before the first service
Currency	USD, quoted and invoiced
Card fee	About 3 per cent, shown separately at cost
Minimum party	1 traveller

The full ladder and the bank details are on the how to pay page, and the contractual version is in the booking terms. If you are about to transfer money to anyone in this region, read the fraud section on that page first.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Why is your quote higher than the one I got from a local agent?

Usually three things: our guides are on a day rate rather than earning from shopping stops, we staff a separate guide in each country rather than one guide across all four, and we do not put a commission stop into a sightseeing day.

Ask the cheaper quote to name the hotels and to confirm there is a guide on every transfer day. The answers will explain most of the gap.

Do prices change between high and low season?

The hotel component does, sharply. Luang Prabang and Siem Reap rooms can double between May and December. Guides, vehicles and entrance fees barely move.

A trip in May or September can be 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than the same trip in December, and in Laos and Cambodia those months are often better than their reputation.

Is the Angkor pass really USD 62?

Yes, for the three-day pass, which is valid on any three days within ten. One day is USD 37 and seven days is USD 72. Buy at the official counters or at ticket.angkorenterprise.gov.kh.

A pass bought after 17:00 lets you into the park that evening and counts from the next day.

Can I pay in euros or pounds?

We quote and invoice in USD. You can send another currency and your bank will convert it, but the amount that must arrive is the USD figure on the invoice, so leave room for the spread.