Thailand · Laos · Vietnam · Cambodia · Philippines
Backpacking Southeast Asia
See the world your own way
Routes, real prices and the places worth your days. Written by two people who went, got it wrong a few times, and wrote down what actually works.
06:12 night bus
Where we have actually been
Five countries, one long trip
Temples and night markets, jungle and limestone, islands you reach by longtail. We slept in every stop on these routes, ate our way through them and got lost in most of them.
The route
How the five countries link up
Most people land in Bangkok, and from there the region practically routes itself: up into Laos, down the length of Vietnam, across into Cambodia, then a flight out to the islands of the Philippines. It is a suggestion, not a timetable. Jump in wherever your ticket lands you.
- Thailand The country where almost everyone's first big trip starts, and where a worrying number of people end up staying longer than planned. Temples, islands, jungle, and street food that ruins your local takeaway forever.
- Laos The country where everything runs a gear slower and nobody is in a hurry about it. Green mountains, the Mekong, waterfalls the colour of a swimming pool, and the emptiest roads in Southeast Asia.
- Vietnam Sixteen hundred and fifty kilometres from the mountains of the north to the beaches of the south, most of it covered on a sleeper bus at three in the morning. Rice terraces, motorbike passes, and the best coffee in Asia.
- Cambodia A thousand temples in one forest, a history nobody here has finished processing, and an island at the bottom with plankton that lights up when you swim in it.
- Philippines 7,641 islands and always too little time. Hidden lagoons, coral reefs, white sand, and a country where almost everybody speaks English.
What you spend
A day on the road, country by country
What we paid per person per day: a hostel bed, three local meals, a beer and the ride to the next stop. Flights, visas and insurance are not in there.
- Thailand €30a day €8 hostel bed €2 meal €2 beer €8 bus ride
- Laos €25a day €6 hostel bed €2 meal €1 beer €8 bus ride
- Vietnam €25a day €6 hostel bed €1.50 meal €0.80 beer €10 sleeper bus
- Cambodia €25a day €5 hostel bed €2.50 meal €0.60 beer €8 bus ride
- Philippines €35a day €7 hostel bed €3 meal €1.20 beer €10 boat trip
Our own numbers, from our own trip, in euros. Travelling as a pair? You split a room and you come out cheaper than this.
Who we are
We are Remco and Anouk
We have been travelling Southeast Asia together since February 2023. We are both dive instructors, we live on Koh Tao in Thailand, and the two of us write this site between dives.
- Travelling together since February 2023
- Both dive instructors
- Home: Koh Tao, Thailand
All in one place
Plan and book without ten tabs open
The sites we plan our own trips with, from beds and tours to the things you sort once before you fly.
Flights, night buses, ferries and retreats are in there too. Every booking option, on one page.
See all booking optionsWorth booking
The days we would do all over again
A dive course, a night in the jungle, a boat across a green lake and a cooking class that ruins your own curry forever. We did all of them ourselves and we deal with these people directly, so you know exactly who you are booking with.
What travellers ask us most
What does backpacking Southeast Asia cost?
We spent €25 to €35 per person per day, and that covered a hostel bed, three local meals, a beer and the bus or boat to the next place. Call it €750 to €1,100 a month, not counting flights, visas and insurance. Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are the cheapest countries to move through. The Philippines cost more, mostly because you are constantly on a ferry or a domestic flight between islands.
When is the best time to go?
November to February is the easy answer for the whole region: dry, warm, and not yet punishing. Vietnam stretches that window into April, but the country is so long that the north and the south never have their best month at the same time. The Thailand page has a month picker that shows you what each month actually does, so you can plan around the time you can genuinely take off rather than the other way round.
How much time do you need?
Three to four weeks per country is our number: enough to be somewhere instead of repacking your bag every second morning. Want the whole region? Three months is a sensible floor. Only got two weeks? Pick one country and one corner of it. A lap of everything in fourteen days is a lap of bus stations.
Is it safe to travel on your own?
Southeast Asia is one of the easiest places on earth to backpack alone. The routes are obvious, and you meet people in hostels, on tours and on the bus whether you meant to or not. The risks worth knowing are the unglamorous ones: riding a scooter without the right licence or insurance, taxis with no meter, and your valuables on a night bus. Every destination page tells you what to watch for in that particular place.
Why is every price on this site in euros?
Because this site is not written for one country. One currency means one number everybody can compare, instead of five conversions that go stale within a month. Local prices are named in the local currency where it matters, with the euro next to it and the exchange rate and the date we used. Your own bank app does the rest.
How do you make money from this?
Affiliate links. Book a bed, a tour, an eSIM or your insurance through us and we sometimes earn a small commission. It never costs you a cent extra. That is what pays for the site and keeps everything on it free. We only link to companies we have used ourselves or would send a mate to, and where something is not worth your money we write that instead.
Right. Where are you going?
Pick a stop, see what it costs and what is actually worth your time there, and build the trip around that. It is all on one site, and all of it in euros.
- 50 destinations written up
- 10 experiences we did ourselves
- Every price in euros
Travel tips & guides
Read this before you go
The stuff you want to know before you land: what to do, what it costs and how to get from one stop to the next.
Where we book
The platforms we use ourselves
Flights, beds, buses, boats and tours. These are the sites we book our own trips with, so you are not taking a punt on somebody new.
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Our own partnerships
Local outfits we know by name
Dive schools, homestays and guides we went out with ourselves and now work with directly. You book with them, not with a call centre.
