Begins your cycling adventures in Bangkok, Thailand, cross Cambodia, and end your trip in Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Join a multi-country tour with Vietnam Backroads to cycle the coastal back roads of Thailand, waving fishermen, and enjoy the local sandy beaches of Laem Mae Phim, then roll onto the temple complexes of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Get off the beaten path and visit all of Southeast Asia's highlights. Enter the Mekong Delta of Vietnam by speed boat, and enjoy the peaceful life of Cambodians and Vietnamese on journeys down the Mekong River to Chau Doc, and ends yours in Ho Chi Minh City, where the modern city contrasts starkly with the rural areas we have cycled through.
You are welcome at the airport and transfer to the hotel, and then our guide will make short tour instructions as briefing. Have a rest and free to explore Bangkok on your own in the evening.
Depart from the hotel with a 2-hour transfer to Pattaya's ride's starting point. It used to be US marine base, but it is now booming with tourism and nightlife activities. Pick up the bikes, and adjust the saddle before embarking on a lovely ride along the dramatic coast of Thailand's Gulf. Enjoy the ride along the coastal roads, stunning views out over the water, and a lunch stop at a local restaurant's great meal awaits. Then continue to pedal to Rayong, and arrive in the afternoon.
After an early breakfast, a short transfer will take us to a rural area, and the day ride will lead us to Pak Nam Prasae Mangrove Forest. Visit the successful forest restoration project in Thailand. We cycle on the scenic local back road and experience local fishing villagers along the coastline and idyllic villages. In the afternoon, we continue the day by riding the coastal roads of Kung Wiman Bay, where we enjoy the stunning scenery of the bay, colorful fishing boats, fruit orchards, and rubber plantations on the hillsides of Chantaburi's Cardamom Mountains. Then we cycle to the resort at Chaolao Beach.
After a leisurely breakfast, we'll transfer to Pongnamron for a morning ride to the border. We have lunch and say goodbye to our team for our onward travel to Cambodia. After the immigration check-in, then border crossing into Cambodia, where we pick up bikes and shift gear changing, and our Cambodian team awaits. After the border gate, we turn right onto the back roads and bike 18 km through rustic villages, rice paddies, and lush farmlands to Pallin, the home of mountains, waterfalls, coffee and pepper plantations, and a natural frontier feeling. It's a province in western Cambodia at the northern edge of the Cardamom Mountains near the border of Thailand. It's a gateway town between Thailand and Cambodia for international tourists.
After filling our bottled water and the day's activity briefing, we ride out of the border town and cycle deeper onto the scenic countryside, corn fields, peanut farms, and rice paddy fields. The routes are dirt tracks, and roads through unique rural villages are plains with some gentle hills. You will be the center of attraction for locals along the way. The afternoon is to explore the rural dist of Battambang, passing colorful temples and small villages and reaching to outskirts of Battambang City. Enjoy a delicious local-style dinner in town.
After leisurely breakfast, we start from the hotel at 7:30 am. Spend the morning seeing highlights and learning about traditional local food and snack making, experiencing daily of locals, small villages, and beautiful countryside. Battambang is surrounded by stunning countryside, with rice paddies, small villages, and temples scattered throughout the area. Visit family and workshop, taste local specialties and seasonal fruits, and enjoy a short bamboo train ride. Finish the morning bike ride by visiting the Wat Samrong Khnong memorial site for the victims of the Khmer Rouge before we return to the hotel. Check out and have lunch in town before a-3 hour's transfer to Siem Reap in the afternoon. There will be an option to the Angkor at sunset.
If your option to see Angkor hasn't been made yesterday afternoon? So it will be at sunrise today. Start early for a transfer to Angkor Wat, where you'll settle in front of the reflection pond to watch the sunrise magnificently over the five temple spires of the world's largest religious building. Then we have breakfast before we explore Angkor Wat Temple Complex and the jungle by bicycle. We ride into Angkor Thom Ancient City, and we'll focus your explorations at the mammoth, stepped Bayon Temple, where 216 huge stone smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara and 54 towers at the Terrace of the Elephants. Then cycle to the root-entangled Ta Prohm. Finish the day's ride by cycling on trails through the jungle and have lunch before we return to Siem Reap. Enjoy a Khmer dinner and performance of Apsara dancing in town.
After a short transfer from Siem Reap, we pick the bikes and ride onto the rural dirt road through rice paddies, idyllic villages, and temples. Learn more about woman's citadel built with pink stones. After visiting the Banteay Srei temple, we finish today's ride, hope on the support vehicles, and continue traveling to Kbal Spean, the River of Thousands Lingas, which is set deep in the jungle to the northeast of Angkor. We trek through the jungle to its river. After lunch, continue the day traveling on support vehicles back to Siem Reap with a stop at Landmine Museum.
Rise early for a 2.5-hour transfer to the rural Dist of Kampong Thom, and then we cycle on back roads to the ruined complex of pre-Angkorian temples. It's known as Sambor Prei Kuk- an archaeological site in Cambodia located in Kampong Thom Province, 30 km north of Kampong Thom. The routes are flat, with some paved and dirt roads, passing authentic countryside and thatch houses along the country back roads. After exploring the complex of pre-Angkorian temples, we will have lunch at a local restaurant before the afternoon off-the-beaten-track riding. We explore the life of farmers in remote villages, where we meet locals who rise and look after their cows, buffaloes, and ducks on rice paddies. See locals harvesting rice crops and oxcarts taking farm products home. Sometimes we ride along the river but mostly, cycling through small villages and verdant farmlands. This is an endless photo opportunity along single tracks, trails, and passing stilt houses along authentic villages. Arrive in Kampong Thom City in the early afternoon, around 3:00 pm—Check in at the hotel resort.
We'll commence early today at 7:00 with a transfer of 2.5 hours to Prek Kdam Bridge. We follow the zigzag dirt road through scenic villages, passing primary schools, beautiful Buddhist temples, and verdant farmlands. Weaving kids, saying hello along the authentic countryside to the Old Royal Capital of Oudong. It was an ancient city of the post-Angkorian period (1618-1863 C.E), located in present-day Psadek commune, Punhea Loeu district, Kandal province, about 35 km Northwest of Phnom Penh city via National Road Number 5. The town faces Kampong Loung village and Tonle Sap River on the east, Vang Chas village and Oudong market in the north, National Road Number 5 on the south, and its southwest side face Prasith Mountain. It is approximately 10 km away from another post-Angkorian city of Longvek. After we visit some highlights in the area, we'll have lunch at a local restaurant. Afterward, we biked to Cambodia Buddhist Vipassana Center, Chey Odam, and will hike to the top of Phreah Reach Traop Mountain. Enjoy lovely views from the mountain, looking over the flat plain. Then we cycle through the fantastic countryside and idyllic villages and enjoy the beautiful rustic scenery and lush verdant farmlands along the routes to Prek Pnov. Finish our adventure day here in Prek Pnow, and we hop on the support vehicles driving to Phnom Penh.
After breakfast at the hotel, take your free time to explore the Phnom Penh Capital in the morning. Do remember to check out and leave the hotel at 11:300 am and meet our team for lunch, then say goodbye to the team, board a speed boat, relax your legs, and enjoy lovely scenery along the river bank from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, Vietnam. The boat journey takes about 4 hours and is almost downstream. You are welcome by the Vietnamese team at the dock in Chau Doc, and they will take you to the hotel. Welcome dinner with your guide in town, and then your guide will focus on a fully prepared itinerary in Vietnam with details for the following days to Ho Chi Minh.
After breakfast, we will quickly transfer out of the town. Cycle along the borderline to Sam Mountain, turn left on the dirt tracks, bike long agriculture canals to Tra Su forest, and continue cycling through the forest, across the vast rice paddies and little hamlets. We will have lunch at the local market in the rural area. The bicycle ride in the afternoon is more attractive as we experience local culture and real life along rivers and vibrant villages, and the pathways are complicated. There are plenty of exciting places to stop: frogs, ills, and fish farming at local homes. Breaks for Vietnamese coffee, stop for fresh fruits at a small river market. What is an amazing life! The last section is to explore the backwaters and small villages amongst the networks of rivers with many narrow bridges. We finish the day's ride in the outskirts of Long Xuyen City and have a short transfer to the hotel.
We'll transfer 30 minutes to Lo Te T-Junction; we hop on the bike and cycle through rice paddies on small paths by the canals to Bang Lang Stork Sanctuary. Then following shady side tracks and trails through vibrant villages and rivers to Co Do township. Today gives you a great impression of the "heart of the Mekong Delta" Witness colorful life along the riverside, pedal past picturesque delta homes, clack across innumerable wooden bridges, and cross narrow canals on a local sampan. There will be regular stops along the way until we have lunch in the township of Co Do, taste coffee, then take a nap after lunch. We pedal through lush farmlands in the afternoon, passing rice-husking mills, local workshops, and fruit orchards to Thoi Lai- the rural District of Can Tho. If time permits, we will continue exploring Phong Dien's backwaters. Transfer to Can Tho City in the late afternoon.
After breakfast, check out and take a boat ride to the floating market. After exploring the bustling floating market, we disembark the boat and briefly transfer to the cycling starting point. We explore some islands, bike on trails along the Mekong River, visit pomelo fruit orchards, enjoy fresh fruits, then join locals on the second ferry to the next island to witness the real life of locals before we reach the mainland in Tra On. Have lunch in a small town before the afternoon transfer to Cau Ke. In the afternoon, there will be time to explore the rural villages of Khmer living in Tra Vinh, Vietnam's Mekong Delta. We bike deeper onto Khmer hamlets, and it's communities, enjoy views of rice paddies and thatch houses, and have a chance to walk around villages, and chit chat with locals.
The scenery of the last cycling day is super. The narrow lance winds through rustic villages, water palms, banana plantations, and small suspension bridges before arriving in Ben Tre's outskirts, where we end up cycling trip. We get on support vehicle transfers to My Tho for lunch, then relax on the last transfer, about 1.5 hours to Ho Chi Minh City. Tour End!