3 Week Family Holiday in Thailand and Vietnam: The Ultimate Itinerary
3 week itinerary family travelling in Vietnam and Thailand
Are you ready to pack your bags and set off on an unforgettable adventure with the family? If you’ve got three weeks to spare, Vietnam and Thailand are calling your name! Picture this: bustling markets, stunning beaches, mouthwatering street food, and rich cultures just waiting to be explored. From the vibrant streets of Hanoi to the serene shores of Koh Samui, this itinerary is all about fun, family bonding, and making memories that will last a lifetime.
If you’re looking for a fun but adventurous family holiday destination- then try Thailand and Vietnam. We found Тhаіlаnd аnd Vіеtnаm brilliant family holiday destinations. They have everything – stunning beaches, yummy food that’s also good for adventurous palettes but also a place where you can find lots to tempt fussy eaters! Although the flights are costly, when you arrive they are thе twо of the mоѕt ехсіtіng, еаѕіеѕt, аnd mоѕt аffоrdаblе рlасеѕ уоu саn vіѕіt іn thе Ѕоuthеаѕt Аѕіа rеgіоn – еѕресіаllу with a family. We loved every minute of it of our 3-week family trip to Vietnam and Thailand and would love to go back to Asia one day. Here’s how we took a trip to both Thailand and Vietnam in August with our family of 6.
We took a trip for just over 3 weeks in August with kids aged 8, 10, 13 and 15 and this itinerary is a comprehensive guide and is first hand what we did to see as much as possible. In this article, we’ll cover where to stay and what to do as well as top tips for travelling in Thailand and Vietnam with a family!
Where to go on a family holiday in Thailand and Vietnam with an itinerary 3 weeks.
Here’s our 3 week itinerary to Vietnam and Thailand which allowed for us to see a variety of places in both countries from cities to beaches! We travelled to different parts of Thailand and Vietnam to experience the different cultures and I felt this itinerary allowed for lots of different opportunities for all our kids different ages. We loved our time visiting Thailand and also our time in Vietnam.
Should we travel in between Thailand and Vietnam by plane or train?
This question all depends upon how long you have for your trip how many weeks in Vietnam and Thailand. Because of work commitments, we could only spend 3 weeks travelling – we would have loved to have more time but it is very possible to visit and enjoy both countries in this short space of time. We felt that just over 3 weeks and 4 locations didn’t feel too rushed.
Domestic Flights within Vietnam and Thailand are cheap and for our family of 6 it worked out cheaper to fly than to get a train and saved us hours, sometimes days! I do think it’s a better cultural experience to get the train, particularly in Vietnam where you can see other landscapes but when we worked out we’d often be travelling at night so we’d miss the views and our limited time to see both countries, the flights worked out better for us – even though it’s not as environmentally friendly. The flights were also way cheaper for us than a train trip would be!! if your family can fit in one cabin, this may not be the same for you and you might find the train trip cheaper.
3 week Vietnam and Thailand Family Holiday Itinerary
Are 3 weeks enough to visit Thailand and Vietnam?
Planning Your 3-Week Vietnam Journey with Children
SUMMARY OF 3 WEEKS IN THAILAND AND VIETNAM ITINERARY with kids
Your perfect itinerary for a family adventure in Thailand and Vietnam!
Day One: Fly into Bangkok and spend 3 days and nights in Bangkok.
Day Two: Temple Days! Visit the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Do a boat trip around Bangkok.
Day Three: Do the Skywalk, Visit Lumphini Park and take a tuk tuk to China Town for dinner!
Day Four: Visit the ICONSIAM mall for lunch and visit a night market for dinner. We liked Train Night Market Srinagarindra.
Day Five: Travelling Day! Travel to Koh Samui, our flight was two hours from Bangkok.
Day Six: See the elephants in Koh Samui! We visited using the ethical Samui Elephant Kingdom which included pick up from our accommodation, preparing the elephants food, feeding them and meeting them. It was a very special day.
Day Seven: Visit a beach and the large Buddha Wat Phrai Yai.
Day Eight: Take a boat ride to Koh Mudsum Pig Island (optional) visit Koh Tan and go snorkelling, spend some time on Koh Tan (stunning beach) OR if your children have been snorkelling before – you might prefer to do a day trip to Koh Toa for excellent snorkelling! We arranged all of our trips in Koh Samui Via Samui Boat Trip Information Center.
Day Nine: Day Trip to Ang Thong National Park with Samui Boat Trip Information Center.
Day Ten: Swim in a waterfall – Wang Sao Thong Waterfall. Other options for this day could include the Tree Bridge Zipline.
Day Eleven: Beach Day and head to Fisherman’s Village for Coco Tam’s fire show and the night market for dinner.
Day Twelve: Travelling Day! Fly to Da Nang and travel to Hoi An – Vietnam.
Day Thirteen: Visit Hoi An Old City and markets and do the lantern boat ride in the evening.
Day Fourteen: Make a lantern with the lantern lady and take a food tour.
Day Fifteen: Do a countryside tour, ride on a buffalo and make rice noodles, ride in a basket boat and Visit Cua Dai beach. We organised this through – Tommy Dao Tours. It was brilliant and one of our kids most memorable days of the holiday.
Day Sixteen: Hire a driver for the day and visit Marble Mountain, visit Da Nang Beach and Lady Buddha and Monkey Mountain.
Day Seventeen: Travelling Day! Arrive and the spend the evening exploring the bustling streets of Hanoi, visit a market or The Temple of Literature.
Day Eighteen: Visit Vinwonders water park at Hanoi and take an evening cooking class. We organised this class through Klook.
Day Nineteen: Day Trip to Ha Long Bay. We did the one day cruise with IndoChinaJunk to Bai Tu Long Bay. You can find out more the stunning trip we took here.
Day Twenty: Day Trip to Ninh Binh.
Day Twenty One: Spend the day exploring Hanoi – visit the Citadel. Visit a water puppet theatre, Visit Hoam Kiem Lake (best on the weekend).
If you had other days, you could explore an incense village!
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE GOING TO THAILAND AND VIETNAM
Top tip: If you’re buying a SIM card to use during your time in Thailand or Vietnam, it’s far cheaper to buy them in the town than from the airport. They are really easy to find and are on sale more or less everywhere you go. Be mindful that some shops will insist on seeing your passport to purchase one.
Tips for Travelling Around Vietnam and Thailand
How to Travel around Vietnam with a Family
It’s really easy to travel around Vietnam with a family. We downloaded the Grab App before we left England (it’s a bit like Uber) for getting taxis and transport. We found the app much more efficient than Uber and obviously much cheaper! We regularly got taxis in a matter of minutes and it was really cheap to travel around – and the cars are air conditioned which is a big bonus! At all the Vietnamese and Thailand airports, there were plenty of taxis there to meet us although check with your accommodation as most of our apartments and villas offered free transfers to the airport and back.
Often when we’d used one taxi, they’d give us their WhatsApp so we could contact them again for other trips. It was so convenient and cheap to get around by car that we didn’t actually use public transport at all! Which was a bit of a shame but made it easier travelling with 4 kids! You can use the Grab app for food too but we never had need to use this.
Top tips for a family holiday in Vietnam and Thailand
Eating and Shopping with a family in Vietnam
Shopping
There were shops and markets everywhere in Thailand and Vietnam. In Thailand, they have 7-11’s everywhere! These were perfect for popping into to buy cheap bottles of water and ice lollies (which were usually around 30-50p). However, we were in main towns for most of our visit. Even when we ventured slightly off the beaten path in Hoi An, we found shops in people’s homes that sold some bits and bobs. Some shops don’t have prices on – so it’s worth checking with them before you buy. Obviously, I’m sure they increase the prices for tourists but actually it was still really cheap for food items! Beware of imported items – which will be much more expensive, particularly for snacks. For example, Lays imported crisps are way more expensive than Thai or Vietnamese own branded crisps.
However, the one thing that we found really pricey in Vietnam and Thailand were suncream and toiletries. Toiletries like shower gel costs triple the price than in England so bring plenty from home and be sure to translate the item if you do buy as lots contain whitening ingredients.
Food items you won’t be able to buy in most shops are bread (they don’t grow wheat) or milk or cheese (they rarely eat dairy products.) However, items like fruit you’ll find much more plentiful, more delicious and such wide variety! You’ll find fruit stalls everywhere in both countries selling snacks.
Obviously, markets are cheaper than shops and have a better variety of fruit and vegetables than most shops.
Top tips for Eating Out in Thailand and Vietnam
The best thing for us as a family of six was how cheap it was to eat out for all meals! Our most expensive high-end meal with alcohol at a very nice restaurant set us back £45 for all 6 of us. However, most meals would cost around £20-25 for all six of us including drinks and starters! You can also eat out for way cheaper by eating street food. Our cheapest meal was in Bangkok where we ate wantons and noodles for £6.50 for all six of us including drinks! You can find a whole post here about our favourite things we had to eat in Vietnam and Thailand and our best things for kids to eat as well.
Where to stay in Thailand and Vietnam
Accommodation
We organised all our accommodation in Thailand Vietnam before we left using either Booking.com or Vrbo. There is a big range of accommodation for all budgets and all different family sizes which is a good. However, do check the number of beds very carefully. Accommodation will often say it sleeps more people than it does as it is including bed sharing!
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE GOING TO THAILAND AND VIETNAM with kids
When is the best time to go to Thailand and Vietnam?
How to survive the sun and heat in Vietnam and Thailand with a young family.
We travelled in August where both Vietnam and Thailand were at their hottest. We were worried about this but had no other choice as I’m a teacher and so if we wanted to travel for over 2 weeks – it needed to be during in the summer holidays! It was very hot – the temperature was upwards of 32 most days and it didn’t seem to get cooler at night either! We found the suns rays very strong and my son did get sunstroke which put him out of action for a couple of days. We think this happened when he didn’t use waterproof suncream on a snorkelling trip. Ensure that you have sun hats with you all the time and use a waterproof factor 50+ sunscreen which you reapply regularly. We also found this sun protection spray great for girls with partings to keep the sun off their head! When out and about exploring, we found this cooling water spray useful and these cooling towels were great when my son felt unwell. We realised earlier on that we needed to take things slower and make regular stops for drinks in street side cafes that have fans! We decided early on that we would need bedroom air conditioners were a must in any accommodation we stayed in and access to a pool was a bonus too! So we looked for this in all our accommodation.
Can you travel in Vietnam and Thailand during Monsoon Season?
When planning our trip we were worried that we were heading to Thailand and Vietnam during monsoon season. So we changed the Thailand island we wanted to visit to Koh Samui (originally we were going to visit Phi Phi). However, I don’t know whether we were just lucky or whether this is normal but we only had rainstorms in the evenings so the rain didn’t stop us doing anything! The rainstorms were way more exciting than at home too so it was fun for the kids (and me, I love a good thunderstorm) to watch out for lightning and hear the loudest thunder we ever had! In Vietnam, I left seeing an incense village too late until we only had one day left in Hanoi and it was due to rain. You can’t see the incense drying in the rain so I had to miss out on this so my top tip would be to put events that are weather dependent earlier on in each stay so you can still get to do everything. That said, rainstorms during the monsoon season are heavy but over quickly and so it’s likely that rain won’t affect your trip too much. But do pack the waterproofs! So if you’re worried about the weather, the best time to go is between November and February. You’ll escape the crazy heat and enjoy the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City and the stunning views of Halong Bay without sweating buckets! However, we didn’t find the weather in August spoilt our holiday at all as long as you’re careful in the sun and expect a rainstorm (although for us it was only at night, you’ll be fine!
Is Thailand and Vietnam safe for kids?
I know lots of people planning to take their families to Thailand and Vietnam will be worried about whether the food will make them sick and how to keep your family safe from sickness but I’m pleased to report that we didn’t have a family member become sick during our time there and nobody got food poisoning! We followed these few very basic rules when we were out and about.
If we ate at places with cutlery or chopsticks already on the table (and not in packets) we wiped them quickly with an antibacterial wipe (we carried these wipes either us everywhere!) We used hand sanitiser before we ate anything and used bottled water for drinking and also for brushing our teeth and didn’t drink the tap water. When we were choosing food to eat in markets etc…. we only chose popular stalls where they didn’t have food already prepared and sitting around. For example, we didn’t eat pre-prepared fruit off a stall unless we could see there was a regular turn over of customers or the stall keeper was preparing it in front of us. But, as with all best laid plans – it didn’t always work out and some of our most favourite meals were at places that were recommended to us and that we probably wouldn’t have chosen ourselves as the place looked a bit more sketchy! In the end, we tried not to worry too much about it and just enjoyed eating out. We did take probiotics for a week or so before we left and forgot to take them while we were there! I had charcoal tablets and milk of magnesium packed in case we needed them but we didn’t!
If you’re doing an itinerary for longer than 3 weeks, make sure to squeeze in some time in northern Vietnam and don’t miss the UNESCO World Heritage site in the streets of Hanoi. Maybe take a cooking class to learn how to whip up some killer pho!
We absolutely loved our trip to Thailand and Vietnam – it was the right balance of cultural experiences and adventure for our kids. We had some really magical moments like visiting the elephants and lighting lanterns in Hoi An. Both
3 Weeks in Thailand and Vietnam Itinerary for a family trip
Vietnam and Thailand are such friendly countries who love children and we felt so welcome there.
For more photos and videos of our trip – follow us on our Instagram page. We have a highlight for Thailand and Vietnam at the top of our feed so you can see what we experienced! If you like South East Asia, check out Bali with Kids!
