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Banana Pancake Trail: Thailand & Indochina Edition
This is the Southeast Asia trip people dream about doing properly: 35 nights across Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, with the iconic places, the slower river sections, and the beach finish all woven together.
It takes the spirit of the old Banana Pancake Trail, loved by generations of travellers, and gives it the Kuoni treatment: better hotels, seamless logistics, and standout experiences that make every country feel distinct. You’ll start in Bangkok, head north through Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, cruise into Laos on the Upper Mekong, continue through Luang Prabang, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City, then take the Lower Mekong into Cambodia before finishing with Angkor Wat and four nights on the beach in Phuket.
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Recommended itinerary
Days 1-3
Bangkok
You’ve got three nights here, enough time for temples, markets, rooftop bars, street food, and a first taste of Thailand’s capital. To help you get to know the city, the Enchanting Chao Phraya experience is included, featuring palaces, temples, and riverfront atmosphere. We’ve also added Bangkok by Night, a private tour in an electric tuk-tuk to see the city at its most neon and try some of its tastiest street food. If you want to go deeper, you can add more experiences too. Our private Ayutthaya Highlights in a Day tour takes you by train to Thailand’s ancient capital, where you explore temple ruins and royal history. For a bigger change of scene, River Kwai Highlights in a Day is a full-day private experience to Kanchanaburi, where you’ll visit the war cemetery, see the JEATH War Museum and ride part of the Thailand-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway.
Days 4-5
Chiang Mai
Fly north to Chiang Mai, with an approximate flight time of 1 hour 15 minutes, and private transfers at both ends. After Bangkok, it’s the right kind of shift: calmer, more local, but still full of things to do. Add ChangChill for a full-day elephant experience done properly. It’s around 90 minutes from Chiang Mai and focuses on observation, not performance. You’ll walk through the forest with a guide, watching the elephants graze, interact, and cool off in the mud, before helping fill feeding tubes with treats and learning how their supplements are prepared — no tricks, no rides, just elephants being elephants.
Days 6-7
Chiang Rai
Wake early for yoga on the terrace deck, with the Mekong as your backdrop. Near Pakbeng, you’ll visit a sustainable elephant sanctuary, where rescued former logging elephants now live in a protected forest setting. After lunch, join a Lao-Thai cooking class, then continue to Ban Khok Aek to meet the Hmong, Lao Loum, and Khmu communities, each with their own customs, homes, and way of life. In the evening, local villagers come aboard for traditional music or dance before dinner.
Day 8
Houayxay to Houay Ting
Cross into Laos and transfer to Huay Xai Pier to board Heritage Line Anouvong for your three-night Upper Mekong cruise to Luang Prabang. This is where the journey gets seriously scenic: remote northern Laos, forested hills, small riverside communities, and long, slow views you’d never get properly from the road. Once you’re settled in, your guide introduces the ethnic groups who live along the river, before you stop at Huay Phaluang, a Khmu village, for a traditional Baci blessing. Later, an onboard talk brings Laos’ royal history into focus, followed by dinner and the option to watch Chiang, a 1927 film shot in this region.
Day 9
Pakbeng and Khok Aek
Wake early for yoga on the terrace deck, with the Mekong as your backdrop. Near Pakbeng, you’ll visit a sustainable elephant sanctuary, where rescued former logging elephants now live in a protected forest setting. After lunch, join a Lao-Thai cooking class, then continue to Ban Khok Aek to meet the Hmong, Lao Loum, and Khmu communities, each with their own customs, homes, and way of life. In the evening, local villagers come aboard for traditional music or dance before dinner.
Day 10
Khok Luang and Khok Phou
Start with morning yoga, coffee on deck, or both. After breakfast, visit a Khmu village set among rice fields, where stilted bamboo houses and farming life offer a grounded look at rural Laos. Later, cruise to Khok Phou, a 200-year-old Lao village above a wide white sandbank. After a village walk, your final evening brings cocktails on the sandbank and a farewell dinner by the river.
Day 11
Pak Ou Caves and Luang Prabang
Cruise towards the Pak Ou Caves, one of the Upper Mekong’s best-known spiritual sites, where thousands of Buddhist statues sit inside limestone grottoes above the water. Visit the lower cave, then kayak along the Nam Ou River for one last close-up with the landscape before returning to Anouvong for brunch and the final stretch into Luang Prabang.
Days 12-13
Luang Prabang
For the next two days, there’s time to slow things down and enjoy Luang Prabang properly. Set where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet, this small, temple-filled city is one of Southeast Asia’s loveliest places to wander. Expect golden stupas, French-Lao architecture, saffron-robed monks, night markets, riverside cafés, and coffee strong enough to put a real spring in your step. Keep these two days flexible, because Luang Prabang is at its best when you don’t over-plan it. Wander between temples, climb Mount Phousi for the view, browse the night market, and visit Kuang Si waterfall.
Days 14-15
Hanoi
Hanoi has a different flavour from Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City: layered, atmospheric, and best explored slowly, from Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter to street kitchens, art spaces, and coffee stops. Your included Vietnamese cooking class at KOTO adds something more meaningful to your time in the city.
Days 16-17
Ninh Binh
From Hanoi, it’s around a two to two-and-a-half-hour drive to Ninh Binh, where northern Vietnam goes full drama: limestone karsts, rice paddies, rivers, caves, and wide green views. This stop gives you a breather between cities. Spend your time on boat rides, cycling, gentle hikes, temple visits, or floating picnics, then come back to somewhere that feels rooted in the landscape.
Days 18-20
Hoi An
From Ninh Binh, you’ll head back to Hanoi Airport for the flight to Danang, then continue by road to Hoi An. . It’s a longer travel day, but a sensible one: you move from northern Vietnam’s karst scenery to the lantern-lit streets of central Vietnam in one well-joined route, with the final drive from Danang to Hoi An taking around 45 minutes. Hoi An easily fills unplanned hours, which is handy because you may lose several to browsing fabric and deciding you suddenly need a custom linen shirt.
Days 21-22
Ho Chi Minh City
From Hoi An, you’ll travel by road to Danang Airport, then fly south to Ho Chi Minh City, with a flight time of around 90 minutes. Your included Saigon Your Way experience gives you a private driver and guide, so the day can flex around you. Mix the headline sights with local finds, linger where you like, stop when you need a break, and let your guide steer you towards the corners of the city you’d never find alone.
Day 23
Ho Chi Minh City to My Tho
From Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll head to My Tho Port to board the Mekong Navigator for your four-night cruise from Vietnam into Cambodia. This is a clever way to travel between countries, turning the border crossing into part of the holiday rather than another airport day. The ship is intimate, with just 34 suites, plus a sun deck, lounge bar, library, dining room, fitness centre, and spa, so you get comfort without feeling removed from the river. After settling in, you’ll meet the crew and sit down to a Vietnamese Mekong Delta welcome dinner as the ship sails towards Cai Be.
Day 24
Cai Be & Sa Dec
Wake up in the Mekong Delta, where life is shaped by the river: boats, canals, floating trade, and villages built around the water. In Cai Be, you’ll head out by rowing boat and sampan through narrow canals, then visit small workshops making rice paper, rice wine, and popped rice. Later, sail towards Sa Dec, a riverside town with markets, old houses, and a mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, and French influences. You’ll explore by sampan, visit a Chinese temple, and walk through the market, where the produce, seafood, and everyday bustle tell you more than any guidebook could.
Day 25
My An Hung & Gieng Island
This morning, take a sampan to My An Hung. In this evergreen farming village, you’ll meet local families, snack on fresh coconut, sip honey tea, hear traditional folk music, and watch a Vovinam martial arts performance by local teenagers. It’s a lively, human stop that makes the Delta feel real, not just scenic. In the afternoon, continue to Gieng Island, known as Mango Island. You’ll explore partly by sampan and partly by motorised rickshaw, with stops at a boat-building yard, an incense-making workshop, a historic house with a mango farm, and one of the island’s Catholic churches.
Day 26
Border crossing to Phnom Penh
Today is slower by design as the ship handles the border crossing into Cambodia and sails towards Phnom Penh. This is the day to enjoy the ship, watch the Mekong shift around you, and let someone else deal with the formalities. On board, there are cultural activities such as tropical fruit tastings, making Vietnamese spring rolls, and an introduction to traditional Cambodian dress. In the evening, there’s a captain’s cocktail before dinner, and the ship docks overnight in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Days 27-28
Phnom Penh
Set where the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers meet, the city offers royal landmarks, markets, cafés, and a complex modern history to explore.
Days 29-31
Siem Reap
Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor, the vast temple complex that once sat at the heart of the Khmer Empire. Angkor Wat is the headline, but it’s only part of the story, so three nights give you time to explore properly.
Days 32-35
Phuket
Phuket gives the trip a proper final change of pace, but there’s still plenty included beyond beach time. The Phi Phi Islands Cruise takes you by speedboat to Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh, with snorkelling at Maya Bay, a stop near Monkey Beach, emerald-water swimming at Ao Pi Leh Cove, lunch on Phi Phi Don, and time at Bamboo Island. Phuket Explorer adds a half-day look at the island itself, from Wat Chalong and Old Phuket Town to a cashew nut factory, Chinpracha House, and Rang Hill. You’ll also have Old Phuket Farm Thai Cookery included, where you’ll visit a local market, cook Thai dishes, and pick up recipes that are far more useful than another fridge magnet.
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