Southeast and East Asia: Where the Classic Backpacker Route Still Holds Up

Bangkok as the hub, not the destination

Fly into Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or the cheaper Don Mueang (DMK) if you're arriving on AirAsia, and treat Bangkok as a two-night stopover rather than a destination in itself. Mad Monkey Hostel near Khao San runs around 350 to 450 baht a night for a dorm bed, and the area, despite its reputation, is still the easiest place on the continent to sort a SIM card, a visa run, and a bus ticket in one afternoon.

From Bangkok, most people go north to Chiang Mai, either an overnight sleeper train from Hua Lamphong (about 650 baht for a second-class berth, twelve hours, genuinely pleasant) or a one-hour flight on Nok Air for roughly the same price. The train is the better experience and the better story.

Chiang Mai and the slow road into Laos

Chiang Mai's Old City is dense with good hostels; Stamps Backpackers and Hug House both sit under 250 baht and are walking distance from Tha Phae Gate. From here, the classic move is the slow boat down the Mekong from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, a two-day trip broken overnight in Pak Beng, costing around 250,000 kip total and giving you a far better sense of the landscape than the bus.

Luang Prabang itself has tightened up its accommodation licensing in recent years, but Mad Monkey and Chill the Kailash Hostel both still operate, at 60,000 to 80,000 kip a night. From there, a direct bus or the new China-Laos railway gets you to Vientiane in under three hours if you're heading toward the Vietnam border instead.

Vietnam north to south, or the reverse

Cross into Vietnam and fly Hanoi (HAN) to reset the trip, since overland crossings from Laos into Vietnam are long and rough. Hanoi's Old Quarter has Vietnam Backpacker Hostels' original branch, still a solid 200,000 to 250,000 dong a night with a genuinely useful included tour desk. From Hanoi, the reunification railway south is the spine of the country: an overnight train to Hue, then a short hop to Da Nang for Hoi An, where An Hostel and Hoi An Hostel both sit around 150,000 dong.

Continue south by train or bus to Ho Chi Minh City and fly out of Tan Son Nhat (SGN), which has good connections onward to Cambodia or Malaysia if your trip continues. The whole Hanoi-to-Saigon rail corridor takes about 33 hours if done in one push, but breaking it into three stops over ten days is the better use of a month-long trip.

Extending north: Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo

• Fly Ho Chi Minh City to Seoul Incheon (ICN) on a budget carrier for roughly 200-300 USD; Seoul's Zzzip Guesthouse in Hongdae runs about 25,000 won a night and puts you in the best nightlife district for the price.
• From Seoul, a short flight or the Busan-to-Fukuoka ferry gets you into Japan without the premium of flying straight into Tokyo; Fukuoka's Songs Books & Coffee is a small, well-run hostel at roughly 3,000 yen.
• Japan's dorm prices run higher than the rest of the route, 2,500 to 4,000 yen typically, but Osaka's J-Hoppers and Tokyo's Nui.Hostel & Bar Lounge are both worth the jump; fly home out of Tokyo Narita (NRT) or Haneda (HND).

When to go and what to skip

November through February is the sweet spot for the Southeast Asia leg, avoiding both the April heat and the June-to-September monsoon that floods parts of the Mekong route. If you're adding Japan, aim for the same window; Japanese winter is cold but manageable and hostel prices drop noticeably outside cherry blossom season.

Skip trying to add the Philippines or Indonesia onto this same loop unless you have two months. Both deserve dedicated trips built around inter-island flights rather than bolted onto a mainland route as an afterthought; that's how people end up seeing one beach and calling it Southeast Asia.