Phnom penh, cambodia or Hanoi?

Which place is better? I have been to Ho chi ming but do not like it at all. Any advice on this 2 places? Thx.

I have visited both PP & Hanoi (Hanoi many times) and I would say Hanoi without a shadow of a doubt. They are very different places...Hanoi is an amazing city, and completely different to HCMC. It has a much nicer atmosphere - HCMC just felt like any old big city to me but Hanoi is unique and the cultural centre of Vietnam plus it has great food. The Old Quarter is amazing, you can literally just wander the streets for days. It's my favourite SE Asian city.


PP is not a particularly pleasant city in my opinion. The waterfront area is nice, but once you get away from there it's not great. It didn't feel nearly as safe as Hanoi after dark and it was much dirtier and fewer attractions, especially if you don't want to visit the ghastly genocide museum & killing fields, etc. I don't want to bag Cambodia because the people were amazingly friendly and welcoming - it was just PP I didn't like. If you really want to go to Cambodia I would skip PP and go straight to Siem Reap & the temples of Angkor which are just incredible.


Hope that helps.

Katiefran,


Thank you so much for the infor. It really help me to decide which place. How about between Angkor wat and Hanoi which is better? How many days do you need to stay in Siem? Is it safe to travel alone as a lady in either one place?

The choice is certainly Angkor Wat. It is history. Suggest 2 days at the Angkor Wat and 1-2 days at the town Siem Reap. It is safe for lady as there are lots of foreigner. To enjoy the Wat, suggest you read first. There are guides you can use to bring you around the Wat which is 30-40 mins from Town. A book or DVD by the Japanese is an excellent info on a History before your eye. Or spent in town Siem Reap first, thence by buy the many copied book , read it first before you visit. There are budget flight from Singapore direct to Siem Reap.

1412 - I always felt extremely safe in Vietnam as a young female where-ever I was, violent crime is virtually non-existent. In Cambodia I never felt as safe as I did in Vietnam, particularly at night. Siem Reap is a small town but I would not have felt comfortable wandering its streets at night - even just because there seemed to be a lot of scary looking stray dogs around! However Angkor Wat is most definitely incredible, a very different experience from visiting Hanoi. As a lone female I would feel a lot more comfortable in Hanoi. I guess it depends on what sort of experience you prefer. Hanoi offers lots of different things to do, great cafes, history and shopping as well (one for the girls!). There is not as much in Siem Reap if you are not visiting the temples.


If you do decide to go to Hanoi let me know and I will recommend some places to go.