Help me plan a 5 week trip round Asia

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Sadly my mum recently died and I have inherited some money. She was very clear that she wanted me to spend £15k of the inheritance on the trip of a lifetime, not just use it to help pay off the mortgage.

So I don't really know where to start. It will be me, DH and DD (who will turn 6 on the trip) for 4-5 weeks during Summer Holidays 2024.

Budget is £15k inclusive of spending money.

Is there anywhere you'd recommend? I love the idea of Thailand and Vietnam. Japan sounds amazing but maybe too expensive, as does Singapore.

My DH doesn't really wants a decent length of time in each place, location hopping every 2-3 days is his idea of hell. So maybe 4 locations over 4-5 weeks?

Thanks for your thoughts!

*Sorry the bottom part should say DH really wants a decent length of time in each place, not location hopping too quickly

What would you like to see/do during your trip? Beach? Temples? Cities? Rainforest? It could be anything you want to be and in 5 weeks you need to be quite precise about what you want to see - it sounds like a long time but will flash by.
Do bear in mind the monsoon season all down the Andaman seaboard of Thailand/Malaysia. It’s also green season across the North of Thailand/Laos/Cambodia so will be wet.

Definitely beach for DH. Temples / rainforest for me. Ideally avoiding torrential rain then 😂 Feels a bit overwhelming to be honest. Like I have to make it perfect for her

Look up "Steph my life" on Instagram.
She plans trips for people in this area. She has travelled extensively in that area & will have recommendations.

Bangkok is a must. It's fabulous. Not much input other than that sorry but I felt it important to stress it!!

I recommend using a company called Selective Asia - they're brilliant

Borneo has good weather in August and rainforests. It also has some beautiful beaches. Have a look at Kota Kinabalu. You could climb a mountain, see rainforests, go jungle trekking, sit on a beach, stay 5 star, stay in a longhouse, go snorkelling… all from one place.
You could also go to KL on Peninsular Malaysia as an easy introduction to SE Asian cities - it’s compact, comparatively cheap to stay in lovely 5 star hotels and the food is incredible.

How do you feel about trains? There is a good rail line all the way up the peninsula to Bangkok and beyond, a sleeper train is a fantastic way to travel and a proper adventure for your dd - mine was beyond excited when we did Bangkok -KL when she was 3.

Indonesia also has good weather in August, so you could look at Java/Bali/Lombok if that interested you.

I love Northern Thailand/Laos in the rainy season - it’s really lush. One year we flew to Luang Prabang from Bangkok for a few days and then took a two day slow boat cruise down to the Thai border and back to Chiang Rai. We then went to Chiang Mai for a week then back to Bangkok again.

Really I would say don’t try to fit too much in, otherwise all you’ll see is airports and taxis which is a waste of both time and money. Choose an area that you like the look of and then travel slow - see it properly.

Have fun planning, we travel in SE Asia a lot and I plan and book it all independently - it’s all part of the fun for me!

Singapore is great for families, KL too. Google family friendly resorts.

Another vote for Borneo, its an amazing island, with a really diverse range of things to do and see, if golf is your thing look at the hylands resort, we stayed in a beautiful tree house in the jungle which was amazing. langkawi Islands off malaysia for amazing beaches and plush hotels, chiang mai in thailand remains one of my favourite places in the world, for food culture and nature, the river trips are fantastic and the zoo would be a good day out for your little one.

Sorry for your loss, OP.

I'd highly recommend Taipei. Easy to get to Japan from there too.

Wow so much to research! Thank you so much for all your suggestions, really appreciated

We spent 4 weeks going overland from Singapore up to Chiangmai, via kuala lumper, penang, langkawi, Krabi, koh Samui, then up to Bangkok and chiang Mai. Highly recommend! The trains and buses are really easy and fun. Vietnam is also amazing, you could easily have 3-4 weeks there

I loved Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam - would definitely try to incorporate at least one of these

Check out Travelynnfamily on Instagram, they are doing 8 weeks round Asia currently and have done a trip previously too on her blog. Started in Thailand and currently in Cambodia

Thailand and Vietnam for a 4 - 5 week trip is quite a good choice.

So sorry about your loss.
I really think that you should look at a few books / blogs / IG and start noting down things that you really love and want to see and start from there.

I love HK, Singapore, and Bangkok- but you will get plenty of people saying they don't and are busy cities! Also, 4-5 weeks can be pretty tiring to keep moving constantly so your husband's idea of staying in certain locations is a sound one.

I'd probably fly into eg. Singapore, HK or Bangkok , and fly out of one of these. And then alternate beaches with less beachy parts. I would definitely do Angkor Wat for a long weekend. SG or HK will probably be quite simple when you first arrive. It is a shame that it is a rainy season in Phuket as it is a good starting or ending point otherwise.

If you're interested in Malaysia, we loved Penang, however, we swam at the pool rather than the beach, Georgetown was great to visit. It is a short hop from SG, with plenty of flights from HK. Loved KL as well but preferred the other cities.

Thailand - Islands Samui side are ones to visit in the summer. There is an overnight train between Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Ayuthaya was a must-see for me.

Vietnam-for me it was a bit less developed than the others, preferred HCM with a small child, Hanoi was really hectic. Northern parts are trickier in the summer because of typhoons. There are also trains connecting Han and HCM, it would be nice to do parts with an overnight train. Bays around Cat Ba island are less busy and polluted than Ha Long bay.

Cambodia - we only went to Angkor Wat for a long weekend and it was amazing. My child is quite well-traveled but would have struggled traveling Cambodia aged 11.

That is so so useful @watermelon89 thank you so much!