Singapore in July and then Vietnam or Cambodia or somewhere else?

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I appreciate that there is a very similar thread about a trip to Vietnam / Thailand / Cambodia in March but I did not want to derail it as my question is slightly different. We have flights to Singapore in early July, family of four with two grown up children. This is a special holiday with a good budget. My husband and I spent a lot of time in Singapore in the late 90's and I lived in KL for six months in 1996 but I haven't been to either since 2004.

We plan to spend a few days in Singapore and then go somewhere in SE Asia. We have not been outside of Malaysia or Singapore.

I know that Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand are not necessarily the best places to visit in July. We are not particularly fussed about beaches and prefer to be active.

We are not keen on lots of flights as two of us are nervous fliers. So probably one other location which we fly to and from Singapore which we can move around from. We'd really like Cambodia or Vietnam but are we mad to consider that time of year? And should we look at Indonesia instead - if so does anyone have any suggestions?

You can consider this route, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and then Thailand (Bus Vietnam to Cambodia and then bus Cambodia to Thailand) due to nervous flyers.
Do day bus instead of night bus throughout your trip.

Bali (alone or boats to other islands) or Borneo. Both direct flights and quite short.

Or Sapa in Vietnam? I’ve never been there though

I was also going to suggest Malaysian Borneo (as opposed to Indonesian or Brunei Borneo). July is a dry month for Bali so likely to be busy.

Or dependant on where you may of been in Malaysia to visit before what about one of the Islands or Penang? You could hire a car, then ferrys over to islands maybe

Cambodia weather will be heavy showers then stop, Thailand has significant rain and really can spoil your plans, but it will be cheaper and quieter. Mixed bag for Vietnam different areas will have changeable wet weather and beaches will be busy

You're going to be amazed at the changes in Singapore in the last 20 years, for a start there's a lot more of it!
Weather up the west side of the Malay peninsula into Thailand and beyond is well into rainy season in July, If I were you I'd go in the other direction. You can fly to Lombok with Scoot - SQs budget subsidary - from Singapore. Weather in July should be lovely and you'll avoid the chaos that can be Bali in the Australian schools mid year holidays. There's a good range of quality hotels to suit your "special holiday' needs and across the board the service and attention to detail is fantastic - The Oberoi is my favourite. Amazing snorkling off beautiful beaches, a lot of good hiking including Mt Rinjani, and plenty of stunning waterfalls, interesting culture and lovely local people. Lombok is interesting from a geographical standpoint as it lays on the Australian side of the Wallace line and as such is quite different from the more tropical Asian side of Bali,Singapore, Malaysia etc.

Have you considered the Philippines? March is outside the rainy season.

Sorry just seen you've said July - this is in wet season

Agree Lombok might also suit (we were in Bali in October and it was quite busy even then)!

Thank you so much for all your suggestions and feedback. I am really grateful. Current thoughts are we do five days in central Vietnam and accept we are likely to have some rain (this is likely to the only opportunity we get to visit SE Asia again and I really would like to visit either Vietnam or Cambodia).

We were then thinking of Langkawi but think weather could be an issue so we are going to look into the Oberoi in Lombok. I'd always wanted to go to Lombok when I was in Malaysia but never made it there.

We went to Bali for our honeymoon 26 years ago and I think I would struggle with the crowds in July and as we've been there I'd like to try somewhere different.

If we go to Lombok do you suggest ferry from Bali or fly to Lombok (we are just going to have to get over the nervous flyer issue!)

Thank you again for all the suggestions.

There are direct flights from SG to Lombok I think, quite short

You can take a fast boat to Lombok from Sanur or Padang Bai in Bali which takes you to Bangsal in Lombok, from there it's 20 minutes to the Oberoi. The boat takes 2 hours or so and is basic, the sea can be quite rough and if the weather is bad it will be cancelled. Scoot fly into Lombok 4 times a week and, as a nervous traveller myself, would be my choice.
I would give Langkawi a miss. There really isn't much to see or do beyond golf, resort hotels and the beach - and the sea there often has weird algae blooms which make swimming quite unpleasant.

If you don’t mind the almost certain likelihood of rain at one point of the day (it tends to follow a pattern and be over reasonably quickly though) I’d suggest flying to Siem Reap in Cambodia for the Angkor temples and the fact that’s it’s a great location with lots to do - you can keep pretty busy over five days.

Did a month in Vietnam July last year - managed to avoid all the rain. We started in the North, then central and then the South. Highly recommend.

The North is much prettier, although harder to access if there is a monsoon.

It was warm and humid, but much better climate wise than Singapore.

July is a good time of year for Lombok and the Gilli islands as it is dry season, we were on Gilli T in August last year and it was lovely. I find the ferries from Bali so chaotic though that even though they are safe I find it really stressful. I would be inclined to fly to Lombok, spend a few days there then get the ferry to the islands from there as it is super fast and less busy.