Planning 3 weeks in South East Asia . Anyone has any recommendations or an itinerary they can share ?

Depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. My husband and I did Vietnam (highly recommend, Cambodia, Thailand and then ended our trip in Hong Kong.

Grace Vietnam and Thai is on the list . Love Hong Kong street food . I wanted to tackle Japan too but may be too much

Grace we did vietnam for 3 weeks, it was amazing, but from Vietnam you can always purchase cheap flights to Thailand and Cambodia.

We did a 7 night cruise down the Mekong river started in Vietnam and ended in Cambodia - highly recommended as it was a wonderful way to see the country

Thailand is great with the most beautiful beaches you'll ever see. It's also very affordable, the food is good, tons of temples to see if you're into that, and the night markets are great (Bangkok, Phuket). Cambodia (Siam Reap), I actually really liked as well - very underrated, beautiful, stunning temples, people are super friendly and everything is new level cheap - I would pay USD$2 for my dinner some days(which included my beer)! Vietnam, I was super excited about before I went, and felt slightly underwhelmed - the cities (Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi) are overcrowded, and dirty, and while some parts were nice like Hoi An and Ha Long Bay, perhaps I had too high expectations. Japan is actually one of my favorite places, there's so much to see and do, Kyoto is incredibly beautiful (try to time it for the fall leaves or cherry blossom season), the food is beyond amazing! Including the food in grocery stores by the metro. Everyone seems to love Tokyo, but it just felt like another big city with very little heart. I much preferred Kyoto and Osaka and felt like there was so much I didn't have time to do/see. The only downside: Japan is comparable to travelling in North America, price wise. It's not super expensive, but not cheap like Thailand or Cambodia where you can stretch your $$ out.

Dilushin did you go to all those at once or all separate trips

Winnie I did Japan (1 week which didnt feel like enough), Thailand (5 days) and Sri Lanka together in 3 weeks. Not the smartest move cause geographically those flights were a little longer than I expected. On a separate trip in Feb? I did Singapore (2 days) Cambodia (3 days) Vietnam (9 days) and Beijing, China (2 days) together in 2 and a half weeks. Vietnam is a huge country though so we wound up flying between cities every couple of days. I feel like we did everything we wanted to do on that trip though.

haha yeah I was born and raised in Vietnam until I was 17 and there’s part of it I have never visit . This trip is definitely for my friends than for me haha . I might do vietnam , Thailand Singapore and debating if I should do Malaysia/ Philipines or japan

Try to only do one or two countries. People have a tendency to try to cram everything in as much as possible, but then you end up spending half your vacation in an airport/airplane, and you don't really get to sit back and savour the place that you're actually in. Building in free time in your itinerary for unexpected adventures and side detours is part of the fun of SE Asia!

Timothy True. Thailand alone has much to offer.

I hear you . The thing is I have been to Thailand twice and I was born in vietnam . I’m trying to take my friends for them to experience south east Asia so was trying to be a bit more affective . But I will definitely take this in consideration

Fly into Taipei. It’s a great city to explore. It’s ugly but the history explains the colonial Dutch, then Japanese and then Chinese settlers. Great culture and food. People are super friendly. Visit Sun Moon Lake. It’s one of the most picturesque places on earth. Then fly to vietnam. Fly into Hanoi then go to Halong Bay down to Hue. Depending on your budget, hire a driver for the day. It’s about $120 USD for 12 hours. They will take you to all the off the beaten path places. Then drive the Hai Van pass to Danang. Visit Hoi An. Then Nha Trang then Dalat. Fly from Dalat to Ho Chi Minh City. That will give you a good tour of the country. Buses are easy and cheap. Train is a bit sketch. Flying in between cities is very cheap. It’s super safe. Food is awesome. We never had a problem with street food. I’m Viet but my partner and his kids aren’t. They were fine with eating street food for the first time there. Been with friends and they all want to see more. If you don’t want to rush, do the north or the south. It’s ambitious to do all in 3 weeks unless you do a tour

I'd spend a week scuba diving on Koh Tao

Depends on what you like to do . You could do Vietnam with can tho, hop over to Cambodia for couple days and spend the rest in Thailand but reality is Thailand itself takes 3 weeks