Cambodia to Vietnam overland by bus is the Aussie backpacker's classic Indochina move in 2026 — Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City in roughly seven hours for fifteen US dollars. Here is exactly how it runs.

You take a tourist coach from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City through the Bavet–Moc Bai land crossing. The full trip runs 6–8 hours door-to-door for $15–25 USD (~$23–38 AUD) one-way. Giant Ibis and Mekong Express are the premium picks; Sapaco is the budget option. You need a Vietnam eVisa pre-applied online ($25 USD / ~$38 AUD) before boarding and a passport with at least six months validity. The border itself is a clean three-step process: Cambodian exit stamp, a short walk across no-man's-land, then a Vietnamese entry stamp.
Aussies have been doing the Cambodia-to-Vietnam overland bus run for two decades, but the route quietly became more important in 2025. With every Thailand–Cambodia land border closed since June 2025 and no reopening on the calendar, the Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City bus through Bavet is now the main land route between Cambodia and the rest of Indochina. If you're hopping countries by road this year, this is the artery.
Aussie backpackers, retired couples doing slow Indochina loops, gap-year travellers, even the occasional business traveller who fancies the scenery — they all end up on this bus. The route runs daily, several departures, and the bus operators have refined the border process to the point where a competent crew clears the whole queue in under an hour. The Vietnam–Cambodia visa combo guide and the Thailand–Cambodia border closure update both go deeper on the surrounding policy context. See our full apply for your Cambodia eVisa for the end-to-end walkthrough.
This article is the practical version: how an Australian passport holder actually does the Phnom Penh → Ho Chi Minh City run in 2026. Which operator to book, where to sit, what the border looks like, how long each segment takes, and where Aussies most often trip up. I've done this exact run more times than I can count, mostly on Giant Ibis and Mekong Express, occasionally on Sapaco when the others were sold out.
Plenty of small operators run this route, but for Australian travellers in 2026 there are really only three names that matter: Giant Ibis, Mekong Express, and Sapaco. They all leave Phnom Penh between 6:30am and 9:00am, arrive in Saigon mid-afternoon, and handle the border crossing as part of the ticket. The differences are comfort, price, and how slick the crew is at managing your passport through the checkpoints.
Giant Ibis is the operator that most Aussie backpackers end up on. The fleet is genuinely comfortable — reclining seats, working AC, free bottled water, snacks at the rest stop, on-board wifi that works for the first hour out of Phnom Penh before it gets patchy. Crucially, the crew collects every passenger's passport on board, walks the stack through Cambodian exit and Vietnamese entry, and returns them stamped at the other end. You stay seated or step off briefly. The Phnom Penh office is on Sisowath Quay near the riverside; book online a day or two ahead in high season (November to February).
Mekong Express runs essentially the same product as Giant Ibis at a slightly lower price point. Reclining seats, AC, wifi, an English-speaking attendant who handles the passport queue. They've been on the route since the early 2000s and have the relationship with both Immigration desks down to a science. If Giant Ibis is sold out — and in peak season they often are — Mekong Express is the no-brainer second choice. Departures from the office on Charles de Gaulle Boulevard, multiple times daily.
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테크오 국제공항(KTI)이나 시엠립 공항(SAI)에서 경유할 때 캄보디아 e-도착 카드(그리고 캄보디아 eVisa)가 필요한지는 하나의 질문에 달려 있습니다: 이민 선을 통과하시나요? 여기 공항 내 환승, 별도 티켓, 국내 구간에 대한 2026년 정확한 규정 안내서가 있습니다.
2026년을 앞두고 캄보디아의 국경 규정이 크게 변경되었습니다: 프놈펜에 테크오 국제공항(KTI)이 개항하고, 종이 출입국 도장이 디지털 V-Pass로 대체되었으며, 태국-캄보디아 모든 육상 국경은 계속 폐쇄되어 있습니다. 캐나다 여행자를 위한 2026년 종합 입국 체크리스트를 안내해 드립니다.
2026년에 캄보디아를 여행하는 영국 시민은 유효한 캄보디아 비자와 디지털 캄보디아 e-Arrival Card(CeA)를 모두 필요로 합니다. 여기서는 영국 여권 소지자가 관광(클래스 T) eVisa, 일반(클래스 E) eVisa, 그리고 테초 공항(KTI) 또는 시엠립(SAI)에서 도착 비자 중에서 어떻게 선택하는지 안내합니다.
Sapaco is the Vietnamese-operated budget option, popular with Vietnamese travellers heading home and Aussie backpackers watching every dollar. Tickets are $15 to $18 USD (~$23 to $27 AUD), the coach is older, the AC is louder, and the crew is less involved at the border — you may queue yourself rather than handing your passport to an attendant. The trade-off is fine if you're a confident traveller, but slower at the border and less forgiving if something goes sideways with your paperwork.

The total run is roughly 230 kilometres and takes 6 to 8 hours depending on traffic, border queue length, and how long the rest stop drags on. Here's how the day actually unfolds on a Giant Ibis or Mekong Express morning departure.
Most premium services leave between 6:30am and 9:00am. The early start is deliberate — Cambodian and Vietnamese Immigration both process faster before mid-afternoon. Aim to be at the office 30 minutes before departure to check in, hand over your passport for the on-board manifest, and grab a seat near the middle of the coach (smoother ride, less engine noise). Allow $5 to $10 USD (~$8 to $15 AUD) in a tuk-tuk from your accommodation to the office.
The first leg is about 160 kilometres on Highway 1 — generally smooth two-lane road through southeastern Cambodia, rice paddies stretching to the horizon on both sides. The coach stops once at a rest area for 20 to 25 minutes. Toilets are basic but functional, the food stalls take small-note USD and Cambodian riel, and a bowl of noodles costs $2 to $3 USD (~$3 to $5 AUD). Keep your daypack with you — the under-bus storage is fine but cabin theft is rare to nonexistent on the premium operators.
캄보디아 쪽 바벳에서 버스는 출구 게이트에 정차합니다.服务员会在 Giant Ibis 和 Mekong Express 收集所有护照,并带领您通过柬埔寨移民局窗口。您坐在座位上或短暂下车伸展一下。出境印章是免费且即时的——无需费用,无需填写任何卡片。每个巴士的柬埔寨侧处理时间通常为 15 至 25 分钟。
接下来是穿越无人地带的步行——两座移民大楼之间约 200 米的空旷道路。一些运营商会用 shuttle 送您过去,大多数要求您步行而巴士先行。这需要三分钟。带上墨镜;道路暴露在阳光下,正午的太阳非常强烈。
在越南一侧的莫皎,您需要下车。在越南移民局窗口排队,递交您的护照和打印的越南电子签证 PDF。官员审查电子签证,扫描二维码,盖上入境章,然后挥手让您通过。每个巴士的越南侧处理时间通常为 20 至 30 分钟。重新上车,找到座位,巴士重新上路。
最后一段是沿着越南 22 号国道约 70 公里,取决于进入城市的西贡交通状况,需要两到三小时。道路状况良好,风景从农村稻田变为郊区越南,当您看到第一郡的高层建筑时,您已经在巴士上待了将近七个小时。大多数服务会在范五老背包客区或运营商的西贡办公室停车;从那里乘坐 Grab 或 Bolt 打车前往您的住宿。

澳大利亚人需要越南签证才能在莫皎通过陆路进入越南。可靠的选择是越南电子签证,在金边上巴士之前在线申请。单次入境费用为 $25 USD(~$38 AUD),多次入境费用为 $50 USD(~$76 AUD),处理时间为三到五个工作日。至少在过境日期前一周申请——系统偶尔会拒绝申请,您需要缓冲时间重新提交。
打印两份越南电子签证 PDF 的 A4 彩色副本。将一份交给莫皎的越南移民官员;将另一份放在您的日常背包中作为备份。手机屏幕在陆路口岸不被接受——请携带纸质文件。您的澳大利亚护照需要在入境日期后至少六个月有效,并且至少有一页干净的空白页用于入境印章。
在柬埔寨一侧,您出境时不需要任何额外手续——您进入柬埔寨时使用的电子签证或落地签证会自动覆盖您的出境。离境时无需提交抵达卡。如果您稍后在行程中单独返回柬埔寨,澳大利亚人是否需要柬埔寨签证的说明和柬埔寨电子签证申请指南涵盖了入境方面。

车票有三种预订方式:通过运营商网站、前往金边办公室亲自预订(提前一天),或通过您的住宿预订。运营商网站是澳大利亚人最便捷的方式——价格透明,支持信用卡支付(Visa 和 Mastercard 均可使用),您会收到一封包含登车详情的确认电子邮件。
Book at least 48 hours ahead in peak season (November to February, plus Khmer New Year week in April). In low season you can usually walk in to the office the morning of departure, but it is not a gamble worth taking if you have a fixed Saigon connection. Aussie credit cards work fine on the operator websites; expect a 1 to 2 percent international surcharge from your bank.
If you're combining the bus with a flight out of Saigon, give yourself at least four hours of buffer between scheduled bus arrival and international departure. Saigon traffic to Tan Son Nhat (SGN) airport varies wildly — 25 minutes off-peak, 90 minutes in evening peak. A Grab to the airport costs roughly VND 200,000 to VND 350,000 ($8 to $14 USD / ~$12 to $21 AUD).

After dozens of crossings myself and hundreds of Aussie queries through our desk, four mistakes come up over and over. All are avoidable with five minutes of prep the night before.
If you're crossing in the next month, the Smartraveller advisory for Vietnam is worth a five-minute read — particularly during the wet season (May to October), when occasional flooding on Highway 1 can slow the journey. The Cambodia first-trip planning checklist covers the broader pre-arrival prep if this is your first Indochina trip.
Aussie-timezone support from our team is available if anything goes sideways with the Cambodia leg of your trip — your eVisa, your e-Arrival card on the way back, or a passport issue at the border. The bus itself is a Cambodian-Vietnamese operator product so we can't fix that side, but on the Cambodia paperwork we can help.
호주인을 위한 다음 단계 및 관련 읽기: 준비가 되면 캄보디아 전자비자를 신청하세요, 호주 시민을 위한 단일 표준 참고 자료로 캄보디아 비자 허브를 북마크하세요, 빠른 답변을 위해 국경에서의 캄보디아 비자 FAQ를 훑어보세요, 이 가이드의 약어를 해독하려면 캄보디아 비자 용어 모음을 사용하세요.
국경 너머로 사이공까지 두 시간. 나중에 캄보디아로 돌아올 계획이면 다중 입국.
조합 가이드 보기 →2026년 방콕에서 육로로 가는 길 없음. 바벳 버스가 인도차이나 육로 경로입니다.
폐쇄 업데이트 읽기 →캄보디아로 가는 더 조용한 북부 육로 경로 — 팍세에서 스텡 트렝까지.
라오스 루트를 계획하세요 →장거리 이동 시 대부분의 호주인들이 여기에서 멈춥니다. 하루이틀 가치 있습니다.
경유 정렬하기 →다음 여행은 발리인가 메콩인가 — 아니면 같은 장거리 표로 둘 다?
둘 다 비교하기 →