What it’s like to travel into Cambodia from Vietnam by land
Many travellers in South-East Asia end up entering Cambodia by land from Vietnam. I was no exception!
When preparing to cross the border, I was surprised by how limited the information about it was online. I was quite nervous as I’ve only been to a couple of countries where I’ve required a visa, so the thought of getting a visa on arrival gave me hives.
However, I had nothing to worry about! The crossing was simple and easy, and there were no problems.
Given the absence of much information about it online, I figured I’d share my experience.
About Cambodian visas
I’m not an expert in visas for Cambodia, so I can only speak about my own experience. As a British national, other Brits will probably have a similar one.
Citizens from most countries require a visa. You can get the standard tourist visa (Type E) on arrival – i.e. once you’ve turned up at the border – or as an e-visa, by applying online. This visa, which lasts 1 month, costs $35.
We chose to do the visa on arrival because the e-visa can only be used at select entry points. Although the one that we took (Moc Bai – Bavet) does allow e-visas, we didn’t know for sure whether our bus would go through this crossing or a different one, and therefore whether the e-visa would be accepted. Also, we figured it would be simpler to get it on arrival, rather than faffing around filling in forms, waiting for acceptance, and printing out our documents.
You should refer to the official Cambodian government e-visa website for more information about the e-visa, and the website of Cambodia’s embassy in your country for specific entry advice. (Check out the entry requirements for British nationals here.)
Which bus did we take?
We took a bus with Phuong Heng which our hostel organised for us. The bus was the 8:30 am departure from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh. We went through the Moc Bai – Bavet border crossing.
For us, the bus was fine. However, communication from the driver and guide was pretty poor and we didn’t have a clue what was going on for parts of the crossing.
It should be mentioned that we were charged $40 each for our Type E tourist visa; this is $35, plus $5 processing charge. It seems like a normal charge from all bus companies doing this route so I didn’t think any more of it. However, it feels a bit scammy, especially for people who aren’t expecting.
Besides, it does appear that the e-Visa charges you a $6 processing fee for the Type E visa, so cost-wise there seemed like little benefit to this visa.
I am so glad I didn’t read other reviews for Phuong Heng before travelling with them! There are multiple accounts of people being left at the border. Also, people report that they do not follow the official exchange rate for Vietnamese dong to US dollars and therefore they got overcharged. However, we didn’t have any problems.
Driving to the border
We got on the bus at the Phuong Heng office in Ho Chi Minh City at 8:20 am, our hostel having organised us a taxi to get there. The bus was fine; it was slightly shabby around the edges but I have been on much worse! The bus departed at 8:30 am, and picked up some more people as we began to make our way out of the city.
Around ten minutes after we set off, the guide on the bus took our passports and payment for the visa. I can’t lie, the fact he just took them confused us, and our questions went unanswered as he wasn’t very communicative. But we just went with it.
There was a ten minute stop around 10:20 am, where we attempted to spend our remaining dong on iced coffee and snacks. Then we continued along to the border, arriving at the Vietnamese side at 11:15 am.
Exiting Vietnam
When we arrived at the border, the bus parked up and everyone got out. We followed the group into the border control building, not really knowing what was going on, but followed the rest of the passengers into a queue, in front of a border control stand.
A few minutes later, the guide from the bus reappeared and handed them to the officer at the front of the queue. We were then called one by one to collect our passport from the officer. Receiving my passport, I saw that I already had an exit stamp from Vietnam, and had a filled-in Cambodian visa card as well.
A final border control officer at the door checked our passports and exit stamps, then we were free to go! We boarded the bus and headed two minutes down the road, to Cambodian border control.
Entering Cambodia
The bus parked up at Cambodian border control, and the guide on the bus collected our passports. As communication was minimal, we didn’t know what the plan was, so we ran to the toilet.
We all then got back onto the bus and drove for 5 minutes, before the bus stopped outside a cafe clearly designed for border control purposes (but also clearly inside Cambodia already). The guide was missing as he was sorting out our passports; we were told we’d be waiting around 20 minutes.
Naturally, around 40 minutes later, the guide came back and gave us all our passports. Checking inside, my passport had a filled in and stamped immigration card, with a printed visa stuck inside the passport and a new stamp. It all seemed sorted!
From then on, we continued on the journey to get to Phnom Penh. The route was mostly rural, with lots of rice paddies, before we reached the city in the late afternoon.
Conclusion
My crossing into Cambodia from Vietnam was pretty easy. Communication on the bus was minimal, which made us anxious at points, but it overall was fine.
Here are some points for anyone else planning on making the same crossing:
- Bring US dollars to pay the visa fee. Your bus company might accept Vietnamese dong, but there’s no guarantee this will be a good exchange rate, and you might end up spending more.
- We didn’t need to provide a separate passport photo. I wasn’t sure if we’d need one as you have to provide one for the e-visa, but it wasn’t necessary; no photo was required.
- Don’t worry if communication is minimal. The guide and driver (probably) know what they’re doing at the border, so you will probably be fine.
I hope this account of my trip across the border is useful. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Thanks for reading!
