Getting around Laos
Distances in Laos are short and journeys are long. Here are realistic times for every leg that matters, and an honest word about motorbikes.
Realistic journey times
These are door to door with stops, which is how a day actually goes. Optimistic figures circulate for most of these routes and none of them survive contact with a Lao road.
| Leg | Distance | By road | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luang Prabang - Nong Khiaw | 140 km | 3.5 hours | None |
| Luang Prabang - Phonsavan | 260 km | 7 hours | Flight via Vientiane |
| Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng | 190 km | 6 hours | Train, 1.25 hours |
| Luang Prabang - Vientiane | 340 km | 8 hours | Train, under 2 hours |
| Vientiane - Vang Vieng | 150 km | 1.5 hours by expressway | Train, 1 hour |
| Vientiane - Phonsavan | 400 km | 9 hours | Flight, 40 minutes |
| Vientiane - Thakhek | 340 km | 5 hours | None |
| Vientiane - Pakse | 680 km | 11 hours | Flight, 1.5 hours |
| Thakhek - Pakse | 330 km | 4 hours | None |
| Pakse - Four Thousand Islands | 150 km | 3 hours plus boat | None |
| Nong Khiaw - Muang Ngoi | 25 km | 1 hour by boat | Rough road |
The railway, and what it changed
The Laos-China Railway opened at the end of 2021 and runs from the Chinese border at Boten through Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng to Vientiane. It turned an eight-hour mountain road into a two-hour train ride, and it is the single biggest change to travel in Laos in decades.
Three practical warnings. Stations are a long way out of town - 11 km at Luang Prabang, 9 km at Vientiane, 4 km at Vang Vieng - so add 30 to 40 minutes at each end. Tickets must be bought a few days ahead and sell out in high season, and buying them as a foreigner is fiddly. And the line runs in tunnels for much of the mountain section, so you see far less than you would from the road.
We book tickets when the timing works and use the road when it does not. On the Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng leg specifically, the old road over the Kasi pass is one of the best drives in Southeast Asia, and we would take it over the tunnel.
Rivers
The Mekong and the Nam Ou still carry passengers, though less than they did. The two journeys worth taking are the slow boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, and the hour between Nong Khiaw and Muang Ngoi on the Nam Ou.
The Nam Ou has changed. A cascade of hydroelectric dams was built through the 2010s and the through route north to Phongsaly no longer runs - boats now work in sections between dams. Anyone planning from an older guidebook should check before assuming a river journey exists.
The Mekong speedboats between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang. Five-metre hulls with car engines, motorcycle helmets as safety equipment, a record of fatalities, and no travel insurance we have read that covers them.
Domestic flights
Lao Airlines and one or two smaller carriers connect Vientiane with Luang Prabang, Pakse, Savannakhet and Xieng Khouang. The aircraft are mostly ATR turboprops and the flights are short.
- Worth flying: Vientiane to Pakse, which saves eleven hours of road for USD 110 to 160.
- Worth flying if the schedule suits: Vientiane to Xieng Khouang for the Plain of Jars, 40 minutes against nine hours.
- Not worth flying: Vientiane to Luang Prabang, now that the train exists.
- A warning: schedules change with little notice and cancellations happen. We build a road fallback into every flight-dependent itinerary rather than assume the flight will operate.
Local transport
| Mode | Use it for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Tuk-tuk | Town journeys and short hops | USD 2 - 6, agree before you get in |
| Songthaew | Shared pickup on fixed local routes | USD 1 - 3 |
| Private car and driver | Everything between towns | USD 95 - 120 per day |
| Minivan, shared | Intercity on a budget | USD 8 - 20 per leg |
| Sleeper bus | Long overnight legs | USD 15 - 30, and we would not |
| Bicycle | Vang Vieng, Don Khon, Champasak | USD 2 - 5 per day |
| Boat charter | Nam Ou, Mekong, the islands | USD 45 - 100 per half day |
About motorbikes
Renting a motorbike is the most common way visitors are seriously injured in Laos. The roads are unlit and unfenced, livestock wander onto them, overtaking on blind bends is normal, and medical facilities outside Vientiane are limited enough that a serious injury means an evacuation flight to Thailand.
Most travel insurance policies exclude motorbike accidents unless you hold a valid licence for that engine size in your home country and wear a helmet. A great many claims are refused on exactly that point.
If you are an experienced rider and you want the Thakhek loop on two wheels, we will support the trip with a luggage vehicle and a mechanic's number rather than rent you a bike. If you are not, take the vehicle. We are not being cautious for the sake of it - this is the single largest avoidable risk on a Laos trip.
Questions travellers ask most
Are Lao roads dangerous?
The main routes are paved and in reasonable condition. The risk is not the surface, it is the mix - livestock, overtaking, unlit vehicles after dark and mountain bends.
Our drivers do not drive after dark on mountain sections, which is the single most effective safety rule available.
Should we take a sleeper bus?
We would not. They travel overnight on mountain roads, the beds are shared doubles, and the saving over a flight or a private vehicle is small once you lose a night of sleep.
If budget forces it, take a day bus instead.
How do we buy train tickets?
Through an agent, at the station a few days ahead, or via the official app if you can make the payment work with a foreign card, which is often the sticking point.
We book them for our travellers as part of the trip. In high season they sell out three to five days ahead.
Is it easy to travel independently?
Between the main towns, yes. Minivans and the railway connect Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang comfortably.
Off that corridor it gets much harder, and the places worth going - the Nam Ou villages, the Plain of Jars sites, the Konglor valley - are where a vehicle and a guide change the trip most.
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