What Laos actually costs
Real bands, broken down to what we pay hotels, drivers, guides and boatmen, so you can hold our quote and anyone else's side by side and see where the difference is.
The bands
Per person, per day, land only, twin share, in a group of four. These are the bands our own quotes fall into. A solo traveller adds a single supplement and loses the benefit of sharing a vehicle, which together push the number up by roughly 60 per cent.
| Style | Per person per day | Hotels | Transport | Guiding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | USD 85 - 115 | Guesthouses and family-run hotels, fan or basic air-con | Shared minivan on the long legs, private on the short ones | Guide on the days that need one |
| Standard | USD 130 - 190 | Good 3-star and small boutique places | Private vehicle and driver throughout | Licensed guide every day |
| Comfortable | USD 220 - 340 | The best room in each town, often 15 to 25 rooms total | Private vehicle plus private boats instead of shared | One guide who travels the whole route with you |
A daily rate only means something once you know how many days it covers and whether internal flights are inside or outside it. A ten-day quote that includes the Vientiane to Pakse flight and a nine-day one that does not are not comparable, and the flight is around USD 110 to 160.
What we pay suppliers
This is the part almost nobody publishes. High-season rates in USD, which is how Lao suppliers quote us even though they are paid in kip. Low season runs 20 to 35 per cent below these.
| Line | Simple | Standard | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel, double room per night, Luang Prabang | 22 - 38 | 55 - 95 | 150 - 320 |
| Hotel, double room per night, small towns | 15 - 25 | 35 - 60 | 80 - 140 |
| Private vehicle and driver, per day, under 250 km | 75 - 95 | 95 - 120 | 130 - 180 |
| Licensed English-speaking guide, per day | 40 - 50 | 50 - 65 | 65 - 90 |
| Private long-tail boat, half day | 55 - 75 | 75 - 100 | 100 - 150 |
| Mekong slow boat seat, Huay Xai to Luang Prabang | 35 - 45 | 35 - 45 | private charter, 900+ |
| Domestic flight, Vientiane to Pakse, one way | 110 - 160 | 110 - 160 | 110 - 160 |
| Meals not in the price, per person per day | 12 - 20 | 20 - 35 | 35 - 70 |
| Entrance fees, per person per day averaged | 4 - 8 | 4 - 8 | 4 - 8 |
Add those up for a given itinerary, divide the vehicle and the guide by the number of people sharing them, and you are within about 10 per cent of what any competent operator would charge before margin. That is deliberate: a quote you cannot rebuild from parts is a quote you cannot judge.
What moves the price, in order
- Group size. The single biggest lever. A vehicle, a driver, a guide and a private boat cost the same for two people as for six. Going from two to four takes roughly 35 per cent off each person's price; four to six takes another 12.
- Whether the route needs a domestic flight. Any itinerary joining the north and the south either uses a flight or gives up two full days to the road. That single decision is worth USD 110 to 160 per person, or 48 hours.
- Season. Hotels in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng move 30 to 50 per cent between November-February and the wet season. Vehicles and guides barely move at all.
- Hotel standard. Real, but smaller than people expect: the gap between simple and standard is around USD 35 per room per night in most towns, which is USD 17 per person.
- Private boats instead of shared. On the Nam Ou and around the Four Thousand Islands, chartering rather than sharing costs USD 55 to 100 per half day for the whole group and changes the day completely.
- Pace. Two nights in a place instead of one removes a transfer, a packing morning and a check-in. Slower trips often cost less per day than fast ones.
What is not in our prices, and why
| Not included | Roughly | Why not |
|---|---|---|
| International flights | - | Booking direct with the airline gives you consumer protection we cannot pass on |
| Visa fee | USD 30 - 50 | It varies by nationality and by where you cross - see visas and entry |
| Travel insurance | USD 40 - 120 per trip | We are not authorised to sell insurance, and the policies sold by tour operators are usually worse than the ones you can buy at home |
| Lunches and dinners on most days | USD 12 - 35 per day | Fixed group meals are the fastest way to make a trip worse. Breakfast is always in |
| Drinks | - | Including with included meals |
| Tips | USD 5 - 10 per day for the guide | Genuinely discretionary. Our guides are paid a day rate that does not assume tips |
How a quote gets to be 25 per cent cheaper
Six mechanisms, all of them legal, all of them invisible in a summary itinerary. If a quote you are holding is far below ours, it is one or more of these rather than better buying.
- Fewer guide days. The itinerary reads the same but the guide only appears on three of seven days. Count the words "with your guide" in the day-by-day text.
- Hotels named by star rating rather than by name. "3-star hotel or similar" lets the operator substitute downwards after you have paid.
- Shared transfers described as private. Ask directly whether the vehicle is yours or whether it collects other passengers.
- Commission stops in the schedule. A silk shop, a gem showroom, a whisky village stall line, a coffee showroom on the Bolaven. Each one pays the operator or the driver and costs you 45 to 90 minutes.
- The slow boat sold as a private charter but bought as a seat. The public boat is USD 35 to 45. A genuine charter is over USD 900.
- A vehicle that is too small. Six adults and luggage in a vehicle rated for six is a legal but miserable seven-hour day.
None of that makes the cheaper operator dishonest. It makes the two quotes different products, and you should be told which one you are buying.
Payment and cancellation
A 25 per cent deposit confirms rooms, guides and boats. The balance falls due 21 days before your first service. Bank transfer costs you your own bank's charge; card payment adds about 3 per cent, which we show as a separate line rather than burying.
Cancellation terms and the full payment mechanics, including the anti-fraud checks we ask you to run before transferring money to anyone in Laos, are on the how to pay page.
Ask for a real quote
Send dates, a headcount and a rough daily budget. You get a route and a price with the reasoning behind it, usually within one working day.
Questions travellers ask most
Why is your quote higher than the one I got from another operator?
Usually one of three things: our vehicle is genuinely private and theirs is shared, our guide is on every day and theirs is on half of them, or their itinerary contains shopping stops that pay them and cost you time.
Send us the other quote. We will tell you which of the three it is, and if it turns out they are simply better value for what you want, we will say that too.
Do you discount for larger groups?
The price tables already do it. Each row of the table is a group size, and the per person figure falls as the row goes down, because the fixed costs split further.
Above eight travellers we do not quote at all, so there is no bulk rate beyond that point.
Can I pay in kip or Thai baht?
The balance, yes, in cash on arrival at the exchange rate published by BCEL on the day. The deposit has to come by bank transfer or card in USD.
The kip has moved a long way in recent years, so we quote and hold prices in USD to stop the currency becoming part of the negotiation.
Is there a single supplement?
Yes, and it is the hotel's number rather than ours - typically USD 25 to 60 per night depending on standard and town. We pass it through at cost.
Solo travellers also carry the vehicle and guide alone, which is the larger effect. A solo trip runs about 60 per cent above the per-person price for a group of four.
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Tell us what you want out of Laos
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.