Booking and arranging Transport

Booking the HIGH-SPEED TRAIN from Vientiane through northern Laos and into China:

You’ll find a route map here, a timetable here.

The train only accepts bookings within 3 days of travel. On weekends in peak season (November-February) you should always book as far ahead as you can. On weekdays in peak season, 1-2 days is often enough. During the rest of the year, one day in advance is often enough.

You can book trains (a) at the station paying by cash (bring your passport!), (b) via the App (see below), or (c) through an agent - your local guesthouse, a local travel agent, or (at least theoretically) online via e.g. 12Go. However several travellers have reported bad experiences trying to use 12Go to book buses in Laos recently; I’m honestly not sure how reliable 12Go is with train. One fellow traveller reported a good experience booking online through https://www.discoverlaos.today/ — with them, travellers can pay weeks in advance, and then as soon as the tickets for the desired travel date come on sale, the agency buys the tickets for you. That is particularly useful if you plan to be on an all-day bus or in the middle of nowhere with no internet 3 days before you want to ride the train.

In Vientiane there is an LCR ticket office in the city centre, in Vientiane Centre shopping mall. It’s slightly hidden, but ask someone and you should find it. You’ll have to make two visits there — one to book and pay (bring your passport!), and another the next day to pick up the tickets. In Luang Prabang, I am told there is a ticket office or travel agency near Villa Nam Khan (by Kingskitsarath Road near the Khan River) where you can buy train tickets.

It is cheaper to book at the train station rather than through an agent, but tuk-tuk fares for a special trip to the train station to buy a ticket often eliminate those savings. If you will rent a bike or motorbike at some point, do it when you can also stop by the train station to buy your train ticket. You must bring your passport to buy a ticket at the station.

When it is working, the LCR ticket-booking app accepts Visa cards (not MasterCard or AmEx), OnePay, WeChat, UnionPay and AliPay. As of February 2024, you must have a Lao phone number (and therefore a Lao sim card) — the authorities have announced that this will soon change, but so far it hasn’t. If your bank back home will need to send an SMS text to your normal phone number to verify the credit card transaction, then you need both your Lao and home-country sim cards working simultaneously. But if you get a OnePay account with BCEL Bank in Laos, you can tie your Lao phone number to that account and then you can use the app. Personally, I would skip all that hassle and buy your ticket in one of the other possible ways — particularly because it seems like every day, another traveller is reporting problems using the app.

If you will cross the border between Laos and China, you MUST get your visa for your destination country in advance!! Laos does NOT offer visa on arrival on that train (though e-visa is available), and China does not have a visa on arrival option at all.

Booking the THAI TRAIN that now crosses the border to Vientiane

Some (not all) of the trains on Thai Railways’ Bangkok - Nong Khai service now continue across the Mekong into Vientiane and terminate there. Depending on what time of day you want to travel, this might be very convenient. Or, you may find it more convenient to cross the border between Nong Khai and Vientiane using tuk-tuks, and only use the train within Thailand. The Thai trains are NOT connected to the Lao-China railway that runs from Vientiane north to Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, Boten and Kunming in China. Although both of these train companies serve Vientiane, they each have their own station several miles apart. Ticketing is also completely separate. Book the Vientiane - Bangkok train through Thai Railways here. For more information about this route, see here. For the Lao-China railway see above.

Booking intercity buses:

The vast majority of buses in Laos are NOT listed anywhere on the internet at all. DO NOT TRY TO PLAN BUS TRAVEL USING 12GO.ASIA, TRAVELFISH OR SIMILAR WEBSITES. 12go lists maybe 5-10% of the buses that are actually operating, and many travellers in Laos have had bad experiences with them. And because bus schedules in Laos change constantly, the info provided on these websites is often wrong.

Most buses can only be booked on the day of travel or maximum 1 day prior. In addition to the “official” scheduled buses, smaller buses and private vans on most popular routes will leave at any time of day as soon as they fill up. Buses are usually best booked through your guesthouse – they will know which station the bus departs from (some cities have several), the times, and which buses are faster and more comfortable. Some local buses will stop in every village, and happily make 30-minute detours to pick up a local passenger who phones them up - you want to avoid those, and that’s very hard to do if you buy your ticket at the station and you don’t speak Lao. Check whether the price that you pay at your guesthouse includes the tuk-tuk from the guesthouse to the station, which is often several kilometres from the town centre. Having a complete booking (including the tuk-tuk) purchased from someone who speaks at least a little English so you really know what you’re buying, is (in my opinion) well worth the few dollars’ commission that your guesthouse will charge.

In rare cases where you’re going somewhere really unusual, the guesthouse staff might not know when your bus leaves. In that case it’s best to go to the station yourself. The station might not sell tickets in advance, and they almost definitely won’t speak English, but you may find posted schedules, which unlike the Internet are usually up to date. In the worst case, if you’ve been completely unable to get any relaible information, then show up at the bus station by 7 AM on your desired date of travel and you’ll find something before too long.

Note that fares between any two cities can vary from day to day and bus to bus, but it’s always cheap.

Arrive at the bus station at least 45 minutes before departure time, to get a good seat near the front. If they won’t sell you a reserved seat, board the bus as early as you can. The further back you have to sit, the bumpier the ride.

Booking private drivers:

There are thousands of drivers in Laos who all want your business. They will approach you every 2 minutes— drivers of songtaews (large tuk-tuks that hold up to 10 people), sedans, minivans, it’s all there and easy to find. The only time I would bother booking in advance is for multi-day trips. But before you book a driver for, say, 5 days, ask yourself how many days you really need them. In Luang Prabang, for example, the city centre is best explored on foot — you only need a driver to go on an out-of-town day trip. You should always get multiple price quotes from multiple drivers — if three people quote you the same price, then you know the price is fixed and that’s what it is. But sometimes you get a better price by asking a second person. Always try to get a group together to reduce your cost.

Bringing a motorcycle across the border to/from neighbouring countries:

As far as I know, you cannot bring motorbikes between Laos and Thailand at all. Between Laos and Cambodia, it seems to be easy enough at the most popular crossing near the 4,000 Islands, but the officials may demand a “special surcharge” to let it through. Between Laos and Vietnam, the rules seem to change frequently, depending on when you go and what border crossing you use. Always seek the latest information locally and via the various Facebook discussion groups: Travelling in Laos, Laos Backpacking, All about Travel & Cool Tips in Laos, etc. If you’re coming into Laos from Vietnam, then unless you cross at Lao Bao (between Hue and Savannkhet), you’ll have to get a Lao visa in advance at a Lao consulate. The Lao consulates in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City ought to be able to tell you the current rules with motorbikes — try to get it in writing if at all possible.

Booking the 2-day Mekong slow boat between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai:

You can almost always get tickets on this boat at the last minute – they’ll keep selling tickets no matter how overcrowded it gets. (The downstream route to Luang Prabang is usually much more crowded than the upstream route from Luang Prabang.)

When buying a Slow Boat ticket, check the details – is your ticket for the entire trip, or only for the first day to Pakbeng? (You’ll be on a different boat with a different crew on day 1 vs. day 2.) Does your ticket include the long tuk-tuk ride between the Luang Prabang boat dock and the city centre? I preferred to buy the ticket at my youth hostel -- the guy there spoke enough English to make me confident of what I was buying. In January 2023 my all-inclusive ticket cost 400,000 kip. For more details on the Slow Boat experience click here.

Another, more upmarket option is the 2-day Shompoo Cruise. You can book it on the internet, you know exactly what you’re getting, it won’t be overcrowded, and it’s more comfortable. And for that you pay more. I would particularly consider using this if you are going downstream (from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang) — the cheaper boats can be horribly overcrowded, so paying more for comfort may be well worth it. But the upstream route (from LP to Huay Xai) is much less popular, and even the cheap boats are usually comfortably empty even in peak season. All info on Shompoo here.

Self-driving a car in Laos:

As far as I know, the only places you can rent cars are Vientiane and Luang Prabang. One-way rental is not possible, you must return it where you got it. And unlike most things in Laos, it will not be cheap. Personally, I’d just use cars with drivers, because drivers approach you everywhere in Laos every 2 minutes offering their services. But if you insist, here are the key things to know:

• You must obtain an International Driving Permit in your home country before you come to Laos.

• If you plan to drive outside of major cities, absolutely, positively rent a 4-wheel drive. Talk to the major rental agencies as well as Discover Lao Tours. I suppose in theory you could drive a 2-wheel-drive car on the expressway from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, but if you tried to take a 2-wheel-drive into the valley just outside of Vang Vieng town where the beautiful scenery is, you would absolutely get stuck in the deep sand.

• Understand that if you break down in a remote area and you don’t speak Lao, you could be really screwed. Don’t expect tow trucks to come. Local repair shops are unlikely have spare parts for the make and model of your car, and even if they can get parts, they might not know how to instal them.

• Never ever drive at night in rural areas

• When you are driving behind slow-moving trucks, only pass them when they slow down, move to the right, and signal to you that it is safe to pass. There are too many blind curves — it’s very easy to die if you don’t follow this rule.

• Don’t play loud music in your vehicle. Truck drivers honk when coming around a curve -- you‘ll need to hear them coming so you can be ready to avoid them and thereby avoid dying on narrow mountain roads.

• If you have an accident involving a Lao driver, the police WILL say it’s your fault and you will owe 3rd-party liability costs.