◆ Country guide · Southeast Asia

Top 10s across Laos

The only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, shaped by the Mekong and slowed by its mountains. Laos rewards travellers who trade the checklist for the pace of the river.

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AllLuang Prabang & the northXiangkhouang & the Plain of JarsVientiane & the centreThe central MekongPakse & the south

By Wimup Editorial Updated August 2026 11 min read

Best months

Nov–Feb

Ideal length

10–14 days

Budget / day

$40–90

Language

Lao

Getting around

The Laos-China Railway, sleeper buses, the Mekong slow boat

Region ▾Theme ▾Budget ▾Best month ▾Trip length ▾ 2 guides

Grid Map

Quick answer · where to go in Laos

Most trips start in Luang Prabang, and it is worth three nights rather than two: the temple peninsula between the Mekong and the Nam Khan, the morning market, and the waterfalls out at Kuang Si. From there the country runs north and south. North is the mountain half, with Nong Khiaw on its limestone bend of the Nam Ou and the trekking country around Luang Namtha. South is the river half: Vang Vieng and its karst towers, Vientiane in the middle, and then the long Mekong run past Thakhek and Savannakhet to Pakse, the Bolaven coffee highlands, the Khmer temple at Champasak, and the river islands at Don Det. The Plain of Jars at Phonsavan is the detour east that most itineraries skip and should not. November through February is the window when the rains have gone and the north is cool after dark.

All regions Luang Prabang & the north Xiangkhouang & the Plain of Jars Vientiane & the centre The central Mekong Pakse & the south

Jump to City guides Fun fact Stereotypes Famous Lao faces Food FAQ

2 Laos city guides

Sorted by what travelers are saving this month.

Luang Prabang

Asia · 10 picks

Vientiane

Asia · 10 picks

Fun fact

One number worth knowing

The Mekong runs roughly 1,900 kilometres through Laos, more of the river than any other country carries, and forms much of the border with Thailand before crossing into Cambodia. Laos is the only country in Southeast Asia with no coastline.

Stereotypes, sorted out

The clichés you have heard, what is actually true, and how to fit in.

"Laos is a quieter version of Thailand"

The realityIt is its own country with its own history, and Lan Xang, the kingdom of a million elephants, was founded in 1353 and held the middle Mekong for three and a half centuries. The language is close to Thai and the script is its own. Then a French protectorate layered a second architecture over the top, which is why a Lao provincial capital can have a Buddhist wat, a colonial shophouse and a baguette stand on the same block.

"There is nothing to do but lie in a hammock"

The realityLaos holds four UNESCO World Heritage sites. The town of Luang Prabang was listed in 1995, the Khmer temple complex at Vat Phou in 2001, the Iron Age stone jars of Xiangkhouang in 2019, and Hin Nam No National Park in 2025, the country’s first natural listing and part of the first transboundary natural site in the Mekong region. The hammock is available. It is not the itinerary.

"The bombing is history now"

The realityBetween 1964 and 1973 more than two million tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Laos, which makes it the most heavily bombed country per head in history. Around a third of the cluster submunitions failed to detonate, and tens of thousands of people have been killed or injured by them since. Clearance is measured in decades, not years. This is why the advice about staying on marked paths is not boilerplate.

"Vang Vieng is still the tubing party town"

The realityThe riverside bars were shut down in 2012 after a run of deaths, and the swings and zip lines came down with them. What replaced it is a climbing, kayaking, caving and hot-air-ballooning town under some of the best limestone in Southeast Asia. Tubing came back, regulated. The reputation is a decade out of date and the karst was always the reason to stop.

"A week is enough to see the country"

The realityLaos is a long, mountainous strip and the roads know it. The railway put Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang within a couple of hours of each other, which is genuinely transformative, but it covers one corridor. Getting to the Plain of Jars, the Bolaven Plateau or the Mekong islands still means a full day of travel each way, and that is the country most visitors never reach.

A sunset over the Mekong, photographed from the same terrace as everyone elseThe alms procession at dawn in Luang Prabang, shot with a flash from a metre awayA Beerlao bottle held up against a karst skylineSomeone calling it the last unspoilt country in Southeast Asia, over hotel wifiThe slow boat described as relaxing, by a person who did not sit on the wooden benchTubing anecdotes from a trip taken years after the bars closedA tuk-tuk driver quoting a price in dollars because the passenger opened in dollars

Cultural notes that actually help

Greet with a nop, palms together at chest height, and a small bow. It is offered to elders and to monks first, and a handshake is fine in business. Returning it matters more than getting the height exactly right.
Monks are not to be touched by women, and that includes handing something over directly: put it down and let it be picked up. At the dawn alms round in Luang Prabang, watch from across the street, stay quiet, and do not use a flash. If you are not giving, do not stand in the line.
The head is high and the feet are low, in the literal and the social sense. Do not touch an adult’s head, do not point your feet at a person or at a Buddha image, and tuck them behind you when you sit in a temple.
Shoes come off at temple buildings and at the door of a home, and often at a guesthouse. Shoulders and knees stay covered in a wat, for everyone, and a sarong at the entrance is a loan rather than a suggestion.
Sticky rice is eaten by hand, from the shared basket, and you take a small ball and dip. Put the lid back on the basket when the meal ends. It is a small courtesy and it is noticed.
Baw pen nyang, roughly no problem, is the working temperature of the place. Raising your voice to fix something loses face for both sides and gets you nothing. Patience is a technique here, not a virtue.
This is a one-party state and the etiquette follows. Do not photograph military sites or personnel, do not push political conversation on people who have to live with the answer, and treat the flag and the national symbols as you would a temple.

Famous Lao faces

The kings, the writers and the diaspora that carried Lao music abroad. Pick a field.

Fa Ngum

Founded Lan Xang, the kingdom of a million elephants, in 1353 and became the first king of a unified Lao state

Setthathirath

Moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1560 and built Pha That Luang, the stupa on the national seal

Anouvong

Last king of Vientiane, who led the rising against Siamese rule in 1827 and lost the city for it

Kaysone Phomvihane

Led the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party from 1955, the government from 1975, and the country as president from 1991

Mattie Do

The first woman to direct a feature film in Laos, and the first Lao director shown at the Venice Film Festival, with The Long Walk in 2019

Marisa Darasavath

Painter, described by The New York Times as one of Laos’s leading contemporary artists

Outhine Bounyavong

Short-story writer of rural Lao life, and one of the few Lao authors translated into English, in Mother’s Beloved

Alexandra Bounxouei

Singer and actor, Lao and Bulgarian, and one of the most widely played pop voices in the country

Souphanouvong

The Red Prince, Pathet Lao leader, and the first president of the Lao PDR from 1975

Souvanna Phouma

Neutralist prince and repeatedly prime minister, who spent the wars trying to hold the middle ground

Sisavang Vong

King of Luang Prabang from 1904 and then of a unified Laos, on the throne until 1959

Phoumi Vongvichit

Pathet Lao politician and linguist, who wrote the Lao grammar the modern language was standardised on

Douangdeuane Bounyavong

Novelist and poet writing as Dok Ked, and founder of the Dokked publishing house for women’s and children’s books

Dara Kanlaya

Writer of the Viravong family, and co-founder in 1979 of Vannasin, the magazine that carried post-war Lao writing

Daoviang Butnakho

Writer, journalist and songwriter, named a National Artist of Laos in 2011

Sunisa Lee

American gymnast from a Hmong family that came out of Laos, Olympic all-around champion at Tokyo 2020

Bryan Thao Worra

Lao American poet, and the first Lao American given a Literature Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts

Khamvong Insixiengmai

Master singer of lam, the sung poetry of southern Laos, and an NEA National Heritage Fellow in 1991

Bounxeung Synanonh

Khene player, carrying the bamboo mouth organ that underpins Lao music, and an NEA National Heritage Fellow

Must-try Lao food

Sticky rice first, then the mortar, the grill and the glass. Pick a category.

Khao niaw

Sticky rice, steamed over water in a bamboo basket rather than boiled. Eaten by hand at nearly every meal, and the thing everything else is built around.

Padaek

Fermented fish, and the deep note under Lao cooking. It is what separates a Lao papaya salad from a Thai one.

Jeow bong

Luang Prabang chilli paste, sweet and smoky, traditionally with strips of dried buffalo skin through it.

Jeow mak len

Roasted tomato pounded with chilli, garlic and coriander. The everyday dip, and the mildest thing on the table.

Laap

Minced meat or fish tossed with herbs, lime, chilli and toasted rice powder. The national dish, and the one to judge a kitchen by.

Tam mak hoong

Green papaya pounded in the mortar with garlic, chilli, lime and padaek. Sour, salty and hotter than its Thai cousin.

Naem khao

Crumbled crispy rice balls tossed with fermented pork, peanuts and herbs, then wrapped in lettuce. Texture is the whole point.

Sai oua

Grilled pork sausage packed with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and galangal. Sold by the coil at every market grill.

Ping kai

Chicken flattened, marinated in lemongrass and garlic, and grilled over coals. Roadside food, and the best of it.

Ping pa

Whole river fish stuffed with lemongrass, salted on the skin and cooked upright over the fire.

Khao poon

Rice vermicelli in a broth thickened with coconut or left clear, with herbs and greens piled on at the table.

Khao soi

The Luang Prabang version, and not the Thai curry noodle of the same name: flat rice noodles under a tomato and minced pork sauce.

Or lam

Luang Prabang stew of buffalo or chicken with eggplant and mushrooms, spiked with sakhaan, a vine that numbs the tongue.

Mok pa

Fish minced with lemongrass, dill and rice powder, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed until it sets.

Khao nom kok

Coconut rice pancakes cooked in a dimpled pan and served in pairs, crisp outside and molten in the middle.

Nam van

Sweet coconut milk poured over jackfruit, tapioca pearls and jellies, and eaten cold from a plastic cup.

Beerlao

The national lager, brewed with local jasmine rice, and effectively the default drink in the country.

Lao-lao

Rice whisky, distilled in villages and poured for guests. The bottle with something coiled in it is not a joke.

Bolaven coffee

Grown on the volcanic plateau above Pakse, and the reason Laos exports coffee at all. Drunk sweet and strong, over condensed milk.

Laos travel FAQ

Do you need a visa for Laos?+

Most visitors do. The Lao eVisa is applied for online on the government portal before travel, and visas on arrival are also issued at the international airports and the main land crossings. Apply through the official site rather than an agent, and check the current stay length there, because the rules change more often than the guidebooks do.

How many days do you need in Laos?+

Ten to fourteen covers Luang Prabang, one stretch of the north and either Vientiane or the south without rushing. A week is Luang Prabang plus Vang Vieng and Vientiane, which the railway now makes comfortable. Anything under five days should stay in the north: the distances south are long and they are the whole reason people arrive tired.

When is the best time to visit Laos?+

November through February. The rains have finished, the rivers are still high, and the northern mountains are cool enough at night to need a layer. March and April are the hot months, and March brings agricultural burning that hazes over the north. The wet season from May to September is green and quiet, with heavy afternoon rain and some river routes suspended.

How do you get from Vientiane to Luang Prabang?+

The Laos-China Railway, which opened in December 2021 and covers the run in around two hours by way of Vang Vieng, against most of a day on the old mountain road. Seats sell out, so book ahead. Flights take about forty minutes, and the overnight buses still run for anyone who prefers to trade comfort for a bed.

Is Laos safe to travel in?+

For ordinary travel, yes, and petty theft is the usual risk rather than anything worse. The two things that need real attention are unexploded ordnance, which makes staying on marked paths and cleared ground non-negotiable in the contaminated provinces, and road travel, where mountain highways, night driving and rented motorbikes account for most of the trouble visitors get into.

Know before you go

The essentials for planning a Laos trip.

Currency

Lao kip (LAK)

Laos still runs largely on cash. Cards work in the bigger hotels and in a slice of restaurants in Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and almost nowhere else. ATMs cluster in the main towns and thin out fast beyond them, so draw what you need before heading into the north or the far south. Thai baht and US dollars are taken in some tourist places, but kip is what prices are set in.

Language

Lao

Lao is the official language and is written in its own abugida, close enough to Thai that speakers of one follow much of the other. English reaches as far as the guesthouses and tour desks, French survives among older Lao in the cities, and Chinese has arrived with the railway. Sabaidee for hello and khop chai for thanks go a long way.

Calling code

+856

Prepaid SIMs and eSIMs are sold at the airports and in the operator shops, and registration wants your passport. Coverage follows the valleys and the main roads. In the mountains and on the river it goes, which is worth planning around rather than fighting.

Power

230V, 50Hz, plugs A, B, C, E and F

Sockets are mixed, and a single outlet often takes both the flat American pins and the round European ones. US devices need to handle 230 volts. Guesthouses off the grid in the north run on generators or solar and cut power overnight, so charge at dinner.

Emergency

1191 police, 1190 fire, 1195 ambulance

Response outside the cities is slow and English on the line is not a given. Ask your accommodation to call rather than dialling yourself where you can, and note that serious cases are usually moved across the border to Thailand, which is what travel insurance is for here.

Visa

An eVisa, applied for online

Most visitors apply for the Lao eVisa on the government portal before flying, and visas on arrival are also issued at the international airports and the main land crossings. Apply on the official site: the lookalikes charge a markup for the same form. Check the current stay and validity on the portal itself rather than in a blog post.

Getting around

The railway north, buses and boats elsewhere

The Laos-China Railway opened in December 2021 and put Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang inside a couple of hours of each other, which is the single biggest change to travel here in a generation. Book ahead: seats sell out. Everywhere else is buses over mountain roads that take longer than the map suggests, the Mekong slow boat, and short domestic flights to Pakse and the far north.

Unexploded ordnance

Stay on marked paths

Laos is the most heavily bombed country per head in history, and clearance is decades from finished. Xiangkhouang, the old Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor in the southeast and parts of the north are the most contaminated. The rule is simple and absolute: keep to paths and cleared ground, do not walk into fields or scrub, and never touch metal you find. The visitor centres in Luang Prabang and Phonsavan explain it better than any advisory.

Time zone

Indochina Time, UTC+7

No daylight saving, and the same clock as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, so an overland crossing never costs you an hour. Days run close to twelve hours year round, and the country starts early: the markets are busiest not long after dawn.

Tipping

Not traditional, increasingly expected in tourism

Restaurants outside the tourist towns do not expect a tip, and rounding up is plenty. Guides and drivers on a multi-day trip are the exception and are tipped at the end. At a temple, a donation in the box is the right gesture rather than money handed to a monk.

Borders

Friendship Bridges and the mountain crossings

Four Friendship Bridges span the Mekong to Thailand, the first of them at Vientiane, and the railway runs north to Boten on the Chinese border. Crossings to Vietnam are high mountain roads and slow. Confirm which crossings issue a visa on arrival before you commit to one, because not all of them do.

When to visit Laos

Best months trade dry roads against low rivers.

Full month guide →

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Best: November, January and February, when the rains have gone, the rivers are still high enough to run and the north is cold enough at night for a jacket Peak: December over the holidays and April for Pi Mai, the Lao New Year, when Luang Prabang books out and rates follow Good: October, the tail of the rains, with green hills, full rivers and the boat racing at the end of the Buddhist Lent Off: the wet months from May to September, and March, when the farm burning fills the northern valleys with haze and the mountains disappear