--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Laos (City Guides) | Wimup" description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Laos: Luang Prabang and the karst north, the Plain of Jars, Vientiane and the Mekong south." url: https://wimup.com/country/laos type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-23 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # 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. ## Quick answer Start in **Luang Prabang** and give it three nights: the temple peninsula, the morning market and the falls at Kuang Si. North is the mountain half, with **Nong Khiaw** on the Nam Ou and treks around **Luang Namtha**. South is the river half: **Vang Vieng**'s karst, **Vientiane**, then the Mekong past **Thakhek** and **Savannakhet** to **Pakse**, **Champasak** and the islands at **Don Det**. Do not skip the **Plain of Jars** at **Phonsavan**. Go **November through February**, when the rains have gone. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Nov–Feb - **Ideal length:** 10–14 days - **Budget per day:** $40–90 - **Language:** Lao - **Getting around:** The Laos-China Railway, sleeper buses, the Mekong slow boat - **2** City guides - **6,492,228** People - **1** Video guide Laos travels best from north to south, and slowly. The north holds the mountains and the old royal capital: Luang Prabang on its river peninsula, the karst valleys around Nong Khiaw and Vang Vieng, and the trekking country up towards Luang Namtha and Phongsali. Vientiane sits in the middle on the Thai border, the quietest capital in the region and the easiest place to reset before heading on. The south is the flat, hot half: the Bolaven Plateau coffee highlands above Pakse, the Khmer ruins at Wat Phou, and the river islands of Si Phan Don where the Mekong braids into four thousand channels. The Laos-China Railway now links Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang in a couple of hours each, which has changed how the north connects, while the slow boats and the buses still set the rhythm everywhere else. ## 2 Laos city guides 1. [Luang Prabang](https://wimup.com/city/luang-prabang.md): Asia · 10 picks 2. [Vientiane](https://wimup.com/city/vientiane.md): Asia · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 6,492,228 - **Area:** 236,800 km² - **Density:** 27.4 / km² - **Capital:** Vientiane - **Major cities:** Vientiane, Savannakhet, Pakse, Luang Prabang, Thakhek - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Lao kip (LAK) Laos runs on cash. Cards work in bigger hotels and some Vientiane and Luang Prabang restaurants. ATMs thin out beyond the main towns, so draw kip before heading north or far south. - **Language:** Lao Lao has its own script and is close enough to Thai that speakers follow each other. English reaches guesthouses and tour desks. Sabaidee is hello, khop chai is thanks. - **Calling code:** +856 Prepaid SIMs and eSIMs are sold at airports and operator shops, and registration needs a passport. Coverage follows valleys and main roads, and drops in the mountains and on the river. - **Power:** 230V, 50Hz, plugs A, B, C, E and F Many sockets take both flat US pins and round European ones. US devices must handle 230 volts. Off-grid guesthouses in the north run on generators or solar and cut power overnight. - **Emergency:** 1191 police, 1190 fire, 1195 ambulance Response outside the cities is slow and English is not a given, so ask your accommodation to call. Serious cases usually go to Thailand, which is what travel insurance is for here. - **Visa:** An eVisa, applied for online Most visitors get the Lao eVisa online before flying, and visas on arrival are issued at the international airports and main land crossings. Use the official portal and check the current stay there. - **Getting around:** The railway north, buses and boats elsewhere The Laos-China Railway, open since December 2021, links Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang in a couple of hours. Book ahead. Elsewhere: slow mountain buses, the slow boat and short flights. - **Unexploded ordnance:** Stay on marked paths Laos is the most heavily bombed country per head in history. Xiangkhouang and the old Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor are worst. Keep to paths and cleared ground, and never touch metal you find. - **Time zone:** Indochina Time, UTC+7 UTC+7 with no daylight saving, the same as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Days run close to twelve hours, and markets are busiest soon after dawn. - **Tipping:** Not traditional, increasingly expected in tourism Outside the tourist towns, rounding up is plenty. Tip guides and drivers at the end of a multi-day trip. At a temple, put a donation in the box and keep money out of a monk's hand. - **Borders:** Friendship Bridges and the mountain crossings Four Friendship Bridges cross the Mekong to Thailand, and the railway reaches Boten on the Chinese border. Vietnam crossings are slow mountain roads. Not all crossings issue a visa on arrival. ## When to visit - **Jan** (best) - **Feb** (best) - **Mar** - **Apr** (peak) - **May** - **Jun** - **Jul** - **Aug** - **Sep** - **Oct** (good) - **Nov** (best) - **Dec** (peak) ## Fun fact 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 - **Myth:** Laos is a quieter version of Thailand **Reality:** 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. A French protectorate added a second architecture, so one block can hold a wat, a shophouse and a baguette stand. - **Myth:** There is nothing to do but lie in a hammock **Reality:** Laos holds four UNESCO World Heritage sites: Luang Prabang (1995), the Khmer temples of Vat Phou (2001), the Iron Age jars of Xiangkhouang (2019) and Hin Nam No National Park (2025), its first natural listing. The hammock is available. It is not the itinerary. - **Myth:** The bombing is history now **Reality:** Between 1964 and 1973 more than two million tonnes of ordnance fell on Laos, the most per head of any country in history. About a third of the cluster submunitions failed to explode, and they have killed or injured tens of thousands since. Clearance takes decades. Stay on marked paths. - **Myth:** Vang Vieng is still the tubing party town **Reality:** The riverside bars closed in 2012 after a run of deaths, and the swings and zip lines went with them. Now it is a climbing, kayaking, caving and ballooning town under some of the best limestone in Southeast Asia. Tubing returned, regulated. The karst was always the reason to stop. - **Myth:** A week is enough to see the country **Reality:** Laos is long and mountainous. The railway put Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang a couple of hours apart, but it covers one corridor. The Plain of Jars, the Bolaven Plateau and the Mekong islands each still cost a full day of travel each way, and most visitors never reach them. - 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 the sarong offered at the entrance is there to be worn. - 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 - **Fa Ngum**: Founded Lan Xang, the kingdom of a million elephants, in 1353, and was its first king. - **Setthathirath**: Moved the capital to Vientiane in 1560 and built Pha That Luang, the stupa on the seal. - **Anouvong**: Last king of Vientiane, who rose against Siam in 1827 and lost the city for it. - **Kaysone Phomvihane**: Party leader from 1955, head of government from 1975 and president from 1991. - **Mattie Do**: First woman to direct a Lao feature, and the first Lao director shown at Venice, 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, translated into English in Mother’s Beloved. - **Alexandra Bounxouei**: Lao-Bulgarian singer and actor, one of the most 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, often prime minister, who tried to hold the middle through the wars. - **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 whose grammar standardised modern Lao. - **Douangdeuane Bounyavong**: Novelist and poet (Dok Ked) who founded Dokked, publishing for women and children. - **Dara Kanlaya**: Viravong family writer who co-founded Vannasin, the post-war literary magazine, in 1979. - **Daoviang Butnakho**: Writer, journalist and songwriter, named a National Artist of Laos in 2011 - **Sunisa Lee**: Hmong American gymnast with roots in Laos, all-around Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020. - **Bryan Thao Worra**: Poet, the first Lao American awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship. - **Khamvong Insixiengmai**: Master of lam, the sung poetry of southern Laos. NEA National Heritage Fellow, 1991. - **Bounxeung Synanonh**: Player of the khene, the bamboo mouth organ under Lao music. NEA Heritage Fellow. ## Must-try Lao food - **Khao niaw**: Sticky rice steamed in a bamboo basket, eaten by hand, and at the centre of every meal. - **Padaek**: Fermented fish, the deep note under Lao cooking and what sets its papaya salad apart. - **Jeow bong**: Sweet, smoky Luang Prabang chilli paste, often with strips of dried buffalo skin. - **Jeow mak len**: Roasted tomato pounded with chilli, garlic and coriander. The mildest everyday dip. - **Laap**: Minced meat or fish with herbs, lime, chilli and toasted rice powder. The national dish. - **Tam mak hoong**: Green papaya pounded with garlic, chilli, lime and padaek. Hotter than the Thai version. - **Naem khao**: Crispy rice balls crumbled with fermented pork, peanuts and herbs, wrapped in lettuce. - **Sai oua**: Pork sausage with lemongrass, lime leaf and galangal, sold by the coil at market grills. - **Ping kai**: Flattened chicken in lemongrass and garlic, grilled over coals. Roadside food at its best. - **Ping pa**: Whole river fish stuffed with lemongrass, salt-crusted and cooked upright over fire. - **Khao poon**: Rice vermicelli in clear or coconut broth, with herbs and greens added at the table. - **Khao soi**: Not the Thai curry noodle: flat rice noodles under a tomato and minced pork sauce. - **Or lam**: Buffalo or chicken stew with eggplant and sakhaan, a vine that numbs the tongue. - **Mok pa**: Fish minced with lemongrass, dill and rice powder, steamed in banana leaf until set. - **Khao nom kok**: Coconut rice pancakes from a dimpled pan, in pairs, crisp outside and molten within. - **Nam van**: Cold sweet coconut milk over jackfruit, tapioca and jellies, from a plastic cup. - **Beerlao**: The national lager, brewed with jasmine rice, and the default drink. - **Lao-lao**: Village rice whisky poured for guests. The bottle with something coiled in it is real. - **Bolaven coffee**: Grown on the volcanic plateau above Pakse. Drunk strong and sweet over condensed milk. ## By theme - [Hidden gems](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems.md) - [Temples & shrines](https://wimup.com/temples.md) ## Films - [Luang Prabang Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/luang-prabang.md), 11:33 ## FAQs ### 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. Skip the agents and apply on the official site, 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. 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. ## Related countries - [Japan](https://wimup.com/country/japan.md) - [India](https://wimup.com/country/india.md) - [All of Asia](https://wimup.com/asia) Part of [Asia](https://wimup.com/asia.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://www.tourismlaos.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Visa](https://laoevisa.gov.la/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Unexploded ordnance](https://uxolao.gov.la/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.