Laos is the slowest country in the region, and that is the point
Every year we talk somebody out of a Laos trip, and it is almost always the same conversation. They have eight days, a list of nine places, and a map that makes the country look small. Laos is not small and it is not fast. A tailor made Laos trip works when the itinerary accepts that, and it fails w
Plan my Laos trip Read the complete guide
- Best time to go
- November to February
- How many days
- 10 to 14
- Entry
- Visa on arrival or online for most nationalities
- Getting around
- Rail on one corridor, road everywhere else
What you get instead of pace is a country where mornings are still quiet, where a river is a road, and where the difference between a good day and a wasted one is usually two hours of driving you did not need to do. We build Laos from our own office in Hanoi, which runs Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as one operation.
Why plan Laos with us
Our own office, not a subcontractor. Our Hanoi office is ours, staffed by our own people, and it covers Laos and Cambodia alongside Vietnam. That matters most on the days a road washes out or a train sells out, which in Laos is a real possibility rather than a disclaimer.
A named specialist, not a queue. Osnat Angerman or Paz Prosianoy, our Southeast and Central Asia specialists, with Mai Est, our Head of Consulting. One person owns your file from the first email until you are home.
The first proposal is free and it is not a template. The actual guesthouses and hotels, the actual road and rail legs with honest drive times, and the reasoning behind the order of the days.
A WhatsApp group while you travel. Opened the day you fly, with your consultant and our Hanoi office. Our rating is 4.9 from 93 reviews.
We will tell you when Laos is the wrong choice. If you want a full sightseeing programme, five countries in three weeks, or reliable luxury hotels in every province, we will say so before you book rather than after.
The short answers
| Question | Short answer | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Best time to go | November to February | March and April bring heat and agricultural burning haze in the north. |
| How many days | 10 to 14 | Under 8 means Luang Prabang and one other thing. Three weeks pairs Laos with a neighbour. |
| Entry | Visa on arrival or online for most nationalities | Guidance, not a promise. We confirm your passport before quoting. |
| Getting around | Rail on one corridor, road everywhere else | Vientiane to Luang Prabang is about 210 miles (340 km). Two hours by train, most of a day by road. |
| Typical budget | $95 to $460 per person per day | Land only. Laos is the cheapest country in our library at the careful end. |
The full breakdown is in our complete guide →
Eight ways to travel Laos
Every route below is one we build, published day by day. Start from one and we rebuild it around you.
- Classic Laos in 10 days: Luang Prabang, the Mekong, Vientiane
- Laos with children, 10 days: three hotel changes, one river, no long drives
- Adventurous Laos, 12 days: Nong Khiaw, the Thakhek loop country, the Bolaven
- Romantic Laos, 9 days: three hotels and a private boat
- Laos food and culture, 11 days: weaving, markets, a coffee farm
- Boutique Laos, 10 days: the four properties worth their rate
- Laos and northern Thailand, 14 days: Chiang Rai and two days on the slow boat
- Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, 21 days: three countries, one office
Laos in the magazine
What a Laos trip really costs · The Vientiane to Luang Prabang railway, honestly · The Mekong slow boat from Chiang Rai · Luang Prabang in three days · Laos and UXO: what visitors should know · Where to go in northern Laos
Laos itineraries
Every one of these is a starting point, not a fixed departure. We change the length, the pace and the hotels to fit you.
Classic Laos in 10 days: Luang Prabang, the Mekong and Vientiane
This is the route we build most often, and it only works because of one thing that changed in 2021. Before the railway opened,…
Laos with children: 10 days, two hotel changes
Laos is an easier family country than its reputation suggests, on one condition: you stop trying to see it. There is very little that…
Adventurous Laos in 12 days: Nong Khiaw, Konglor and the Bolaven
This is the route for people who want the parts of Laos that do not appear on a first visit: a river village under…
Romantic Laos in 9 days: two rivers, two hotels
Laos is an unusually good honeymoon country for one reason that has nothing to do with luxury. It is quiet. There is no queue…
Laos food and culture in 11 days: markets, looms and coffee
Lao food is the least known of the great Southeast Asian cuisines and the one most often mistaken for something else. Half the dishes…
Boutique Laos in 10 days: four properties worth the rate
Laos has a small hotel problem, and the honest version of it is this: there are perhaps a dozen properties in the whole country…
Laos and northern Thailand in 14 days, by road and river
There is one good reason to combine these two countries rather than flying between them, and it is a boat. From Huay Xai on…
Laos and Vietnam in 21 days, with Cambodia as the alternative ending
Twelve days is what it takes to see Laos from the northern mountains to the Cambodian border, and almost nobody gives it that. This…
What is in every Laos trip we build
- A day-by-day document with honest drive times, not optimistic ones
- Rail tickets on the Vientiane to Luang Prabang line, booked the day the window opens
- Private air-conditioned car and English-speaking driver on every transfer day
- Licensed local guides on the days context changes what you see, and independent days when it does not
- A briefing on the alms round in Luang Prabang before you watch it, because most visitors get it wrong
- Marked-path guidance in the provinces where unexploded ordnance is still a live issue
- Our Hanoi office on WhatsApp for the whole trip
Planning Laos, in detail
What we would skip in Laos
This is the article our consultants would rather you read than any of the others, because almost every disappointing Laos trip we…
What to eat in Laos, and where to eat it
Lao food is the least known cuisine in mainland Southeast Asia and it is not a milder version of Thai food. It…
Walking in northern Laos: the climbs, the villages and the river
Northern Laos is our favourite three days in the country and it is the part that nobody plans for, because Luang Prabang…
Laos with children: what works, what does not, and what we change
Laos with children is a better idea than it sounds and a worse idea than it looks, depending entirely on how the…
Luang Prabang, slowly: three days and the fourth we argue for
Three days in Luang Prabang is the standard allocation and it is one day short. The town is small, a peninsula about…
What does a trip to Laos really cost?
The cost of a trip to Laos is easier to answer honestly than the same question about Japan or India, because Laos…
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a visa for Laos?
Has the railway changed the trip?
Is Laos safe?
Is ten days enough?
Can we combine Laos with another country?
Is the accommodation good?
Tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you honestly what works.
A named consultant in Tel Aviv, our own people on the ground, and a written plan you can argue with before you commit to anything.