Chiangmai (Thailand)-Vientiene (Laos) Border Crossing (Jan-2012)

Queues at the Thai-Lao border

Since a variety of daily buses leave frequently from Bangkok to Chiangmai, offering an assortment of prices, comfort and speed, many opt to get a visa in advance at the Lao Embassy in Bangkok before proceeding to Chiangmai. That way, less time is spent queuing upon arrival in Laos. A traveller nicknamed msboots had this to say on Thorntree (4-Jan-2012):

“I went from Chiang Mai to Vientiene on an overnight bus which took approx 12 hours. The crossing of the border itself took less than an hour, and that was because a group of us had to get visas on the border. My border crossing experience certainly wasn’t very painful. There was a guy who collected the passports and checked that we filled in our paperwork properly. The only thing I disliked was getting out of the bus and feeling half awake so early in the morning as the buses tend to arrive as the border opens and its still fairly dark.

I travelled to Vang Vieng where you can do a range of activities – like tubing down the river, kayaking, or rock climbing. From there I went to Luang Prabang, and from there to Hanoi. I would recommend looking at flights into Hanoi from Luang Prabang. The flights cost about $70 and take 1 hour. I took a bus from Luang Prabang to Hanoi which cost about $50 and took 28 hours in total (albeit the road conditions weren’t great). Its well worth getting in the extra day especially if you only have three weeks. Make sure you have your visa sorted before you go also. I think you can look into doing trips down the Mekong from Laos too.”

Susana Yanez says:
April 15, 2012 at 7:44 pm

Thank you the information is very useful, I am in Bangkok and I will go to Laos because my visa is almost expired. Please if you can give me more information I will appreciate it a lot

Susana

In reply to Susana Yanez | Kuan says:
April 15, 2012 at 8:50 pm

Depending on your nationality, you can get visa-free access, visa on arrival or you have to pre-apply visa before you depart. There is a Laotian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, address at 520,502/1-3 Soi Sahakarnpramoon, Pracha-Uthit Road, Wangthonglang, Bangkok 10310, Thailand. You can also apply for a Lao visa there.