Vientiane to Nong Khiaw

By bus the journey from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw is scheduled to take from 8 hours 45 minutes to 11 hours 30 minutes depending upon which service you take.

Bus Times from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw

There are currently 3 services a day from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw.

An alternative way to travel from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw would be to take a train to Luang Prabang and then a bus from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw.

Vientiane Bus Stop

RG Adventure services from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw commence with a pick up from any hotel in Vientiane.

Nong Khiaw Bus Stop

RG Adventure services from Vientiane to Nong Khiaw terminate at Nong Khiaw Bus Station.

About Travel to Nong Khiaw

Nong Khiaw is a small remote town located just over 140 km by road to the north of Luang Prabang. It’s a popular destination which is almost, but not quite, a standard fixture on extended backpacking tours around South East Asia. The town has disproportionately good facilities for tourists given its size (population around 3,500) and it’s no longer really an ‘off the beaten track’ destination but still well worth visiting.

Reasons to Visit Nong Khiaw

A good way to describe Nong Khiaw is that it is very similar to Vang Vieng, just less developed and more difficult to get to. Like Vang Vieng. Nong Khiaw is an area with spectacular steep-sided limestone hills. Also like Vang Vieng, Nong Khiaw has a scenic riverside location. Both towns are located in stunning scenery, and they are both popular primarily for this reason.

What’s different about Nong Khiaw is that it doesn’t have the same reputation as a ‘party town’, nor large numbers of people floating along the river in rubber rings, nor the same level of late night drinking. In this sense Nong Khiaw could be described as ‘Vang Vieng for adults’. Although most of the foreign visitors to Nong Khiaw tend to be younger travellers they generally come to Nong Khiaw because they are looking for something different.

Hotels in Nong Khiaw

Considering its size, Nong Khiaw has a huge number of hotels, resorts, and guesthouses. Major hotel booking websites list around 50 places to stay in Nong Khiaw. In addition to this there are lots of smaller guesthouses which you can’t book online. It’s a place where you can find accommodation on arrival, although it will be very basic and inexpensive accommodation. For scenically located properties with modern amenities you are likely to need to book in advance, particularly during the peak season in Nong Khiaw, which is from October through to February.

For hotels booked online, room rates in Nong Khiaw range from the equivalent of $5 USD a night to around $100 USD. $5 USD a night you can get a bed in a shared dormitory room in one of the town’s tourist hostels (for example, Emily Dormitory Hostel). For $80 to $100 USD you get a nice private room in a scenic riverside location in a resort such as Sook Village.

Food in Nong Khiaw

As well as having plenty of hotels for tourists, Nong Khiaw has plenty of restaurants. Travellers who are familiar with parts of Laos (as well as Thailand and Vietnam) which receive few or no leisure visitors will have experienced situations where they can’t find anywhere to eat open after sunset. Visitors to Nong Khiaw don’t face that difficulty.

Visitors with a tight budget can eat relatively cheaply at one of the many small restaurants in the town serving local dishes. For those with a slightly larger budget a range of ‘international cuisine’ is available at establishments such as Gustoso Cantina, Family Bakery Cafe & Restaurant, and The Trio Bar. Nong Khiaw also has three Indian food restaurants.

Activities in Nong Khiaw

Unlike Luang Prabang, Nong Khiaw doesn’t have lots of temples and museums for visitors. The main tourist attraction is the landscape in and around the town. Like Vang Vieng, it’s somewhere visitors need to be fairly physically active to get the best out of. Among the most popular ways to enjoy the local area are:

• Trekking: The most popular walks from Nong Khiaw are to the 4 main viewpoints overlooking the town (Pha Noi and Pha Kao Viewpoint, Pha Daeng Viewpoint, Som Nang Viewpoint, and Nang None Viewpoint). The viewpoint walks can all be completed in 1 to 3 hours depending upon which viewpoint you visit. There are also longer treks in the area, the most famous of which is the ‘100 Waterfalls Trek’ which takes around 6 hours. For the 100 Waterfalls Trek we recommend joining an organised tour as navigation is difficult.
• Kayaking: Kayaking on the Nam Ou River is another popular activity which you can do independently by simply hiring a kayak, or on an organised tour. The longest and most exciting kayaking tour is to follow the Nam Ou River all the way to Luang Prabang where it joins the Mekong River. This trip takes 3 days in a kayak travelling downstream.
• Cave Visits: There are three cave systems you can visit near Nong Khiaw (Pha Kuang Cave, Phar Noi History Caves, and Phathok Caves). Several of these caves were used as military facilities and hospitals by communist insurgents in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Boat Tour: The most popular boat tour from Nong Khiaw is up river to a small village called Muang Ngoy. The journey takes around 1 hour. Muang Ngoy is similar to Nong Khiaw in terms of the scenery, but much less developed. Sop Keng, another riverside settlement a further 30 minutes upriver from Muang Ngoy, is even less developed.

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