Xiengkhouang Bus Station (Plain of Jars)

Xiengkhouang Bus Station, also known as Phonsavan Northern Bus Station, is the main public bus station in Xiengkhouang Province (also known as the Plain of Jars).

The nearest major town to Xiengkhouang Bus Station is Phonsavan which is the capital of Xiengkhouang Province and the place where most foreign visitors come to stay over night during their visit to the Plain of Jars.

Bus and Minivan Services

A variety of minivan, micro bus and large bus services depart from Xiengkhouang Bus Station to destinations in Northern Laos, Central Laos and Vietnam. These are scheduled services rather than tour buses and have limited availability. There are other services which depart from other bus stations in Phonsavan which you can book through travel agents and guesthouses in addition to the services from Xiengkhouang Bus Station.

Local Travel from the Bus Station

Xiengkhouang Bus Station is over 4 km from Phonsavan where most of the local amenities like guesthouses, restaurants and shops are located and 9.8 km from the nearest jar site (Jar Site 1).

There are no local bus services from Xiengkhouang Bus Station to Phonsavan so you need to take a tuk tuk. There are are small number of tuk tuk operating out of Xiengkhouang Bus Station and the going rate (2019) for the trip into Phonsavan is 30,000 Lao Kip.

Location of Xiengkhouang Bus Station

Xiengkhouang Bus Station is located 4.3 km by road from Phoukam Garden Agriculture Wet Market in Phonsavan.

Facilities at the Bus Station

Xiengkhouang Bus Station itself has very little in the way of facilities, there are a few seats for use by customers waiting for departures and nothing else. 

At the edges of the bus station there are, however, some small shops with drinks and snacks for sale and some very basic restaurants where you can use a toilet for a fee.

Buy Tickets at the Bus Station

There is a ticket counter at the station in the station building where you can buy tickets. You need to buy your tickets using Laos Kip as no other currencies are accepted.

Advance ticket purchases are not available at the Xiengkhouang Bus Station. The ticket vendors will not sell you a ticket a day or two in advance. Instead to guarantee your seat you need to turn up at the station at least an hour before the departure time to buy your ticket before all the seats are taken. This said, minivan and bus services rarely depart 100% full from Xiengkhouang Bus Station and tend to fill up by picking up people on route, seating people in the aisles when when there are not enough seats available.

Buy Tickets online

Use the Search Box below to buy bus tickets to Xiengkhouang Province online:

For the moment tickets for services from Xiengkhouang Bus Station are not available to book online as the bus operator do not use computerised booking systems, or any other kind of booking system other than a hand written list kept in the ticket office of the bus station.

Bus to Luang Prabang

There is a single daily departure to Luang Prabang from Xiengkhouang Bus Station.

• Departures:
  • Minivan: 08:00 (95,000 Lao Kip)

Bus To Vang Vieng

There is a single daily minivan service from Xiengkhouang Bus Station to Vang Vieng. 

• Departures:
  • Minivan: 07:30 (100,000 Lao Kip)

Bus to Vientiane

There are 3 daily departures to Vientiane from Xiengkhouang Bus Station.

• Departures:
  • Minivan: 08:30 & 18:30 (110,ooo Lao Kip)
  • VIP Bus: 20:30 (130,00 Lao Kip)

Bus Services to Vinh (Vietnam)

Bus services from Xiengkhouang Bus Station to Vinh in Vietnam operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

• Departures:
  • Bus: 06:00 (150,000 Lao Kip)

How useful was this page?