Vientiane Transportation

1 more image

The Tuk Tuk is the best way to get around town under $3 to anywhere you want to go no matter how far the distance. From the airport to downtown its about $2 verses a taxi which is at a fixed price of $5. In order to get a Tuk Tuk at the airport you must go to the main road in front of the airport. They are not allowed to stop at the airport in order to give the taxi's more money.

My family spent 4 days in Vientianne. It was a lovely family holiday. Jus a simple tip when you hire the tuk-tuk..these people are very much aware who are tourist. From the hotel we stay Ramayana Gallery Hotel at Lanexang Avenue to Mekong River is US$6. Finally on the third day, we found that we could take a nice walk to Mekong River !!

Jus beware of the price quoted and try to bargain...

Review of thaifocus travel agent, seat61.com and buying train tickets from bangkok..
Came across a website called www.seat61.com which details train travel across thailand. Found it very helpful. It listed a number of travel agents you can use to book your seat on the thai railway system. I wanted a seat from bangkok to the border of thailand where you reach laos. I think its called Nong kai. It recommends one called thaifocus which i decided to use. It stated that the company does charge high commission, but did not basically tell me that the company was a rip off. I bought tickets equaling 150 usd and then found out the tickets only actually cost 75 dollars and they had charged me 75 dollars in commission. Thats a complete farce. Be wary when using the recommendations on seat61 website, and travel agents in thailand. If possible go directly to the thai railway station to buy your tickets to avoid this. Also avoid khao san road travel agents, they too charge extortionate amounts.

To get to the city centre from the Airport, we walked out from the terminal (10mins walk) to reach the exit where it faces the Th Luang Prabang (Luang Prabang Road). Cross over to the other side of the road , flag down a jumbo, negotiated a price of USD2/- for the whole jumbo. After about 15minutes ride, we reached the city centre, near to the Mekong riverfront.

Now getting to Vientiane by budget travel is via AirAsia, the no frills airlines in Malaysia. There is currently one flight a day to/fro KL and Vientiane - on certain days only. Check out the details in the website.

1 more image

If you choose to travel by bus from this city to Luang Prabang you'll have a really tiring voyage.
Buses leave from the northern bus station and the journey takes about 12 hours. I travelled using a local air-conditioned bus, but the refrigerated worked only the first hour! Maybe I advise you to use a VIP bus which costs only a little more.
From downtown Vientiane to northern bus station, a tuktuk ride costs around 30000 kips.

Local buses fares:
Air-conditioned - 100000 kips.
Non air-conditionated - 90000 kips.

While the Laotians need only pay 3000 kip for a tuk-tuk, foreigners should be expected to pay 20, 000 kip per trip. Don't get conned if the tuk-tuk driver insists that each person should pay 20, 000 kip. That's bollocks.

Even a trip to National University of Laos, which is a 30-40 minute bus ride from our hotel, costs 45, 000--50, 000 kip per trip.

We took the bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane - largely because our trip was a little bit too flexible - arrived in LP to find it was much more of a tourist mecca than the previous year, and planes were booked out for several days to depart the city. It actually took us 2 days to be able to get a bus anyway! We chose the 1st class bus, which was barely more expensive than the next one down - and rightly so! It looks good, but it was hot and stuffy, and the ride was VERY slow - by virtue of the heat and the very mountainous conditions. Trip was roughly 8 hours - and we were very pleased to get to Vientiane, and get off the stuffy thing!

Along the way, at a comfort stop, I *happened* to notice a plain clothes person getting off the bus with an AK47 - and was subsequently told that there had been attacks on the tourist buses over the previous few months! I had not been aware of the soldiers placed along the road - but became more acutely vigilant for them! We did not really feel at risk, but it definitelyu pays to be aware of the local news before making travel plans.

Cost was roughly $12.