Vientiane Flights

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.

If you don't want to spoil your time while travelling between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, take advantage of the Asia Discovery pass by Bangkok Airways. Laos Airlines, Bangkok & Siem Reap Airways are participating in it.
We flew Bangkok - Vientiane, Luang Prabang-Siem Reap, Siem Reap - Bangkok for US$240 (excluding taxes) which is a real bargain.
the pass is valid for domestic flights in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

We flew from Athens to Bangkok by Emirates via Dubai as this was the cheapest option to reach SE Asia from Athens (100 EURO cheaper than Thai). Transit time lasted almost 4 hours but you could easily spoil it shopping around in the Duty free area. Both sections were full indeed, the planes new, multilingual staff, food served quite good (for airline standards), personal inflight entertainment, landing was time accurate. My only complain was the very narrow leg room in the economy class

International flights all land at the Wattay International Airport on Luang Prabang Road. However if you are coming from Thailand I would recommend flying to Udon Thani and taking a bus up to the Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai. At the bridge terminus, purchase a 10 baht ticket, and take the shuttle bus across the bridge, the service is easy, and the shuttle bus stops at Thai immigration. On arrival in Laos, apply for your visa on arrival for $30 US, clear immigration and take a taxi or tuk-tuk from the bridge to Vientiane - about 150 - 200 baht per person, and 20 minutes to the city centre.

Flights within Laos are fairly cheap but you miss the beauty of the countryside. Luang Prabang was $55 US and Xieng Khouang was $44.

If flying internationally from Vientiane, there was a departure tax of $10 US

Vientiane is a fairly compact city so it is easy enough to walk just about anywhere but you can grab a tuk tuk to anything you think is too far. These motorcycle cum taxis are quite economical with a fare anywhere in the city only 10,000 KIP ($1).

We arrived in Vientiane on a local bus from Veng Viang that cost 10,000 KIP each for the hour plus trip.

Getting to the airport was another story. We opted for a tuk tuk and it was cheap enough at only 20,000 KIP but it was quite cool riding out there early in the morning. It was three kilometers and the wind was just ripping through us on the open vehicle!

We flew from Vientiane to Hanoi to avoid an excruciating bus trip but paid the price for it ($108 one way).

The airport departure tax is $10 per passenger and the airport is a pleasant enough place. I even found the best beer I had in Laos. It was made by a French expatriate in Champassack and tasted a bit like a dry Belgian ale. It was an extortionate $1 per bottle but hey, it was better than Beer Lao.

You must reconfirm your airline tickets in Laos, to avoid your flight booking being cancelled.
However, a big advantage of this is that the check-in time is reduced from two hours to 1 1/2 hours. At smaller airports, you can get away with one hour.
Note that Lao Airlines flights often leave early to provide a buffer against possible flight delays later in the day.
International Lao Airlines flights cannot be reconfirmed at the sales office in the domestic terminal at Wattay Airport. You need to go next door to the international terminal (or to the office in town near Nam Phu Place). The airport sales office closes at 4.30pm!

Vientiane has got a medium size airport with 2 terminals: national and International.
The only transport from there are taxis, and they are really expensive (5 USD), as the centre is about 10 minutes from the airport. If you wanna avoid this, you can:
- Tell your hotel to pick you up at your arrival.
- Walk to the National Terminal (100 metres to the left as you exit the International Terminal) and try to find a taxi there. I think they charge 5 USD only to inexpert foreign tourists!
- Try to find a moto-taxi that has (by chance) come to deliver someone to the airport.

Anyway, a normal fare should be 1-2 USD, try not to pay more...

There are flights to Luang Phabang for 46 USD, Hanoi for 100 USD.

There is a good souvenir shop at the airport which takes credit cards.