The Mekong River in Laos

The Mekong runs the length of Laos, forms most of its border with Thailand, and carries a great deal of the country's traffic. Where Vietnam's delta is about density — canals, markets, people stacked on water — Laos is about distance: long empty reaches between forested banks, villages that face the river because there is no road behind them, and a stretch in the far south where the river spreads across ten kilometres and shatters into islands.

Quick summary

See Mekong Laos tours and live prices

The slow boat to Luang Prabang

The classic Lao river journey: two days downstream from Huay Xai on the Thai border to Luang Prabang, with a compulsory overnight in the small river town of Pakbeng. Roughly 300 kilometres of river, no roads visible for hours at a stretch, forested hills, sandbanks, buffalo, and villages where the boat pulls in to drop a sack of rice.

How it works

• Day 1: depart Huay Xai in the morning, arrive Pakbeng in the late afternoon (around 6–8 hours depending on water level).
• Overnight in Pakbeng: a one-street town with guesthouses of every standard. Rooms can be booked on arrival, though booking ahead is wise in high season.
• Day 2: depart in the morning, arrive Luang Prabang late afternoon (7–9 hours).

Which boat

• Public slow boat. Cheapest, most crowded, wooden benches or repurposed minivan seats. Bring a cushion, snacks and a book. Genuinely enjoyable if you accept it for what it is.
• Tourist slow boat. Fewer passengers, padded seats, drinks and a toilet that works. Roughly double the public fare.
• Small cruise boat. Two-day trips with better lunches, guided village stops and pre-booked accommodation in Pakbeng. Several times the public fare.
• Speedboat. Six hours instead of two days, in a narrow hull at high speed with a helmet and ear protection. Avoid. The noise is punishing and the safety record is not good.

Luang Prabang

A UNESCO World Heritage town on a peninsula where the Nam Khan joins the Mekong — gilded monasteries, French shophouses, and a morning alms procession that draws the crowds it deserves and rather more besides. From the river, it is one of the loveliest approaches to any town in Asia.

• Sunset cruise. One to two hours upstream and back, timed for the sun dropping behind the far bank. The single easiest thing to book here.
• Pak Ou Caves (Tham Ting). Two caves in a limestone cliff at the mouth of the Nam Ou, packed with several thousand Buddha images left by pilgrims over centuries. Two hours upstream by boat; often combined with a whisky-distilling village.
• Kuang Si falls — the famous turquoise pools are inland, not on the Mekong, but they are the other thing everyone does here.
• Cross to Chomphet. A short ferry to the quiet bank opposite town, with hillside temples and almost nobody on them.

Vientiane and the middle river

Laos's capital sits on a bend of the Mekong facing Thailand. The riverfront promenade and night market are the evening focus, and the sunsets across the water to the Thai bank are excellent. Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan), 25 km downstream, is a field of enormous concrete religious sculptures from the 1950s — strange, and worth the trip.

South of the capital the river passes Thakhek, Savannakhet and Pakse — provincial towns with French colonial cores, few tourists and easy access to the water. Pakse is the gateway to the Bolaven Plateau and to the far south.

Si Phan Don — the 4000 Islands

Where the Mekong widens to around ten kilometres in flood and breaks into a maze of channels, sandbars and permanent islands before dropping into Cambodia. This is the river's strangest and slowest place.

• Don Khong — the largest island, quiet, with a small town and good cycling.
• Don Det — the backpacker island: riverside bungalows, hammocks, sunsets, and a certain reputation.
• Don Khon — connected to Don Det by a French-built railway bridge, the remnant of a colonial portage line built to move boats past the rapids. Quieter and prettier.
• Li Phi (Somphamit) falls — a violent set of rapids on Don Khon, walkable from the bridge.
• Khone Phapheng falls — on the mainland near the Cambodian border. Not tall, but by volume the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia, and the reason the Mekong has never been navigable from the sea to China.
• Irrawaddy dolphins — historically seen in the deep pool at the Lao–Cambodian border. The trans-boundary population has collapsed; do not travel here expecting a sighting.

How to see the Lao Mekong

Timing is everything

• November–February. The best window: dry, cool, clear air, comfortable boat days.
• March–May. Hot, and often heavily hazed by agricultural burning in the north — views on the slow boat can be poor. River levels are low and boats occasionally reschedule.
• June–August. Rains begin. Green, dramatic, fewer travellers.
• September–October. Highest water. Khone Phapheng at maximum volume, Si Phan Don at its widest.
• Time of day: slow boats run in daylight only and do not travel after dark. Sunset cruises leave Luang Prabang around 17:00; in Si Phan Don, the west-facing bungalows on Don Det make the boat unnecessary.

Getting there

How to save

• Book the slow boat at the pier, not through an agency in Chiang Mai. Agency packages bundle transfers and Pakbeng rooms at a substantial markup.
• Arrange Pakbeng accommodation on arrival outside the November–February peak — guesthouse owners meet the boat and rates are negotiable.
• Share a boat to Pak Ou Caves. Hire is per boat; the pier at Luang Prabang has other travellers doing the same thing every morning.
• Rent a bicycle on Don Det, Don Khon and Don Khong instead of taking tours — the islands are tiny and flat.
• Take the train Vientiane–Luang Prabang. It is cheap, fast and removes a punishing mountain bus ride.
• Skip the speedboat — it costs more than the slow boat and is the worst way to spend six hours in Laos.

Frequently asked questions