We decided to write a post solely about how to get from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos because it’s interesting and can also be used as a guide for those of you wanting to do it.
Step 1 - Make your way to Chiang Khong. The first thing you will have to do is make your way to the border town (still in Thailand) of Chiang Khong, no matter where you are coming from. The bus takes about 4 hours or so from Chiang Mai. Personally, I’m not one who can just show up in a town and look for accommodations. I need to know where I will be sleeping that night and waking up in the morning. So we booked a cheap guesthouse before we arrived called Baanfai Guesthouse. This part of the journey is easy and straightforward. The bus will drop you off a little bit outside of the main area of Chiang Khong. Just jump in a tuk tuk and have them take you to a guesthouse.
Step 2 - Go to the Laos border. When you wake up in the morning you will want to get another tuk tuk or taxi to the Laos border. We just ordered ours through our hotel and it was 60 baht/person ($2/person). This should take you right up to the border.
Step 3 - Leave Thailand. The first step in the border crossing is leaving Thailand. The only thing to note here is that you receive an exit form when you arrive in the country. Try not to lose it (if you do, you can pick up another one in the office). It’s best if you don’t have to hassle with it. Of course they nickel and dime you for everything so there is a long bridge between the exit gate of Thailand and the entry gate of Laos and they don’t allow you to walk this bridge. You have to pay for a bus to take you to the entrance (20 baht/each if I remember, so like an annoying $0.65).
Step 4 - Entering Laos. Here is the hectic and confusing part. The first thing to keep in mind before you start this process is that for an American it’s $35 USD for a visa. You will be paying for a boat pretty soon so make sure you have enough money. The visa can be paid in USD, Baht (Thailand), Euro, Yuan (China), or Kip (Laos). We decided to hit the ATM that is located right when you step off the bus at the Laos border before we even started the process and took out 2 million Kip ($225 USD). We had officially arrived in Laos and would be there for a couple of weeks.
Once you know you have enough money for the Visa AND the boat, make your way to the first window (literally a number “1” by it, but it’s on the right hand side of the “2” window so kind of confusing). Pick up BOTH a visa application form and an entry card (should be laying around on various tables) and have them filled out before getting up to the first window. At the first window they will take your passport and tell you to move to the second window without your passport. Another requirement is an extra passport photo and if you don’t have it then they will charge you 10000 KIP ($1.12). Between the first and second window they are putting a big visa stamp on your passport behind the scenes. The second window will hand it back to you.
Step 5 - Paying the Laos Visa. As stated above, it costs $35 USD for a Laos visa for U.S. citizens. You can only pay in cash and it has to be USD, Baht (Thailand), Euro, Yuan (China), or KIP (Laos) currency. NO CREDIT CARDS.
Step 6 - Paying for a slow boat. The most popular way to reach Luang Prabang on a budget is via the slow boat. The name says it all. It’s a two day boat ride that takes you from the Thailand/Laos border to Luang Prabang. When you cross the border, you have a couple of options. You can bypass the dudes that are waiting for you and asking if you’d like to take a boat, jump on one of the tuk tuks right behind them and ask to go to the boats where you can pay on the spot. We decided to join the rest of our bus mates and just accept the dudes’ offer. It was 500,000 KIP ($56) for the both of us and that included transportation to the boats and then the two day boat ride itself. I think they slightly overcharge you and make it “seem” worth it by taking you to an intermediary house between the border and boats where they give you access to a bathroom and give you unnecessary instructions. But more importantly, they try and sell you on lodging at your stops and food that they are clearly making themselves.
Step 7 - First day boat ride to Pak Beng. After ALL of these steps you finally take off on your first day of boat rides to Pak Beng at about 11:00 AM. When you get on the boat it’s a little frustrating because there are just slips of paper on the seats with your seat number and clearly no one abides by this, but of course there are a select few that don’t understand when you tell them to just sit anywhere. The scenery is good but half of the people on the boat will be young kids just passing the time by boozing as hard as possible and taking way too many selfies. Naturally within the first hour everyone is taking way too many pictures of every hill, villager, or ox they see, but that will slow down by hour six of seeing the same thing :).
Step 8 - Staying overnight in Pak Beng. When you arrive in Pak Beng it’s kind of a mad rush to get your bags off the boat and then find a place to stay. A lot of people wait until they get there to find a place for the night, but I once again can’t get myself to be that spontaneous so we booked ahead. The place was fine for one night and there was a guy waiting for us with a sign when we got off the boat. It was literally a two-minute tuk tuk ride so not bad.
Step 9 - Second day boat ride to Luang Prabang. The second day boat ride is longer and takes off around 9:00 AM so get down to the boat no later than 8:30. You should arrive in Luang Prabang around 4:00 PM and of course they drop you off outside of the city. When you get off go STRAIGHT to the tuk tuks and pay the driver (don’t wait in a line and pay for transportation at a desk) or you will be ripped off like we were :). It should only be about 20000 KIP per person.
Tips -
Don’t book a full experience through your hotel in Chiang Khong. They will overcharge you and we noticed from others that really all they do is give you a sticker so you are constantly having to ask people what exactly your sticker gets you.
If you want to avoid the confusion when you get off boats then book beforehand on Booking.com.
Make sure you have enough money for visa fees, extra passport photo if needed, tuk tuks from border to border and border to boat.