Laos at Lao speed
We run trips in Laos and nowhere else. Eight travellers to a departure, Lao guides paid a day rate rather than a commission, and a straight answer about which months and which routes are worth your time.
Start here
Three different questions bring people to a page like this, and they need three different answers. Pick the one that matches where you are.
You want to book something
Eight trips, each with a day-by-day plan, a price table and a list of who it does not suit. Go to the tours.
You want to know what is where
Seven parts of Laos, what each one is actually like, and how many nights each is worth. Go to the country guide.
You are still working out the shape of the trip
When to come, how long you need, private or shared, how to get in and out. Start with how many days.
The eight trips
Four of them fit inside a week. Four use two weeks or something close to it. Prices are per person, land only, twin share, at the smallest group size we run. They do not include international flights.
| Trip | Length | From | Best months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mekong slow boat | 2 days | USD 165 | Oct - Apr |
| Plain of Jars | 3 days | USD 340 | Nov - Mar |
| Luang Prabang | 4 days | USD 390 | Nov - Feb |
| Thakhek loop and Konglor cave | 4 days | USD 460 | Nov - Mar |
| Southern Laos | 6 days | USD 620 | Nov - Feb |
| Northern Laos trek | 6 days | USD 640 | Oct - Mar |
| Laos highlights | 10 days | USD 1,090 | Nov - Feb |
| North to south | 15 days | USD 1,780 | Nov - Feb |
If none of these is quite it, they are all starting points rather than fixed products. Around eight trips in ten that we run are a modified version of one of the eight, and the modification costs nothing to ask for. How booking works.
Why the trips look the way they do
Every operator says they are different. Here are the four mechanisms behind ours, which you can check against any quote you receive from anyone.
Eight people, then we stop selling
A departure closes at eight. It is the number that fits one minibus with the back row empty, and one boat without people sitting on the roof. Nine means a second vehicle and a guide who spends the day counting heads.
Guides on a day rate
Our guides are Lao, licensed, and paid a fixed day rate whether you buy anything or not. That single fact removes the reason every commission stop exists.
No shopping stops, at all
No gem shop, no silk factory, no whisky village bottle line, no roadside coffee showroom that pays a kickback. You will still see weavers and coffee farms - just the working ones, without a till at the exit.
We name the bad months
Late February to April is burning season across northern Laos. We do not pretend otherwise, and we will tell you to move your dates rather than sell you a trip you will remember as grey. The month-by-month page is blunt.
Where the trips go
Laos is roughly 1,100 km from the Chinese border to the Cambodian one, on roads that are slower than the map suggests. Most people see either the north or the south, not both, and that is the right decision under about twelve days.
The north
Luang Prabang, the Nam Ou valley around Nong Khiaw, the Mekong from the Thai border, and the Plain of Jars. Mountains, rivers, the densest concentration of things worth stopping for.
The centre
Vientiane, Vang Vieng and the Khammouane karst behind Thakhek, including the 7.5 km river cave at Konglor. Least visited third of the country, and the easiest to reach by rail.
The south
Pakse, the Bolaven Plateau coffee highlands, the Khmer temple at Wat Phou, and the Four Thousand Islands where the Mekong spreads out and slows down.
The country guide takes each of these apart properly: what the place is really like, how many nights it holds, and when it is worth skipping.
What a trip costs
Land-only, per person, twin share, in a group of four. These are the bands our own quotes fall into, not an industry average.
| Style | Per person per day | What that buys |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | USD 85 - 115 | Guesthouses and small family hotels, shared transport where it is sensible, guide on the days that need one |
| Standard | USD 130 - 190 | Well-run 3-star and good boutique places, private vehicle throughout, guide every day |
| Comfortable | USD 220 - 340 | The best rooms in each town, private boats rather than shared, a guide who stays with you the whole trip |
Two people travelling alone pay roughly 35 per cent more per head than a group of four, because the vehicle and the guide cost the same either way. The pricing page breaks it down to supplier level so you can compare our quote against anyone else's line by line.
How working with us goes
- You write, with dates or an approximate month, a number of people, and a rough budget. A three-line email is enough.
- We reply within one working day with a route, a per-person price and the reasoning - including anything in your request we think is a mistake.
- We rewrite it as many times as it takes. There is no charge for this and no point at which we start pressing you.
- You pay a 25 per cent deposit to hold rooms and guides. The balance falls due 21 days before you arrive.
- You get a document with every driver, guide, hotel and phone number in it, plus a number that is answered around the clock while you are in the country.
The full version of this, including what happens when something goes wrong mid-trip.
Who we are not for
- Groups above eight. We will not put you in two vehicles and call it a small group - we will decline and tell you who does that job well.
- Travellers who want Laos as a two-day box tick between Thailand and Vietnam. The country does not survive that treatment and neither does the trip.
- Anyone who wants the March and April dates sold to them without the air quality conversation.
- Elephant riding, tiger selfies, or a visit to a "hill tribe village" arranged as a performance. We will explain what we do instead on the responsible travel page.
If any of those describe your trip, an honest no now is worth more than a refund later.
Questions travellers ask most
How many days do I actually need in Laos?
Seven nights is the point where a trip stops feeling like a transfer between airports. Four nights works if you stay in one region. Fourteen lets you take the country end to end without spending every second day in a vehicle.
Under four nights, we would rather you spent them all in Luang Prabang and its valley than tried to add a second region.
Is Laos expensive?
Cheaper than Thailand and Vietnam for food and guesthouses, and more expensive than both for transport, because distances are long, roads are slow and there are fewer operators competing on each route.
Budget USD 85 to 115 per person per day for a simple trip run properly, and USD 130 to 190 for the standard most people book.
Which months should I avoid?
Late February to late April is agricultural burning season. Visibility in the northern valleys drops for weeks at a time and the mountain views most people come for simply are not there.
July to September is the wet season. That one we are much less worried about - the rain is heavy but usually short, the country is green, and prices fall.
Can you combine Laos with Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia?
We plan and run the Laos part, and we will help you time the border crossings, but we do not sell the other countries. Operators who sell four countries at once know one of them well.
The most common combinations we build the Laos half of are Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang by slow boat, and Four Thousand Islands to Cambodia by road.
Read next
Tell us what you want out of Laos
Dates, party size and the places you care about are enough to start. You get a draft route and an indicative price, not a brochure.