Travel from Hanoi to Luang Prabang

You can fly from Hanoi to Luang Prabang or you can travel by bus. It takes slightly over an hour to fly from Hanoi to Luang Prabang compared to a scheduled travel time of 25 hours 30 minutes if you travel by bus. However, flying from Hanoi to Luang Prabang costs 3 or 4 times as much as it does to travel by bus and if you are travelling on a budget then taking a bus is the more affordable option.

Bus Times from Hanoi to Luang Prabang

There is a single direct bus service a day from Hanoi to Luang Prabang which you can book online.

• This service operates 7 days a week.
• For travel on Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays exchange your booking voucher for a ticker at counter number 57.
• For travel Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays exchange your booking voucher for a ticket at counter number 63.
• The service on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays uses a better quality of bus with reclining seats, and on-board toilet. The quality of the bus service on other days is variable.

Buy Tickets to Luang Prabang

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Hanoi to Luang Prabang.

Hanoi Bus Stop

The HTX Van Tai 277 service to Luang Prabang departs from Bến xe Nước Ngầm – Nuoc Ngam Bus Station at No 1 Ngoc Hoi road, Hoang Mai district, Hoàng Liệt, Hạ Noi, Hanoi City 100000, Vietnam.

Luang Prabang Bus Stop

HTX Van Tai 277 services from Hanoi terminate at Luang Prabang Southern Bus Terminal.

About Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang, which is 340 km north of Laos’s capital city of Vientiane, is the most visited place in Laos and is fast becoming a one of the major tourist destinations in South East Asia. Luang Prabang used to get only a small number of visitors because of the poor transport connections; until fairly recently the only way to get to Luang Prabang was by dirt road or very slow boats, or faster ones which were very unsafe. In the past a relatively high proportion of foreign visitors who attempted travel to Luang Prabang experienced some kind of misfortune or even injury during the journey to this isolated town. This has now, however, changed with the construction of a concrete road and an airport. Inevitably, given the unique appeal of Luang Prabang, Luang Prabang now sees rapidly increasing numbers of foreign visitors every year and prices in the town tend to be about double those elsewhere in Laos.

What attracts foreign visitors to Luang Prabang is a combination its of historic temples and palaces, a laid back atmosphere and remote location within a mountainous and heavily forested area. Luang Prabang is easily accessible now but much of the surrounding countryside is not. There are plenty of trekking and boat tour opportunities from Luang Prabang and plenty of tour companies who will organise trips for you. Within the city itself there are enough things of interest, particularly temples to fill several days of dedicated sightseeing. At one point in time Luang Prabang was the administrative capital of Laos, and for many centuries, before the establishment of the Communist regime of modern Laos, Luang Prabang was the main residence of the Laos Royal family. The top three attractions in the town are Phou Si Hill, from the top of which you get great views over Luang Prabang and surrounding countryside, Haw Kham Royal Palace Museum, a complex of palaces and temples, and Wat Xieng Thong, which is the oldest intact building in Luang Prabang.