Hanoi to Vang Vieng

By bus the journey from Hanoi to Vang Vieng is scheduled to take from 25 to 28 hours depending upon which bus service you take.

Bus Times from Hanoi to Vang Vieng

There are currently 4 bus services a day from Hanoi to Vang Vieng available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Hanoi to Vang Vieng

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Hanoi to Vang Vieng.

Hanoi Bus Stop

Most of the services from Hanoi to Vang Vieng depart from Hanoi Nuoc Ngam Station.

Vang Vieng Bus Stop

Grouptour services from Hanoi to Vang Vieng terminate at The GOAT Bar Coffee Restaurant in Vang Vieng.

About Travel to Vang Vieng

Located roughly half way between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Laos, particularly with younger independent travellers. It’s a place with a similar atmosphere to other popular backpackers hang outs in South East Asia such as the Khao San Road area in Bangkok or Pham Ngu Lao in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vang Vieng Town

Vang Vieng Town is very compact. Most of the tourist accommodation, bars and restaurants are located in a compact area roughly 1 km long and 300 metres wide. This area gets very busy with visitors during the high season from November to March every year.

Cheap Accommodation

Most of the accommodation in Vang Vieng is inexpensive costing the equivalent of $10 to $15 USD a night for a basic double room, and sometimes less for a bed in a shared room in a hostel. The general standard of these types of hotels and guesthouses tends to be very low and the cheap prices reflect that. The same is largely true of the many restaurants in Vang Vieng where younger diners watch large TVs as they consume basic Asian food at very cheap prices.

More Expensive Hotels

Not all establishments, however, focus on catering to very budget conscious backpackers. More expensive hotels and restaurants have been opening in Vang Vieng over the last decade catering mainly to Asian visitors and older travellers. There are now several hotels on the outskirts of Vang Vieng, with river and mountain views, that charge more than $100 USD a night for rooms such as the Phubarn Vimarn Vangvieng Resort. For better quality food, and Western cuisine, restaurants such as Bon Appétit Vangvieng are becoming more common in Vang Vieng.

Tubing in Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng’s reputation as one of the ‘must visit’ destinations on the South East Asian backpacker trail was gained during a decade long period before 2015. During this time Vang Vieng was place where younger people would come to float down the Nam Song River in large inflate rubber tubes, stopping along the way at bars where cheap alcohol and drugs were freely available. For many visitors this was great fun, however, for a significant minority these activities resulted in injuries and sometimes deaths.

From 2015 onward the Lao authorities began more stringently regulating tubing in Vang Vieng, and more generally what went on in the town centre during the evenings. Vang Vieng still has tubing, and still has some bars catering to tubers on the riverside, it’s just been toned down a bit with fewer of the very dangerous rope swings that caused many of the injuries.

If you want to go tubing you can book a trip with a travel agent in the town centre, there are many, or through your accommodation. What these tours include is transport to the start of the tubing route, rental of a tube, and your return trip back to your accommodation. Organisers of tube trips generally provide very little assistance in the case of problems like theft or injuries so it’s a good idea to go with others.

Other Activities in Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is in an area of great natural beauty. There are steep sided hills on both sides of the Nam Song River which runs through a fertile green valley. The hills have some spectacular viewpoints, and lots of caves. This an area where visitors can go walking, mountain biking, rock climbing and explore caves.

Only one of Vang Vieng’s natural wonders, Tham Chang Cave, is within easy walking distance of Vang Vieng Town. To visit the other popular natural attractions you need to cross over the Nam Song Bridge and travel several kilometres by road before you can start your walk up to a viewpoint or descent into a cave. Renting a bicycle or a motorbike is a popular option, as are organised tours. Hiring a taxi or a tuk-tuk for sightseeing trips tends to work out as considerably more expensive.

The more popular attractions to the west of Vang Vieng, on the other side of the Nam Song River, include:

• Nang Oua Khiam Cave
• Silver Cliff Viewpoint One
• Phapoungkham cave
• Pha Ngern View Point
• Blue Lagoon 1 (Tham Poukham)
• Tham Pha Phueng
• Khan Kham Cave
• Nam Xay Viewpoint