The capital of Laos on the Mekong — one of Asia's calmest, smallest capitals. The golden Pha That Luang stupa, the Patuxai gate, French colonial streets, the riverside night market and sunsets, and the wonderfully odd Buddha Park outside town. Next to the Thai border and the start of the China–Laos high-speed railway, it is the gateway to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. No direct flights from Ulaanbaatar — connect via Bangkok or Seoul. Mongolian citizens can stay 30 days visa-free.
🛂 Visa: Visa-free · 30 days✈ Flight: 10h☀ Best months: November, December, January, February
Orange — daytime average, blue — night, grey bars — rainfall, green — sea temperature. Best months: November, December, January, February.
Things to see (12)
🧸 for kids
Pha That Luang (Great Stupa)★ 4.4 (7,000)
Culture30,000₭ (Lao citizens 5,000₭)8:00–17:00 daily (may close briefly at lunch)
The national symbol of Laos — a 45 m golden stupa built under King Setthathirath in the 16th century. Next to it, Wat That Luang Tai has a golden reclining Buddha. At the November full moon the That Luang Festival draws thousands of pilgrims.
CityPark free; top deck 30,000₭Mon–Fri 8:00–16:30, Sat–Sun 8:00–17:00
Travel guide
Like a well-travelled friend for a first-timer: before you go, landing, SIM, transport, money, food, safety, manners, apps, leaving — step by step.
🧳Before you goLaos is visa-free for Mongolians — but sort out the digital arrival card, the transit country's rules and insurance at home.+
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Visa: 30 days visa-free
Under the 2007 Mongolia–Laos agreement, Mongolian citizens with an ordinary passport can stay in Laos up to 30 days without a visa. Your passport must be valid for more than 6 months and have blank pages. For longer stays, apply for an e-visa at laoevisa.gov.la.
Tip: Via Bangkok, Thailand is visa-free; via Hanoi, Vietnam is visa-free; arriving by train from Kunming requires a Chinese visa.
Since September 2025, foreigners entering at Vientiane's Wattay airport or the 1st Friendship Bridge from Nong Khai complete the arrival declaration on the official Lao immigration site 3 days ahead and get a QR code; the departure declaration is filled in separately when leaving. You need a passport photo and a selfie holding your passport. It is free — beware of fake 'paid' sites.
Medical care in Laos is limited and serious cases are transferred to Thailand, so get insurance that covers medical evacuation. Clean, new US dollars or Thai baht are handy for hotels and tours and easy to change into kip.
Tip: November–February is high season, especially around the That Luang Festival — book hotels early.
🛬Landing and getting to townWattay airport is close to the centre. The Friendship Bridge and the railway station are further out.+
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Airport to town
Buy a coupon at the official taxi counter by the arrivals exit: a sedan to the centre is ~US$7, a van ~US$8. Touts outside quote double. The cheaper option is the shuttle bus to Talat Sao central bus station with hotel stops, 40,000₭ per person, roughly hourly during the day.
International buses run from Nong Khai in Thailand over the 1st Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge to Talat Sao, with both border checks on the bridge. Vientiane station on the China–Laos Railway is well outside the centre — bus 28 costs 15,000₭, or take a LOCA taxi. Direct international trains arrive from Kunming.
Buy a tourist SIM with your passport at the counters after customs; most take cash in kip only, so use the ATM in the arrivals hall first. Lao Telecom and Unitel 30-day tourist plans cost ~125,000₭, 7-day plans 80,000–100,000₭. Counters may be closed if you land late — buy one at a shop in town instead.
Tip: The plan starts when the staff activate it — have them test it on the spot.
If your phone supports eSIM, install a Laos or Southeast Asia regional eSIM from Airalo, Holafly or similar before you go — it also works while connecting in Bangkok or Seoul. Coverage is good in the city and weak around Nam Ngum.
🚇Getting aroundWalk the centre (riverside, Wat Si Saket, Talat Sao); take tuk-tuks, taxis or buses to That Luang, Patuxai and Buddha Park.+
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Walking and cycling
The riverside, the main temples and the night market are close together, so walk them. Hotels hire bicycles cheaply; ride in the morning or evening to avoid the heat. Scooters need an international driving permit and a helmet — traffic drives on the right.
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Tuk-tuks and LOCA taxis
Agree the price before getting into a tuk-tuk — tourist quotes are often high. The LOCA app shows the fare upfront, so there's no argument; booking a car is easiest for families.
City buses leave from the central bus station at Talat Sao and are cheap. Bus 14 to the Friendship Bridge and Buddha Park costs about 10,000₭ one way and takes 45–60 minutes. The China–Laos train is the fastest way to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang.
The official currency is the kip (₭). Hotels and travel agencies take US dollars and Thai baht, often at a poor rate; markets, tuk-tuks and small restaurants take kip only. Vientiane has plenty of banks and exchange booths. Kip is almost impossible to exchange outside Laos — spend what's left before you go.
Tip: Small vendors struggle to change big notes (100,000₭) — keep small bills.
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ATM fees
Every ATM charges foreign cards a fee. BCEL has the most ATMs: up to 2,000,000₭ per withdrawal with a 30,000₭ fee. Withdraw larger amounts less often, and decline if the ATM offers to convert to your home currency. Bigger restaurants and malls take cards.
🍜FoodWhere Lao, Thai, Vietnamese and French cooking meet — from cheap street food to colonial-era bakeries.+
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What to eat
Laap — minced meat and herb salad; tam mak hoong — spicy papaya salad; ping kai — grilled chicken; khao piak sen — thick noodle soup; sticky rice (khao niao), rolled into balls by hand. Khao jee — baguette sandwiches — and Lao coffee are everywhere.
Tip: Say 'bo phet' (not spicy) and they'll tone it down.
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Cheap and reliable
Stalls at the Mekong riverside night market and Ban Anou night market sell grilled fish, meat and rice — cheap and varied, good with children. International restaurants cluster on the riverside streets. Drink only bottled or filtered water; ice is usually factory-made.
Police 1191, ambulance 1195, fire 1190, tourist police 1192. English-speaking operators are rare, so ask your hotel staff for help. For serious cases your insurer's assistance line arranges transfer across the Friendship Bridge to a Thai hospital.
Air quality drops during the spring crop-burning season — with asthma or small children bring masks. Dengue occurs in the rainy season, so use repellent. Avoid being out in the midday heat and drink plenty of water.
Bag and phone snatching from motorbikes happens — carry your bag on the side away from the road. Outside the city stay on marked paths and never touch metal objects on the ground — wartime unexploded ordnance is still there. Drug laws are very strict.
🙏Manners+
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Temples and dress
Cover shoulders and knees at That Luang, temples and museums; take off your shoes before entering buildings. Some temples rent sinh skirts at the gate. Women should not touch monks or hand them things directly.
Don't touch people's heads or point your feet at people or Buddha images. If you receive a white-string blessing at Wat Si Muang, the custom is to leave it on for a few days. Treat state symbols and leaders' monuments respectfully.
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Talking and bargaining
Lao people value soft voices and calm manners — getting angry or loud means losing face. Greet with palms together at the chest and say 'Sabaidee'. Bargain gently, with a smile, at the night market and Talat Sao.
📱Useful apps+
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Getting around
LOCA — Laos's ride-hailing app with upfront fares. LCR Ticket — train tickets to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang; buy a few days ahead. Download Vientiane in Google Maps for offline use.
Google Translate with the offline Lao pack and camera menu translation. The Lao immigration site — the digital arrival and departure card. IQAir — air quality during the spring haze.
Wattay is close to the centre — take a LOCA taxi or the airport shuttle bus from Talat Sao for 40,000₭. Be there 2 hours before an international flight. Fill in the departure card on the Lao immigration site.
Lao kip can hardly be exchanged abroad — spend it before the airport or change it into dollars. On separate tickets via Bangkok you pass Thai immigration and re-check bags, so leave plenty of time; via Seoul the flights are overnight, so plan for sleep.
Tip: Silk scarves from Talat Sao and Lao coffee make light, lovely gifts to bring home to Mongolia.
AI answer: double-check anything beyond our researched facts with an official source.
A monument recalling the Arc de Triomphe, decorated with Lao temple motifs. Climb 167 steps for a view down Lane Xang Avenue over the whole city. The fountain park below is a nice evening stroll with children.
Built in 1818 and the only temple to survive the 1828 Siamese sack, making it Vientiane's oldest. The cloister walls hold more than 6,800 small silver and clay Buddhas in tiny niches — a remarkable sight.
The former royal temple that once housed the Emerald Buddha (now in Bangkok) — today a small museum of Buddhist art: bronze Buddhas, ancient stone stelae, carved doors. Right across from Wat Si Saket.
The exhibition and documentaries of the organisation that makes prosthetic limbs for victims of wartime unexploded ordnance. Laos is the most heavily bombed country per person in the world — moving and clear, about 1 hour. Café and shop proceeds go to the victims.
Culture15,000₭ + camera 5,000₭ (some recent sources say 60,000₭)8:00–16:00 (last entry 15:30)
On the Mekong 25 km from town, over 200 concrete statues made from 1958 by a mystic monk: a 40 m reclining Buddha, Hindu gods and a three-level 'hell-to-heaven' pumpkin you enter through the mouth and climb to the top. Children love it; take bus 14 or a tuk-tuk.
Mekong riverside night market and sunset★ 4.1 (6,000)
ShoppingFree~17:00–22:00 daily
A market of red tents by Chao Anouvong Park: clothes, crafts, cheap souvenirs. Watch the sun set over the Thai bank from the embankment; every evening there's public aerobics, a playground and stalls grilling fish and meat.
ShoppingFree~8:00–16:00 (old market); the adjoining mall until 21:00
Called the 'morning' market but open all day: silk fabric, Lao sinh skirts, gold and silver, electronics. Next to it are the new Talat Sao Mall and the central bus station.
Home of the city pillar (lak muang) and the temple locals visit most — they come for blessings on new cars, children and exams. You can watch the white-string wrist-tying blessing ceremony.
Opened in 2020 in a new four-storey building in Xaythany district (~6 km from the centre, near the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum): stone tools, a Plain of Jars urn, bronzes and over 850 ethnographic exhibits, plus revolutionary history. The old central building is closed.
A large memorial museum to the first leader of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party: socialist-realist statues and halls of revolutionary history. For political-history fans; combine it with the National Museum in one trip.
NatureFree; boats and meals extraDaytime; ~90 km from the city, 1.5–2 hours by car
A large lake created by a dam and dotted with green islands: take a longboat between the islands, eat fresh fish at a floating restaurant and stop at fishing villages. A calm day away from the city's heat and noise — good for families.
