Budget for a trip to Laos

I had the opportunity to spend a year in Southeast Asia, including a whole month in Laos, a small country I truly loved for many reasons: its authenticity, the kindness of the Lao people and its stunning landscapes. In the end, Laos is one of those Asian countries that remains far less visited than Cambodia, known for the temples of Angkor, Vietnam, with Halong Bay, or Myanmar, famous for its pagodas and the stupas of Bagan. Laos is still a little off the beaten track, and many travellers tend to choose Vietnam or Cambodia instead. This article follows the same idea as the ones dedicated to the budget for a trip to French Polynesia or New Zealand. Here, I’ll give you everything you need to estimate your travel expenses in Laos. It is always useful to have an idea of the cost of living in a country before planning your next trip there. If you are already convinced that your budget on site won’t be a problem, you might also want to know when to go to Laos, right?

Other articles about this country will follow, especially one about visiting Laos. After spending quite a bit of time there, I can definitely tell you what to see in Laos without too much trouble!

Let’s be clear right from the start: whether you are going to Laos for a month or just a week, your budget should not be too high. Laos is one of those Southeast Asian countries that are generally very easy to visit and, like many of its neighbours, it remains very affordable compared with our European standard of living. You can travel to Laos cheaply without any problem.

This article will be especially useful for those who want to visit Laos independently. That said, there are also many travel agencies offering tours throughout the country for travellers who prefer that type of trip.

As very often, I break down the travel budget in Laos into 5 main expense categories.

1 – Getting to Laos: the plane ticket

2 – Transportation in Laos

3 – Accommodation in Laos

4 – Food in Laos

5 – Activities and leisure

As usual, we’ll also need to add souvenirs, bank fees when withdrawing money, and so on. Well, you know how it goes if you’re used to travelling!

Oddly enough, getting to Laos is relatively more expensive than getting to Thailand. Of course, Thailand is much more popular with tourists than Laos. It is also funny to note that Laos is one of those countries where one city, Luang Prabang, is better known than the capital, Vientiane. Finding a flight to Luang Prabang is therefore often cheaper if you want to go to Laos on holiday.

To estimate your travel budget for Laos, I’d say you have two options for international flights:

• Either you don’t want to complicate things and you manage to find a cheap flight to Laos, most likely to the city of Luang Prabang,
• Or you don’t mind using another means of transport, such as a plane, bus or train. In that case, the best option for visiting Laos is often to look for a cheaper flight from where you live to Bangkok, then leave Thailand and continue on to Laos. This second option is usually a little cheaper overall, even if it does require a bit more travel time.

The figures below will give you a good idea of the prices you can expect when looking for a cheap trip to Laos.

This brings me to the second point mentioned above. Economically speaking, it can make a lot of sense to focus on a flight to Bangkok, then find another way to cross the border. If you search carefully, you can fly from the main cities of Europe or the US from around $400/500, and sometimes even less.

Then you simply need to take a flight from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, which costs around €50 to €70. If you are travelling on a tight budget, you can also take a bus from Bangkok to Nong Khai, a border crossing with Laos, for about 500 THB, or a little over €10. This site works very well for comparing prices between different means of transport in Southeast Asia.

For me, you won’t find a cheaper way to get there from France. However, don’t hesitate to check my cheap flights page, which is updated every month, to see if I’ve found a cheap flight to Laos!

To estimate your budget during your holiday in Laos, transportation will obviously need to be taken into account. I’ll give you price ideas either per day or per person.

From what I saw, very few travellers choose to fly within Laos. It is possible, of course, but it remains much more expensive than other means of transport, even though those are usually longer.

Two domestic flights are, in my opinion, interesting for travellers who really want to save time during their trip to Laos:

• Houeixay – Luang Prabang (or Vientiane),
• Vientiane – Paksé.

Prices vary, but overall, you can expect to pay around €40 one way for these two flights. The Paksé – Vientiane route can be interesting, as it saves you from spending a whole night on a bus, even if sleeping on a sleeper bus can be quite an experience. Lao Airlines operates these flights.

This is the real local means of transport, and if you come from Thailand, you may smile when you see the condition of Lao buses compared with Thai ones. In general, it feels like stepping 50 years back in time!

More seriously, bus travel in Laos can be a little tiring because of the long journeys, but overall, it is very easy to manage and by far the cheapest way to get around Laos.

Here are a few price examples from trips I personally took. As a reminder, 1 € = about 10,000 kip.

• Savanhaket (Thai border) – Pakse: 40,000 kip, 5h
• Pakse -> Ban Nakassang: 50,000 kip, 2h30
• 4000 Islands package by boat, then bus to Pakse – Vientiane (night bus): 180,000 kip, 1 night bus (900 km)

On a side note, one of the most beautiful journeys I made during my trip around Laos was the road from the small town of Muang Ngoy, in northern Laos, to the city of Dien Bien Phu. The road winds through beautiful rice paddy landscapes, often wrapped in impressive mist. I have such good memories of it – a truly memorable journey!

By train

Apart from a small section of line outside Vientiane, Laos does not have a developed rail network. However, there are plans to connect the country with neighbouring countries.

By tuk-tuk

As in Thailand and many other neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia, you will almost always have to negotiate the price of a tuk-tuk ride. That’s just how it works, and it is part of the local game.

Here are a few price examples from rides I took:

• Luang Prabang -> Kuang Si waterfall: 1h, 30,000 kip,
• Nong Khiaw -> Ban Nayang: 30 km, 50,000 kip.

By bike: the rental price per day varies from 15,000 to 20,000 kip/day.

• Tour of Don Khon Island (4000 Islands): 20,000 kip/day

By motorbike: prices vary and are especially negotiable when you rent one for several days.

• Rental for the Bolovens Plateau, 4 days: 50,000 kip/day
• Price of a litre of petrol: 10,000/11,000 kip.

By boat: Again, prices vary depending on the journey and the boats. A few examples:

• Ban Nakassang -> South of Don Det (4000 Islands): 20 minutes, 20,000 kip
• Boat trip between Luang Prabang -> Pakbeng: 165 km (up the Mekong River), 130,000 kip
• Nong Khiaw -> Muang Ngoi: 20 km, 25,000 kip
• Muang Ngoi -> Muong Khua (not far from the Vietnam border, for the crossing via Dien Bien Phu): 5h, 100,000 kip

There you go, I hope these few transport price examples will help you get a better idea of your travel budget in Laos.

Like transportation in Laos, accommodation is generally not very expensive. Of course, you could tell me it all depends on your usual idea of comfort… and you’d be right.

To give you an idea, I spent an average of 52,000 kip/day on accommodation, or about €4, during the month I spent in Laos. For this price, you get a double room in a guesthouse, and that is the price for the room. In other words, only around €2.50 per day per person, which is not a huge budget, is it?

For those prices, we generally had a clean double room in a guesthouse, with a fan and toilet. That was the most important thing for us.

Overall, prices start at around 40,000 kip (€4) per night and go up to 80,000 kip (€8) in the more touristy cities and areas.

Those looking for “nice rooms” with a more European standard will need to pay more than 100,000 kip. But between us, there is no real point paying that much when you can find decent rooms for far less.

Another element to consider in your budget will be food expenses. Once again, just like transportation and accommodation, eating in Laos is really not expensive.

Some people find that Lao food is similar to Thai food. In a way, that’s true. But personally, I still think we eat better in Thailand. As very often, if you avoid the more expensive tourist restaurants and large restaurants, especially in big cities, you should get by for very little.

Note that sticky rice, or khao niao, and soups are among the specialities of Laos. Personally, I ate kilos of this sticky rice, cooked in the traditional Lao way.

Here are a few price examples for food:

• A bowl of white rice/sticky rice (the famous one): 5,000 kip,
• A packet of biscuits for breakfast: 3,500 to 5,000 kip,
• A Coke from a street stall: 5,000 kip (8,000 in a restaurant),
• A typical noodle/vegetable/rice meal in a local restaurant: 12,000 to 15,000 kip (€1 to €1.50),
• 1 L of water: 3,500 kip,
• 1 street soup: 10,000 kip,
• 1 Beerlao (local beer): about 10,000 kip (the price of a meal…).

A little tip for travelling around the country: in the bigger cities of Laos, you will often find night markets, which are a great way to travel cheaply. We often ate there for 10,000 kip (€1), with a large plate you could fill as much as you wanted.

As with the rest of my trip in Southeast Asia, I didn’t really opt for paid activities. To be honest, it’s not like New Zealand, where you often have to pay as soon as you want to do something…

Here are a few price examples for places I visited:

• Li Phi waterfalls in Luang Prabang: 20,000 kip. Take the time to spend a few days in this city, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site -> a very popular area with tourists all the same!
• A boat tour around the 4000 Islands to see dolphins: 100,000 to 150,000 kip for the boat, for 3/4 people,
• Entrance to the waterfalls on the Bolovens Plateau: 5,000 kip.

If you want to plan your activities in the country before you leave, I recommend this website to compare many activities in Laos.

In the end, there are not that many places where you actually have to pay. You can enjoy Laos simply for its beautiful landscapes, its gentle pace of life, riding through the countryside by motorbike, walking through villages or swimming in rivers. And honestly, that is just as enjoyable! Want to know what to do in Laos?

Travelling in Laos: sometimes, simply enjoying the landscapes and local life is enough.

When travelling around the world, we all sometimes try not to miss the must-see places in a country. In Laos, the main tourist areas include Vang Vieng, a village once known for its party scene, the Plain of Jars, an archaeological site, the Nam Ou River, famous in particular for kayaking or pirogue trips, the famous Golden Triangle, and the Pak Ou caves.

In any case, leisure activities in Laos should not weigh too heavily on your budget.

As a personal tip, I very often recommend discovering the country from north to south, especially the mountainous region in the north. During the dry season, you can easily rent a scooter or use local transport to reach the more remote and preserved areas of the country. During the rainy season, things can get more complicated! You won’t blow your budget on “leisure” as such, but you can still have amazing experiences, such as sleeping in a local home, discovering the lush vegetation of the north and meeting many ethnic minorities. You feel a little outside of time there and, clearly, I mainly recommend visiting the rural areas. A complete change of scenery guaranteed! Lazing around on the banks of a small river is also very nice, and it won’t cost you anything…

Now we get to the heart of the matter with my own experience during the month I spent there. Here, I’m going to share my travel budget in Laos, while clarifying a few points:

• Our month spent visiting Laos was part of a one-year trip around Southeast Asia. We were travelling on a very low budget (€15/day/person).
• For transportation and food in Laos, we mostly chose the cheapest options possible,
• We were travelling as a couple, which is often much cheaper than travelling alone, especially for accommodation,
• We did very few paid activities, apart from visiting a few temples and taking boats upriver, for example,
• We often negotiated tuk-tuk prices, and systematically negotiated accommodation prices when staying more than 2 or 3 days in the same place.

Here is the average amount we spent during these 28 days travelling in Laos, for 2 people:

Going to Laos does not require a very large budget and is almost identical to travelling in Thailand, within €1 or €2 in my experience.

Now let’s talk about what will probably interest you the most: your travel budget for Laos. So, how much should you plan?

The idea here is to give you a general estimate for your trip to Laos. In reality, it is impossible to give precise figures, as everything will depend on your travel style, your idea of comfort, where you stay, how you get around the country, and the activities you choose.

My advice is based on my own experience of spending a month in the country on a low budget, which came to €23 per day. We can almost use the same budget as for a trip to Thailand, except that getting to Laos may cost a little more.

For larger budgets, I’d tend to say around €30 to €40 per day.

All right, here’s an idea for 2 people:

• For budget travellers, based on our trip in Southeast Asia, let’s say that €700 for one month for 2 people should be enough for expenses there. If you choose the cheapest way to get to Laos from Europe, you can count around €400/person by travelling through Thailand. Adding everything together, that comes to about €1,500 for 2 people for one month in Laos, all included. We can say this is the most economical option, but it is easily doable.

• For larger budgets, around €30/day: if you choose to fly directly to Laos from France, for example Paris – Luang Prabang, and spend a little more once there, you can count on around €2,000 for the month.

• For those who want a little more breathing room, a budget of €2,500 for one month of travel in the country should be more than enough.

For shorter periods, even though I still wouldn’t recommend spending less than 2 weeks in Laos, and excluding flights, you can plan around €150 per week in budget mode, €250 for a little more comfort, and €300 if you want more flexibility. Between us, if you manage to spend €40 a day in Laos, you almost have to do it on purpose, given the cost of living there.

So, I hope this article on the travel budget in Laos will help you prepare your trip to the country. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any additional details about the budget. In any case, you will surely enjoy this off-the-beaten-track trip. If you are preparing a trip to Southeast Asia, the article on the travel budget in Thailand will also help you.

If you have already been to Laos, do these figures seem realistic to you? And what did you think of the country?

See you soon, and above all: have a great trip!