Laos
Vientiane
A capital that never quite grew into a big city - gilded stupas, French shophouses and a Mekong sunset, all within a walk.
The most unhurried capital in Southeast Asia, Vientiane spreads low and flat along a bend of the Mekong with the Thai bank in plain sight across the water. Pha That Luang, the gilded stupa on the national seal, is the one unmissable sight; the rest is a small city of shuttered French shophouses, working temples and a riverfront promenade that fills each evening with joggers, aerobics classes and food stalls. Most people plan a night here and end up glad of two.
Suggested stay
2–3 days
Language
Lao
Currency
LAK
Timezone
UTC+7
Why you'll love Vientiane
The stupa Pha That Luang's golden spire is the emblem on the national seal, and it still works as the country's holiest site rather than as a monument.
The riverfront At dusk the Mekong promenade becomes the city's living room - stalls, music, mass aerobics, and the sun dropping behind Thailand.
Food Baguettes and pate left by the French, laap and papaya salad from the Lao, and coffee grown up on the Bolaven Plateau.
The pace A capital you can cross by bicycle in half an hour, where the traffic thins by mid-evening and nobody hurries you.
Best time to visit
Oct-Mar
29-33° days
17.964° N, 102.613° E
UTC+7 · Asia/Vientiane
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Weather & when to go to Vientiane
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Oct-Mar
Watch for Feb-Apr haze risk · Jun-Sep monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Vientiane
June to September is the wet season - sticky heat, heavy afternoon downpours and a Mekong running high and brown. April and May are the hardest months to be outdoors, when pre-monsoon heat peaks and the late dry season can leave smoke haze from farm burning hanging over the valley.
Top things to do in Vientiane
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Pha That Luang - the golden stupa
history culture arts 👍 PopularA gold-covered stupa raised by King Setthathirath in the 1560s over a much older shrine, said to hold a relic of the Buddha and treated as the symbol of Laos itself. Sacked by Siamese armies and rebuilt by the French, it sits behind a cloistered wall with the king's statue facing it across the lawn.
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Patuxai - the victory monument on Lane Xang Avenue
history scenic 👍 PopularVientiane's answer to the Arc de Triomphe, built through the 1960s with cement widely said to have been donated for an airport runway, which earned it the nickname the vertical runway. Lao motifs and kinnari figures cover the underside, and a stairway past souvenir stalls climbs to a rooftop view down the boulevard.
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Wat Si Saket - cloisters of ten thousand Buddhas
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedThe oldest temple still standing in the city, built in 1818 by King Anouvong in Bangkok style - which is probably why the Siamese spared it when they levelled everything else ten years later. Thousands of small Buddha images sit in niches along the cloister walls, above rows of larger, battered bronzes.
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Haw Phra Kaew - the Emerald Buddha's old home
history culture artsThe former royal temple built to house the Emerald Buddha, which Siamese forces carried off to Bangkok in 1779 and never gave back. Now a museum of Lao religious art, with standing Buddhas along the terrace and a quiet garden that makes it the easiest pairing with Wat Si Saket opposite.
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COPE Visitor Centre - living with unexploded bombs
history culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedA small, unflinching exhibition at the national rehabilitation centre on the cluster munitions dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war and the people still losing limbs to them. Prosthetics, scrap-metal sculpture and survivor films, run by the organisation that fits the artificial legs. The most affecting hour in the city.
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Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan) - concrete deities by the river
culture arts off beaten path 👍 PopularA riverside meadow crowded with concrete Buddhist and Hindu figures cast from the late 1950s by a mystic priest-shaman, Bunleua Sulilat. A reclining Buddha runs the length of the field, and a giant pumpkin-shaped dome takes you by ladder through hell, earth and heaven to a roof over the lot.
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Wat Si Muang - the city pillar temple
culture arts historyThe busiest working temple in Vientiane, built around the stone city pillar and tied to a legend of a pregnant woman who leapt into its foundation hole. People come to have their fortunes read, to release birds, and to be blessed with cotton string around the wrist - it is a place of use, not display.
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Chao Anouvong Park and the Mekong promenade
scenic shoppingThe rebel king stands cast in bronze facing Thailand, arm raised, above the levee the city walks every evening. Behind him the night market unrolls in rows of red-roofed stalls, and the food carts and open-air aerobics classes carry on until the river goes dark.
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Talat Sao - the morning market
shopping foodThe city's main market, half old sheds and half air-conditioned mall, selling gold, Lao silk and hill-tribe textiles, phone parts and household everything. Go for the fabric halls and the tailors rather than the electronics, and eat at the noodle stalls around the edge.
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That Dam - the black stupa
history off beaten pathA weathered brick stupa marooned on a roundabout between the embassies, stripped of its gold in the 1828 sack and left alone since. Local lore has a seven-headed naga sleeping inside, which is said to have failed the city once and been trusted with it ever since.
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Wat Sok Pa Luang - herbal sauna and forest temple
wellness culture artsA shaded forest temple in the southern suburbs where nuns run a wood-fired herbal steam sauna and traditional massage, with sweet tea between rounds. Meditation sessions run for visitors too. It is the classic Vientiane wind-down and nothing like a spa.
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Lao food - laap, khao piak sen and khao jee pate
foodEat the capital's mix while you are here: laap minced with herbs and toasted rice, tam mak hoong papaya salad pounded fierce, ping kai grilled over coals, and khao piak sen noodle soup for breakfast. Baguette sandwiches at street carts are the French leftover, and Beerlao is the national default.
Best areas to stay in Vientiane
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Chanthabouly (Nam Phu and the old quarter)
First-time visitors $$Shophouse blocks around a fountain square
Explore hotels in Chanthabouly (Nam Phu and the old quarter) →
Mekong riverfront (Fa Ngum Road)
River views $$Levee-side hotels facing the river
Explore hotels in Mekong riverfront (Fa Ngum Road) →
Xaysettha (That Luang and the embassies)
Business stays $$$Wide boulevards, ministries and monuments
Explore hotels in Xaysettha (That Luang and the embassies) →
Sisattanak
Long stays $$Leafy southern suburb along the river
Explore hotels in Sisattanak →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Vientiane
Getting to & around Vientiane
Getting there
Fly into Wattay (VTE) on the edge of town, cross the Friendship Bridge from Nong Khai in Thailand, or take the fast train down from Luang Prabang.
Flight
Wattay International Airport (VTE)
About 4 km northwest of the centre and roughly 15 minutes by road; the terminal taxi desk sells fixed rides by zone, and tuk-tuks wait just beyond the car park.
Train
Vientiane Capital railway station
The Laos-China line runs to Vang Vieng in about an hour and Luang Prabang in about two, but the station is well north of the city and needs a shuttle.
Coach
Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge
The overland route from Thailand: a shuttle bus crosses the bridge from Nong Khai, with immigration on both banks and onward transport into the city.
Coach
Northern and Southern bus stations
Sleeper buses and minivans arrive from Luang Prabang and the north, from Savannakhet and Pakse in the south, and from Vietnam over the mountain passes.
Getting around
On foot
The centre is flat and compact, and the riverfront, Nam Phu and Talat Sao are all a short walk apart.
Free
Tuk-tuk
The default for anything further out. Agree the fare before you get in; the ones parked outside hotels quote higher.
TBC
Ride-hailing app
Loca and similar apps cover the city with metered cars and take the haggling out of getting to That Luang or the railway station.
TBC
Bicycle
Guesthouses and shops rent bikes, and the flat riverside roads make this the pleasant way to see the monuments.
TBC
City bus
Routes fan out from the central station beside Talat Sao. Useful for Buddha Park and the bridge, slow for everything else.
TBC
Day trips from Vientiane
Buddha Park (Xieng Khuan)
Half dayConcrete sculpture garden
A field of weathered concrete Buddhas, nagas and Hindu gods cast by a self-taught mystic, on the riverbank near the Friendship Bridge. Climb through the pumpkin-shaped dome for the view over the reclining Buddha, and pair it with a look at the bridge itself.
Getting there
bus | car | tour
About 45 min by bus or car, 25 km southeast
Vang Vieng
1-2 daysKarst river town
Limestone towers over a green river, with caves, lagoons, kayaking and hot-air balloons at dawn. The railway put it within reach of a long day, but it is a much better overnight than a dash there and back.
Getting there
train | bus | car
About 1 hr by fast train, or 3-4 hr by road north
Nam Ngum Reservoir
Full dayIsland-dotted lake
A vast dammed lake north of the city, its drowned hilltops left as wooded islands. Longtail boats run out to floating restaurants and island beaches, and the drive up passes salt villages and rice country.
Getting there
car | tour | ferry
About 2 hr by road north, then a boat
Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area
Full dayWaterfalls and forest
The nearest wild country to the capital: sandstone plateau, pine and dipterocarp forest, and the Tad Leuk and Tad Xay waterfalls. Wild elephants still move through, and villages on the edge run guided walks and simple homestays. Waterfalls run hardest after the rains.
Getting there
car | tour
About 2 hr by road northeast
Nong Khai, Thailand
Full dayCross-border river town
Over the Friendship Bridge to a relaxed Thai riverside town with the Sala Kaeo Ku sculpture park, built by the same mystic behind Buddha Park, plus the Tha Sadet market. Sort out how you will re-enter Laos before you go - you need a fresh entry on the way back.
Getting there
bus | car | train
About 30 min by road to the bridge, then on into town
A little history of Vientiane
Vientiane became a capital in 1560, when King Setthathirath moved the seat of Lan Xang downriver from Luang Prabang and built Pha That Luang and Haw Phra Kaew to hold the kingdom's most sacred images. It did not stay safe for long. Siamese armies took the city in 1779 and carried the Emerald Buddha off to Bangkok, and in 1828, after King Anouvong's revolt failed, they levelled what was left and marched the population across the river. Wat Si Saket, built in Bangkok style ten years earlier, was about all that came through intact.
Scrub had the ruins until the French arrived in the 1890s and made Vientiane the administrative capital of their Lao protectorate, laying out the avenues and shuttered villas that still set the tone downtown. Independence in 1953 was followed by two decades as a cold-war town thick with aid money and intrigue, until the Pathet Lao took the city in 1975. It stayed poor and shut-in for years afterwards, and the opening-up since - the bridge, then the railway - has come faster than the city itself has changed.
King Setthathirath moves the Lan Xang capital here from Luang Prabang.
Pha That Luang is raised over an older shrine and becomes the kingdom's central stupa.
Siamese forces take the city and carry the Emerald Buddha to Bangkok.
King Anouvong's revolt fails; Siam sacks Vientiane and deports its people.
The French make Vientiane the administrative capital of Laos.
Laos gains full independence, with Vientiane as capital of the kingdom.
The Pathet Lao take the city and the Lao PDR is proclaimed.
The first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge opens to Nong Khai.
The Laos-China railway opens, putting Luang Prabang about two hours away.
Know before you go
Payment
Cash preferred
English
Limited
Wifi
Workable
Power
Type A / B / C
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+856
Haze risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Monsoon flooding risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
Mobile network & SIM card
Get an eSIM before you fly
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FAQs about Vientiane
▸ When is the best time to visit Vientiane?
October to March is the dry stretch and much the easiest time to be here, coolest and clearest around December and January. April and May bring the pre-monsoon heat, and June to September is the wet season, with heavy afternoon rain.
▸ How many days do you need in Vientiane?
Two days is the usual answer: one for the temples, Patuxai and COPE, and one for Buddha Park and the riverfront. A third makes sense if you want a herbal sauna, the markets and time to sit still.
▸ Is Vientiane worth visiting?
It is not Luang Prabang and does not try to be. Come for a couple of unhurried days of temples, monuments, good eating and river evenings, and treat it as the country's crossroads rather than its showpiece.
▸ How do you get from Vientiane to Luang Prabang?
The Laos-China railway is the obvious choice at about two hours, though the station sits well outside town at each end. Flights take under an hour, and buses wind over the mountains most of a day or overnight.
▸ How do you cross to Thailand from Vientiane?
By the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, about 20 km southeast, where a shuttle bus carries you between the two immigration posts. Nong Khai's station links onward into the Thai rail network, and Udon Thani airport is a common budget gateway.
▸ Is Vientiane expensive?
It is the priciest city in Laos, since it has the business hotels and the imported food, but it is still cheap against Bangkok or Hanoi. Local noodle shops, markets and guesthouses cost a fraction of the riverfront restaurants.