There are three ways to get from Bangkok to Vang Vieng:
- Option 1: Take a bus direct from Bangkok to Vang Vieng.
- Option 2: Take a train to Nong Khai and then a minivan to Vang Vieng.
- Option 3: Fly to Vientiane and then take a bus to Vang Vieng.
Bus Times from Bangkok to Vang Vieng
There is a single direct bus service a day from Bangkok to Vang Vieng which you can book online.
Bangkok | Vang Vieng | Ticket | Company |
16:00 | 14:00 | 1,300 THB | Tara Tour and Travel |
- Check in 30 minutes before departure.
- Passengers alight from the bus at Nong Khai and take a tuk-tuk (included in the ticket price) to the border. Wait outside the Laos immigration office for a minibus for the onward journey to Vang Vieng.
Buy Tickets from Bangkok to Vang Vieng
Use the Search Box below to buy tickets from Bangkok to Vang Vieng:
After booking print out the electronic booking voucher to present at the bus counter before you depart from Bangkok.
Bangkok Bus Stop
Bus services to Vang Vieng depart from outside the Khaosan Tara Travel Office on the Samsen Road in Bangkok, which is 700 metres walking distance from the Khao San Road.
Vang Vieng Bus Stop
Bus services from Bangkok to Vang Vieng terminate at Vang Vieng Bus Terminal.
About Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng has a reputation for being a party town, with tubing down the Nam Song River and young people getting drunk at the many local bars being the main things that go on in this town. Vang Vieng is still a bit like this, people still go floating down the river in big rubber tube sand go to bars all night, however, Vang Vieng has calmed down a bit since the last decade with the government imposing restrictions on the number of riverside bars and some of the more dangerous tubing activities. Vang Vieng has matured into somewhere more focused on a variety of different adventure sports: mountain biking, trekking, rock climbing, and caving. The surrounding Karst mountains form a picturesque backdrop to the town of Vang Vieng and offer fantastic opportunities for adventure sports. Whilst Luang Prabang is the cultural capital of Laos, Vang Vieng is the fun capital of Laos and the fun now extends beyond floating in tubes and getting drunk.

If you travel direct from Vientiane to Luang Prabang its a 13 hour bus journey. Vang Vieng is an excellent place for a stop over on route from Vientiane to Luang Prabang which is an 8 hour journey; its a 4 hour journey by bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. For travel to Don Det in the 4,000 islands area, you first need to travel from Vieng Vieng to Pakse. The journey by bus from Vang Vieng to Pakse takes 16 hours 30 minutes. From Pakse it is a further journey of around 2 hours 25 minutes by minivan to reach Don Det, the most popular of the islands in the Si Phan Don area.