Chiang Rai to Huay Xai (Laos)

By bus or minivan the journey from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai in Laos takes 2 hours to 3 hours 30 minutes depending upon which service you take.

Bus Times from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai

There are currently 6 services a day from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai

Use the Search Box below to buy your bus tickets from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai.

Chiang Rai Bus Stop

All services from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai listed above commence with a pick up from any hotel in Chiang Rai City.

Huay Xai Bus Stop

All services from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai listed above include a transfer to any hotel in Huay Xai Town.

About Travel to Huay Xai Town

Huay Xai is a border town located on the banks of the Mekong River which is the starting point for the popular ‘slow boat’ service to Luang Prabang. If you take an early bus from Chiang Rai it is possible to board one of these boat services the same day as you arrive in Huay Xai.

Huay Xai Town

Huay Xai is the main town in the sparsely populated Borkeo Province in Northern Laos. By Western standards, Huay Xai is a small town with limited amenities. However, in comparison to the rest of this remote part of South East Asia, Huay Xai has great facilities.

Among these facilities are a dozen or so guesthouses clustered along the north-south riverside road, and several restaurants and bakeries with English language menus and a small range of ‘International dishes’ which are relatively expensive. The town doesn’t really have any bars although you can drink alcohol at most of the restaurants.

The riverside views are excellent, and the town has an attractive temple by the river, other than that there isn’t much in the town to go and see or do. Other than people who come to Huay Xai to help as a volunteer (it’s one of the poorer parts of Laos and plenty of people volunteer) most leisure visitors will only be passing through either on the way or from Thailand, or at the start of an adventure experience in the Nam Kan National Park.

Travel to Luang Prabang

There are two ways you can travel Huay Xai Town to Luang Prabang: by boat or by bus.

• The journey by bus from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang takes from 11 to 15 hours.
• The journey by boat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang takes 2 days, with a 1 night spent in the village of Pak Beng along the way. There are a variety of different types of boats which operate on this route, with the more luxurious tour boats costing up to 8 times as much as the most basic services. There are even some boat services from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang which are available to book online.

Nam Kan National Park

The Nam Kan National Park is a protected area of forest covering around 1,360 square kilometres. The terrain in the park is hilly and the forest is dense. It’s not really accessible without a guide and private transport to get you into the park. A permit is also required.

Several companies with offices in Huay Xai Town run multi-day tours in the Nam Kan National Park. The best known of these companies is the Gibbon Experience which has installed lots of tree top zip lines and tree houses where their customers stay overnight with cooked food delivered via zip lines.

The park is about 50 km by road to the east of Huay Xai.