It is not difficult to get a ride from Chiang Rai to the border. You can get on one of many local buses departing from the bus terminal in the town center. Each bus ride will take you about 2 hours. As long as you have the proper documents and did not overstay your visa, it takes no time at all to get stamped out of Thailand at the border. Indochina tours Laos
Slow boat to Luang Prabang – source: anomadsdream.com
You will take a small motorized boat for an about 10-minute boat ride across the Mekong River to Laos at about 30 baht per person. You will be charged an additional fee of US$1, if going to the Lao immigration on a weekend or after 4pm. At this border after filling out the immigration forms and paying the visa fee (US$30 for most nationalities), you can get a visa on arrival.
Bus to Luang Prabang – source: 12go.asia
Besides the very highly rated Flight of the Gibbon eco-zipline experience, the Laos border town does not have much to offer, but you only join in this experience in nice weather. Besides the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, the overnight bus which leaves the bus park at about 5pm and takes you an around 15-hour ride to get to Luang Prabang, is also available. Laos’ roads are in rather bad condition and rough with over mountain passes. To all the twists and hairpin turns, it is almost impossible to drive faster than 50kph due, but somehow the drivers will manage to go as fast as possible. Travel to Laos
Slow boat down the Mekong River – source: aroundthisworld.com
From Chiang Mai, a lot of people head to Laos. Here, you can find a number of transit packages, but most of which seem to be overpriced. It is highly recommended to take one of the frequent buses which take around 3 hours to go from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai.
From Bus Terminal 1, the one downtown, the old bus terminal of Chiang Rai, you can see many frequent buses getting to the border at Chiang Khong. In fact, it is not difficult to find these buses, which leave every half hour from 6 a.m. until around 4 pm since bus terminal workers will automatically suppose that all foreign visitors are looking for this bus. You can buy tickets which cost 65 baht on the bus and do not need to buy tickets in advance. You should probably leave Chiang Rai at 1:00 or 1:30 if wanting to get to Luang Prabang the quickest and cheapest way.
Slow boat to Laos on the Mekong River Chiang Rai Chiang Mai Pai Chiang Khong Luang – source: nomadasaurus.com
It may take you around 1 hour to get through Lao immigration. In addition to showing one passport sized picture and filling out many forms, you have to have American dollars to pay for a visa. It takes Canadians $42, Americans $35 and most European nationalities $30 or $35.
There are a few choices to get to Luang Prabang from the Lao border. They also provide speedboats that take you a 6 hour ride to get to Luang Prabang, but they are quite expensive. Therefore, you can take a transfer to the bus station instead. You should get a hold of some sleeping pills to make your ride easier as it is hardly a luxury bus.
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