Spilling across a stony river, and surrounded fertile rice paddies and sudden karst mountains, Vang Vieng has a reputation as a place for adventures and a landscape of dreams.
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Once a mere post town between Vientiane and Luang Prabang, and then a backpacker haven when Laos opened to tourism in the 1990s, Vang Vieng has a humble if somewhat wayward past.
These days, Vang Vieng’s hedonistic heritage of the ‘90s and ‘00s has all but gone. Instead, focus has moved to take advantage of the beautiful natural surroundings and its culture.
However, an edge of adventure and excitement still exists here.
Rock climbing in the stunning karst mountains, hikes through dramatic scenery, caving and even paramotoring (motorised paragliding) high above the town are all popular pursuits.
Kayaks slip by on the fast-moving Nam Song River, while hot air balloons reflect on its surface as they dip somewhat perilously low to the ground.
We travelled through Laos with InsideAsia Tours — a global tour operator that creates fully tailored cultural adventures around Asia and that creates superb itineraries around Asia and sorts out all the tricky on-the-ground bits and pieces to make your trip as enjoyable and interesting as possible.
Part of the Inside Travel Group and sister brand to InsideJapan Tours, InsideAsia Tours runs cultural adventure itineraries in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea as well as Laos. Focus is on delving beneath the surface to explore parts of a destination that most visitors don’t get to experience.
You can book our itinerary — Laos by Rail — here, which includes riding Laos’ high-speed train line that’s changed the landscape of travel in this beautiful country. You can see our review of the Laos bullet train here.
Find a run-down of our full itinerary here and also the other destinations we visited in more detail in these articles.
Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng has changed a lot in the last decade or so. Friends I’ve spoken to who visited before the 2012 government crackdown talk of a place more like a permanent Full Moon Party on a Thai beach than the quiet country village it is now.
The mix of tourists has turned more towards affluent visitors looking for comfort and culture than thrills and parties. There are still plenty of young backpackers coming here, but there’s not a glowstick or whistle to be seen.
Although the streets here aren’t as well maintained as places like Vientiane or Luang Prabang, it’s fairly clean and feels safe.
Where to Stay in Vang Vieng
There are a surprising number of places to stay in such a small town. And there’s quite the range too.
Thanks to Vang Vieng’s backpacker era, there are still lots of budget options here — from homestay to hostels.
On top of that, there are lots of hotels too.
Our hotel, the Riverside Boutique Resort, is a beautifully laid out French colonial style resort right on the banks of the river as the name suggests.
The pool is surrounded by palm trees and lush gardens, and the dark timber buildings blend with the feeling of a closeness to nature.
Rooms are split into different cultural groups of Laos. Our Deluxe Room is in the Hmong building, and features traditional colours, textiles and art inspired by the Hmong, who make up Laos’ third largest ethnic group.
Things to Do in Vang Vieng
Our hot air balloon ride with Above Laos Ballooning is superb. Unlike many of the other companies here, Above Loas takes safety very seriously and doesn’t do things like low swoops over the river or dip to rooftop level of hotels.
They also offer a range of sizes, from medium-sized eight-passenger baskets to romantic two-passenger balloons, and are the only Laos-French owned, operated and regulated by the Civil Aviation ballooning company.
It’s a wonderful serene way to experience the mountains and paddy fields of this beautiful area.
The half-day trek into the Vang Vieng countryside is so memorable. From our hotel, we go with our local guide Toh to his village Ban Viengsamai in the back of a Laos tuktuk.
In Ban Viengsamai, we meet a blacksmith and learn how he makes knives and rice sickles for the village. Toh also shows us some traditional animal traps that are still in use today. He also shows us the local Kmhmu school.
We hike into the rice fields and learn about the Kmhmu way of life. It’s fascinating to hear about such a different culture, down to details like why every house has an odd number of steps going up (it’s bad luck to have an even number).
We finally arrive back at the village, where we meet two Kmhmu women who have made lunch for us. It’s a delicious mix of crispy pork, fish steamed in banana leaves, foraged greens, omelette and a kind of pâté made with rattan palm heart. And sticky rice of course.
Finally, we’re given a rare treat: we see how the ‘Lao hai’ local rice wine is made and then we taste some. This is only usually found at important festivals and weddings and is similar to Japanese sake.
There are lots of other things to do in Vang Vieng if you have time.
Hiring your own kayak and whooshing down the Nam Song River is one option, though the river is shallow in places and the noisy long-tail motorboat tours (run by a foreign-owned company by the way) impact the experience a bit.
Rock climbing around the towering karst mountains, longer hikes into the countryside and paramotoring. There’s also a huge cave down the river that has a shrine to Buddha inside.
There are also temples and markets to visit in town, and strolling its sometimes precarious streets are all worthy of your time.
Where to Eat and Drink in Vang Vieng
Like everywhere in Laos, there are plenty of places to find a feed. Perhaps because the town was such a busy backpacker thoroughfare once, you’ll find more Western style food here than other places.
It doesn’t make it bad, but it means you have to look a bit harder to find authentic Lao food.
We recommend a little Lao restaurant called Véla. Its laab is great but they also make an incredible noodle soup called ‘aw lam’, which has pork and minced eggplant that we didn’t find anywhere else.
Otherwise, find the lady in the market making kanom krok — wonderful little dome-shaped coconut and condensed milk dumpling pancakes. We first found these tasty treats in Bangkok and now hunt them down whenever we’re in Southeast Asia.
As for where to drink in Vang Vieng, there are lots of bars throughout the town, but the ones along the river have the best views and are usually more chilled out.
We really enjoyed a couple of beers at Phubarn Restaurant right next to the rickety pedestrian bridge. The sun sets between the mountains and shines off the river.
And though I wouldn’t want to be in the basket with them, the reckless balloon pilots flying low over the river create quite the spectacle.
