Laos forum

Hi Ross,

There's no regular passenger traffic on the Mekong south of Luang Prabang until you reach Champasak - from where boats can be had for the run down to Si Phan Don. I've heard of people hiring speedboats for the trip from Vientiane to Savannakhet, but that was a few years back now, and from memory they were a part of an organised trip.

From Cambodian border onwards, again there is no regular passenger traffic until Phnom Penh, though in Cambodia you may have a better chance of organising some kind of charter, or spot on a freighter.

As Tilapia says, as Vang Vieng is not on the Mekong, you'll be hard-pressed to reach it! ;-)

Somsai, that sounds really cool. Might look into that in December.

Cheers

I never did try this as I ended up in a different part of Laos. However, I did cycle along the Mekong between Nong Khai and Chiang Khan, and saw where there were many areas of the river, especially between Sangkhom and Chiang Khan, that no boat could possibly navigate except, perhaps, a canoe/dugout or kayak.

In some areas it would have been entirely possible to walk or wade across the river into Laos. I'm sure it's different during the wetter times of the year, but for the most part the water levels were too low. That particular stretch is fairly long and nowhere during the entire time did I see any type of boat apart from the odd dugout. No cargo ships, no transport boats, no speed boats.

However, around Chiang Khan and west of the town the water was deep enough for cargo ships and barges (I saw both heading east from upriver) so it's likely possible to get at least as far as Sanakham, which is the town across the from Nong Khai. From there you would likely have to go by land to somewhere around Vientiane.

It probably depends very much on what time of the year you are going.

There are several rapids that are difficult for boats to negotiate both north and south of Mukdahan / Savanakhet. Reinforcing what others here have said, there's no regular boat traffic in this area going along the river (vice crossing it) that I know of.