The Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge
The way to cross from Thailand to Laos is by the friendship bridge, built in 2013. This bridge over the Mekong river offers a relatively easy and affordable way to cross the border. The bridge is a connection between the town of Chong Khlong (Thailand) and Huay Xai (Laos). We will explain step by step how to get to this bridge to cross coming from the north of Thailand (Chiang Mai, Pai, Chiang Rai or surrounding cities).
From North Thailand
As the border is in the north of Thailand, you’ll need to stay somewhere in the area before getting to Laos. Some main cities in the north are Chiang Mai (beautiful historic temples and cute city centre), Pai (amazing nature and laid back backpackers vibe), or Chiang Rai (a more sleepy mixture of Chiang Mai and Pai). Chiang Rai is the most ideal as it is the closest to the border, and most other busses with will go through Chiang Rai anyway. So to make things easy we will assume you stay here.
How to get to Chiang Rai?
You can easily get to Chiang Rai from its surrounding cities by minivan or bus. Especially between Pai – Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai, there is a good bus structure and buses leave almost every hour. Tickets for a minivan between Pai – Chiang Mai cost about 150 Baht for a minivan and the trip takes about 3 hours with a short stop halfway. The road is very, very windy though, so take some medicine if you are easily car sick! Bus tickets between Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai are about 150 Baht too. The journey takes 4 hours and will be in a bigger and more comfortable bus.
Tip: Buses fill up easily, especially in peak season. So we highly recommend to book your ticket in advance online! We have discovered that 12goasia is one of the best and easiest websites to get your tickets online. Use our link and check it out yourself!
To Laos
The town in which you will arrive in Laos is Huay Xai. This is, compared to Chiang Rai, much smaller and quieter. But the atmosphere is very nice, there are some hostels and homestays, and several places to have a nice local dinner. In addition, this is the town from which two pretty cool experiences start and therefore a great place to start your Laos journey! These two main things that people visit Huay Xai for are the gibbon experience and the slow boat to Luang Prabang.
The Gibbon Experience
This is a multi-day zip lining activity through the jungle and an overnight stay in a massive tree house. Even though we did not embark on this adventure, as it is rather pricey, we heard great stories about it. If you have the budget and the time, definitely go for it! Prices start from €175 for 2 days 1 night and range up to €320, depending on your package
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The Slow Boat
The slow boat is, besides a relatively cheap mode of transport, an incredible experience to get to the bigger city Luang Prabang. In 2 days and 1 overnight stay in Pakbeng, you will drive down the Mekong river and see the amazing scenery that Laos has to offer. We did this and wrote all about our experience and tips here: …
How to Cross the Thailand - Laos Border Independently
So, how to get from north Thailand to Huay Xai to start your Laos trip in an affordable way? Before undertaking this journey we did a lot of research online to prepare ourselves. There are some blogs on this out there, but we noticed that many are outdated as prices and bus times have changed. We hope to provide you with an up to date review of how to cross the Thailand-Laos border in 2023.
Steps to Take
Alright. The journey starts in Chiang Rai, Thailand. As we mentioned before, you can easily and inexpensively go to Chiang Rai by taking a bus from neighbouring areas. From here there are several steps to take, we have broken them down for you.
- Get to Chiang Rai bus terminal 1 (old bus terminal)
- Take the local bus to Chong Khlong (70 Baht)
- Take a tuktuk from Chong Khlong to the friendship bridge (50 Baht)
- Check out of Thailand
- Take a bus across the friendship bridge (30 Baht)
- Get a visa on arrival in Laos and check into Laos
- Get a tuktuk into Huay Xai
Step 1: Get to Chiang Rai Bus Terminal 1
It would be easiest to stay in a hostel or hotel that is within walking distance of the bus terminal. We stayed in Tanya house and were very content with what we got, it was also only an 8 minute walk to the bus station.
Note: Chiang Rai has 2 bus stations, one in the middle of the old town and one newer one down south. To get to Laos, you should go to the old bus terminal in the city center (bus terminal one)
If You're Catching the Slow Boat
As we mentioned, many other blogs online provide outdated information. It used to be possible to take an early bus from Chiang Rai and get on the slow boat from Huay Xai on same day. However, the slow boat times have been changed and it now leaves around 9am, instead of the original 11:30am. So it is not possible to leave Chiang Rai and jump on the slow boat in one day by yourself! However it is still possible to do this via a tour operator.
They will pick you up in Chiang Rai around 5am (if not earlier) so you can catch the boat on time. This option is more expensive, around 1,700 baht just for the travel, and takes away the thrill of the adventure. So moral of the story, if you are planning on taking the slow boat and getting to Huay Xai by yourself, you’ll need to stay in Huay Xai the night before. This was just a side note, back to how to get to Laos in the first place.
Step 2: Take the Local Bus to Chong Khlong
At the old bus terminal, there are many different buses to choose from. Find a bus sign that has Chong Khlong written on it and then double check with the driver. Chong Khlong is the Thai town right next to the friendship bridge and this is where you’ll need to go.
All the buses that will go here are the local public buses and look very basic. They have no aircon and the seats are quite narrow. A ticket should be 70 Baht. The bus driver will collect payment only after you have started driving for a while. Bags will be placed in the back of the bus, but in our case the bus was very empty so we could store our bags on the seats in front of us. Try to get a seat next to the window as this will help with the heat and it will enable you to enjoy the beautiful countryside.
The bus will stop every now and then (quite randomly) to pick up more people or even drop off some parcels. The whole drive to Chong Khlong should take about 2 hours. Something to note, don’t be flustered by everyone coming up to you to try and sell you a bus ticket. When we were walking to the bus terminal a bus to Chong Khlong pulled over and told us that their bus was the last to leave for the day. At this point we hadn’t had lunch yet and weren’t ready to sit on an un-airconditioned bus for 2 hours.
So we took a gamble and got a pleasant surprise to see around 5 different busses departing within the next few hours. So don’t worry, there’s heaps of buses leaving throughout the day. Try and aim to leave around lunch and you’ll definitely get one.
Step 3: Take a Tuktuk from Chong Khlong to the Friendship Bridge
The bus from Chiang Rai will drop you off kinda in the middle of nowhere. There is a small bus stop and from here you can take a tuktuk to the friendship bridge. When we arrived, there were two tuktuks waiting for travellers. The prices of these are set, there is a poster with the price of the tuktuk, which depends on how many people they take. If you are alone, it will be 60baht, but for 2 or more people it is 50 baht each. So we paid 100 Baht for 2 people and left straight away. The tuktuk will bring you to the Thailand immigration, on the Thai side of the friendship bridge.
Step 4: Check Out of Thailand
Checking out of Thailand will be easy and quick, at least it was for us. Within 5 minutes we were through and arrived in no man’s land.
Step 5: Take a Bus Across the Friendship Bridge
As you walk out of the Thailand immigration you’ll see a desk selling bus tickets. You cannot walk across the bridge so in order to cross, you’ll have to take the bus. When we arrived we heard the bus would leave in 20 minutes. We didn’t find any schedule, so the time of departure is a bit of luck. But we assume that the bus will go every 30 minutes or when it’s full, whatever comes first. We paid 20 Baht each for the ticket itself + an extra 10 Baht each for the backpack, coming to 30 Baht per person. This bus is big and comfy but it only takes about 10 minutes to cross to the other side.
Step 6: Get a VOA and Check into Laos
Once you get off the bus you’ll immediately see the Laos immigration. Now this part might pose some challenges. Walk to the Visa On Arrival (VOA) desk and grab the 2 forms you need to fill out. There’s a long rectangular arrival/departure declaration slip and a larger visa form. For the declaration slip, only fill out the arrival side for now and keep the departure side for when you leave Laos.
They have tables and pens available, but it might be handy to bring a spare pen just in case as most of them were out of ink. When we arrived here there was literally no one. But then again it was a Saturday so we can imagine this being quite a crowded spot during peak travel season. And since it was a Saturday, we also had to pay an overtime weekend fee of 40 Baht each. There are two important things you need to know:
- Bring a passport photo
You’ll need to hand in a passport photo to get the visa, so make sure to bring this! We didn’t see any options to take photos there on the spot. So it would be very very inconvenient if you show up without. In other words, you’d be screwed. You’d have to go all the way back to Chong Khlong and go to a photo shop and get it done there. We took our photos in Chiang Mai, just before jumping on the bus to Chiang Rai.
- Pay for the visa in a convenient currency
The tourist visa to get into Laos is not free like it is in Thailand. You’ll have to pay 40 USD for the visa. This can only be paid in US dollar (40), Thai Baht (1500), Lao Kip (880,000), or Chinese Yuan (300). However, paying it in LAK is not recommended as the exchange rate is horrible, you’ll end up paying an extra 8 USD. Make sure to either get USD or have enough Thai Baht. There is an atm here, but you can only get Lao Kip out. Also, there is a maximum of taking out 1,500,00 (which is not enough for 2 visas) plus for every transaction there is a fee of 30,000 LAK… so not ideal at all!
There are some exchange shops, but when we were there (on a Saturday) they were all closed so don’t rely on them! To add to this, they only exchange Euro, USD, Yuan and Baht. So long story short, make sure you have 40 USD or 1500 Baht per person!
Step 7: Get a Tuktuk into Huay Xai
The last part of the journey is the tuktuk. These are normally really cheap (40,000 LAK or less per person). But that is only if they’re full, with about 8 people. We walked out of the Laos immigration and saw the tuktuks but it was super empty, so no one to share with…. Because of this, the driver wanted to charge us 200 Baht each, which is very expensive for only a 20 minute drive. We decided to wait for a bit and after while 2 people joined us. This halved the price and we just took it, so we paid 100 Baht each. The driver will drop you off in the middle of the main road of Huay Xai and there you go. Woohoo made it to Laos!
Where to Stay in Huay Xai
If you’re staying the night in Huay Xai (which you probably will because both the gibbon experience and the slow boat leave early each day) you’ll need to look for accommodation. It is possible to book something beforehand on websites like booking.com, but this will be slightly more expensive than paying in cash. We walked into the first guesthouse we saw, called Oudompone Hotel and booked a room here. We got a big room with aircon and a private bathroom for 300 Baht a night.
Alternatively, our friends stayed at a hostel called Little Hostel which was only a few doors down the road. We spent a bit of time at and it had a great atmosphere. Also got one of the only bars in town right under it.
Where to Eat in Huay Xai
If you follow our guide you will arrive in Huay Xai around 5:30pm, and probably be quite hungry after the whole journey. We walked around for a bit and found a cute local restaurant along the river. They were called Phamxay and had a nice view over the Mekong. We had a fried rice and a Lao noodle soup with two big beers for only 95,000 LAK and it was delicious! Good introduction to how cheap Laos can be.
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