How to Take the Laos Slow Boat to Luang Prabang
This post may contain affiliate links, where we may receive a small commission if you purchase something through following the links at no extra cost to you.
If you’re looking to travel from Thailand to Laos, or vice versa, there’s a good chance a part of your journey will include the Laos Slow Boat. Famous for being, well, slow, as well as overly crowded and not super luxurious, we did the 2-day journey from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang in January 2024. In this guide, we’ll break down for you how to complete the journey, our personal experience and some hot tips!
The famous Laos slow boat!
Laos Travel Resources
Flights: Search for the best flight deals to Laos!
Accommodation: Find your perfect stay in Laos, from hostels, to homestays, to hotels!
Transport: Search for different transport options to get you to and around Laos
Activities: Find things to do in Laos!
Our Laos YouTube Videos: Check out our videos from our time in Laos for travel tips & ideas!
Welcome to Laos! You’ve either just made it across the border from Thailand, and are looking to continue on your journey to Luang Prabang, or alternatively, you’ve just spent a great few weeks enjoying the magical country that is Laos and you’re looking to make your way to Thailand for your next adventure!
If you’re looking for accommodation in Huay Xai, check out Oudomphone House! We stayed here and it was very central and convenient!
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to presume you’ve just crossed the border from Thailand, and are making your way to Luang Prabang, although most of the information will be relevant still, even if you’re doing the reverse!
Now you’re in Huay Xai, settle in, grab a bite to eat, and get ready for a massive two days. While in the past you could complete the border crossing and board the slow boat on the same day, this is a lot harder now as the slow boat leaves a few hours earlier. Ours was scheduled for about 9/9.30 in the morning, so you’d need to be crossing the border very early in the morning. We’d recommend just working in a night in Huay Xai and planning to get the boat the next day.
If you’re travelling from Thailand to Laos, check out our guide on how to complete the FULL JOURNEY from Chiang Rai to Luang Prabang!
It is highly recommended that you pre-book your tickets the day before, so you can get assigned a seat. We opted to just organise this through our accommodation, and paid 430,000LAK each. This cost us a little more than if we were to pay at the port itself (this will cost you 400,000LAK if you’re going all the way to Luang Prabang), however, you’d need to get yourself to the port and back which will cost a little extra. Our ticket also included a transfer in the morning to the port which was super helpful and they got us there nice and early to ensure we got our seat.
DAY 1 OF THE SLOW BOAT
We had heard very mixed reviews of the slow boat, and let’s just say, you will experience both ends of the spectrum. Taking in spectacular views, enjoying cruising down the Mekong, waving to the locals on the riverbank. Sounds pretty nice. As we explain the slow boat process, you’ll start to understand the other end of the spectrum.
The morning of the slow boat, you will either need to get yourself to the pier, or, if you were like us, and booked through your hostel, you may already have a transfer organised. We left our hostel at 8.30, and arrived at the pier around 10 minutes later. The time on our boat tickets was listed as 9.00AM so we arrived just under 30-minutes early (which we’d recommend)!
TIP: Make sure you grab yourself some food and water in town before hopping on the boat. Most hostels/restaurants will sell packed lunches (usually a sandwich and some fruit) and we’d highly recommend getting yourself a sandwich or two. Not only are they delicious, but once on the boat, food options are limited, and more pricey. Plus, if you get a boat like ours, it was impossible to navigate your way around because of all the people, so most people didn’t leave their seats.
At the pier they’ll have a brief once over of your ticket and then you’ll board the boat. All the boats look a little different and have different seating arrangements, so we can’t guarantee our experience will be your experience. Our boat had seats lining the boat vertically, rather than in rows like a bus. The front of the boat wasn’t undercover, and unfortunately this is where our seats where, however, we were just happy to not be near the back where the engine is as we’ve heard this is unbelievably loud. Our boat had pieces of paper on the seat with seat numbers, so we sat with the corresponding seat as to what was on our ticket. Our bags also went in a room towards the back of the boat.
A very packed Day 1 on the slow boat from Huay Xai to Pakbeng!
Now, if you’re picturing nice, luxury seating with plenty of leg room, space to put your smaller bags, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The seats are quite literally ripped straight out of vans, and while they could be worse, it was not particularly comfortable. We were really jammed in and had to almost alternate whose shoulders were in front of the others, because there just simply wasn’t enough room. Funnily enough though, this was when our ride was looking quite good! As we were outside, we had heaps of leg room, as compared to those who were undercover and were pretty much knee to knee facing each other. But then, they arrived.
By they, we mean HUNDREDS. Okay maybe not hundreds, but it sure felt like it. When the first wave arrived, we were like yeah good luck finding a seat, and then they disappeared down the back of the boat (presumably they did in fact find a seat). Then the next wave came. And the next. Each wave of people bigger than the last. By now, our boat was way behind schedule, but it seemed as though they were expecting these groups to arrive and so were waiting for them. Most of them seemed to have done (in our opinion) the harder journey, and did the border crossing the same morning. As more people got on the boat, the locals laughs grew louder and louder, it was like they knew there wasn’t enough room but wanted to see how many people they could squeeze in anyways.
By the time the flood of people stopped, the aisle in front of us was now full of plastic fold out chairs, and the front of the boat was full of bags and people sitting on the floor. You might think that doesn’t sound too bad, but remember, the first day of the boat is 7 hours!
Overall, aside from being extremely uncomfortable, we were pretty fortunate with our seats. If you’re taking the slowboat, we’d definitely recommend the following:
Book a day early and don’t try to ride the same day - the journey from Thailand is already hard enough, give yourself the extra night to rest and recuperate and avoid being part of the crowd that arrives over an hour after the boat was meant to depart and ends up sitting on the floor for 7 hours.
Arrive early! If you want to guarantee yourself a seat, arrive early. It doesn’t matter that you have an assigned seat, they will put more people on the boat than there are seats, and once people are sitting down, you can’t see the seat numbers anyways.
Anything you might need, pack in your carry on that you will keep with you. Accessing your main luggage is just not possible, so anything you want during the day needs to be on you.
Prepare for all weather. As we said, we were sat outside without any cover. In the morning, it was quite chilly and most people had some warmer clothes on, but of course, as the sun came out, we were in the sun for hours on end, so hats and sunscreen are a must!
Most importantly, DO NOT LOSE YOUR TICKET! Even if it doesn’t get checked on day 1, it absolutely will on day 2, even if you are already on the boat, and if you don’t have it anymore, you will have to pay for a new one. We saw this happen to a few unfortunate backpackers who had misplaced their tickets.
SPEND THE NIGHT IN PAKBENG
Congratulations, you survived the first day of the slow boat! After making many stops along the way where we were meant to pick up more people but had no room to pick up more people, we finally made it to Pakbeng.
NOTE: The night in Pakbeng is not included in your ticket, so you will need to pay for a nights accommodation!
When you arrive in Pakbeng we’d recommend just jumping off the boat and waiting a little before trying to get your bags. I don’t think anyone moved for about 20 minutes because people were trying to get to the back, so the people who had actually managed to get their bags, couldn’t actually get off. It was a bit of a nightmare but eventually you WILL get your bags off.
When you get off the boat, if you have pre-booked your accommodation, there will be someone with a sign with your name on it. If you haven’t, don’t worry, there is plenty of option and we’d probably recommend not pre-booking, unless you want to stay somewhere particularly fancy. This was the first time we’ve ever just rocked up to a town without any accommodation and we’d found ourselves a room within our first minute of getting off the boat. There will be plenty of people with signs for different accommodations, and you can ask how much for the night, whether you get your own bathroom, whether there is WiFi and any other questions that you deem appropriate. We paid 150,000LAK for the night, which works out to roughly $10 AUD, and we had our own private room with an ensuite, free WiFi and walking distance to the pier.
TIP: We could only find one ATM that was walking distance from the centre of town in Pakbeng, and it wasn’t working when we were there, so we’d highly recommend making sure you have enough cash before starting the slow boat journey to last the two days!
In Pakbeng, there are lots of different restaurants and bakeries to find yourself something to eat for the night and if you’re feeling energetic after doing nothing for 7 hours, there are even a few bars. We’d also recommend pre-ordering your packed lunch for the following day so in the morning you can just pick this up nice and easy.
DAY 2 OF THE SLOW BOAT
Presuming you booked your ticket all the way through to Luang Prabang, you don’t need to do anything ticket wise, except not lose it, because on day 2, they will properly check and take your tickets.
In the morning, we recommend getting up really early, like before 7am and going to grab something takeaway for breakfast. If you pre-ordered your packed lunch, make sure you pick this up as well, and if you didn’t, make sure you order one somewhere before you get on the boat.
The slow boat from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang had a different layout, this one was much better!
Now you’re probably wondering why so early. Remember all those hundreds (not really hundreds) of people who got on late and either got the horrible plastic chair seats, or even better, the floor? Well, do you really think they’re stupid enough to let that happen again? People were making their way down to the boat as early as before 7.30AM to ensure they got seats. And yes, that is almost 2-hours before the boat is scheduled to leave. While our boat on day 2 was actually much better, with a more regular seating arrangement, there were still an unfortunate few who had to sit on the floor, or on wooden blocks, and day 2 was even longer - 8 hours on the water.
The journey will be much the same as the first day, and again, plan for all weathers, as it was actually quite cold the entire journey!
YOU MADE IT! NOW SETTLE IN AND ENJOY EVERYTHING LUANG PRABANG HAS TO OFFER!
Wow - what a journey! Two days later and you’ve made it to Luang Prabang. When you get off the boat there will be tuk tuks waiting to transport people into the town centre. There is a ticket desk where you can buy tickets for 40,000LAK per person. If you’re like us and you’ve run out of cash before arriving, ask the tuk tuk drivers if they can take you to an ATM. We paid 50,000LAK instead of 40,000 for them to make the pit stop for us.
The tuk tuks will drop you out the front of the night market, and from here you can either walk to your accommodation, or there are smaller tuk tuks you can take if you are a little further out.
If you’re looking for somewhere to stay in Luang Prabang, we stayed at Singharat Boutique House - great location and breakfast!
We hope you found that guide helpful! If you’re looking for things to do in Luang Prabang, you can check out our full video on YouTube here!
